For generations, Sheffield's industrial identity has been forged in steel. Yet behind that familiar legacy, a less visible technological transformation has been unfolding for decades.

Imagine a maintenance robot operating inside a fusion reactor, exposed to temperatures reaching 600 degrees Celsius and intense radiation, with an expected service life of 25 years. Developing electronics capable of surviving such conditions would be an extraordinary engineering achievement. But manufacturing the chips is only half the problem.

Samsung Electronics is expanding its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) packaging operations in South Korea as its Cheonan campus runs short of space, prompting the company to develop nearby Onyang into another major production base for advanced AI memory.

AI has propelled the global semiconductor market to record highs, but growth remains concentrated in memory, advanced logic and advanced packaging, areas in which Europe has limited strength. At this week's SEMICON Europa forum in Munich, SEMI and TechInsights identified power semiconductors as Europe's strongest entry point into the AI data centre boom.

Inside a refurbished industrial building in Sheffield, a quantum computing laboratory is preparing for a future that could transform how the world develops medicines, advanced materials, and computing infrastructure.

A network of companies tied to Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese intelligence operative involved in a romantic relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, recently invested in Chinese AI powerhouse DeepSeek to help secure a steady supply of banned Nvidia Blackwell chips, according to reports and corporate records referenced by The Information.

In a business incubator at County Durham's NETPark, the future of Britain's semiconductor industry was being discussed by people whose technologies rarely feature in global chipmaking headlines. Some develop radiation detectors for medical imaging; others design high-frequency chips for aerospace systems or electronics capable of surviving conditions where conventional silicon fails.

Malaysia is reviewing possible breaches of AI chip export restrictions involving Speedmatrix, a local subsidiary of Singapore-based Megaspeed International, while preparing legislation to tighten oversight of data centers and prevent advanced Nvidia GPUs from being diverted to China.

Under mounting pressure, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang has resigned as president, CEO, and board member, effective immediately. Executive vice president and chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO, while the board launches an internal and external search for a successor.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) expects artificial intelligence (AI) demand to keep chip supply tight through mid-2028, even as equipment lead times of up to two years slow its own capacity build-out, executives said on the company's third-quarter 2026 earnings call.

Nvidia founder and former CEO Jensen Huang has agreed to appear before the US House of Representatives ahead of the holiday break, addressing export controls and related controversies. Several senior lawmakers had previously threatened to subpoena Huang over Nvidia's business strategy in China and related policy issues.