The U.S. Government has announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce will award up to $6.6 billion in direct funding to TSMC Arizona Corporation (TSMC Arizona), a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC). This funding is part of the CHIPS Incentives Program and aims to support TSMC Arizona's $65 billion investment in three cutting-edge semiconductor fabs in Phoenix, Arizona. The funding disbursement will be tied to project milestones, marking a significant step in strengthening U.S. capabilities in advanced semiconductor technology.

Silicon carbide (SiC) substrate prices are witnessing unprecedented declines in 2024, marking a dramatic shift in the power semiconductor materials sector. Following a period of sustained high demand and tight supply, the market now grapples with oversupply as Chinese manufacturers significantly expand production capacity. Industry leaders Tianyu and San'an have ramped up output this year, triggering a price war that has pushed prices below production costs and disrupted the global supply chain.

China's semiconductor industry has ironically labeled Donald Trump as its "unexpected ally." Since 2018, his trade and tech wars have catalyzed major shifts in the sector. Now, with a second Trump presidency on the horizon, the industry weighs the complex impacts of his sanctions.

Samsung Electronics is reportedly finalizing investment plans for the first production line at its Pyeongtaek Plant 4 (P4) facility in South Korea, rebranding it to focus on mass-producing advanced NAND flash and DRAM. Samsung has also announced plans to build South Korea's largest and most advanced semiconductor packaging facility in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.

Taiwan continues to capitalize on opportunities for contract manufacturing of cutting-edge technology products as the trade disputes between the US and China intensify. The unrestricted access to the most advanced equipment and materials in the semiconductor industry enables Taiwan to produce products that are unparalleled in terms of technological advancements.

On November 14, Foxlink Group (formerly Cheng Uei Precision Industry) inaugurated Ubilink, establishing Taiwan's largest AI supercomputing center and first platform utilizing Nvidia Hopper GPUs. The center aims to serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that cannot afford dedicated computing facilities.

Topco Scientific, a Taiwan-based semiconductor materials supplier, remains confident in achieving its 2024 revenue targets, bolstered by increasing demand from China's foundry sector.

Epitaxial wafer supplier Intelligent Epitaxy Technology (IntelliEPI), which saw its third-quarter revenue decrease 4.5% sequentially, anticipates a return to sales growth in the fourth quarter.

On November 13, the US government announced a non-binding preliminary agreement with Akash Systems. Through the CHIPS and Science Act, the Department of Commerce intends to allocate up to US$18.2 million in funding to support Akash's development of next-generation semiconductor technologies, according to Reuters.

ASML Holding NV, the Dutch maker of advanced chip-making machines that are critical to global supply chains, reaffirmed its long-term revenue outlook as it bets on an artificial intelligence-driven boom in semiconductor demand.

Japanese silicon wafer manufacturer Sumco has noted the robust demand for AI. However, demand for personal computers and smartphones has bottomed out, and the consumer, industrial, and automotive sectors continue to show limited strength, slowing the broader recovery in the silicon wafer market.

"Quality" is the foundation of all manufacturing industries. Companies initiate product plans from their R&D departments, working collaboratively through production teams, suppliers, and customers to meet the Six Sigma requirements, ultimately aiming for "zero defects" when presenting products to consumers and users.

JCET Group, China's top semiconductor packaging and testing firm, announced on November 13, 2024, that chairman Yonggang Gao, along with directors Peng Jin and Chunsheng Zhang, have submitted their resignations from all positions within the company.

Recent legal documents reveal that twelve current and former employees from TSMC's California and Arizona facilities have accused the company of racial discrimination in recruitment, promotion, and employee management practices. TSMC declined to comment on the ongoing litigation but has issued a statement in response.

According to industry sources, the inauguration ceremony for TSMC's new advanced fab site in Arizona, US, has been abruptly put on hold. TSMC has notified the invited guests that the opening ceremony has been deferred and may be rescheduled until after Donald Trump assumes office in January, contingent upon prevailing circumstances. The event was initially scheduled for December 6.

Following its recent establishment of a wafer fab in Japan, TSMC aims to attract PhD talent in the region to advance its semiconductor research and development.

The global semiconductor shortage that plagued automotive chips from 2020 to 2022 has subsided, as electric vehicle (EV) demand in Europe and the US falls short of projections. While this eases immediate supply concerns, major industry players are reassessing their strategies amid new challenges.

India's semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem is experiencing rapid growth, with projections indicating the creation of 1 million jobs across various segments. According to a report by talent solutions provider NLB Services cited by the Press Trust of India, 300,000 positions will emerge in foundry operations and 200,000 in Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP). The remaining positions will span chip design, software development, system circuits, and manufacturing supply chain management.

Maeil Business Newspaper reports that Samsung Electronics (Samsung) is set to finish the development of its sixth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4) by 2025 to secure orders for Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs).

Investment demand for chips used in generative AI is benefiting several Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturers, with Tokyo Electron (TEL) raising its full-year profit outlook.

Grand Process Technology Company (GPTC), a Taiwan-based semiconductor equipment company involved in the supply chain for TSMC's CoWoS packaging, aims to leverage the rising demand.

Leading Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers, including ACM Research (Shanghai), AMEC, and Naura, have boosted their R&D investments to accelerate the development of high-end manufacturing processes, broaden their product lines, and establish platforms incorporating their tools and systems.

The semiconductor industry began in the early 1970s and is now the largest segment among Zeiss's four major divisions. Under President Andreas Pecher's arrangement, I met CTO Thomas Stammler at a factory producing semiconductor EUV equipment, along with Quanta's Vice President of Corporate Quality, JJ Wei.

During his US presidential campaign trail, President-Elect Donald Trump vowed to overturn key Biden administration policies. Now, with his election victory, the tech sector awaits significant policy shifts that could reshape multiple industries.

Each low-numerical aperture (NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system costs over US$100 million, making it one of the most expensive semiconductor manufacturing tools in history. This raises a key question: How many of these advanced EUV systems does TSMC possess, especially considering that the foundry giant is taking a measured approach toward next-generation high-NA EUV equipment?