Tag - chipmakers

 
 

CHIPMAKERS

A lithography system made by ASML at an Intel facility in Hillsboro, Oregon on April 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 21, 2024
ASML and TSMC can disable chip machines if China invades Taiwan
Sources said the chipmakers have ways to shut-off the world’s most sophisticated chipmaking machines in the event of an attack.
At the factory of 4R Energy Corp. in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, a lithium-ion electric vehicle battery is disassembled to be reused. Batteries and EVs are among the strategic industries governments around the world aim to support through their industrial policies.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 20, 2024
Grasping industrial policy in the age of economic security
A new era of industrial policies is structured around three P's: promoting strategic industries, protecting emerging technologies and partnering with like-minded countries.
Rapidus Chairman Tetsuro Higashi speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 17, 2024
Rapidus 'last opportunity' to put Japan back on global chip map
Rapidus' chairman says "Japan is more than a decade behind others" in digital technology, adding that "it will require enormous money just to catch up."
The new era of U.S.-Japan cooperation exemplifies a successful public-private collaboration crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in global technology, especially amid geopolitical tensions with China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 16, 2024
U.S.-Japan semiconductor alliance of the future
On the geopolitical side, the U.S.-Japan alliance is on one side of the equation, with China on the other and Taiwan in the middle.
Taiwan’s experience offers valuable lessons for China, the most important being the “financialization of innovation,” whereby technology investment is funded by risk capital from the stock market rather than by the risk-adverse banking system.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2024
China should emulate Taiwan’s tech policies
A small island with few natural resources, Taiwan punches well above its weight. From 1980-2008, its annual real GDP averaged 6.8%.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about new actions to protect American workers and businesses from China's "unfair" trade practices, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 15, 2024
Who’s toughest on China? Biden’s tariff tactic ups ante as election looms.
U.S. president is seen to be trying to "outtrump Trump" to appeal to voters who worry about geopolitical competition or hold anti-China sentiments.
U.S. President Joe Biden touts the economic benefits of semiconductor investment at Intel’s Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024
Global chips battle intensifies with $81 billion subsidy surge
The rush of funding has hardened battle lines in the U.S.-China trade war, including in nations like Japan.
TSMC’s factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS
May 12, 2024
Kumamoto Prefecture wants to host TSMC’s third Japan plant
Kumamoto hopes enough chip-related companies will settle in the prefecture to create something akin to Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in 2019. Son is said to be selling off assets from the Vision Fund’s portfolio as he prepares for possible forays into AI and related hardware.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024
SoftBank's Vision Fund lightens asset load as Son pivots to AI and chips
Son has moved on to new obsessions, inspired in part by the success of Arm — which has soared in value to around $106 billion since its market debut.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Graphcore, a struggling British semiconductor startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024
SoftBank said to be in talks to buy troubled AI chip firm Graphcore
Graphcore reported just $2.7 million in revenue for 2022, a 46% drop from the prior year, according to its latest financial report.
A Chinese flag is flown near a Huawei store in Shanghai in 2023.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
U.S. revokes some export licenses for firms supplying China's Huawei
Huawei was placed on a U.S. trade restriction list in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans.
A Rapidus factory under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido on April 26. The Tokyo-based chipmaker was set up with the aim to realize domestic production of state-of-the-art semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
May 6, 2024
Rapidus gearing up for mass production of next-generation chips
About three years before the planned start of mass production, Rapidus faces a host of difficult challenges, especially over technology and profitability.
Advanced Micro Devices' processors and memory chips
BUSINESS / Tech
May 2, 2024
AI hardware stocks get pummeled even as big tech keeps spending
Hardware makers have seen their shares rally this year amid an arms race for artificial intelligence computing power that’s lifting sales and profits.
Samsung's Seocho building in Seoul on Tuesday. The electronics company said that its first-quarter operating profits had risen nearly tenfold year-on-year — a 931.8 percent increase — amid recovering chip prices and growing demand.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 30, 2024
Samsung says AI to drive technology demand in second half after strong Q1
The upbeat outlook sent its shares 1.8% higher after it reported a more than 10x rise in first-quarter operating profit.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at an event held by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the U.S.-China Business Council on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 22, 2024
Raimondo says Huawei’s chip breakthrough is years behind U.S. tech
Raimondo said the technology gap shows the Biden administration’s success in imposing export controls on China.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks as he announces a preliminary agreement with Intel for a major CHIPS and Science Act award, during a visit to the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2024
Latest Biden chip deal highlights U.S. semiconductor successes
Samsung is the latest beneficiary of Washington’s efforts to shore up precarious supply chains and protect its national security interests.
Once one of the country’s biggest employers, Toshiba has been trying to cut costs in its sprawling operations and focus on its infrastructure and digital technology operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 18, 2024
Toshiba considers cutting thousands of jobs in Japan
The electronics and machinery maker plans to focus resources on its infrastructure and digital operations.
Kioxia Holdings plans to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as early as October.
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2024
Kioxia plans to list as early as October as merger talks stall
Kioxia faces a June deadline to refinance as much as ¥900 billion worth of loans, and a public listing will help its negotiations with banks.
Rapidus' semiconductor foundry construction site in Hokkaido
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2024
Chip plant wizard weathers Hokkaido’s bitter cold in latest test
Construction firm Kajima is plowing through a series of challenges to get a chipmaking factory built on time in snowy Hokkaido.
Despite being the home of TSMC’s new factory, the Kyushu region is facing hurdles toward expanding its semiconductor-related transactions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2024
Developing Kyushu's chip supply chain still a challenge for TSMC
The issue partially stems from the high barrier of entry into the key semiconductor industry.

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