Chip Industry Week In Review


Global semiconductor sales hit $57.8 billion in November 2024, an increase of 20.7% compared to the same month last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. In U.S. government news: The U.S. Department of Commerce finalized up to $325 million in CHIPS Act funding for Hemlock Semiconductor, which will support construction of a new semiconductor-grade polysilicon manufac... » read more

Startup Funding: Q4 2024


The fourth quarter of 2024 saw five mega-rounds of over $100 million. One of the hottest areas continues to be AI hardware, with one company developing RISC-V AI processor IP bringing in nearly $700 million in the largest round for a chip design startup this year. It was far from the only AI startup, however, as several companies gathered support for neuromorphic designs focused on ultra-low po... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is ramping up R&D for next-gen EUV and plasma-based particle sources, aiming to increase the EUV laser source power by an order of magnitude while also making it more energy-efficient. Specifically, the goal is to replace today's CO2-based laser with a solid-state laser, using a thulium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride medium to increase the laser's powe... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Updated for 12/20 government fundings and 12/23 for China trade investigation announcements. President Biden announced a trade investigation into "China's unfair trade practices in the semiconductor sector."  The announcement stated "PRC semiconductors often enter the U.S. market as a component of finished goods. This Section 301 investigation will examine a broad range of the PRC’s non-m... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


The 2024 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) was held this week, prompting a number of announcements from: imec: Proposed a new CFET-based standard cell architecture for the A7 node containing two rows of CFETs with a shared signal routing wall in between, allowing standard cell heights to be reduced from 4 to 3.5T, compared to single-row CFETs. Integrated indium pho... » 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 Technical Paper Roundup: Nov. 25


New technical papers recently added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library: [table id=386 /] » read more

Direct-To-Chip Liquid-Cooled Data Centers (Binghamton, Nvidia)


A new technical paper titled "Parameters of performance: A deep dive into liquid-to-air CDU assessment" was published by researchers at Binghamton University-SUNY and NVIDIA. Abstract: "The rapid growth in data center workloads and the increasing complexity of modern applications have led to significant contradictions between computational performance and thermal management. Traditional air... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


SK hynix started mass production of 1-terabit  321-high NAND, with availability scheduled for the first half of next year. Rapidus will receive an additional ¥200 billion yen ($1.28B) from the Japanese government beginning in fiscal year 2025, reports Nikkei. This is on top of ¥920 billion yen ($5.98B) Rapidus has already received from the government in support of its goal to reach commer... » read more

FOPLP Gains Traction in Advanced Semiconductor Packaging


Fan-Out Panel-Level Packaging (FOPLP) for advanced nodes, once hindered by manufacturability and yield challenges, is emerging as a promising solution to meet the industry’s demands for higher integration densities and cost efficiency. Traditionally, FOPLP has been a go-to solution for cost-sensitive applications in consumer electronics, IoT devices, and mid-tier automotive systems. Its ab... » read more

← Older posts