Major semiconductor design titans Qualcomm and Arm have begun their legal battle this week in the US court, with both sides presenting their arguments in a case that centers on licensing agreements. Arm alleges that Qualcomm must renegotiate licensing fees following its Nuvia acquisition and subsequent product launches without proper agreements. The company is seeking to halt Qualcomm's use of all Nuvia-related technology. In its defense, Qualcomm claims Arm's targeting of Nuvia stems from its aspirations in IC design.
Industry sources indicate that prices for mature semiconductor manufacturing process tape-outs will likely decrease in 2025, primarily driven by higher tape-out demand from integrated circuit (IC) design customers.
Rapidus has established strategic partnerships with two leading electronic design automation (EDA) companies to expedite the mass production of next-generation semiconductor chips.
US cloud service providers (CSPs) are entering a new phase of AI investment, with continued growth in capital expenditures (capex), driving short-term demand for high-end AI chips. However, the lack of clear returns on these investments means tech giants are increasingly focusing on cost-performance ratios in their AI strategies.
The Chinese government has ramped up actions against Nvidia, including reopening antitrust investigations and abruptly removing all products from the company's Tmall flagship store. These measures are widely viewed as Beijing's response to recent US Department of Commerce sanctions.
Samsung Electronics is stepping up talent recruitment in China to advance next-generation semiconductor development. With China's rapidly growing semiconductor IP market, Samsung is actively forging strategic partnerships with local firms to strengthen its foothold and accelerate innovation in the region.
According to industry sources, the PC market should see some replacement demand in 2025, but visibility remains low for IC design houses despite the hype about AI devices.
Japanese semiconductor testing equipment firm Advantest has announced its latest testing solutions for advanced applications such as high-end memory, 5G, AI, and high-performance computing (HPC). The company is also closely monitoring Rapidus's progress in mass-producing 2nm chips.
MediaTek continues to make waves with recent order wins. Sources indicate its 5G modem chips may enter the Apple Watch supply chain, while media reports suggest these chips could also feature in Google's next-generation smartphones.
TSMC's revenue in US$ terms is expected to grow by at least 20% in 2025, with almost all major chip vendors seeking its support for advanced manufacturing processes where the world's number one pure-play foundry sees little challenge from competitors, according to industry sources.
IC distributor WT Microelectronics announced on December 16 that it will acquire a 20% stake in WT Semiconductor from Excelpoint founder and CEO Albert Phuay Yong Hen for approximately US$30.08 million. This move aims to expedite the integration process between the two companies and enhance operational efficiency.
Arm's legal dispute with Qualcomm is being argued before a federal jury in Delaware this week, pitting two of the world's most influential chipmakers against each other in an intellectual property case that threatens to roil the technology industry.
In response to the US export control regulations introduced on December 2, China's Ministry of Finance issued a notice on December 5 regarding government procurement standards and implementation policies for domestic products, proposing to give local products a 20% advantage in bid evaluations.
FuriosaAI, a Seoul-based AI chip startup founded in 2017, is making waves in the AI hardware market with its innovative accelerator chips aimed at hyperscale data centers and enterprises. In August 2024, the startup unveiled its advanced AI chip, "RNGD." The chip is positioned to challenge industry leaders such as Nvidia with a 100% power efficiency advantage over Nvidia's H100 GPUs and competitive performance metrics. Furthermore, it recently gained attention for its testing and sampling progress with global enterprises like LG AI Research and Aramco.
The newly released book, The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant, reveals key insights into Nvidia's corporate culture. A notable aspect is CEO Jensen Huang's preference for whiteboards over PowerPoint presentations during business discussions. Unlike meticulously formatted slides, which can obscure meaningful ideas, Huang believes whiteboards encourage clearer and more focused exchanges.
The Biden Administration is expected to unveil new regulations by the end of the year, targeting China's acquisition of advanced AI chips through third-party nations. These measures aim to close loopholes and strengthen US control over sensitive technology exports.
Google has officially launched its upgraded AI model, Gemini 2.0, delivering enhanced performance and multimodal capabilities while paving the way for the future era of AI agents. Additionally, Google's sixth-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) Trillium, first introduced at the I/O Developer Conference in May, is now operational to support Gemini 2.0's training and inference workloads.
Multiple media sources have reported that MediaTek's 5G modem chips may soon replace Intel's products in upcoming Apple Watch models. If true, it will mark MediaTek's first entry into Apple's supply chain.
Apple's cloud infrastructure progress has received much attention ever since the company began developing its Apple Intelligence technology. Currently, Apple Silicon chips are used for inference tasks, while model training is conducted in collaboration with major cloud service providers (CSP) such as Google and AWS.
A new book, The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant, featuring the first authorized interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, was officially released on December 10. The book provides an in-depth exploration of Nvidia's history through the lens of Huang's visionary leadership and strategic decision-making.
Samsung launched the "Chip Design for High School" program to inspire young students to pursue careers in semiconductor design by providing hands-on learning experiences and industry insights. The program covers fundamental concepts, practical labs, and capstone projects, preparing students for the future of semiconductor technology in India.
US-based FPGA maker Lattice Semiconductor held its annual Developers Conference this week, during which the company announced its latest Nexus 2 platform and expansions to its mid-range Avant platform.
China's overall IC design sales are expected to reach CNY646 billion (US$89.66 billion) with a year-over-year increase of around 11.9% in 2024, marking the first time it has been outpaced by the global semiconductor industry growth, estimated at 19% by World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS).
Huawei's latest flagship smartphone is powered by a chip little different from the one that set off alarm bells in Washington a year ago, signaling a slowdown in the Chinese company's tech advances.
