Chip Industry Week in Review


Intel hired ex-Qualcomm GPU guru Eric Demers for the company's high-performance GPU push, setting the stage for a three-way battle with Nvidia and AMD. The key targets for Intel and AMD will be better power efficiency and a programming model that rivals CUDA, but don't expect Nvidia to stand still. Acquisitions Texas Instruments plans to acquire Silicon Labs for ~$7.5B cash to enhance i... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Big deals and fundings Teradyne and MultiLane are forming a joint venture, MultiLane Test Products (MLTP), to accelerate the development of test solutions for high speed data connections.  Teradyne will be the majority owner. Ricursive Intelligence raised $300M Series A for AI-driven IC design. IonQ plans to acquire SkyWater for ~$1.8B, creating a "vertically integrated full-stack q... » read more

Oxides Bring Low Leakage Transistors To Leading-Edge Memories


AI workloads need to position more memory that uses less power in ever-closer proximity to computational logic. That overriding imperative is driving new memory designs and new materials exploration across a wide range of applications, including cache memory, working memory, as well as a new category, non-volatile memory used for direct computation. The largest of these, by volume, is workin... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Geopolitics Taiwan and the U.S. signed a trade agreement this week, with TSMC and other Taiwanese companies collectively pledging to directly invest at least $250B in investments in advanced semiconductor, energy and AI production and capacity in the U.S.  The agreement also included Taiwan providing another $250B in credit guarantees for additional IC supply chain expansions in the U.S., cap... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


SIA's latest monthly global semiconductor sales report reflects a ~30% YOY increase, hitting a record $75.3B in November 2025. Asia Pacific had a notable 66% increase. Cadence launched its Chiplet Spec-to-Packaged Parts ecosystem to accelerate time to market for chiplet development for physical AI, data centers, and HPC applications. Initial IP partners joining Cadence include Arm, Arteris, ... » read more

Annual Global IC Fabs And Facilities Report


Semiconductor companies announced a significant number of facilities in 2025 as global onshoring efforts continued across manufacturing, materials, packaging, design, and R&D. Investments came from both industry and government sources. Organizations worked together to solve current technology challenges, including soaring demand for AI chips and advanced memory, as well as complex applic... » read more

Chip Industry Technical Paper Roundup: Jan 6


New technical papers recently added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library: [table id=510 /] Find more semiconductor research papers here. » read more

Channel-Last GAA NS Oxide FET (Stanford, TSMC, ETH Zurich et al.)


A new technical paper titled "Channel-last gate-all-around nanosheet oxide semiconductor transistors" was published by researchers at Stanford University, TSMC, ETH Zurich, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Polish Academy of Sciences. Abstract "As we move beyond the era of transistor miniaturization, back-end-of-line-compatible transistors that can be stacked monolithically in the t... » read more

Scalable AI/ML Method For Improved MTJ Performance (UT Austin, TSMC, TDK Headway)


A new technical paper titled "LEAD: Literature Enhanced Ab Initio Discovery of Nitride Dusting Layers for Enhanced Tunnel Magnetoresistance and Lower Resistance Magnetic Tunnel Junctions" was published by researchers at University of Texas at Austin, TSMC, and TDK Headway Technologies Inc. Abstract "Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) using magnesium oxide (MgO) tunnel barriers face challenges... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Space Forge autonomously generated plasma aboard its ForgeStar-1 satellite, utilizing extreme low Earth orbit (LEO) conditions needed for gas-phase crystal growth of wide- and ultra-wide bandgap materials, GaN, SiC, aluminum nitride, and diamonds. Copper prices surged to a historic record of $12,600 per metric ton, an increase of more than 40% YOY, which will impact the cost of data center b... » read more

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