The SIA News Roundup is sent out each Friday compiling relevant clips from the week. You can sign up to receive the SIA News Roundup here.
The SIA News Roundup is sent out each Friday compiling relevant clips from the week. You can sign up to receive the SIA News Roundup here.
INDUSTRY/MARKET
One Reason the U.S. Can’t Quit China? Chips. NYT John Neuffer, the president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents the chip industry, said in a statement that the ongoing escalation of controls posed a significant risk to the global competitiveness of the U.S. industry. “China is the world’s largest market for semiconductors, and our companies simply need to do business there to continue to grow, innovate and stay ahead of global competitors,” he said. “We urge solutions that protect national security, avoid inadvertent and lasting damage to the chip industry, and avert future escalations.”
Electronics Weekly “Despite continuing market sluggishness compared to 2022, month-to-month global semiconductor sales inched upward in May for the third consecutive month, sparking optimism for a possible market rebound during the second half of the year,” says SIA CEO John Neuffer.
European growth leads a turn in the global chip market EE News Europe The latest figures from the from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) report that the global chip market was worth US$40.74 billion in May on a three-month averaged basis, down 21.1 percent on the US$51.65 billion it was worth a year before.
Governments Begin To Shape Metrology Directions Semiconductor Engineering Over the past two decades, the U.S. share of worldwide semiconductor manufacturing declined to 12%, a substantial decrease from the 37% share the country held in 1990, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). |
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CHINA
China’s Huawei poised to overcome US ban with return of 5G phones, research firms say Reuters China’s Huawei Technologies is plotting a return to the 5G smartphone industry by the end of this year, according to research firms, signaling a comeback after a U.S. ban on equipment sales decimated its consumer electronics business.
China’s chip imports slump in first half as US sanctions and ongoing tech war take a toll on trade South China Morning Post China’s imports of integrated circuits (ICs) slumped 18.5 per cent in the first six months of 2023 from a year earlier by volume, according to newly released customs data, at a time when the US and its allies are continuing to restrict China’s access to advanced chips and technologies.
China’s semiconductor talent supply faces structural imbalance DigiTimes Asia As the global semiconductor industry faces a shortage of talent, latest survey has exposed an even more pronounced talent shortage in China’s semiconductor manufacturing sector. |
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TRADE
U.S. should reach minerals deal with EU this year, U.S. official says Reuters The United States is “well positioned” to reach a deal with the European Union before the end of 2023 to allow critical minerals mined or processed in Europe to qualify for U.S. clean vehicle tax breaks, a senior U.S. treasury official said on Monday. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGY
New material could hold key to reducing energy consumption in computers and electronics Science Daily A University of Minnesota Twin Cities team has, for the first time, synthesized a thin film of a unique topological semimetal material that has the potential to generate more computing power and memory storage while using significantly less energy.
Semiconductor Engineering With the fast growth of the number of electronic devices on the internet of things (IoT), hardware-based security primitives such as physically unclonable functions (PUFs) have emerged to overcome the shortcomings of conventional software-based cryptographic technology. |
SIA NEWSGlobal Semiconductor Sales Increase 1.7% Month-to-Month in May Press Release “Despite continuing market sluggishness compared to 2022, month-to-month global semiconductor sales inched upward in May for the third consecutive month, sparking optimism for a possible market rebound during the second half of the year,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETIndia aims to produce first semiconductors within 18 months Financial Times India will break ground on its first semiconductor assembly plant next month and begin producing the country’s first domestically manufactured microchips by the end of 2024, according to a senior government official who is overseeing New Delhi’s $10bn chipmaking foray.
Japan arms itself for global chip wars with $6.4bn state-backed deal Financial Times JSR, the Tokyo-based company that controls a critical link in the global semiconductor supply chain, will use a $6.4bn government-backed take-private deal to strengthen Japan’s arsenal in the US-China chip wars. |
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CHINAUS set to restrict China’s access to cloud computing, Wall Street Journal reports Reuters The new rule, if adopted, would likely require U.S. cloud-service providers such as Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) to seek U.S. government permission before they provide cloud-computing services that use advanced artificial-intelligence chips to Chinese customers, the newspaper said.
China hits out at US ‘coercion’ after Dutch move to curb chip gear exports South China Morning Post Beijing has accused Washington of coercing other countries to curb semiconductor supplies to China after the Netherlands announced new restrictions on exports of some chip-making equipment.
China chipmakers line up $8bn via IPOs in comeback from U.S. curbs Nikkei Asia Chinese semiconductor manufacturers expect to raise over $8 billion from stock market listings so far this year, looking to expand output capacity to bounce back from a market downturn and U.S. export curbs.
China imposes export controls on rare minerals used to make semiconductor chips The Hill The Chinese government on Monday announced new limits on the exportation of two rare metals necessary for the production of semiconductors and electric vehicles. |
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TRADEChina, EU & USMCA all on tap Politico Until just a few years ago, China was easily the largest U.S. trading partner, at least where individual countries were concerned. But it’s fallen to third place behind Mexico and Canada, as the result of the increased trade friction that began in the Trump administration and prompted companies to diversify their supply chains.
EU, Japan Sign MOU on Semiconductors EE Times Europe European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura signed today (July 4) a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on semiconductors.
UK-US: What’s happened to their free trade deal? DW US President Joe Biden’s upcoming European trip, where he will be popping in to see UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will no doubt reinforce the optics of the “special relationship,” but simultaneously conceal the underlying fact that London needs Washington far more than vice versa. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYCutting edge transistors for semiconductors of the future Science Daily Transistors that can change properties are important elements in the development of tomorrow’s semiconductors. With standard transistors approaching the limit for how small they can be, having more functions on the same number of units becomes increasingly important in enabling the development of small, energy-efficient circuits for improved memory and more powerful computers.
Phys.Org The fast switching and modulation of light is at the heart, among other things, of modern data transfer, in which information is sent through fiber optic cables in the shape of modulated light beams. It has been possible for several years now to miniaturize light modulators and to integrate them into chips, but the light sources themselves—light emitting diodes (LEDs) or lasers—still pose problems to engineers.
Improved Thermal Conductivity in Semiconductors: Heat Transfer Using Surface Plasmon Polaritons SciTechDaily Engineers have made a significant breakthrough in thermal management of semiconductors by discovering a new heat transfer mode using surface plasmon polaritons (SPP). This novel method enhances heat dispersion by 25% and could be vital in addressing overheating issues in miniaturized semiconductor devices. |
SIA NEWSNew Assessment Identifies Opportunities for Strengthening India’s Role in Semiconductor Ecosystem Blog Post SIA has long supported efforts to strengthen U.S.-India collaboration in the semiconductor supply chain. A new initial assessment—commissioned by SIA and the India Electronics Semiconductor Association (IESA) and authored by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)—finds that India brings significant strengths to the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem.
SIA Welcomes Progress Toward Selection of National Semiconductor Technology Center Leadership Press Release “Today’s announcement marks good progress toward standing up the National Semiconductor Technology Center, a centerpiece of the historic CHIPS and Science Act enacted last year to reinvigorate domestic chip production and innovation. The selection committee members’ deep and varied experience makes them well-positioned to appoint a strong board of trustees that will ensure effective and efficient NSTC implementation. We look forward to working with the NSTC selection committee, the eventual board of trustees, and Secretary Raimondo and other leaders in the Commerce Department to ensure the CHIPS and Science Act provides maximum return on investment for America’s economy, national security, and supply chain resilience.” |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETOhio State University preparing students to fill shortage in semiconductor workforce Fox Business Across the country, manufacturers have already announced plans for new semiconductor infrastructure projects that could be partially funded with CHIPS Act subsidies. More than 50 new projects have been announced since the act was introduced, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Board of Trustees for the National Semiconductor Technology Center selected Gas World According to the US Semiconductor Ecosystem Map, released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in March (2023), over $210bn of new private investments have been announced across 19 states since spring 2020.
A.I. could ‘remove all human touchpoints’ in supply chains. Here’s what that means CNBC Artificial intelligence is likely to shake up the transportation industry — transforming how supply chains are managed and reducing the number of jobs carried out by people, according to analysts and industry insiders. |
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CHINAU.S.-China tech battle entering its ‘primetime’ — and generative A.I. could be the next frontier CNBC
China’s Cloud Computing Firms Raise Concern for U.S. NYT In the digital cold war between the United States and China, American officials are increasingly turning their attention to a new target: Chinese cloud computing giants.
South China Morning Post China has been pushing for membership in a high-level Asia-Pacific trade and investment pact and will step up efforts to attract foreign investment, according to the country’s top trade negotiator. |
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TRADEUS-India: Major critical technology collaborations for the future Financial Express In the overall scope of semiconductor industry, the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association and India Electronics Semiconductor Association released an interim readiness assessment to identify near-term industry opportunities and facilitate the long-term strategic development of complementary semiconductor ecosystems.
US House approves Taiwan trade deal Taipei Times The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the first agreement under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, sending it to the US Senate where it is expected to be ratified.
U.S.-India relations enter a new chapter and could unlock even more tech and defense deals CNBC U.S.-India relations entered a new chapter as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden announced a slew of technology and defense deals.
US to push India to join Indo-Pacific Economic Framework trade pillar CNBC Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to hold talks with US President Joe Biden on improving trade ties, deepening tech and defence cooperation as well as on the future of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYBetter Choreography Required For Complex Chips Semiconductor Engineering The rapidly growing number of features and options in chip design are forcing engineering teams to ratchet up their planning around who does what, when it gets done, and how various components will interact.
Large-scale plasma etching technology for mass production of next-generation 2D semiconductors Tech Xplore A large-scale (4-inch), highly uniform, and defect-free plasma etching technology, which will likely become the foundation of the industrial supply of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a next-generation two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor, has been developed.
Semiconductor Lasers Hit Steel-Slicing Levels IEEE Spectrum Semiconductor lasers, unlike bulky gas lasers and fiber lasers, are tiny, energy efficient, and highly controllable. The one thing they can’t do is deliver their competitor’s steel-slicing brightness. |
INDUSTRY/MARKETHow chip makers can get $24 billion in new US tax credits Yahoo Finance The US has fallen behind places like Taiwan in recent decades, especially in the making of the most advanced chips. A recent report from the Semiconductor Industry Association found that 0% of the world’s most advanced logic semiconductors were manufactured in the US in 2019.
With $1.4 billion investment, Texas hopes to sprint to the front of the microchip manufacturing race The Texas Tribune Semiconductor companies have already promised $215 billion in investments and the creation of 40,000 jobs across the country in response to the federal CHIPS Act, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Sixty billion of these investments will land in Texas, where six projects that will create 8,000 jobs in the sector have already been announced. Texas is the second state with the most planned projects, after Arizona.
Singapore warns U.S., EU chip subsidies will ‘drive up costs’ Politico Singapore is worried that the massive subsidies Washington and Brussels are about to spend on new microchip projects will upset a “finely balanced” global market.
How AI can overcome three common supply chain challenges Fierce Electronics In the realm of supply chain management, surmounting obstacles is paramount to ensuring smooth operations and sustained prosperity. Enter artificial intelligence (AI), which is revolutionizing the way enterprises address three prevalent hurdles: port congestion, freight rate instability, and demand forecasting. |
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CHINACramer says China faces challenges now that the U.S. market for A.I. chips is expanding CNBC CNBC’s Jim Cramer discussed on Wednesday the challenges China is facing now that the U.S. market for chips used by artificial intelligence software is ramping up.
Exclusive: Xi Jinping tells Bill Gates he welcomes U.S. AI tech in China Reuters Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the global rise of artificial intelligence with Bill Gates on Friday and said he welcomed U.S. firms including Microsoft bringing their AI tech to China, two sources familiar with the talks said.
South China Morning Post The speed at which computers can perform complex calculations and process data has become so blazingly fast that keeping up with the ever-expanding limits of computing power is a critical component in the economic rivalries between nations. |
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TRADEUS to remove obstacles to defence, high-tech trade with India, NSA adviser Sullivan says Reuters The United States is set to remove obstacles that prevent smoother trade with India in critical areas such as defence and high technology, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
EU moves forward with Critical Minerals Agreement negotiations with the US European Commission Today, the European Commission has adopted its negotiating directives for a Critical Minerals Agreement (CMA) with the United States. The objective is to foster EU-US supply chains in critical raw materials needed in the production of electric vehicle batteries. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYThe Semiconductor Industry’s Most Important Tool Goes Green IEEE Spectrum In the complex quest to keep increasing the density of transistors, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is the most critical tool. Costing more than US $100 million, these trailer-size systems bounce near x-ray wavelength light off a complex cascade of mirrors and onto silicon wafers to create patterns with nanometer-scale precision.
