Chip Industry Week In Review

Cohu, a global supplier of supplier of equipment and services for optimizing yield and productivity, will acquire Tignis, which develops AI-powered process control and analytics software. The deal is expected to close next month.

NXP will acquire Aviva Links, a provider of Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA)-based asymmetrical links for ADAS and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) applications, for $242.5 million in cash. Aviva Link’s portfolio supports SerDes point-to-point (ASA-ML) and Ethernet-based connectivity (ASA-MLE) with data rates up to 16 Gbps. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

In U.S. government news:

• The Department of Commerce (DoC) finalized up to $406 million in CHIPS Act funding to GlobalWafers America and MEMC to support the construction of silicon wafer manufacturing facilities in Texas and Missouri.
• The DoC finalized an award to SK Hynix for up to $458 million in funding under the CHIPS Act to build a memory packaging plant and R&D facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.
• President Biden is expected to announce a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors.
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule widening H-1B visa program benefits and flexibilities for U.S. employers and specialty workers.
• The National Quantum Initiative released its yearly report on government support for quantum R&D.

Japan’s Rapidus installed ASML’s EUV lithography equipment at its IIM-1 foundry in Chitose, Hokkaido. The facility, which will produce 2nm chips, is the first in Japan to use EUV lithography for mass production.

MIT engineers developed a new method for creating multi-layered chips that could significantly increase processing performance. This technique allows for stacking layers of high-quality semiconducting material directly on top of each other without the need for bulky silicon wafers, enabling faster communication and computation between layers.

CSIS has issued “Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance” amid growing concern about Chinese hacking private communications. The guidance includes iPhone-specific recommendations as well as general recommendations about using SMS-based MFA, end-to end encrypted communications and more.

Meanwhile, increasing complexity and variation in advanced packaging are forcing chipmakers and OSATs to implement tighter controls and precision.

Quick links to more news:

Global
In-Depth
Markets and Money
Product News
Automotive
Research
Events and Further Reading

In-Depth

Semiconductor Engineering published its Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials newsletter this week, featuring these top stories and special reports:

• NAND Flash Targets 1,000 Layers
• Baby Steps Toward 3D DRAM
• Challenges In Powering Electrification With GaN And SiC

And the Systems & Design newsletter featured these articles:

• Strain, Stress In Advanced Packages Drives New Design Approaches
• Improving Verification Performance
• SLM Evolves Into Critical Aspect Of Chip Design And Operation
• Chip Companies Play Bigger Role In Shaping University Curricula
• RISC-V Profiles Help Conformance

Global

The APECS pilot line for advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration commenced operation. APECS is a joint research effort funded by the EU Chips Act. Fraunhofer IIS is part of the consortium, and is expanding its capabilities for characterization and testing of chiplets and creating advanced functional demonstrators to verify the capabilities of the pilot line. [APECS=Advanced Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration for Electronic Components and Systems.]

The European Commission approved several state investments in semiconductor manufacturing:

• Silicon Box will receive a €1.3 billion (~US$1.3 billion) grant from Italy for the construction of a semiconductor advanced packaging and testing facility.
• Diamond Foundry Europe will receive a €81 million (US$84 million) grant from Spain for a new factory that will produce semiconductor-grade rough synthetic diamond wafers.

Merck is constructing a new Advanced Materials Development Center at its Shizuoka site in Japan, featuring a 4,500 square-meter facility with cleanrooms and advanced laboratories.

The European Space Agency wants to send 7nm RISC-V processors into space. A consortium that includes Frontgrade Gaisler and imec will create radiation-hardened libraries and IP for the project.

The US Department of Commerce imposed a $3.3 million civil penalty against Integra Technologies, a California-based radio frequency and microwave power solutions engineering and manufacturing company, for the company’s transistors and other shipments to Russia, in violation of U.S. export rules.

Markets and Money

KPMG and the Global Semiconductor Alliance surveyed semiconductor executives about their outlook for the industry in 2025. A preview of the report notes a widespread expectation of continued revenue growth, with AI the key driver.

