Around the web
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Intel's fab near Magdeburg, Germany, will not only be the most advanced semiconductor production facility in Europe, but, according to CEO Pat Gelsinger, the most advanced fab in the world when it comes online. The fab will process wafers using post-18A process technologies and will be used to make products both for Intel as well as its Intel Foundry Services customers.
TG Daily
China's chip imports suffered their steepest drop on record last year, hamstrung by prolonged economic uncertainties and US export controls.
Bloomberg
South Korea unveiled plans by leading firms such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to spend more than US$470 billion establishing the world's largest chipmaking cluster, joining a global race to safeguard domestic supply.
Bloomberg
Artificial intelligence is set to affect nearly 40% of all jobs, according to a new analysis by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
BBC News
Nvidia may not be able to sell its top-specced GPUs in China, but across the border in India, datacenter operators are buying up tens of thousands of accelerators to bolster their AI capabilities.
The Register
Chinese military bodies, state-run artificial intelligence research institutes and universities have over the past year purchased small batches of Nvidia semiconductors banned by the US from export to China, a Reuters review of tender documents show.
Reuters
Tesla is recalling more than 1.6m Model S, X, 3 and Y electric vehicles exported to China for problems with their automatic assisted steering and door latch controls.
Guardian
Microsoft pushed throughout 2023 to add generative AI capabilities to its software, even extending its new Copilot AI assistant to Windows 10 late last year. Now, those efforts to transform PCs at a software level is extending to the hardware: Microsoft is adding a dedicated Copilot key to PC keyboards, adjusting the standard Windows keyboard layout for the first time since the Windows key first appeared on its Natural Keyboard in 1994.
Ars Technica
The topic of quantum computing occupied an entire day at the recent PUZZLE X conference in Barcelona-with visionaries such as Nobel laureate Sir Roger Penrose, Bob Coecke (Quantinuum), Brian Subirana (Harvard and MIT), and Marta Estarellas (Qilimanjaro) served up as speakers.
EE Times
Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited the country's foremost developer of memory chips, in the latest show of government support for US-sanctioned Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) as the two powers clash over technology.
Bloomberg
The crises that have brought supply chains to their breaking point have highlighted an urgent need for change. This will result in a far more robust and balanced framework for global trade and manufacturing.
Bloomberg
It's getting harder-both technically and financially-to make semiconductor chips smaller. The fight for chip tech supremacy has begun to migrate into a new area: how to package chips together to achieve better performance.
Wall Street Journal
Foldables are barely 1% of the market, but that's not stopping anyone but Apple.
Ars Technica
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck central Japan on Monday afternoon, collapsing buildings, causing fires and triggering tsunami alerts as far away as eastern Russia, prompting orders for residents to evacuate affected coastal areas of Japan.
CNN
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his annual New Year's Eve address, reiterated his claim that Taiwan would "surely be reunified" with China.
BBC News
Micron Technology has settled a high-profile intellectual property theft lawsuit with a key, state-backed Chinese rival amid the US company's efforts to mend ties with Beijing.
Bloomberg
Tesla is recalling more than 120,000 of its vehicles because unlocked doors may open during a crash, increasing the risk of injury, according to safety regulators.
CNN
China is to bring in new rules that will limit the amount of money and time that people can spend on video games.
BBC News
Alibaba has shuttered its quantum computing research lab, a sign that the Chinese e-commerce and cloud operator is considering more cutbacks to bulk up the bottom line.
Bloomberg
Sam Altman, who was fired from his role at ChatGPT-maker OpenAI last Friday, will return to his post as chief executive, ending a boardroom drama that has transfixed Silicon Valley and exposed the power struggles over who has control over the future of artificial intelligence.
Washington Post
Asked by analysts on Ambarella's most recent earnings call whether the company had changed its automotive strategy, Ambarella CEO Fermi Wang said the firm had increased its focus on the Chinese market.
EE Times
Sam Altman, who was ousted as CEO of OpenAI in a chaotic boardroom coup Friday, is joining Microsoft, the tech giant said Monday. Meanwhile, Emmett Shear, the former CEO of streaming service Twitch, will join OpenAI.
CNN
OpenAI's investors are making efforts to bring back Sam Altman, the chief executive officer who was ousted Friday, the latest development in a fast-moving chain of events at the artificial-intelligence company behind ChatGPT.
Wall Street Journal
China's Yangtze Memory Technology is readying its next-generation 3D NAND memory architecture - Xtacking 4.0 - despite severe sanctions against the company, according to a document seen by Tom's Hardware. The company has no plans to increase the number of layers with the two Xtacking 4.0 devices currently in development, but the family may get broader over time.
TG Daily
Apple has been interested in graphene for thermal management for some time, filing patents related to its exploration of the material for heat dissipation in portable devices.
Mac Rumors
Decades old norms are being challenged in the power semiconductor industry as Omdia predicts an explosion in novel semiconductors due to the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. Will the AI boom have a similar impact?
Company release
Canon's new nanoprint lithography tool will take years to rival the EUV equipment that ASML alone provides to make the world's most advanced semiconductors, analysts told EE Times.
EE Times
"Consistent execution by our sales teams and partners drove a strong start to the fiscal year with Microsoft Cloud revenue of $31.8 billion, up 24% (up 23% in constant currency) year-over-year," said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.
Company release
Chip technology design maker Imagination Technologies plans to lay off 20% of the company's staff, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Reuters
Japanese chipmaker Rapidus says it is working on an alliance with Canadian startup Tenstorrent, which has an edge in AI chip design.
NHK World
The 741 page annual report, released by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, takes aim at the Biden administration's Oct. 2022 export curbs, which seek to bar Chinese chipmakers from getting U.S. chipmaking tools if they would be used to manufacture advanced chips at the 14 nanometer node or below.
Reuters
There are four primary "buckets" of node sizes of wafer fabrication: below 11nm, 11-19nm, 20-64nm, and 65nm and above. Each serves a unique purpose and application. After the most recent chip shortages, inventory is rebalancing across the market. Semiconductor manufacturers have shifted their production strategies and are reconsidering which node sizes to focus on.
EE Times
Japan's Kioxia on Tuesday reported a JPY100.8 billion (US$664.5 million) operating loss in the second quarter as earnings were hit by a slump in demand for memory chips used in smartphones and personal computers (PC).
Reuters
South Korea's memory-chip exports increased in October for the first time in 16 months, offering more evidence for the revival of demand for the country's most important products.
Bloomberg
New US export controls may compel artificial-intelligence giant Nvidia to cancel billions of dollars in next-year orders for its advanced chips to China, a move that could deprive Chinese tech companies of crucial AI resources.
Wall Street Journal
China's state-backed chip investment fund has invested CNY14.56 billion (US$1.99 billion) in a memory chip company called Changxin Xinqiao, records showed.
Reuters
Japan is aiming to secure an additional JPY1.49 trillion (US$10 billion) in subsidies for two key semiconductor projects, according to a key ruling party lawmaker for chips.
Bloomberg
Beijing dropped a bombshell when it unveiled a tax and land-use probe into the world's largest assembler of iPhones.
Bloomberg
Chip manufacturing equipment supplier Lam Research forecast second-quarter revenue slightly below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday due to weak memory chip demand, even though its China business continues to boom.
Reuters
The world's chipmakers are failing to meet an international target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, experts told EE Times. The first milestone is for emissions to peak in 2025 and steadily fall, one said.
EE Times
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