A scalable method to create ferroelectric FETs based on AlScN and 2D semiconductors Phys.org A key objective in the electronics engineering field is to develop transistors and other electronic components that are increasingly compact and efficient, utilizing readily available processes and materials.
Smart Manufacturing Makes Gains In Chip Industry Semiconductor Engineering Lights out manufacturing is gaining steam across the semiconductor industry, accelerating productivity, improving quality, and reducing costs and environment impact. |
SIA NEWSGlobal Semiconductor Sales Increase 0.3% Month-to-Month in April Press Release “The global semiconductor market remains in a cyclical downturn, exacerbated by sluggish macroeconomic conditions, but month-to-month sales ticked up for the second consecutive month in April, perhaps foreshadowing a continued rebound in the months ahead,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “The latest industry forecast projects a double-digit dip in global chip sales for 2023, followed by a strong rebound in 2024.” |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETGlobal chip sales dropped more than 20% in April, but 2024 rebound expected Market Watch “The global semiconductor market remains in a cyclical downturn, exacerbated by sluggish macroeconomic conditions, but month-to-month sales ticked up for the second consecutive month in April, perhaps foreshadowing a continued rebound in the months ahead,” said SIA Chief Executive John Neuffer in a statement.
Tech Hubs competition begins under CHIPS Act funding Electronics 360 The Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs) competition has been launched by the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC), a funding opportunity program authorized under the CHIPS and Science Act.
You can now become a semiconductor technician in just 10 days Quartz Chipmakers are expected to hire more than 20,000 people in Arizona in the coming years, according to Maricopa Community College officials. The mean annual salary for a semiconductor processing technician in the US is $48,370.
NIST unveils new leadership team to drive semiconductor innovation Nextgov The National Institute of Standards and Technology has compiled a new team of leaders to help spearhead federal research and development efforts that aim to boost U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing. |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post The global semiconductor market is still grappling with a cyclical downturn exacerbated by macroeconomic headwinds. In April, the chip industry saw its total sales drop 21.6 per cent year on year to US$40.0 billion, according to data released on Tuesday by the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association.
CNBC Industry analysts are optimistic that Chinese chip makers will develop their own advanced semiconductors despite Washington’s attempts to cut the country off from accessing or manufacturing the technology.
South China Morning Post The central business district of the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen has announced new measures to support semiconductor companies that range from cheaper rent to cash subsidies worth up to 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million), as part of the central government’s pursuit of technological self-sufficiency amid an escalating rivalry with the US. |
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TRADEBiden and UK’s Sunak sign ‘Atlantic Declaration,’ pledging agreements on A.I. and critical minerals CNBC Despite a U.S.-U.K. trade deal remaining very much elusive, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Joe Biden signed a new “Atlantic Declaration” aiming to bolster economic security in the face of threats coming from Russia and China. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYBuilding 2D semiconductors with nanopulse lasers for low cost sensors EE News Europe The €1.2m project on ‘Pulsed Laser Annealing of 2D Semiconductors for Nanoelectronics’ aims to substantially increase the scalability, functionality, performance, and energy efficiency of electronic devices while keeping full compatibility with existing mass production technologies. |
SIA NEWSCoalition Urges Congress to Fund R&D, Workforce Initiatives Blog Post Funding for critical research and education is an investment in our future competitiveness. Our country will reap the benefits of this investment for generations to come … Innovation has driven significant growth over the last 50 years with America’s GDP growing from $550 billion to more than $23 trillion. Federal research funding is a down payment on our nation’s future success. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETForeign Policy “What happens with a lot of these companies is they try to hire in the U.S., they strike out with the H-1B two cycles in a row, and then they have the same job but they have to go do it somewhere else,” said Eric Breckenfeld, director of technology policy at the SIA. “It’s just a drain on efficiency. There’s no reason that it needs to happen.”
A semiconductor workforce shortage is on the horizon. Ohio higher education wants to fix that. WOSU A 2022 report by financial advisor Deloitte estimates the U.S. semiconductor workforce will be short by 70,000 to 90,000 people in the coming years. The Semiconductor Industry Association takes a more conservative approach in saying the expanding supply chain will create upwards of 40,000 new jobs, but that’s still a lot of help wanted signs.
Senators urge Commerce to prioritize national security in chips funding Reuters Two key U.S. senators said on Thursday they want the Commerce Department to prioritize national and economic decisions in awarding $39 billion in semiconductor manufacturing subsidies rather than using the funds to aid ailing companies. |
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CHINAAlibaba begins rollout of its ChatGPT-style tech as China A.I. race heats up CNBC Alibaba on Thursday began rolling out its ChatGPT-style technology as Chinese tech giants look to take a lead in the country’s artificial intelligence race.
China Telecom establishes quantum technology group Reuters China Telecom (0728.HK) has invested 3 billion yuan ($434 million) to establish the China Telecom Quantum Information Technology Group Co., it said in a statement on its official WeChat account Tuesday.
Chinese tech entrepreneurs keen to ‘de-China’ as tensions with US soar Reuters For the ambitious Chinese tech entrepreneur, expanding into the U.S. just keeps getting harder. Before 2019, there were few major impediments to having a Chinese company that did business in the U.S. from China. |
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TRADEU.S. and Taiwan ink trade deal as China issues warning The Japan Times The United States and Taiwan signed a trade deal on Thursday aimed at deepening economic relations between both sides — a move that has sparked a warning from Beijing.
IPEF nations agree to strengthen supply chains at Detroit meeting Nikkei Asia The U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework wrapped up a meeting on Saturday, with trade ministers agreeing to a deal to strengthen supply chains for essential materials such as chips and critical minerals to reduce dependence on China.
UK has no plans to strike US trade deal during Rishi Sunak visit to Washington Financial Times Rishi Sunak is set to ignore calls to secure a UK-US trade deal when he visits Washington next week for a bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYResearchers find a way to reduce the overheating of semiconductor devices Phy.Org The demand to shrink the size of semiconductors coupled with the problem of the heat generated at the hot spots of the devices not being effectively dispersed has negatively affected the reliability and durability of modern devices.
Developing Semiconductor Materials for Harsh Environments AZO Nano Harsh environments like high temperature, extreme pressure and corrosive or oxidizing atmospheres significantly impact the performance of semiconductor materials. This article discusses the challenges of developing high-performance semiconductor materials for harsh environments.
ALD-Oxide Semiconductors: Summary, Benefits And Challenges Semiconductor Engineering A technical paper titled “Atomic layer deposition for nanoscale oxide semiconductor thin film transistors: review and outlook” was published by researchers at Hanyang University. |
SIA NEWSSIA Supports Holistic Approach to Implementing CHIPS Act’s Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit Blog Post As part of our ongoing effort to provide input to government leaders during the implementation of this critical new law, SIA today submitted comments on the proposed rule of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department to implement the CHIPS Act “advanced manufacturing investment credit.”
SIA Urges Balanced Approach to Implementation of CHIPS Act ‘Guardrails’ Blog Post As part of our ongoing effort to provide input to government leaders during the implementation of this critical new law, SIA today filed public comments in response to the Department of Commerce’s proposed regulations to implement the CHIPS Act “guardrails,” which place certain restrictions on companies that receive CHIPS manufacturing incentives.
Blog Post SIA and Arizona State University this week hosted the first North America Semiconductor Conference (NASC), a new trilateral endeavor between the governments, academic institutions, and private sectors of Mexico, Canada, and the United States. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETWhite House Press Release The three governments organized the first North America Semiconductor Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 18-19 with the support of the Semiconductor Industry Association and Arizona State University.
Inaugural North American Semiconductor Conference Held in Washington D.C. Supply Chain Brain “NASC holds great promise as a critical platform to help re-balance the global semiconductor supply chain and bring more manufacturing, assembly, test, packaging and design to the North America region,” wrote Rina Pal-Goetzen, director of Global Policy at SIA, in a blog post. “SIA looks forward to playing a collaborative role as this important new effort progresses in the months and years ahead.”
EU’s New Monitoring System Aims to Secure Semiconductor Supply Chain ElectroPages As the world’s semiconductor supply slowly stabilises after the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world continue to invest in local foundries to try and prevent future supply chain challenges. Now, the EU has announced that it will be piloting a new monitoring system that will look for weaknesses in the semiconductor supply chain. |
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CHINAAt APEC trade meeting, union leaders call for new ‘balance’ with China Reuters U.S. trade policy with China and other nations must strike a more equitable balance between needs of workers and corporate profits, leaders of two big U.S. unions said at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers meeting on Thursday.
G7 urged to deliver on no-decoupling pledge China Daily “Access to this massive (Chinese) market is essential for the success of any globally competitive chip firm today and in the future,” the Semiconductor Industry Association, a Washington-based group that represents the US chip sector, said in a report.
Japan to tighten controls on semiconductor exports to China The Japan Times The government will launch, in July at the earliest, tighter regulations on the export to China of manufacturing equipment for cutting-edge semiconductors, which are essential to the development of supercomputers and artificial intelligence. |
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TRADEJapan and US to commit to closer chip cooperation in joint statement Reuters Japan and the United States will issue a joint statement on technology cooperation on Friday that will commit them to closer cooperation in research and development of advanced chips and other technologies, a Japanese government source said.
U.S. pumps the brakes on EU clean car deal Politico The European Union has been pressing for a more flexible agreement on the critical minerals used in electric car batteries that won’t require the time-consuming approval of its 27 member countries. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYA brief history of gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors EDN Gallium nitride (GaN) and its wide bandgap cousin silicon carbide (SiC) have started to disrupt power electronics. Ironically, just a few years ago, GaN was considered useless as a semiconductor, mainly because GaN is a highly imperfect crystal.
Chips Getting More Secure, But Not Quickly Enough Semiconductor Engineering Awareness about potential vulnerabilities is increasing, but so is the complexity with heterogeneous integration and the increased reliance on semiconductors in critical applications.
Chip-based quantum key distribution achieves higher transmission speeds Phys.Org Researchers have developed a quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on integrated photonics that can transmit secure keys at unprecedented speeds. The proof-of-principle experiments represent an important step toward real-world application of this highly secure communication method. |
INDUSTRY/MARKETAmerica’s Semiconductor Boom Faces a Challenge: Not Enough Workers NYT More than 50 new facility projects have been announced since the CHIPS Act was introduced, and private companies have pledged more than $210 billion in investments, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Experts push Congress for more high skilled immigrants to compete with China AXIOS More than five dozen experts, including former national security officials, are asking the House China Select Committee to address “immigration bottlenecks” for international science and engineering graduate students and workers, according to a copy of a letter viewed by Axios.
Britain launches $1.2 billion semiconductor plan after U.S. and EU splurge on chips CNBC The U.K. on Friday announced up to £1 billion ($1.24 billion) of support for its semiconductor industry, seeking to boost its domestic chipmaking capabilities and prevent further disruptions to supply after cries for help from bosses at some of the country’s leading firms.
Europe must lead in semiconductor manufacturing: EU Commissioner Computer World Europe must manufacture its own cutting-edge chips or risk being left to build old-style chips, said EU Commissioner Thierry Breton during a keynote speech to semiconductor companies this week. |
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CHINARepublicans skeptical of Schumer plan on China Axios Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he wants Republicans to help Democrats craft an ambitious plan to help the U.S. fight off competition from China — but so far, his calls for bipartisanship are falling flat.
‘De-Americanize’: How China Is Remaking Its Chip Business NYT Last October, construction plans for a hulking semiconductor factory owned by a major state-backed company in central China fell into disarray. The Biden administration had escalated the trade war over technology, severing China’s access to the Western tools and skilled workers it needed to build the most advanced semiconductors.
South China Morning Post China’s growing demand for semiconductors used in electric vehicles, high-end servers in data centres and artificial intelligence applications provides a vast opportunity for RISC-V processors to flourish, according to a proponent of the open-source, royalty-free chip design, even as integrated circuits (ICs) built on proprietary Arm and x86 architectures continue to dominate the global market. |
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TRADEUS and Taiwan draw closer with new trade pact opposed by China CNN
US-led trade talks with 14 countries, including India, close to reaching supply chains pact The Economic Times Fourteen countries in US-led Indo-Pacific trade talks are nearing an agreement on supply chain coordination and may announce a deal as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Rishi Sunak to unveil semiconductor partnership with Japan Financial Times Rishi Sunak will announce a “semiconductors partnership” with the Japanese government during a visit to Tokyo on Thursday as the UK seeks to reduce geopolitical risk by diversifying its chip supply chain. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYPushing the Limits: Testing Higher-Power Next-Gen Semiconductors EE Times The ever-evolving landscape of technology requires increasingly higher-power semiconductors, presenting a host of challenges for engineers in the field.