Cadstrom raised $6.8 million in seed funding for its AI-driven validation tools for electronic hardware and PCB design.

Micron issued its latest earning report.  Kioxia listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market.

New team-ups:

• Micromax Informatics and Phison are forming a joint venture called MiPhi to produce NAND storage products for the Indian market, including enterprise, consumer, embedded, AI, and security applications.
• SureCore is teaming up with Sarcina to package its cryogenic chips.

UMC secured a significant advanced packaging order from Qualcomm for high-performance computing (HPC) chips, reports the Economic Daily News. This move marks UMC’s expansion in the advanced packaging sector, challenging TSMC’s dominance in this area.

Research

IBM published two BEOL papers at IEDM. The first focused on advancements and future directions of Cu and post-Cu dual damascene BEOL interconnect technology. The other focused on the development of a post-Cu alternative interconnect technology with reduced RC delay.

Samsung researchers published “Addressing interconnect challenges for enhanced computing performance,” emphasizing the importance of the 3D integration of semiconductors.

A new technical paper titled “Analysis of Thermal Effects According to Channel and Drain Contact Metal Distance” was published by researchers from Ajou University, Seoul National University, et al.

Product News

Siemens Digital Industries Software extended its Veloce hardware-assisted verification platform to support Ethernet Packet Generator and Monitor (EPGM) Ethernet port speeds up to 1.6 Tbps for complex networking designs.

Ansys presented a methodology for using simulation to measure and assess the sustainability impact of decisions made during early design stages and throughout the product lifecycle.

UMC signed a 30-year corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with Fengmiao’s offshore wind farm to purchase more than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy. The agreement is the largest in UMC’s history in support of the company’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

SK hynix introduced a high-capacity SSD product targeted at AI data centers, with up to 61 TB of storage and data transfer speeds u to 32 GT/s.

EQTY Lab, along with Intel and NVIDIA, introduced “Verifiable Compute.” It is a framework for accuracy, transparency and security in AI systems integrated directly into Intel’s 5th Gen Xeon Processors and NVIDIA’s H100/H200 GPUs and forthcoming Blackwell architecture.

Indra selected Keysight’s EW Advanced Simulation Platform to enhance its electronic warfare test and evaluation capabilities.

VeriSilicon uncorked a line of high-performance GPU IP for cloud gaming, AI PC, and both discrete and integrated graphics cards.

S2C debuted a 100M gate FPGA prototyping solution for AI and HPC.

Automotive

IBM surveyed automotive executives about the state of the industry over the next 10 years. The report explores the shift to software-defined vehicles, which is facing both technical and cultural challenges.

U.S. graphite producers are seeking sharp tariff increases on Chinese graphite, alleging dumping violations of the critical material used in EV batteries.

A hydrogen-powered truck traveled 1,806 miles on a single fill of hydrogen fuel, setting a new world’s record.

Infineon introduced a 28nm radar MMIC with an improved signal-to-noise ratio that is designed for autonomous driving and enables cascading of multiple devices at low frequencies. Additionally, Infineon will supply a complete chipset to battery manufacturer Eve Energy as part of a collaboration on automotive battery management systems.

Synopsys and SiMa.ai are teaming up on a solution for automotive companies that combines Synopsys’ EDA tools, auto-grade IP, and hardware-assisted verification solutions with SiMa.ai’s machine learning accelerator IP and software stack.

Ansys and Sony Semiconductor Solutions offered a combined solution for evaluating and verifying the performance of automotive sensors in all weather conditions. It incorporates Ansys’ autonomous vehicle sensor simulation software and Sony’s high dynamic range Image Sensor Model.

Microchip Technology announced a line of CAN FD System Basis Chips with integrated high-speed CAN FD transceiver and 5V LDO.

Events and Further Reading

Find upcoming chip industry events here, including:

Semiconductor Engineering’s latest newsletters:

Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing
Systems and Design
Low Power-High Performance
Test, Measurement and Analytics
Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials