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TSMC is set to begin production of chips for Bitcoin chip mining company Bitdeer in Arizona this quarter, according to sources.
Culpium, by Tim Culpan
China has used its industrial development playbook in the past to target and capture markets for solar panels, mobile devices, EVs and consumer electronics.
EE Times
Quobly, a cutting-edge quantum computing startup, has announced a transformative collaboration with STMicroelectronics to produce quantum processor units (QPUs) at scale.
Company release
SemiKong, a new LLM trained by Aitomatic and its partners in the "AI Alliance", is the world's first large language model specifically crafted to serve the semiconductor industry's needs. SemiKong seeks to become part of the workflows of semiconductor design companies and act as a digital expert in the field, contributing to getting new chips out the door significantly faster.
TG Daily
It's been a wild year in tech thanks to the intersection between humans and artificial intelligence. 2024 brought a parade of AI oddities, mishaps, and wacky moments that inspired odd behavior from both machines and man. From AI-generated rat genitals to search engines telling people to eat rocks, this year proved that AI has been having a weird impact on the world.
Ars Technica
Recently, Google and China have independently announced advancements in quantum computing. Google's Willow chip demonstrates "below-threshold" error correction, achieving a benchmark calculation in minutes that would take supercomputers billions of years. China's Zuchongzhi 3.0 processor, with 105 qubits, exhibits comparable performance and plans to implement similar error correction techniques.
EE Times
NXP Semiconductors has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Aviva Links, a provider of Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) compliant in-vehicle connectivity solutions, in an all-cash transaction valued at $242.5 million.
Company release
This year the research and development organization imec celebrated 40 years since it was created by 70 scientists from a university in Belgium, to being a key player in facilitating innovation in the semiconductor value chain working with hundreds of universities and researchers and bridging the goal of going from lab to fab.
EE Times
Intel has shortlisted a number of buyout firms for the next round of bidding for its Altera unit, according to people familiar with the matter, as the beleaguered chipmaker makes headway on a process started by its now ousted CEO.
Bloomberg
South Korea's conservative president Yoon Suk Yeol has declared martial law, accusing the left-wing bloc that controls the national assembly of North Korean sympathies and plotting rebellion.
The Financial Times
China has banned exports to the US of items related to the minerals gallium, germanium and antimony that have potential military applications, a day after Washington's latest crackdown on China's chip sector.
Bloomberg
GlobalFoundries, Tower Semiconductor, and possibly some companies in China are poised for a wave of silicon photonics demand driven by AI and other applications like quantum computing.
EE Times
The surging global popularity of TikTok has seen the co-founder of its parent company, ByteDance, become China's richest person.
BBC News
Intel will be replaced by Nvidia on the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average index (.DJI) after a 25-year run, underscoring the shift in the chipmaking market and marking another setback for the struggling semiconductor firm.
Reuters
An investigation of Huawei Technologies' latest AI offering has unearthed an advanced processor made by Nvidia manufacturing partner TSMC, suggesting that China is still struggling to reliably make its own advanced chips in sufficient quantities.
Bloomberg
Arm Holdings is canceling a license that allowed longtime partner Qualcomm to use Arm intellectual property to design chips, escalating a legal dispute over vital smartphone technology.
Bloomberg
The first outing in the United States of the successful embedded world trade show and conference that has been running successfully in Nuremberg, Germany, for a couple of decades attracted some 3,500 visitors to the Austin Convention Center in Texas this week.
EE Times
One of the key concerns for the European electronics industry is the need for more skilled engineers.
EETimes Europe
A number of prominent executives have left Apple in recent years, and some of the others have also followed the process of first narrowing the role to something focused on a single concern or product, followed by actual retirement.
Ars Technica
With markets keen for details on China's efforts to revive economic growth and end its housing slump, here are five key takeaways from today's briefing by Chinese Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an and his colleagues. Bloomberg Terminal readers can click here for a full transcript.
Bloomberg
President William Lai has pledged to uphold Taiwan's self-governing status in his most high-profile public address since taking office earlier this year.
BBC News
Indonesia has asked Alphabet's Google and Apple to block Chinese fast fashion e-commerce firm Temu in their application stores in the country so it cannot be downloaded, a minister said on Friday.
Reuters
Two chip-making giants have discussed building huge factory complexes in the United Arab Emirates that could transform the industry in the coming years and become a cornerstone for artificial-intelligence investments in the Middle East.
Wall Street Journal
Qualcomm has in recent days approached Intel to explore a potential acquisition of the troubled chipmaker, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday, in what could be a transformational deal in the sector but faces many hurdles.
Reuters
Intel has officially qualified for as much as $3.5 billion in federal grants to make semiconductors for the Pentagon, according to people familiar with the matter, after the chipmaker reached a binding agreement with US officials.
Bloomberg
Chipmaker Broadcom forecast fourth-quarter revenue slightly below Wall Street expectations on Thursday, hurt by sluggish spending in its broadband segment. Despite a sharp rise in orders for its artificial intelligence chips, shares fell nearly 5% in extended trading.
Reuters
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and key executives are expected to present a plan later this month to the company's board of directors to slice off unnecessary businesses and revamp capital spending, according to a source familiar with the matter, as they try to revive the once-dominant chipmaker's fortunes.
Reuters
British IP provider Imagination Technologies has raised investment in the form of a $100 million convertible term loan from Fortress Investment Group. Imagination will use the funds to support the development of its technologies for graphics, compute and AI at the edge, as well as fund its ambitious growth objectives.
EE Times
General Motors said Monday it is laying off more than 1,000 salaried employees at its software and service units worldwide.
Reuters
SoftBank has blamed Intel for the collapse of the talks, claiming Intel was incapable of meeting its demands for volume and speed, the report said, adding that SoftBank is now focusing on discussions with TSMC.
Reuters
Dell Technologies is cutting some sales jobs and adding others, as it reorganizes its business for the AI era, to become "leaner" and focused on growth.
CRN
Infineon has become another chipmaker to shed a chunk of the workforce to cut costs after reporting shrinking sales.
The Register
With the transaction now closed, Altium is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas. Altium CEO Aram Mirkazemi has assumed the role of SVP and head of Renesas' Software & Digitalization. He concurrently serves as CEO of Altium.
Company release
Nvidia's upcoming artificial intelligence chips will be delayed due to design flaws, The Information reports, citing two unidentified people who help produce the chip and its server hardware.
Fortune
It was a selfless decision that put the country's interests before his own - an act of grace that many see as vividly contrasting with the narcissism of his opponent Donald Trump.
Guardian
Donald Trump's comments that Taiwan hollowed out the American semiconductor industry are incorrect. That misunderstanding could impact the future of one of the world's most important relationships, and end up aiding China at a time it is working hard to push its own tech sector to catch up.
Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics' biggest workers' union in South Korea said on Wednesday it will continue a strike indefinitely, stepping up its campaign against the tech giant for better pay and benefits. To boost participation, the union said it plans to hold advertising campaigns at cafeterias inside chipmaking plants producing 8-inch wafers and high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that are in high demand for use in AI processors.
Reuters
A research team led by Director Jo Moon-Ho of the Center for Van der Waals Quantum Solids within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has implemented a novel method to achieve epitaxial growth of 1D metallic materials with a width of less than 1nm.
PhysOrg
The European Union has raised tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, as Brussels takes action to protect the bloc's motor industry.
BBC News
The European Commission has begun canvassing the region's semiconductor industry for its views on China's expanded production of older generation computer chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Reuters
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