Challenges Grow For Creating Smaller Bumps For Flip Chips Semiconductor Engineering New bump structures are being developed to enable higher interconnect densities in flip-chip packaging, but they are complex, expensive, and increasingly difficult to manufacture. |
SIA NEWS
Press Release “Semiconductor sales continued to slip during the first quarter of 2023 due to market cyclicality and macroeconomic headwinds, but month-to-month sales were up in March for the first time in nearly a year, providing optimism for a rebound in the months ahead,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETNearshoring Mitigates Counterfeit Component Risks EE Times More broadly, counterfeit parts can negatively impact the U.S. economy. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, counterfeiting costs U.S.-based semiconductor companies more than $7.5 billion per year, which translates into nearly 11,000 lost American jobs.
A.I. will cause ‘significant labor-market disruption’ over next 5 years, says World Economic Forum Fortune Global labor markets are poised for a new era of turbulence as technologies like artificial intelligence accelerate the decline of clerical work, while simultaneously increasing demand for technology and cybersecurity specialists. |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post Beijing has hit out again at the US’s efforts to boost its semiconductor industry via subsidies under the Chips and Science Act, saying that the actions manifest a “Cold War mentality” and severely disrupt the global chip supply chain.
South China Morning Post A state-backed Chinese semiconductor trade group said Japan’s recent move to expand restrictions on exports of advanced chip-making technology would “bring even greater uncertainties” to the global chip industry. |
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TRADEUS-Taiwan trade negotiations should be updated ‘soon’, White House official says South China Morning Post US President Joe Biden’s top trade official said on Wednesday that an update on a Washington-Taipei trade facilitation initiative should be expected “soon” and touted the administration’s efforts to reduce reliance on “certain countries” for critical minerals – an apparent reference to mainland China.
South China Morning Post A US trade official said he expects to discuss China’s “economic coercion” in a coming round of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) talks in Detroit this month. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYML Automotive Chip Design Takes Off Semiconductor Engineering Machine learning is increasingly being deployed across a wide swath of chips and electronics in automobiles, both for improving reliability of standard parts and for the creation of extremely complex AI chips used in increasingly autonomous applications.
World’s smallest LED will convert your phone camera into a microscope Interesting Engineering A team of researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) has developed a silicon LED that can help convert the camera of the mobile phone in your hand into a high-resolution microscope.
Data Leakage Becoming Bigger Issue For Chipmakers Semiconductor Engineering Data leakage is becoming more difficult to stop or even trace as chips become increasingly complex and heterogeneous, and as more data is stored and utilized by chipmakers for other designs. |
SIA NEWS
SIA Welcomes Commerce Department Action to Advance National Semiconductor Technology Center Press Release “Today’s action represents a valuable step forward for implementation of the National Semiconductor Technology Center, a cornerstone of the landmark CHIPS and Science Act signed into law last year. While we are still reviewing the details set forth in the Commerce Department’s white paper, we are encouraged it reflects industry leaders’ input and recommendations, including those outlined in SIA’s recent report on semiconductor research. We look forward to continuing to work with Secretary Raimondo, others in the Commerce Department, and the future leadership of the NSTC itself to ensure the new law is implemented in a way that maximizes its return on investment and turbocharges U.S. semiconductor production and innovation for many years to come.” |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETCommerce Dept. Outlines Plans to Fund Cutting-Edge Chip Research NYT The Biden administration outlined plans on Tuesday to propel research on the type of cutting-edge microchips needed to power computers, cars and other devices, saying it would establish a new national organization with locations in various parts of the United States.
Tata ready to buy its way into semiconductors: report EE News Europe During the interview Chandrasekaran confirmed the group’s plan to manufacture semiconductors in India (see Tata plans to make semiconductors in India) but said it may take a little time. He indicated that Tata will start with assembly and packaging of ICs (see Tata in talks over $300 million Indian chip packaging factory). |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post Shanghai’s municipal government has vowed to provide up to 100 million yuan (US$14.45 million) to shore up investments in semiconductors, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence (AI), amid the country’s growing technological rivalry with the US.
China pumps $7bn into upgrading chip supply chain Nikkei Asia Chinese chipmaking suppliers and state-backed funds plan to spend an estimated 50 billion yuan ($7.26 billion) to strengthen the domestic supply chain as the U.S. curbs tech exports. |
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TRADEUS-led IPEF does not conflict with other trade pacts -USTR’s Tai Reuters U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Tuesday the Biden administration’s signature Asian engagement project called the IPEF is designed to create no conflict with other trade agreements in the region, where China is expanding its clout.
US-EU Critical Minerals Deal Would Give EU Broader Trade Relief Bloomberg An agreement between the US and the European Union over critical minerals would unlock wider benefits than previously thought, with a deal paving the way to remove several more trade barriers introduced by President Joe Biden’s massive green subsidy law, according to people familiar with the matter. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYD2X Tool Paves Easier Way To Get Bugs Out Of Programming Languages India Education Diary Sometime in 2019, MIT PhD student Ajay Brahmakshatriya formulated a simple, though still quite challenging, goal. He wanted to make it possible for people who had expertise in a particular domain — such as climate modeling, bioinformatics, or architecture — to write their own programming languages, so-called domain-specific languages (or DSLs), even if they had little or no experience in creating programming languages. |
SIA NEWS
Press Release R&D is the driving force behind semiconductor innovations that have advanced modern technology and made the world smarter, more efficient, and better connected. U.S. semiconductor companies invest an average of one-fifth of their revenues in R&D annually, among the largest shares of any sector. Restoring the longstanding policy of allowing the immediate, full deduction of R&D investments would help expand U.S.-based R&D and innovation, spur economic growth and job creation, and strengthen America’s tech workforce. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETUS manufacturing commitments double after Biden subsidies launched Financial Times Companies have committed more than $200bn to US manufacturing projects since Congress passed sweeping subsidies last year, as president Joe Biden’s effort to spark a new industrial revolution gains momentum.
EU takes on United States, Asia with chip subsidy plan Reuters The European Union on Tuesday agreed a 43 billion euro ($47 billion) plan for its semiconductor industry in an attempt to catch up with the United States and Asia and start a green industrial revolution. |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post China’s Guangdong province is doubling down on expanding its local semiconductor industry to meet growing demand for chips from the region’s carmakers and electronics companies, according to a high-ranking local government official.
China aiming for ‘global technological supremacy’, British cyber chief says Reuters China is aiming for “global technological supremacy” in cyberspace and is using its cyber capabilities to conduct intelligence and surveillance campaigns, Britain’s cyber chief said on Wednesday. |
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TRADEChina, Brazil agree to cooperate on semiconductors as geopolitical worries continue Seeking Alpha The Chinese and Brazilian governments on Friday signed a number of memorandum of understandings, including one designed to see both countries cooperate on semiconductors.
No deal yet on EU critical minerals Politico The U.S. and European Union are still hammering out the details of their critical minerals agreement, even as leaders on both sides seem eager to reach a speedy resolution, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYQuantum Light Source Fully Integrated On A Chip Semiconductor Engineering Integrated photonics has recently become a leading platform for the realization and processing of optical entangled quantum states in compact, robust and scalable chip formats, with applications in long-distance quantum-secured communication, quantum-accelerated information processing and nonclassical metrology.
Nanoimprint Finally Finds Its Footing Semiconductor Engineering Nanoimprint lithography, which for decades has trailed behind traditional optical lithography, is emerging as the technology of choice for the rapidly growing photonics and biotech chips markets.
Smarter Ways To Manufacture Chips Semiconductor Engineering OSAT and wafer fabs are beginning to invest in Industry 4.0 solutions in order to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs, but it’s a complicated process that involves setting up frameworks to evaluate different options and goals. |
INDUSTRY/MARKETUS works with allies abroad to develop semiconductor policies Fox News “Our goal is not to totally onshore our supply chain. It’s too big, too sophisticated. We can’t do it all at home,” Neuffer said. “We must also work with global partners to increase production, partners like Mexico and Canada, like-minded economies in Southeast Asia and in Europe to reinforce our global supply chain.”
February chip sales down 21% globally, down 14% in Americas Fierce Electronics Despite the decline, Semiconductor Industry Association CEO John Neuffer said the long-term prospects for chip sales remain “bright thanks to growing demand across a range of end markets.” SIA reported in March that chip sales for all of 2022 actually increased for automotive and industrial as well as for broad category of consumer products despite a downturn for chips for PCs and computers. |
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CHINABrazil paves way for semiconductor cooperation with China Reuters China and Brazil agreed on Friday to set up a working group to pursue cooperation on semiconductors as the South American nation strengthens ties with Beijing in areas of sensitive technology.
AI: China tech giant Alibaba to roll out ChatGPT rival BBC Chinese technology giant Alibaba has announced plans to roll out its own artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT-style product called Tongyi Qianwen. |
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TRADERishi Sunak presses Joe Biden for a trade deal — just not the one the UK wants most Politico The Biden and Sunak administrations are edging toward a narrow trade pact on critical minerals — used to make everything from electric vehicles to solar panels, flatscreen TVs and pacemakers — as Biden visits the U.K. to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Indonesia to propose limited free trade deal with US on critical minerals Reuters Indonesia will propose a free trade agreement for some minerals shipped to the United States so that companies in the electric vehicle battery supply chain operating in the country can benefit from U.S. tax credits, a senior minister said on Monday. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYPower Semiconductor Devices: Thermal Management And Packaging Semiconductor Engineering A technical paper titled “Thermal management and packaging of wide and ultra-wide bandgap power devices: a review and perspective” was published by researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and Univ Lyon, CNRS.
How Curvilinear Mask Writing Affects Chip Design Semiconductor Engineering As chips become more complex and features continue to shrink, it becomes more difficult to print shapes on photomasks. |
SIA NEWS
Global Semiconductor Sales Decrease 4% Month-to-Month in February Press Release “Global semiconductor sales continued to slow in February, decreasing year-to-year and month-to-month for the sixth consecutive month,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Short-term market cyclicality and macroeconomic headwinds have led to cooling sales, but the market’s medium- and long-term prospects remain bright, thanks to growing demand across a range of end markets.” |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETOnshoring Boom Strengthens U.S Semiconductor Ecosystem Design News Recently, the SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association) published its first U.S. Semiconductor Ecosystem Map, which provides a comprehensive guide to various locations where research and development, IP and chip design software providers, semiconductor fabrication, and suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and suppliers are located.
Where the US semiconductor industry operates Quartz Data on where all these operations take place are collected by the Semiconductor Industry Association. Mapping these locations reveals that research and manufacturing of semiconductors happens in almost every US state.
Global Semiconductor Sales Down 4% in February EE Times Asia Global semiconductor industry sales totaled $39.7 billion during the month of February 2023, down by 4% compared to the January 2023 total of $41.3 billion and 20.7% less than the February 2022 total of $50 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
Exclusive: EU Chips Act likely to get green light on April 18 -sources Reuters The European Union’s 43 billion euro ($47 billion) plan to boost its semiconductor industry and catch up with the United States and Asia is likely to get the green light from EU countries and lawmakers on April 18, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. |
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CHINAChina’s chip industry will be ‘reborn’ under U.S. sanctions, Huawei says, claiming breakthrough CNBC China’s chip industry will be “reborn” as a result of U.S. sanctions, a top boss at Huawei said Friday, as the Chinese telecommunications giant claimed a breakthrough in semiconductor design technology.
China urges Japan not to back U.S. chip export restrictions as Washington tries to rally allies CNBC Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang urged Japan not to support U.S. curbs on China’s semiconductor industry, as Washington continues to try to rally nations behind its chip export restrictions. |
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TRADEUK Wants to Revive US Trade Talks When Biden Visits Ireland Bloomberg The UK is seeking to restart talks with the US for a trade deal, people familiar with the matter said, hoping to overcome President Joe Biden’s reluctance over agreements that are unpopular with key American voters.
U.S. trade chief Tai defends pursuit of non-traditional trade deals Reuters U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday defended the Biden administration’s decision not to pursue traditional free trade deals and argued her approach of working to ease non-tariff barriers is better for workers, supply chains and the U.S. ability to compete with China.
UK joins trans-Pacific trade bloc in a deal likely to boost GDP by less than 0.1% CNN The country will become the first new member, and the first in Europe, to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) since it came into force in 2018. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYTip-enhanced spectroscopy contributes to making ‘transformer’ semiconductor particles Phys.org Separating transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) into a single layer just like graphene makes it transform into a thin, two-dimensional (2D) film material that exhibits the characteristics of highly performing semiconductors. By stacking two disparate TMD layers, different combinations of TMD types and stacking methods can produce unique properties.
