Lasers Are The Heartbeat Of The Optical AI Data Center


Last month we discussed how all interconnects will be optical in the data center in five years, but that's only part of the story. Every optical interconnect needs a laser. The laser provides the carrier, which is modulated and manipulated by the transmitter optical engine through fibers and connectors to the receiver optical engine. Each fiber, connector, and photonics device that the laser... » read more

Startup Funding: Q1 2026


The new year started off with a bang for private semiconductor companies, with 18 garnering mega funding rounds exceeding $100 million, and two, Rapidus and Cerebras, reaching the $1 billion mark. Predictably, the vast majority of those are either designing chips primarily for AI inference workloads or attempting to overcome bandwidth limitations by improving interconnects from the chip level t... » 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 Week in Review


Major Deals: Taiwan-based UMC is exploring possible collaboration with Polar Semiconductor for high-volume production of 8-inch wafers at Polar’s expanded Minnesota fab, a move that could provide domestic manufacturing capacity for automotive, data center, consumer, aerospace, and defense customers. Marvell will acquire Celestial AI for $3.25B, adding photonic fabric technology for o... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Apple plans to increase its U.S. investment by an additional $100 billion over four years, which includes the launch of an advanced manufacturing supply chain program, spurring a number of related chip industry announcements, including: Apple will invest in Amkor's new packaging and test facility in Arizona as its first and largest customer, and Amkor will package and test Apple silicon pr... » read more

Photonics Speeds Up Data Center AI


Photonics is playing an increasingly vital role in the acceleration of AI within data centers. The global market for optical components is already substantial, accounting for $17 billion in revenue last year. Historically, telecommunications — such as undersea cables and fiber-to-the-home — dominated demand. However, the datacom sector, especially AI-driven data centers, now accounts for... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Global chips sales hit a record $56.9 billion in October, a 22% increase versus October 2023, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Also, global semiconductor equipment billings reached $30.38 billion in Q3 2024, a 19% YoY increase and 13% growth QoQ, SEMI reported. TSMC commenced equipment installation for its 2nm fab in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, six months ahead of schedule. The 2n... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Amkor will provide turnkey advanced packaging and test services to TSMC in Amkor's planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, in a deal announced on Thursday. The companies jointly specified the packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) and Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS). President Biden signed into law a bill that exempts some semiconductor projects funded by the U.S.... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


SK hynix and TSMC plan to collaborate on HBM4 development and next-generation packaging technology, with plans to mass produce HBM4 chips in 2026. The agreement is an early indicator for just how competitive, and potentially lucrative, the HBM market is becoming. SK hynix said the collaboration will enable breakthroughs in memory performance with increased density of the memory controller at t... » read more

Money Pours Into New Fabs And Facilities


Fabs, packaging, test and assembly, and R&D all drew major funding in 2023. Companies poured money into offshore locations, such as India and Malaysia, to access a larger workforce and lower costs, while also partnering with governments to secure domestic supply chains amid ongoing geopolitical turmoil. Looking ahead, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and data applications... » read more

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