Sony's chip unit (Imaging & Sensing) posted a record high operating profit of ¥154.6 billion (US$980M) in the 2nd quarter, up 12% year-on-year despite sales falling 6% to ¥577.6 billion (US$3.66B), media report, adding Sony's CFO said smartphone demand fell about 20% vs last year, partly because of memory prices. Sony raised the unit's full-year profit forecast to ¥450 billion, up by ¥30 billion. $SONY $TSM #semiconductors#

TSMC plans to invest US$45 billion to build two fabs in Sherman, Texas, media report, adding TSMC declined to comment on the report, which was first published by the Dallas Business Journal. A confidential filing was submitted to the state government for such an investment by an unnamed entity on Nov. 2. Many believe the filing is related to TSMC. Sherman is a popular destination for chip fabs. Texas Instruments announced a $60 billion US investment last year, with around $40 billion of that headed to the town. TI’s first Sherman fab is already up and running, and the fab shell of a 2nd is complete. Space has been set aside for 2 more 12-inch fabs at the campus. $TSM #Texas# #semiconductors#

ASE, the chip packaging & testing giant 3rd quarter highlights, media report: -Raised capex to US$11.5 billion from $10.5 billion; 2027 to be even higher -Forecast 4th quarter revenue +6%-8% from the 3rd -Raised 2026 advanced packaging revenue forecast to US$4 billion from $3.7B revenue, sees figure doubling in 2027. -CPO revenue to top US$500 million in 2027 $ASX #semiconductors#

I spent two days touring Intel’s most advanced fab and talking to its technical leadership to understand what the chips of the future will look like. A lot of what's coming next – gate-all-around transistors, backside power, CFET, hybrid bonding – is hard to follow without actually seeing it, so we made all the awesome animated explainers that I wish I had while I was prepping. I also asked Intel’s leadership how the semiconductor industry will cope with the enormous shock in demand from AI. AI compute has grown 3x a year for the last decade, but according to Intel's CTO, Intel could only double leading-edge wafer production with today’s global stock of chipmaking tools. What kinds of tricks can foundries pull to extend this crossover point where demand surges way ahead of supply? This was a totally new format for us - hope you enjoy! 0:00:00 – Intro 0:00:47 – How Intel brings up a new process node 0:03:22 – What Intel learned from 10nm 0:06:28 – From planar transistors to gate-all-around 0:13:13 – Why High-NA EUV pays off for Intel but not TSMC 0:19:20 – Could chips have evolved completely differently? 0:23:33 – Inside Intel's "Hot Topics" meeting 0:29:30 – Replacing copper wires with ruthenium 0:32:41 – Why stacked transistors take a decade to ship 0:39:45 – Hybrid bonding and the chip-to-chip bottleneck 0:48:00 – There aren't enough tools to 10x chip production 0:53:14 – Can Intel catch up to TSMC? 1:01:02 – Terafab, and rethinking the fab from scratch

Rapidus, Japan’s state-backed chip foundry start-up, expects US hyperscalers and ASIC designers to be key early customers for 2nm mass production when it begins in the 2nd half of 2027 at its Chitose, Japan fab, media report, citing Chairman Tetsuro Higashi. Initial products will be AI and high-performance computing (HPC) chips. Rapidus aims to shorten the design-to-finished wafer cycle time and offer integrated advanced packaging to compete with TSMC.

- SK Hynix is engaging suppliers to improve cooling efficiency for HBM5 production - Reported 30% efficiency gain in iHBM cooling suggests cost and thermal management advancement > SK Hynix is working to enhance thermal efficiency in HBM5 production, which could reduce manufacturing costs and improve product reliability for next-generation AI chips. > This operational improvement suggests the company is positioning itself competitively as HBM demand scales.

This week @elonmusk challenged the industry and @bscholl @boomsupersonic delivered. On Tuesday’s $SPCX earnings call, Elon talked about how to quicken the pace to get power up and running: “Casting is the real bottleneck. And if anything, it seems to be getting worse. So that means that SpaceX can bring power on line 12 to 18 months faster than anyone else. That's the kind of advantage that's difficult to replicate unless someone else is doing advanced casting". Today, Boom announced the world's first all-digital foundry to cast single crystal turbine blades and vanes. Congrats to Blake and the Boom team on the huge milestone. We’re thrilled to be investors in both @boomsupersonic and @SpaceX, solving AI’s biggest bottleneck and reindustrializing America.

According to Korean media reports, Samsung has begun investing in additional equipment to expand capacity at its Taylor foundry Fab 1 by 6,000 wafers per month. This is expected to bring the fab’s total capacity to 20,000 wafers per month in the second half of next year.

China's CCP Game Step 1: seed chaos & instability in West -use TikTok content to create/amplify social division -use fake NGOs to foment protest + disinformation/misinformation -flood cheap Fentanyl to create addiction crisis Step 2: Promote China 'model' as alt to West chaos

Unlike cameras and radar, V2X can detect hazards around corners and beyond line of sight. @Qualcomm V2X chipsets will support nearly all major regional V2X deployments on one platform, including Japan’s 760 MHz standard.

TSMC is now treating China’s rare-earth controls as a threat to the world’s most advanced chip factories. The company has surveyed suppliers on rare-earth-free motors for its factory-automation equipment, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The aim is to reduce the risk that Beijing’s export licences could disrupt production. China put certain rare-earth materials, magnets, and processing technology under controls last year. Those magnets power the motors that move parts inside highly automated fabs. A shortage would hit smartphone, AI, data-center, and defense supply chains. The discussions are still early. No large-scale switch yet. TSMC has not commented. The company that makes the chips everyone else depends on is already looking for an exit from Chinese rare earths.

What about 3nm? TSMC is selling so much 3nm that it's building four new 3nm fabs, but neither Samsung nor Intel seem to be in the game. Samsung announced 3nm production in June 2022. Intel said 3nm mass production began in June 2024.

Exclusive: AI data-center developer SK Hyper is in talks with big tech firms and financial investors to secure funding for an envisioned $350 billion data center buildout in South Korea, joining a global rush to roll out AI infrastructure despite concerns about future demand

TSMC is looking at North Texas as a possible 2nd fab site in the US due to its vast tracts of lower-cost land where TSMC can build multiple mega-factories over the next decade, media report, as well as direct power grid access and mature semiconductor industry hubs nearby in Austin and Dallas. Texas has its own power grid operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), making approvals to connect to the grid faster and easier. Mature chip hubs mean engineering resources, equipment support, materials and other suppliers are already nearby (chip manufacturing infrastructure). $TSM #semiconductors# #Texas# #Arizona#

Taiwan’s 3 big PC motherboard makers plan to raise prices again – 5% to 10% – in the 4th quarter, media report, adding Asustek, Micro-Star (MSI) and Gigabyte all saw shipment momentum rebound due to improving CPU supplies (Intel Arrow Lake and AMD Ryzen 9000) and a recovery in PC client inventory replenishment. The impending price increases, coupled with a double digit increase earlier this year, are expected to lead to a 30% full-year drop in PC motherboard shipments in 2026. $INTC $AMD $DELL $HPQ #Lenovo# #Asustek# #MSI# #Gigabyte#