What’s Required To Secure Chips Semiconductor Engineering Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about how to verify that a semiconductor design will be secure, with Mike Borza, Synopsys scientist; John Hallman, product manager for trust and security at Siemens EDA; Pete Hardee, group director for product management at Cadence; Paul Karazuba, vice president of marketing at Expedera; and Dave Kelf, CEO of Breker Verification.
Hybrid Memristor AI Chips Could Scale IEEE By combining atomically thin devices with conventional microchips, scientists have created brain-mimicking hybrid electronics that can help implement neural-network artificial-intelligence systems in a far more energy-efficient way than standard electronics, a new study finds. |
INDUSTRY/MARKET
ASU convenes experts to discuss North America’s semiconductor future ASU Pal-Goetzen noted that the CHIPS Act includes $500 million to support international development where complementary expertise and competitive advantage can be maximized across the nearshore supply chain. She said the industry looks for a few key factors when evaluating sites for expansion. “First would be the trade environment. How easy is it to move items in and out of the country? A chip sometimes goes to hundreds of different locations before becoming a finished product,” she said. “Second is the business environment, including taxes, customs times and ease of permitting issues.”
Chip Makers Find Out How to Get 25% Investment Tax Credit WSJ The Biden administration moved to implement a new 25% investment tax credit for U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing and proposed restrictions that would make it difficult for companies to expand China operations if they receive certain federal funds.
Biden has big ideas for fixing child care. For now a small workaround will have to do NPR The bill provides, among other things, $39 billion in federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturers to build new fabrication plants in the U.S. There’s no child care money in the bill per se, but late last month, the Commerce Department told companies: If you’re applying for more than $150 million in CHIPS funding, you must come up with a plan to provide affordable child care for your workers. |
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CHINAUnited States looks to ensure China doesn’t benefit from $52B CHIPS Act Fox Business The Commerce Department announced a proposed regulation that would prevent adversarial countries like China from using technology developed out of the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act against the U.S. or its allies.
South China Morning Post China needs to foster a research environment more tolerant of mistakes and give academics more time to push the boundaries of basic research if it wants to become a technological powerhouse, officials and experts said.
Huawei makes breakthroughs in design tools for 14nm chips -media Reuters Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL) has made breakthroughs in electronic design automation (EDA) tools for chips produced at and above 14-nanometre technology, Caijing reported on Friday, citing a speech by a senior executive. |
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TRADEBiden administration holds second round of IPEF talks in Bali Reuters The Biden administration said on Sunday that it has held a second round of negotiations for its signature Asia engagement project on topics including labor, environment, digital trade and technical assistance.
U.S. lays out possible critical raw materials agreement with EU -Handelsblatt Reuters The United States and the European Commission have negotiated a possible agreement to allow for electric vehicles with critical minerals extracted or processed in the European Union to qualify for U.S. green subsidies, Handelsblatt reported on Thursday.
Biden’s ‘Go It Alone’ Trade Deals Draw Warnings From Congress WSJ The Biden administration is accelerating its efforts to pursue trade agreements that bypass Congress as it seeks to counter China, but the moves have sparked a fight with lawmakers that threatens to upend the president’s trade strategy at a critical point of rising global competition.
German minister visits Taiwan to strengthen semiconductor ties DigiTimes German federal minister of education and research Bettina Stark-Watzinger is paying a brief visit to Taiwan to strengthen Germany’s ties in chip manufacturing technology and to expand talent exchanges. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYSemiconductor lattice marries electrons and magnetic moments Science Daily A model system created by stacking a pair of monolayer semiconductors is giving physicists a simpler way to study confounding quantum behavior, from heavy fermions to exotic quantum phase transitions.
Team develops silicon photonic MEMS compatible with semiconductor manufacturing Phys.Org A team of researchers led by the University of Sydney’s Associate Professor Niels Quack has developed a new technology to combine optics and micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) in a microchip, paving the way for the creation of devices like micro-3D cameras and gas sensors for precision air quality measurement, including their use in mobile phones.
Semiconductor crystals: Molecular teamwork makes the organic dream work Phys.Org The virus responsible for E. coli infection has a secret weapon: teamwork. Always scrappy in its bid for survival, the virus alights on an unassuming host cell and grips the surface with the business end of its tubular tail. Then, the proteins in the tail contract in unison, flattening its structure like a stepped-on spring and reeling the virus’s body in for the critical strike.
New Aging Test Method for Semiconductor Devices AZO Materials The prevalence of semiconductors and embedded chip devices continues to increase, propelled by rising chip integration levels and processing capability, as well as declining costs and power consumption. Aging is a major issue for semiconductors that play a crucial part in applications requiring reliability or safety. |
SIA NEWS
Press Release R&D investments are the lifeblood of innovation in the semiconductor industry, giving rise to technologies that reinforce our economy, national security, and high-tech workforce. The U.S. chip industry plows an average of one-fifth of its revenues back into R&D annually, one of the largest shares of any sector. Those investments propel rapid innovation in semiconductor technologies and seismic advancements in computing, 5G, health care, energy, AI, and more. |
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NSF eyes science alliances on ‘steroids’ to meet China challenge Roll Call The National Science Foundation has been stepping up partnerships and collaborative investments with allies around the world, one element of the Biden administration’s push to build a coalition of like-minded researchers in biotechnology, artificial intelligence and other areas.
India-US chip partnership could boost global chip supply chain ComputerWorld India is trying to emerge as a competitive alternative to China in the semiconductor sector amid the intensifying chip war between the US and China. |
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CHINAChina’s Communist Party to take science and tech reins to break through US containment South China Morning Post China’s Communist Party will directly oversee science and technology with the creation of a central commission as part of a plan to counter US-led attempts to contain development of Chinese technology.
South China Morning Post China’s integrated circuit (IC) output dropped 17 per cent in the first two months of 2023, as the country’s semiconductor industry grappled with economic headwinds and escalating US trade sanctions.
Chinese auto chips only: Inside Xi’s self-sufficiency campaign Nikkei Asia As Xi Jinping begins his third term as president, China is accelerating efforts to bolster the country’s chip sector — starting with the automotive industry. |
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TRADEIndo-Pacific trade negotiators flock to Bali Politico U.S. trade officials are in Bali, Indonesia, this week for the latest round of negotiations over the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
United States, EU agree to start talks on critical minerals amid trade tensions Reuters Amid trade frictions between the United States and the European Union, President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on Friday that the two sides would launch talks on critical minerals used for electric vehicles.
Commerce On March 10, Secretary Gina Raimondo joined Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and announced a U.S.-India Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will establish a Semiconductor Supply Chain and Innovation Partnership.
Japan and South Korea renew ties in first summit in 12 years NPR In their first bilateral summit in 12 years, the leaders of South Korea and Japan portrayed their meeting in Tokyo as a sort of springtime, after an extended period of frosty ties. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYRevisiting semiconductor heat management through nanotechnology Phys.Org Nanotechnology has significantly impacted the semiconductor industry, enabling the production of transistors that are just a few nanometers in size. While the miniaturization of electronic components has resulted in higher transistor densities, it has also increased heat generation.
Phosphorus semiconductor overcomes resistance The Engineer Researchers believe a recently discovered blue form of ultrathin phosphorus – with tuneable electronic properties that enhance the injection of charge carriers into transistors – will help advance next-generation electronic devices.
Compound semiconductor critical to expected 5G mmWave demand spurt DigiTimes Asia 5G, a technology deemed as fundamental to Industry 4.0, began to see large-scale commercial application around the world in 2020. However, 5G still faces problems related to difficulties in penetration and indoor coverage.
Better 2D semiconductors signposted by materials review EE News Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have conducted a computer study of a materials database looking for 2D semiconductors with characteristics that correlate with high mobility. |
SIA NEWS
Global Semiconductor Sales Decrease 5.2% Month-to-Month in January Press Release “Despite record-high sales in 2022, the global semiconductor market cooled considerably during the second half of the year, and that trend continued during the first month of 2023,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Despite the current short-term cyclical downturn, the long-term outlook for the semiconductor market remains strong due to the ever-increasing role of chips in powering the critical technologies of today and tomorrow.” |
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US aims to create semiconductor manufacturing clusters by 2030 The Chemical Engineer John Neuffer, CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association said: “This is a good first step. This is going to take a sustained and significant commitment for a long time. Other governments from around the world have been helping their companies with manufacturing incentives for decades. We have been sitting on the sidelines watching that happen.”
Semiconductor sales dip 18.5% Y/Y in January Seeking Alpha Global semiconductor industry billed $41.3B in January 2023, down 5.2% compared to December 2022 total of $43.6B and down 18.5% Y/Y according to Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
How Russia Supplies Its War Machine WSJ Part of the problem is that the global semiconductor business is so enormous, particularly at the lower end. The industry shipped over one trillion units in 2021, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Global Semiconductor Sales Down 5% in January EE Times Asia “Despite record-high sales in 2022, the global semiconductor market cooled considerably during the second half of the year, and that trend continued during the first month of 2023,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Despite the current short-term cyclical downturn, the long-term outlook for the semiconductor market remains strong due to the ever-increasing role of chips in powering the critical technologies of today and tomorrow.”
South Korea Worries About Strings Attached to US Chip Subsidies Bloomberg The US Chips Act imposes a number of onerous demands and still harbors a great deal of uncertainty for companies hoping to benefit from it, South Korea’s trade minister said in Seoul on Monday. |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post A Chinese construction vehicle maker briefly became a leading example of the country’s self-reliance drive in semiconductors when President Xi Jinping asked a delegate from the company whether all the chips it used were domestically produced.
China Favors Chips, AI Executives Over Internet Tycoons at Top Political Meetings WSJ A number of prominent Chinese internet executives have been left out of the country’s top political meetings in Beijing this week, giving way to experts in artificial intelligence and semiconductors as Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s priorities shift amid rising technology competition with the U.S. |
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TRADEIndia, US to sign memorandum of understanding on semiconductors Reuters The United States and India will sign a memorandum of understanding on semiconductors as both countries discuss coordination of investment and continue dialogue around policies to spur private investment, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Thursday.
US, EU in talks on clean technology trade deal -FT Reuters U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the United States and the European Union were in talks about a free trade-style deal around clean technology, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
UK on verge of ratifying free-trade deal with Australia Reuters The United Kingdom is set to ratify a controversial free-trade agreement with Australia as soon as this month, the country’s High Commissioner to Australia said on Wednesday.
India, Wary of China, Expands Trade Ties With the West WSJ As host to foreign ministers from the Group of 20 nations last week, Narendra Modi played the traditionally neutral role of an Indian prime minister, refusing to take sides between Russia and the U.S. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYHuman–machine collaboration for improving semiconductor process development Nature One of the bottlenecks to building semiconductor chips is the increasing cost required to develop chemical plasma processes that form the transistors and memory storage cells1,2. These processes are still developed manually using highly trained engineers searching for a combination of tool parameters that produces an acceptable result on the silicon wafer3.
Semiconductor Digest Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), a world-renowned semiconductor research and workforce development consortium, released an interim report for the Microelectronic and Advanced Packaging Technologies (MAPT) Roadmap – a far-reaching initiative for the semiconductor industry that, to date, has involved the participation of over 100 organizations of all sizes representing government, academia, and industry. |
SIA NEWS
Blog Post A U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association delegation (SIA) will travel to Xiamen, China for the 75th World Semiconductor Council Joint Steering Committee (JSTC) meetings from March 7-10. The meetings will include our industry counterparts from China, Chinese Taipei, the EU, Japan, and Korea.
SIA Welcomes Commerce Department Action to Initiate Critical CHIPS Act Incentives Press Release “Today’s action marks an important step forward in the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, a landmark law that will boost U.S. semiconductor production and innovation for years to come. We are carefully reviewing the Commerce Department’s Notice of Funding Opportunity, which lays out the rules of the road for companies to apply for the CHIPS Act’s manufacturing grants. |
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Biden to require chips companies winning subsidies to share excess profits Reuters The Semiconductor Industry Association said it was carefully reviewing the funding notice that “lays out the rules of the road for companies to apply for the CHIPS Act’s manufacturing grants.”
U.S. Aims to Chart New Course for Chip Industry WSJ The Semiconductor Industry Association, the industry’s trade group, said it was reviewing the provisions but called the program a “historic opportunity.” “We stand ready to work with Secretary Raimondo and leaders in the Commerce Department’s CHIPS Office to ensure the new law is implemented effectively, efficiently, and expeditiously,” said John Neuffer, SIA’s president and chief executive.
