Tag - chipmakers

 
 

CHIPMAKERS

The Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. headquarters in Taiwan
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2023
Taiwan's Powerchip chooses Miyagi Prefecture for $5.4 billion fab
The fab will manufacture chips in the 28-nanometer, 40-nm and 55-nm categories with a planned monthly output of 40,000 wafers, the two companies said.
Kioxia and Western Digital have held merger talks since 2021 but the negotiations have often stalled over a series of issues.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 27, 2023
Western Digital and Kioxia call off merger talks, source says
South Korea's SK Hynix — a major Kioxia investor — has said it does not back the deal due to its impact on its investment asset value.
Kokusai Electric's technology and manufacturing center in the city of Toyama
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2023
Kokusai Electric shares jump 28% in Tokyo debut
The stock closed at ¥2,350, valuing the company at ¥541.5 billion as investors grabbed shares following the IPO.
A rendered image of the completed Rapidus factory being built in Chitose, Hokkaido
BUSINESS / Tech / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Oct 23, 2023
Hokkaido waits to gauge impact from upcoming Rapidus chip plant
The nationally backed effort to revive Japan’s semiconductor industry has been called the region’s largest-ever development project.
An assembly engineer works on a TWINSCAN DUV lithography system at ASML in Veldhoven, Netherlands, in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2023
The multimillion-dollar machines at the center of the U.S.-China rivalry
Complex lithography machines that print intricate circuitry on computer chips are at the heart of Washington's tough new measures on Beijing.
Kioxia Holdings has approached Japan Investment Corp. about making a capital infusion to support its merger with Western Digital and strengthen the combined company’s financial base, according to people familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2023
Kioxia has approached JIC to back Western Digital deal: sources
Kioxia’s lenders are working toward submitting a commitment letter as soon as possible to help facilitate the agreement.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. logo atop a building at the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 20, 2023
‘Sell TSMC, buy ASML’ gains traction as China-Taiwan risks grow
Because TSMC’s operations are mostly in Taiwan, it faces heightened geopolitical hazards. ASML, meanwhile, stands to benefit from the fragmentation.
China's ambitions to control the legacy chip market have implications for the world economy and Western nations are beginning to take countersteps.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2023
China's economic ambitions squeeze the developing world
While Chinese diplomats try to promote “win-win” solutions, Chinese policy is preventing developing-world partners from selling goods to China.
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.'s Japanese office in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2023
Taiwan's Powerchip considering five sites in Japan for factory
Powerchip announced in July that it was setting up a joint venture with financial firm SBI Holdings with the aim of securing government subsidies.
Washington is taking steps to prevent U.S. chipmakers from circumventing government rules in order to sell to China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2023
U.S. to tighten rules aimed at keeping advanced chips out of China
The Biden administration is aiming to close loopholes that might help its geopolitical rival gain cutting-edge technologies.
The U.S. is struggling to cut China off from top AI technology.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 13, 2023
Biden eyes adding AI chip curbs to Chinese companies abroad
Efforts to close the loophole allowing access to chips the show how the Biden administration is struggling to cut China off from top AI technology.
Arm CEO Rene Haas participates in the opening bell ceremony at the Nasdaq exchange in New York on Sept. 14 as the chip design firm holds an initial public offering.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 6, 2023
SoftBank’s Arm faces Wall Street scrutiny after massive IPO
Arm Holdings raised $4.87 billion last month in the largest IPO on a U.S. exchange since November 2021.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2023
ChatGPT-owner OpenAI is exploring making its own AI chips: sources
Obstacles include a shortage of the advanced processors and the 'eye-watering' costs associated with running the hardware.
A specialist removes a Kirin 9000s chip fabricated in China by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. from a Huawei Mate X5 foldable smartphone in Ottawa on Sept. 19.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 5, 2023
Taiwan to probe suppliers helping Huawei with China chip plants
A news report this week identified four firms working on chip plants backed by Huawei in China.
TSMC is expected to see a slower recovery going into 2024 due to weaker demand.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2023
TSMC’s $72 billion dip has markets bracing for more
Shares of the world’s largest contract chipmaker have fallen 10%
The Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 28, 2023
AI chip crunch: Startups vie for Nvidia's vital component
Generative AI's lifeblood is a book-sized semiconductor known as the graphics processing unit (GPU) — built by one company, Nvidia.
ASML is the world’s only maker of very high-end semiconductor lithography equipment and is one of Europe’s most valuable technology companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 27, 2023
ASML to open Hokkaido facility as Japan's chipmaking push gathers steam
The maker of high-end chip equipment, which currently has eight sites in Japan, plans to grow its headcount by around 40%.
Mitsubishi Chemical’s plan for a new semiconductor materials plant comes as the government makes investments in the domestic sector.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2023
Mitsubishi Chemical to open new semiconductor materials plant
Details on when or where it will be built or how much it will cost have not been decided, but Fukuoka Prefecture is reportedly a candidate location.
The Biden administration has issued final rules that would prohibit chip companies vying for a new infusion of federal cash from carrying out certain business expansions, partnerships and research in China, in what it described as an effort to protect United States national security.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 23, 2023
U.S. finalizes rules to keep chip funds out of China
The rules, which aim to prevent chip makers from using new U.S. subsidies to benefit China, take into account the industry’s perspective.
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, arriving at the bipartisan A.I. Insight Forum organized by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with labor union leaders and civil society groups, at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 13.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 21, 2023
Nvidia CEO tours India eyeing AI market to hedge China risks
For Nvidia, whose processors are key to development of artificial intelligence systems, the South Asian nation of 1.4 billion presents a rare opportunity.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?