Lobbyists to Biden: Unless you want to cede to China, relax microchip rules Politico In a public filing that has not previously been reported, SIA warned that failure to provide chipmakers with an exemption could “pose significant delays in the disbursement of CHIPS funds and result in delays in the construction and operation of facilities.” It urged the Commerce Department to use its administrative powers to “streamline and expedite reviews to the greatest extent possible.” “Time is of the essence,” David Isaacs, vice president of government affairs at SIA, told POLITICO on Thursday.
Biden’s Semiconductor Plan Flexes the Power of the Federal Government NYT Semiconductor manufacturers seeking a slice of nearly $40 billion in new federal subsidies will need to ensure affordable child care for their workers, limit stock buybacks and share certain excess profits with the government, the Biden administration will announce on Tuesday.
Gina Raimondo Becomes China Player in a Job Where Her Predecessor Used to Nap Bloomberg Raimondo’s crowning achievement so far is helping steer the $280 billion Chips Act through Congress, an 18-month slog during which the legislation at one point looked doomed to die with the rest of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan. (She and her staff celebrated its passage last summer by feasting on an assortment of potato chips.) |
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CHINAAlibaba and Ant venture to launch RISC-V chips for payments Reuters Alibaba Group Holding’s (9988.HK) chip unit T-Head and Alipay, the payment service under Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Group, will release computing chips for secure payments based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture, the two entities said.
At China political meeting, internet bosses are out, chip execs are in Reuters Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) founder Pony Ma and others from China’s crackdown-hit internet sector will be absent from this year’s parliamentary sessions, as Beijing boosts representation from the tech hardware sector, delegate lists show.
Experts lay out steps Hong Kong can take to leap ahead in global chip race South China Morning Post Hong Kong should aim to develop breakthroughs in semiconductor materials and chip packaging technology by attracting talent and enterprises if it wants to be a regional leader in microelectronics, experts have said. |
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TRADEUS-Europe trade tensions heat up over green subsidies Financial Times Joe Biden’s administration hopes to unleash a green revolution by offering hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to clean energy companies, but the US president’s flagship legislation also threatens to spark a fresh trade war.
Yellen says EV battery mineral trade pacts can likely bypass Congress Reuters U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said on Friday that she expects that future limited free trade agreements focused on battery minerals with the European Union and other trusted allies would not need approval from Congress.
Germany’s Scholz committed for Free Trade deal between India, EU Reuters German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that he and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi were committed to sealing a free trade deal between India and the European Union (EU). |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYHow To Build Resilience Into Chips Semiconductor Engineering Disaggregating chips into specialized processors, memories, and architectures is becoming necessary for continued improvements in performance and power, but it’s also contributing to unusual and often unpredictable errors in hardware that are extremely difficult to find. |
SIA NEWS
Press Release Secretary Raimondo has been a tireless advocate for the CHIPS and Science Act, the historic new law that will reinvigorate chip production and innovation in America. Since the CHIPS Act was introduced, companies in the semiconductor ecosystem have announced new projects across America totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in private investments and supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs. These new projects—combined with the new law’s critical investments in semiconductor research—will help strengthen America’s economy, national security, critical supply chains, and leadership in the semiconductor-driven technologies of today and tomorrow. |
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Chips Act Will Test Whether U.S. Can Reverse Semiconductor Exodus WSJ The Chips Act has already set off an investment boom in the industry. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, more than 40 projects have been announced with promises for investments of nearly $200 billion in new manufacturing facilities. “This is a good first step. This is going to take a sustained and significant commitment for a long time” from the government, said John Neuffer, president and chief executive of the Semiconductor Industry Association, an industry group.
Kansas tech projects involve billions in funding, hinging on federal CHIPS Act funds KWCH Neuffer said once the CHIPS act passed, “we’ve seen quite an outflow of commitments by our industry.” Neuffer said nationwide, through CHIPS act funding, there are 40 projects announced, equating to more than a $200 billion investment.
U.S. Aims to Create Semiconductor Manufacturing Clusters With Chips Act Funds WSJ The program has already triggered an investment boom, with U.S. and foreign manufacturers unveiling more than 40 projects for total investments close to $200 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group.
Commerce Department Names Gatekeeper of Federal Semiconductor Funds WSJ The Commerce Department appointed Todd Fisher, a veteran of private-equity firm KKR & Co., to an important role determining which companies will receive part of $52.7 billion in federal funding intended to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
CHIPS Act will strengthen US national security by boosting access to semiconductors: Raimondo ABC Making semiconductors in the U.S. is critical for national security, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told reporters on Wednesday, ahead of a speech she’ll give on supporting domestic manufacturing. |
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CHINAChina’s Economic Support for Russia Could Elicit More Sanctions NYT Beijing has remained officially unaligned in the war. Yet China, along with countries like Turkey and some former Soviet republics, has stepped in to supply Russia with large volumes of products that either civilians or armed forces could use, including raw materials, smartphones, vehicles and computer chips, trade data shows.
South China Morning Post Chinese semiconductor companies are scrambling to stockpile chip-making equipment, spare parts and other related materials, while overseas firms continue to fulfil orders as they await clarity on tighter export rules resulting from coordination between the US, Japan and the Netherlands, according to industry insiders.
South China Morning Post Beijing is highly concerned about Tokyo’s moves to control semiconductor exports, China’s commerce ministry said during an economic partnership consultation with Japan on Wednesday. |
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TRADEU.S. Eyes Trade Deals With Allies to Ease Clash Over Electric Car Subsidies NYT he Biden administration hopes to reach limited free trade agreements with countries in Europe and Asia that would not require congressional approval as it looks to ease allies’ concerns about legislation that President Biden signed into law last year, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Friday.
US-Made Rare Earths to Skip China In Supply Deal With Japan Bloomberg America’s only rare-earths producer has agreed a deal to ship output from its new processing plant to Japan, part of a broader move by the US and allies to reduce China’s role in their critical supply chains.
EU Trade Envoy Sees Deal on US Climate Package Ahead of Visit Bloomberg The European Union’s trade chief said the bloc is closing in on an agreement with the US on access to raw materials used in batteries, giving EU companies access to some benefits included in President Joe Biden’s green investment plan. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYResearchers develop innovative tool for measuring electron dynamics in semiconductors Phys.org At the heart of every mobile phone, laptop and autonomous vehicle is a tiny semiconductor whose properties and, ultimately, performance are determined by free electrons. Now, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a new way to measure these electrons that could lead to more energy-efficient semiconductor materials and electronics.
Leveraging Chip Data To Improve Productivity Semiconductor Engineering The semiconductor ecosystem is scrambling to use data more effectively in order to increase the productivity of design teams, improve yield in the fab, and ultimately increase reliability of systems in the field.
Taming Corner Explosion In Complex Chips Semiconductor Engineering There is a tenuous balance between the number of corners a design team must consider, the cost of analysis, and the margins they insert to deal with them, but that tradeoff is becoming a lot more difficult. If too many corners of a chip are explored, it might never see production. If not enough corners are explored, it could reduce yield. And if too much margin is added, the device may not be competitive. |
SIA NEWS
SIA Urges Full Funding of CHIPS & Science Act Research Programs in President’s FY24 Budget Press Release Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) President and CEO John Neuffer today sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, encouraging her to include in the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) full funding for research and workforce programs authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKET
U.S. Commerce Dept. names financial sector, government experts to chips team Reuters The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it is naming more than a dozen members to a team overseeing $52.7 billion in government funding to boost semiconductor manufacturing and research.
Five EU countries, EIB launch fund to help promising tech companies grow Reuters Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium and the European Investment Bank launched on Monday a 3.75 billion euro ($4.02 billion) fund to finance the growth of promising European tech companies and boost the EU’s attractiveness as an innovation hub.
AI revolution: Tech finds its next platform Axios Any new technology that checks all these boxes and keeps springing new surprises on us earns the world’s attention — as previous platforms did, from the iPhone to the internet itself all the way back to the rise of the personal computer. |
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CHINAChina’s New Tech Czar Lays Out Plan to Transcend US Sanctions Bloomberg China’s new technology overseer has outlined a sweeping blueprint to counter escalating US sanctions and decoupling supply chains by developing homegrown expertise in areas such as electric vehicles.
Exclusive: Chinese chip designer Unisoc seeks to raise $1.5 bln in private funding -sources Reuters Chinese chip design company Unisoc (Shanghai) Technologies Co is seeking to raise 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in a new funding round that will value the firm at about 70 billion yuan ($10.3 billion), three people with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
U.S. sanctions six Chinese tech companies for supporting spy balloon programs CNBC |
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TRADEGreat stride made in India-US trade relationship says US Commerce Secretary The Economic Times Under the Biden administration, India and the US has made great strides in their trade relationships, top US officials have said after President Joe Biden announced that Air India has agreed to a historic purchase of airplanes from Boeing.
Germany rules out spending ‘more and more money’ as Europe hopes to avoid subsidy race with the U.S. CNBC The European Union cannot and will not stump up increasing amounts of new cash to deal with a green subsidy race that’s heating up on both sides of the Atlantic, according to Germany’s top finance official. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYManaging Thermal-Induced Stress In Chips Semiconductor Engineering At advanced nodes and in the most advanced packages, physics is no one’s friend. Escalating density, smaller features, and thinner dies make it more difficult to dissipate heat, and they increase mechanical stress.
Addressing GaN Semiconductor’s Thermal Paradox EE Times Thermal management has always been an important factor in semiconductors because continuously shrinking chip designs manufactured on cutting-edge nodes generate more heat within the same size footprint. As a result, thermal management is intertwined with the size, weight and power consumption of electronic designs.
2D Semiconductor Materials Creep Toward Manufacturing Semiconductor Engineering As transistors scale down, they need thinner channels to achieve adequate channel control. In silicon, though, surface roughness scattering degrades mobility, limiting the ultimate channel thickness to about 3nm. |
SIA NEWS
Despite Short-Term Cyclical Downturn, Global Semiconductor Market’s Long-Term Outlook is Strong Blog Post Global semiconductor sales data released last week showed the industry experienced significant ups and downs in 2022. While chip sales reached the highest-ever annual total in 2022, the slowdown in the second half of the year substantially limited growth.
President Biden Highlights Importance of CHIPS Enactment During State of the Union Address Press Release During tonight’s State of the Union Address, President Biden highlighted last year’s historic enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act, a landmark new law that will greatly strengthen America’s economy, national security, and semiconductor supply chains. Companies in the semiconductor ecosystem have responded enthusiastically since the CHIPS Act was introduced, announcing new projects across America totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in private investments and supporting hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs. |
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SIA: Long-term semiconductor outlook strong Electronics 360 “During tonight’s State of the Union Address, President Biden highlighted last year’s historic enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act, a landmark new law that will greatly strengthen America’s economy, national security and semiconductor supply chains,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO of the SIA. “Companies in the semiconductor ecosystem have responded enthusiastically since the CHIPS Act was introduced, announcing new projects across America totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in private investments and supporting hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs.”
’22 saw record chip sales, but ’23 is expected to drop 4% Fierce Electronics Semiconductor Industry Association President John Neuffer said 2022 was a year of “significant up and downs,” and also called the last part of the year a “cyclical downturn.”
Industry Urges Biden Administration to Maximize CHIPS Act Impact After President’s Annual Address GovConWire John Neuffer, president and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association, has commended the current administration and congressional leaders for enacting the CHIPS and Science Act, which he said will help strengthen U.S. national security, economy and semiconductor supply chains.
Chip suppliers warn on EU plan to bar ‘forever chemicals’ Financial Times Chip suppliers have warned that a European effort to impose a ban on “forever chemicals” will cause widespread disruption to already tight semiconductor supply chains. |
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CHINAWhy Chinese AI and semiconductors could fall decades behind under US chip ban ‘blitz’ South China Morning Post As the US pushes to keep China from getting the latest chip-making technology, tightened sanctions could cause Chinese semiconductor and AI development to fall decades behind, according to industry insiders.
China jobs: labour demand shows signs of heating up as chip makers scramble to find talent South China Morning Post China is witnessing strong demand for labour in semiconductor production and advanced manufacturing, as well as the hospitality and aviation sectors, according to a new report, indicating that economic activities are slowly returning to normal after recent coronavirus outbreaks and the Lunar New Year holiday.
Huawei turns to patents for a lifeline — including those in the U.S. CNBC |
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TRADECNBC Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday that the U.S. is considering collaborating with India on certain manufacturing jobs in order to boost competition against China.
Japan may opt for milder chip-equipment curbs on China than U.S, says lawmaker Reuters Japan may opt for milder restrictions on chip production machinery sales in China than those implemented by the United States even though they agree on export curbs, an influential Japanese ruling party lawmaker told Reuters on Wednesday.
UK trade minister visits Mexico, targeting new deals Reuters Britain’s trade minister Kemi Badenoch begins a two-day visit to Mexico on Thursday, targeting a bilateral trade deal as well as Britain’s accession to a Pacific trading association as the country builds its trade ties after leaving the European Union. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYChiplets Taking Root As Silicon-Proven Hard IP Semiconductor Engineering Chiplets are all the rage today, and for good reason. With the various ways to design a semiconductor-based system today, IP reuse via chiplets appears to be an effective and feasible solution, and a potentially low-cost alternative to shrinking everything to the latest process node.
The Use of Semiconductors in Solar Energy Technology AZO Materials PV cells are primarily composed of semiconductor materials that have a higher conductivity than insulators. However, these materials are not good conductors of electricity like metals. Different types of semiconductors, such as crystalline silicon (c-Si) and cadmium telluride (CdTe), are used in solar cells.
Nanoscale (5nm) Ferroelectric Semiconductor (University Of Michigan) Semiconductor Engineering A new technical paper titled “Thickness scaling down to 5 nm of ferroelectric ScAlN on CMOS compatible molybdenum grown by molecular beam epitaxy” was published by researchers at University of Michigan, with DARPA funding. |
SIA NEWS
Press Release The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) today jointly announced plans to form a private-sector task force that will strengthen collaboration between the two countries in the global semiconductor ecosystem. |
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NBC In anticipation of the federal funds, semiconductor companies have already been making billions of dollars in commitments. Since the bill was introduced in the spring of 2020, companies have announced plans for $187 billion in new or expanded semiconductor facilities in 16 states that would create more than 30,000 jobs, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
EE News Europe “India is already a major hub for semiconductor research, chip design, and equipment engineering, but its future potential is even greater,” said John Neuffer, CEO of SIA in a statement. “This task force will help identify tangible ways to unlock this potential by increasing collaboration between the US and India within the global chip ecosystem.” Business Today Acknowledging India to be a major hub for semiconductor research, chip design, and equipment engineering, with even greater future potential, SIA President and CEO John Neuffer said, “We are thrilled to kick off this new initiative with IESA, our counterpart in India. This task force will help identify tangible ways to unlock this potential by increasing collaboration between the U.S. and India within the global chip ecosystem.” |
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CHINAU.S. Sanctions Against China Could Hurt Own Domestic Industry: SIA Toms Hardware While the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) — the organization that represents 99% of chip companies in America — understands how important national security is, it believes that curbs against potentially hostile nations could hurt the U.S. semiconductor industry as a whole.
Stymied by the West, Russia is getting critical semiconductors from mainland China, Hong Kong South China Morning Post Despite export controls, Russia has increased imports of semiconductors and electronic circuits, with purchases totalling US$2.45 billion between January and September 2022 – up from US$1.8 billion a year earlier, the IIF said.
Russia Boosts China Trade to Counter Western Sanctions WSJ Moscow boosted imports of technologies critical to its war in Ukraine including semiconductors and microchips from China, the report by the D.C.-based nongovernmental organization Free Russia Foundation said. China’s increased purchases of Russian exports, driven by energy sales, more than offset the declines from major Western trading partners including the U.S., U.K. and some European Union countries. |
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TRADEPolicy Watch: Europe beefs up Green Deal in response to Biden’s climate subsidies Reuters Inflation Reduction Act. The phrase barely trips off the tongue, but the U.S. climate bill was on everyone’s lips at the World Economic Forum last month.
U.S., India partnership targets arms, AI to compete with China Reuters The White House is launching a partnership with India on Tuesday that President Joe Biden hopes will help the countries compete against China on military equipment, semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
UK and EU Nearing Provisional Brexit Deal in Northern Ireland Talks Bloomberg UK and European Union negotiators are nearing a provisional agreement on post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, putting them in touching distance of a final settlement after years of often fraught talks, people familiar with the matter said. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYThe Chip Shortage Isn’t Stopping Automotive Engineers from Racing Ahead Engineering.com According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the auto industry is the third-largest consumer of microchips, and the rate at which it uses semiconductors is growing faster than that of any other industry. The recent chip shortage has slowed auto manufacturing over the past few years, and many experts believe that the semiconductor deficit will continue through 2023 and into 2024, forcing engineers to find inventive ways to design products with limited supplies.
Researchers develop innovative tool for measuring electron dynamics in semiconductors Berkeley Engineering At the heart of every mobile phone, laptop and autonomous vehicle is a tiny semiconductor whose properties and, ultimately, performance are determined by free electrons. Now, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a new way to measure these electrons that could lead to more energy-efficient semiconductor materials and electronics. |
SIA NEWS
SIA Comments: Export Controls Should Protect National Security Without Undermining Innovation Blog Post SIA has long supported export control policy that safeguards national security without unduly harming the commercial innovation that is essential to America’s economy, national security, and technological leadership. Consistent with these longstanding efforts, SIA recently submitted detailed public comments regarding significant new semiconductor export control rules released on Oct. 7 by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). |
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When it comes to semiconductors, leading is not everything TechSpot According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the CHIPS Act has had a positive collateral effect by triggering the private sector into investing some $200 billion for US semiconductor production.
Semiconductor fabs: Construction challenges in the United States McKinsey The semiconductor industry is booming, with expected average annual growth of 6 to 8 percent through 2030 and yearly revenues forecasted to reach $1 trillion.
UK to Subsidize Semiconductor Firms in Bid to Make Domestic Chips Bloomberg The UK government will provide direct taxpayer funding to support British semiconductor companies as part of a strategy for a sector that has become a lightning rod in global geopolitics, according to officials familiar with the plans.
Supply Chain Disruptions Are Likely to Continue in 2023. Here’s How to Manage Inc. Various outside forces have disrupted supply chains since the pandemic. High demand and bottlenecks have slowed international trade, the pandemic has transformed the workforce and exacerbated labor shortages, and new policies and regulations have changed the landscape for logistics companies. |
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CHINAJapan, Netherlands to Join US in Chip Controls on China Bloomberg Japan and the Netherlands are poised to join the US in limiting China’s access to advanced semiconductor machinery, forging a powerful alliance that will undercut Beijing’s ambitions to build its own domestic chip capabilities, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
South China Morning Post Funding for China’s technology and internet start-ups halved last year amid pandemic controls and regulatory uncertainty, but the new energy and semiconductor industries are expected to be stand-out performers this year after landing the biggest deals of 2022.
Global Impact: US-China tech war’s toll made visible at world’s largest electronics show South China Morning Post And for many companies on display at the world’s largest electronics show earlier this month, it looked like that is exactly what they were doing. The biggest Chinese names at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas were Lenovo, TCL and Hisense – all computer and television makers. In other words, not the most hi-tech products on the market. |
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TRADEUS and EU Discuss Deal to Widen Access to Inflation Reduction Act Bloomberg The US and the European Union are discussing a possible deal on minerals and critical raw materials in a bid to allow the EU to qualify for benefits in President Joe Biden’s massive new green investment plan, according to people familiar with the matter.
Climate Change May Usher in a New Era of Trade Wars NYT Efforts to mitigate climate change are prompting countries across the world to embrace dramatically different policies toward industry and trade, bringing governments into conflict.
In India-U.K. trade deal, focus on what is acceptable to both countries: Piyush Goyal The Hindu Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that in the talks for the proposed free trade agreement between India and the U.K., the focus is on what is acceptable to both countries and not allow sensitive issues to scuttle the discussions. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYPower Issues Causing More Respins At 7nm And Below Semiconductor Engineering Power consumption has been a major design consideration for some time, but it is far from being a solved issue. In fact, an increasing number of designs have a plethora of power-related problems, and those problems are getting worse in new chip designs.
What Does 2023 Have In Store For Chip Design? Semiconductor Engineering Predictions seem to be easier to make during times of stability, but they are no more correct than at any other period. During more turbulent times, fewer people are courageous enough to allow their opinions to be heard. And yet it is often those views that are more well thought through, and even if they turn out not to be true, they often contain some very enlightening ideas.
Collaboration Widens Among Big Chip Companies Semiconductor Engineering Top equipment and tools vendors see need for earlier cooperation as complexity rises for advanced nodes and packages. |
INDUSTRY/MARKET
Chips Are the New Oil and America Is Spending Billions to Safeguard Its Supply WSJ But the actual fabrication of semiconductors has been increasingly outsourced to Asia. The U.S. share of global chip manufacturing has eroded, from 37% in 1990 to 12% in 2020, while mainland China’s share has gone from around zero to about 15%, according to Boston Consulting Group and SIA. Taiwan and South Korea each accounted for a little over 20%.
5 Months After CHIPS Act, Investment Activity Abounds in the Chip Industry Data Center Knowledge According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the passage of the CHIPS Act has resulted in:
DTI: Semiconductor Industry Association bullish about PH The Manila Times “While the Chips Act aims to increase the capacity of the US semiconductor industry, we recognize that we cannot do it all in the US. And that’s where countries like the Philippines have an opportunity,” Neuffer said.
Philippines a critical player in global semiconductor industry Phil Star Global US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) recognizes the Philippines as a critical player in the global semiconductor industry and a major hub for semiconductor assembly and test manufacturing. SIA recently shared investment prospects and business opportunities for the Philippines with the passage of the CHIPS Act of the United States.
Are semiconductor chips the new oil? Fox Business According to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association, U.S. businesses have invested roughly $200 billion in 40 separate projects, adding an estimated 40,000 jobs.
Should the U.S. subsidize chip making? San Diego business leaders sound off The San Diego Union-Tribune A Boston Consulting analysis expected it would take $900 billion to $1.23 trillion in spending to create self-sufficient semiconductor supply chains worldwide. For just the U.S., it’s $350 billion to $420 billion. |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post China’s second-largest chip foundry Hua Hong Semiconductor Group, a state-backed semiconductor investment fund and a Wuxi entity signed a deal on Wednesday for a US$6.7 billion wafer fabrication plant in eastern Wuxi, the biggest such investment since Washington imposed stricter sanctions on China’s chip industry in October.
Taiwan fines Foxconn for unauthorised China investment Reuters Taiwan on Thursday fined Foxconn (2317.TW) T$10 million ($329,088) for making an unauthorised investment in a Chinese chip firm, but said the Taiwanese iPhone assembler had cooperated in the case and so received a lesser punishment.
Treasury Secretary Yellen and China’s Liu He talk U.S. tech policy at their first in-person meeting CNBC Chinese Vice Premier Liu He discussed U.S. economic and tech policy toward China in a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday, according to a Ministry of Commerce readout.
South China Morning Post China is rolling out a raft of measures to encourage foreign investors to set up innovation centres in the country and attract professional talent. The move comes amid the country’s stepped-up efforts to accelerate innovation across the board, with leaders and policymakers in the world’s second-largest economy repeatedly highlighting their intentions to turn it into a global tech powerhouse. |
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TRADE‘China cannot be out, China must be in’: France says it’s diverging with Washington on Beijing ties CNBC The European Union does not see eye-to-eye with the United States when it comes to opposing China, the French finance minister told CNBC Friday.
DAVOS 2023-UAE and India discussing settling non-oil trade in rupees Reuters The United Arab Emirates is in early discussions with India to trade non-oil commodities in Indian rupees, Emirati Minister for Foreign Trade Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi said on Thursday. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYWhat Happened to All of Science’s Big Breakthroughs? NYT Miracle vaccines. Videophones in our pockets. Reusable rockets. Our technological bounty and its related blur of scientific progress seem undeniable and unsurpassed. Yet analysts now report that the overall pace of real breakthroughs has fallen dramatically over the past almost three-quarters of a century.
The Path To Known Good Interconnects Semiconductor Engineering Chiplets and heterogenous integration (HI) provide a compelling way to continue delivering improvements in performance, power, area, and cost (PPAC) as Moore’s Law slows, but choosing the best way to connect these devices so they behave in consistent and predictable ways is becoming a challenge as the number of options continues to grow. |
SIA NEWS
Global Semiconductor Sales Decrease 2.9% Month-to-Month in November Press Release “Global semiconductor sales decreased in November, largely due to market cyclicality and macroeconomic headwinds,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Sales into the Americas were up compared to November 2021, while sales into China decreased sharply on a year-to-year basis.” |
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In Central New York, a test of the CHIPS and Science Act’s promise for economic revitalization Brookings According to Semiconductor Industry Association, over the past two years, semiconductor manufacturers have announced nearly $200 billion in new investments for the next decade. How community colleges fit in to the promise of the CHIPS and Science Act Politico The law has spurred private investments for semiconductor production since the bill was introduced in spring of 2020,according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. More than 40 new semiconductor ecosystem projects were announced across the country, nearly $200 billion in investments were announced across 16 states to increase domestic manufacturing capacity, and 40,000 new jobs were announced in the semiconductor ecosystem as part of the new projects.
The Atlantic All of these measures are projected to trigger huge flows of private-sector investment. The Semiconductor Industry Association reports that since the legislation promoting the industry was first introduced, in 2020, companies have already announced $200 billion in investments across 40 projects in 16 states.
The Places Seeing Growth in the Semiconductor Sector So Far Route Fifty The Semiconductor Industry Association says private sector investment tied to the projects will add up to around $200 billion over the next decade. The group’s analysis comes as the U.S. is redoubling efforts to increase domestic microchip production, with billions of dollars in new federal support flowing to the industry.
Deputy PM calls for more US investment in semiconductor industry NewsWires Receiving SIA President and CEO John Neuffer in Hà Nội, the Deputy PM welcomed SIA’s selection of Việt Nam as one of the destinations to survey in its fact-finding tour of Southeast Asia. He considered this a starting point for cooperation between SIA and the Vietnamese Government, thereby promoting the possibility of Việt Nam’s engagement in global semiconductor supply chains.
Taiwan’s Chips Act Passes, Aims to Protect Its Process Tech Tom’s Hardware Policymakers in Taiwan have passed laws to allow chip companies take 25% of yearly research and development costs and turn them into tax credits, Bloomberg reports. This is part of an attempt to make sure that cutting-edge chip tech stays in Taiwan, as other nations have pushed incentives to strengthen their own supply chains. |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post The decline recorded by China marked the biggest percentage drop among the world’s major markets for integrated circuits (ICs), according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), a Washington-based trade group that represents 99 per cent of the US chip industry.
China’s Giant Chip Ambitions Fall Prey to Covid Turmoil Bloomberg For years, China was the world’s biggest spender on chip incentives, a scale unmatched from Washington to Tokyo. Now, the effort to combat Covid and deal with the threat of a global recession is depleting state coffers and forcing Beijing to rethink that controversial approach.
South China Morning Post China’s eastern Jiangsu province has unveiled a policy package for the semiconductor industry, which includes at least 500 million yuan (US$74 million) a year in financial support over the next three years amid intensifying US trade sanctions. |
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TRADENorth America vows to strengthen economic ties, Mexico energy row rumbles on Reuters The United States, Mexico and Canada on Tuesday vowed to tighten economic ties, producing more goods regionally and boosting semiconductor output, even as integration is hampered by an ongoing dispute over Mexico’s nationalist energy policies.
President Biden really wants to boost chip manufacturing and he needs Mexico’s help to do it Fortune President Joe Biden privately urged his Mexican counterpart to enact new policies to capitalize on the US drive to boost semiconductor production, part of a push to shift supply of some key technology components from Asia to North America.
Japan hugs UK close as it seeks to push back against China Politico Japan increasingly sees the U.K. as a key defense and trade ally in its pushback against China in the Indo-Pacific, say senior Japanese officials, as the country makes a diplomatic push to rally G7 nations this week. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYJUMP 2.0 Consortium Targets Microelectronics Innovation Photonics Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), along with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and industry and academic stakeholders, has established the Joint University Microelectronics Program 2.0 (JUMP 2.0).
Approaching the quantum limit in two-dimensional semiconductor contacts Nature The development of next-generation electronics requires scaling of channel material thickness down to the two-dimensional limit while maintaining ultralow contact resistance1,2.
New Technique For Making Thin Films Of Perovskite Oxide Semiconductors Semiconductor Engineering A technical paper titled “Freestanding epitaxial SrTiO3 nanomembranes via remote epitaxy using hybrid molecular beam epitaxy” was published by researchers at University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and University of Wisconsin–Madison. |
SIA NEWS
SIA Applauds Increased Funding for Research, Workforce Development in Year-End Funding Package Press Release Building off the important investments made by the CHIPS and Science Act, SIA applauds increased funding for research and workforce development in the FY2023 Omnibus. Once passed, these investments will help advance innovation, strengthen the American STEM workforce, promote economic growth, and maintain national security by reinforcing the National Science Foundation (NSF), regional technology hubs, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) manufacturing programs. |
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U.S. Pours Money Into Chips, but Even Soaring Spending Has Limits NYT The new spending is set to improve America’s position. A $50 billion government investment is likely to prompt corporate spending that would take the U.S. share of global production to as much as 14 percent by 2030, according to a Boston Consulting Group study in 2020 that was commissioned by the Semiconductor Industry Association. “It really does put us in the game for the first time in decades,” said John Neuffer, the association’s president, who added that the estimate may be conservative because Congress approved $76 billion in subsidies in a piece of legislation known as the CHIPS Act.
Wage Inequality May Be Starting to Reverse WSJ Since Congress proposed in 2020 to subsidize new semiconductor factories in the U.S., 40 projects, $200 billion of investment and 40,000 jobs have been announced, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Carmakers quietly cut ties with China in supply chain shake-up Financial Times
Power Sector Seeks Solutions for Supply Chain Issues Power Mag The shortage of semiconductors was partly addressed by the Biden administration with the signing of the CHIPS and Science Act in August of last year, a measure that provides some $280 billion in funding to boost U.S.-based research and manufacturing of semiconductors. The Semiconductor Industry Association last summer noted that the U.S. share of global modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity had fallen from 37% in 1990 to 12%. |
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CHINABattered by Covid, China Hits Pause on Giant Chip Spending Aimed at Rivaling US Bloomberg China is pausing massive investments aimed at building a chip industry to compete with the US, as a nationwide Covid resurgence strains the world’s No. 2 economy and Beijing’s finances.
South China Morning Post The chip production plans of Huawei Technologies Co have become the subject of fresh speculation within the semiconductor industry after the tech giant filed a patent application for advanced lithography late last year, a key technology used to produce cutting-edge chips.
Taiwan Wants to Join WTO Talks on China’s Protest Against US Chip Sanctions Bloomberg Taiwan has asked to join discussions centered on China’s protest against US chip sanctions at the World Trade Organization, seeking a voice on a debate that could have ramifications for the global chip industry.
South China Morning Post Shenzhen has doubled down on efforts to advance China’s hi-tech self-sufficiency drive by establishing an international sourcing platform for semiconductors and other electronics components amid US trade restrictions. |
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TRADEU.S. and Japan to expand cooperation on key technologies beyond chips Japan Times The United States and Japan have agreed to expand their cooperation on critical emerging technologies beyond semiconductors to include areas such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Thursday after meeting with his U.S. counterpart.
6 big trade predictions for 2023 Politico President Joe Biden’s trade agenda came into sharper focus over the last year. His administration launched an economic initiative in the Indo-Pacific, tightened export controls on Chinese entities and embraced industrial subsidies that angered key trade partners.
UK government set to miss 2022 target on global trade deals Financial Times Britain’s government is poised to miss its target to seal deals covering 80 per cent of its trade with the rest of the world by the end of 2022. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYMore Than $250 Million To Be Invested In Seven University Microelectronic Research Centers
Science Daily Creating smart sensors to embed in our everyday objects and environments for the Internet of Things (IoT) would vastly improve daily life — but requires trillions of such small devices. A professor believes that emerging alternative semiconductors that are printable, low-cost and eco-friendly could lead the way to a cheaper and more sustainable IoT.
The Future of Wearable Electronics AZO Materials Flexible semiconductors are crucial for future wearable electronics technologies, but their integration into complex architectures has been problematic. In a recent study published in Advanced Electronic Materials, scientists from Japan have reportedly found a simple method for producing high-quality soft semiconductors for sophisticated electrical circuits.
HPC Wire This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics celebrated the fundamental interest of quantum entanglement, and also envisioned the potential applications in “the second quantum revolution” — a new age when we are able to manipulate the weirdness of quantum mechanics, including quantum superposition and entanglement. |
SIA NEWS
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INDUSTRY/MARKET
CHIPS Act Spurs $200 Billion Investments in U.S. Semi Industry Tom’s Hardware Although developers and makers of chips are yet to receive grants enabled by the CHIPS and Science act, its announcement and subsequent enactment have already attracted some $200 billion of private investments in the U.S. semiconductor sector, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, a lobbying group for the industry.. The new projects will impact both chip production as well as electronics manufacturing in the USA.
U.S. Chip Industry Urges Federal Aid for Chip Design, Too Electronic Design In a report released with the Boston Consulting Group last month, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) urged the U.S. to invest roughly $20 billion to $30 billion in chip design and research and development (R&D) by 2030.
India’s Manufacturing Push Takes an Audacious Gamble on Chips WSJ India plans to transform a vast tract of salty marshland in Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s home state into the most ambitious demonstration of its push to be recognized as a serious player in advanced manufacturing, and an alternative to China.
Germany could become Europe’s big semiconductor producer – Scholz Reuters Germany could become Europe’s big producer of semiconductors thanks to investments being made in the field, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a digital summit on Friday. |
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CHINAU.S. widens ban on military and surveillance tech sales to China The Washington Post The Biden administration doubled down Thursday on its high-tech containment of China, expanding a ban on commercial exports of advanced U.S. technology that it said aids Beijing’s military and hypersonics programs and enables human rights violations.
China brings WTO case against U.S. and its sweeping chip export curbs as tech tensions escalate CNBC China initiated a dispute against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization over Washington’s sweeping semiconductor export curbs that look to cut the world’s second-largest economy off from high-tech components.
China Says It Has Taken U.S. Semiconductor Rules to WTO WSJ China’s Ministry of Commerce said Monday it had filed a complaint against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization in response to new controls from Washington on semiconductor trade with China, describing the action as a response to trade protectionism. |
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TRADEU.S. consults with Japan, Netherlands on chip restrictions as China pushes back Reuters The U.S.-China row over technology has ratcheted up this week, with Washington confirming talks with Japan and the Netherlands about tightening exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, and Beijing hitting back.
Britain eyes trade agreements with California, Utah Reuters Britain this week inked an agreement aimed at boosting trade and investment with South Carolina, its third such deal with a U.S. state, and is seeking similar deals with California and Utah, the UK junior trade minister, Greg Hands, said on Friday.
Bipartisan duo propose plan for TPP reentry Politico A bipartisan pair of former high-ranking U.S. officials have proposed a plan for the United States to reenter the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing a significantly revamped agreement would fit current political realities that have pushed national security concerns to the top of the Biden administration’s trade priorities.
FORTUNE European Union leaders sought ways Thursday to stand up to the United States over its new green technologies plan that they say unfairly discriminates against Washington’s best global ally and demanded the same concessions as American free trade partners Canada and Mexico.
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYWater-based circuit concept switches much faster than semiconductors New Atlas Water is usually something you’d want to keep away from electronic circuits, but engineers in Germany have now developed a new concept for water-based switches that are much faster than current semiconductor materials.
3D-IC Reliability Degrades With Increasing Temperature Semiconductor Engineering The reliability of 3D-IC designs is dependent upon the ability of engineering teams to control heat, which can significantly degrade performance and accelerate circuit aging.
Safeguarding SRAMs From IP Theft (Best Paper Award) Semiconductor Engineering Data recovery has long been a focus of the electronics industry for decades by security experts, focusing on hard disk recovery, a type of non-volatile memory. Unfortunately, none of the existing research, neither from academia, industry, or government, have ever considered data recovery from volatile memories. |
SIA NEWS
Global Semiconductor Sales Decrease 0.3% Month-to-Month in October Press Release “Global semiconductor sales ticked down again in October, with sales decreasing on a year-to-year basis by the largest percentage since December 2019,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Sales into the Americas market stood out as a bright spot in October, increasing by double-digits compared to the same month last year.” |
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October global chip sales maintain that sinking feeling EE News “Global semiconductor sales ticked down again in October, with sales decreasing on a year-to-year basis by the largest percentage since December 2019,” said John Neuffer, CEO of SIA, in a statement. “Sales into the Americas market stood out as a bright spot in October, increasing by double-digits compared to the same month last year.”
Global semicon sales down 4.6% y-o-y to US$46.9 billion in October The Edge Markets SIA president and CEO John Neuffer said global semiconductor sales ticked down again in October, with sales decreasing on a year-to-year basis by the largest percentage since December 2019.
SIA-Boston Consulting Report Calls for Federal Investment in Chip Design Executive Biz “To ensure economic growth and prosperity for decades to come, Congress should pass an investment tax credit for semiconductor design, attract and retain the world’s top innovative minds, and promote open markets around the world,” Neuffer added.
U.S., EU Agree to Coordinate Semiconductor Subsidy Programs WSJ Top U.S. and European Union officials agreed to work closely to strengthen semiconductor supply chains, including sharing information about their respective programs to provide massive subsidies to promote domestic chip production. |
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CHINATech lay-offs in China extend into year-end as Bilibili and Weibo cut headcount in worsening economy South China Morning Post Job losses in China’s technology sector show no sign of easing as 2022 nears its end, with video-streaming platform Bilibili and Twitter-like microblogging service Weibo laying off hundreds of employees under the name of “business optimisation” amid a challenging economy.
Jack Ma quits as head of leading China business group Financial Times |
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TRADEUK Signs Third US State Trade Pact in Absence of a Broader Deal Bloomberg The UK will sign its third pact with a US state in the absence of a bilateral free trade agreement, as it seeks to bolster its economic ties overseas after its departure from the European Union.
Canada’s IPEF bid has support from all members: trade minister Nikkei Asia Canada’s bid to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework has the backing of all current members, the country’s trade minister said Monday, expressing optimism about the prospects of participating in the U.S.-led regional partnership aimed at countering China.
Australian minister urges greater U.S. economic engagement with Indo-Pacific Reuters Australia’s Foreign Minister on Wednesday praised Washington’s commitment to Indo-Pacific security but said its departure from a regional trade pact was still being felt and that enhanced U.S. economic engagement with the region should be a priority.
Japan, Belgium to cooperate in semiconductor production, development PBS A newly founded Japanese semiconductor company aiming to revive Japan’s chip industry signed an agreement on Tuesday to collaborate with a Belgian research organization in developing next-generation chips for production in Japan. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGY‘Innovation Hubs’ Aim to Lift Distressed Areas. Congress Just Has to Fund Them. NYT Included in the bipartisan industrial policy legislation that President Biden signed into law this summer was a $10 billion effort to jump-start economically sputtering regions across the country: a series of “innovation hubs” across 20 metropolitan areas.
Using lasers to bond semiconductor electronics components Phys.Org Today, lasers are well-established in daily life, even if it is sometimes hard to tell what and where they are. As an example, we can find them in CD/DVD readers or medical applications like cancer and eye surgery, being essential tools in a vast range of multidisciplinary fields.
Coffee can increase flow in semiconductor components by up to 100x Fudzilla Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) institute boffins in Japan say the use of a coffee compound can increase current flow in semiconductor components by up to 100x.
Challenges With Adaptive Control Semiconductor Engineering Historically, the performance and power consumption of a system was controlled by what could be done at design time, but chips today are becoming a lot more adaptive. This has become a necessity for cutting edge nodes, but also provides a lot of additional benefits at the expense of greater complexity and verification challenges. |
SIA NEWS
New Report Identifies Challenges to Continued U.S. Leadership in Semiconductor Design, Innovation Press Release Following the historic enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act to reinvigorate domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) today released a report finding continued U.S. leadership in semiconductor design—the critical and high-value-add mapping of a chip’s intricate circuitry—is essential to America’s sustained leadership in semiconductors and the many technologies they enable.
Silicon Labs CEO Matt Johnson Elected Chair of Semiconductor Industry Association Press Release The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced Silicon Labs President and CEO Matt Johnson has been elected Chair of the SIA Board of Directors and Texas Instruments Chairman, President, and CEO Rich Templeton has been elected Vice Chair.
New Report Highlights Challenges and Opportunities Facing U.S. Semiconductor Industry Press Release The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today released its annual State of the Industry Report. The report highlights the current challenges facing the semiconductor industry, as well as opportunities for continued growth and innovation. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKET
Report warns U.S. chip design market share to plunge without government support Reuters The U.S. share of chip design revenue has been slipping in recent years, dropping to 46% in 2021 from over 50% in 2015. Without government support, that could drop to 36% by the end of this decade, according to the analysis released by U.S. industry body Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Boston Consulting Group.
To boost the chip design labor pool: up to $30B in US funds, better marketing Fierce Electronics
Chip industry honors ex-Cadence CEO and VC Lip-Bu Tan Venture Beat The Semiconductor Industry Association awarded its highest honor to Lip-Bu Tan, the former CEO of Cadence Design Systems and the founder of the venture capital firm Walden International.
Shortage of Legacy Chips Keeping Ford CEO Up at Night Bloomberg “It’s too painful. We need to understand your technology roadmap better,” Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said at the annual Semiconductor Industry Association dinner, in an interview with Texas Instruments Inc. CEO Rich Templeton. “And we need supply chain people from your companies and our companies to get it right.” |
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CHINAU.S. Senate eyes tightened restrictions on Chinese semiconductors Reuters The Democratic leader of the U.S. Senate urged lawmakers on Monday to back his proposal to bar the U.S. government from doing business with companies that use semiconductors made by producers the Pentagon considers Chinese military contractors.
FORTUNE Border officials said on Thursday the woman was arrested on Nov. 25 carrying 202 processors and nine smartphones under a large pregnancy prosthetic, Bloomberg reported. She initially aroused suspicion after claiming to be “about five or six months pregnant but had a big belly that looked like she was in the third trimester.” |
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TRADEBiden Seeks to Resolve Trans-Atlantic Tensions During Macron Visit NYT President Biden and President Emmanuel Macron of France sought to ease trans-Atlantic tensions over Mr. Biden’s domestic manufacturing agenda on Thursday, with both leaders emerging from an official state visit promising to work together on economic policies that have rankled European officials.
EU-US Tensions Mount as Breton Skips Trade Meeting Bloomberg Trade tensions between the US and the EU are intensifying. A high-level meeting next week meant to address thorny issues is losing relevance by the day. Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton pulled out of the Trade and Technology Council last night, in part because the controversial US tax and climate law has been downgraded from a key agenda item to a point of conversation over a 45-minute lunch.
Brexit Britain trapped in the middle as US and EU go to war on trade Politico Three years after leaving the EU to chart its own course, Britain finds itself caught between two economic behemoths in a brewing transatlantic trade war. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYProtons fix a long-standing issue in silicon carbide electronics Science Daily Silicon carbide (SiC) is a semiconductor material that outperforms pure silicon-based semiconductors in several applications. Used mostly in power inverters, motor drives, and battery chargers, SiC devices offer benefits such as a high power density and reduced power losses at high frequencies even at high voltages.
Tesla begins delivering first Semi trucks Axios Elon Musk announced Thursday that Tesla is rolling out its long-awaited all-electric Semi trucks. The first shipment of the Tesla Semi, which was unveiled five years ago, was delivered to PepsiCo’s Modesto, California, factory Wednesday, Tesla Semi program manager Dan Priestley said during a livestreamed event at the electric vehicle company’s Nevada plant. |
SIA NEWS
New Report Identifies Target Areas for CHIPS R&D Investments Press Release The report, titled “American Semiconductor Research: Leadership Through Innovation,” highlights the importance of government-industry collaboration on two historic new entities—the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) and the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP)—created by the CHIPS and Science Act. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKET
U.S. chip industry body urges R&D infrastructure upgrade with Chips Act funds Reuters “In the semiconductor industry, that kind of money, especially when we’re talking about efforts towards scale up, will be spent very, very quickly. So it’s really important that an understanding of where the existing infrastructure is provided, so that it can be leveraged,” said Eric Breckenfeld, director of technology policy at SIA, which released a report with Boston Consulting Group suggesting how the funding could be spent.
5 target areas for the CHIPS Act Electronics 360 “Semiconductor R&D is essential to the innovations powering America’s economy, national security, advanced manufacturing and critical supply chains,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act was a major step toward reinvigorating domestic chip production and innovation for years to come. The ‘Leadership Through Innovation’ study is a roadmap for implementing the new law’s R&D provisions and ensuring sustained U.S. leadership in chip technology.”
Economic future of U.S. depends on making engineering cool The Washington Post On a recent afternoon, an unusual group of visitors peered through a window at Purdue University students tinkering in a lab: two dozen executives from the world’s biggest semiconductor companies. |
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CHINASouth China Morning Post The municipal government of Shanghai, China’s largest city and semiconductor highland, has launched a new campus to train fresh talent for the domestic chip industry, as the country casts a wide net for skilled personnel after Washington’s latest hi-tech restrictions.
South China Morning Post Shenzhen’s quantum research institute has set up a new unit aimed at achieving breakthroughs in the “choke points” of integrated circuit (IC) technology, a field that China wants to achieve greater self-sufficiency in as the US ramps up trade restrictions.
If China can’t get American tech, maybe US allies will be more open to supplying chips South China Morning Post With the US ban on critical computer chips threatening to derail China’s development in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and supercomputers, analysts say that enhancing coordination with American allies could prove decisive for Beijing. |
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TRADEVon der Leyen tries to demine transatlantic trade dispute Politico The European Union and United States are trying to take the heat out of a transatlantic trade dispute by creating a task force to tackle a dispute over U.S. electric vehicle tax breaks, in a move that will enable wider talks on technology and trade to go ahead.
U.S. should be at center of CPTPP, Japanese foreign minister says Nikkei Asia The U.S. should return to the broad cross-Pacific free trade agreement it helped to forge, Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Saturday, as rising geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific make strengthening cooperation a priority.
Canada to seek membership to Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Reuters Canada will seek membership to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to further economic cooperation in the region, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Thursday following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ottawa.
UK says has completed most of India trade deal, will only sign once happy Reuters Britain has completed the majority of sections of a free trade agreement with India but will only sign off on the deal once happy that it is fair and reciprocal, trade department minister Greg Hands said on Wednesday. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYScience Daily In a study that confirms its promise as the next-generation semiconductor material, UC Santa Barbara researchers have directly visualized the photocarrier transport properties of cubic boron arsenide single crystals.
First online database of photocharged materials developed for battery research Phys.Org Materials chemistry is a rapidly evolving area of research, with thousands of various semiconductors, and more materials being added all the time. What material among this variety would be the best for application in solar batteries, for example? How should such a material look like if it has not yet been synthesized?
Fabless IDMs Redefine The Leading Edge Semiconductor Engineering Large systems companies are looking more like integrated device manufacturers, designing their own advanced chips, packages, and systems for internal use. But because these are not pure-play chip companies, they are disrupting a 10-year cadence of customization and standardization that has defined the chip industry from its inception, and extending the period of innovation without the associated economies of scale. |
CHINA
Tech war: Chinese local governments ramp up chip industry support as US piles on export restrictions South China Morning Post China’s local governments are doubling down on cash incentives and policy support for home-grown semiconductor companies, as part of Beijing’s drive to achieve greater self-sufficiency in the chip sector amid heightened rivalry with the US.
China Summons Chip Firms for Emergency Talks After US Curbs Bloomberg China’s top technology overseer convened a series of emergency meetings over the past week with leading semiconductor companies, seeking to assess the damage from the Biden administration’s sweeping chip restrictions and pledging support for the critical sector.
South China Morning Post The sole semiconductor industry delegate at the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is advocating for the development of the country’s own industrial information technology (IT) system, independent from the widely adopted Intel–Windows and Android–Arm structures, as tensions intensify between Beijing and Washington. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETHow using analytics and AI can help companies manage the semiconductor supply chain CBNC Businesses and consumers have been grappling with supply chain issues for months, resulting in annoying shortages of all kinds of products, including all-important semiconductor chips.
Supply chain data eases, giving some hope for U.S. inflation relief Reuters The supply chain pressures that were so instrumental to driving up U.S. inflationary pressures at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic are waning. |
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TRADEAustralia concerned about delays on UK trade deal, PM says Reuters Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday said he was concerned about any potential delays to the free trade deal with Britain arising from the political instability happening there.
What will happen to India-UK trade deal after Liz Truss leaves office? Mint Britain’s third female Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has laid the foundation for the much talked about India-UK free trade agreement (FTA), will walk out of 10 Downing Street in London without cherishing it as a prize under her belt. Truss has always been extremely vocal about her support for India and while the FTA was still taking a shape, she had commented that the two countries are in a “sweet spot of the trade dynamics that are building up”. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYFirst measurement of interactions between Fermi polarons in an atomically-thin 2D semiconductor Phys.org Recent Australian-led research has provided a world’s first measurement of interactions between Fermi polarons in an atomically-thin 2D semiconductor, using ultrafast spectroscopy capable of probing complex quantum materials.
Oregon State University announces $200M education and research center aimed at technology industries JPR Oregon State University announced a new $200 million research and education center on Friday, focused on supporting the semiconductor and general technology industries in the region. The center will be launched by $100 million in donations. |
CHINA
Beijing rebukes Biden’s export controls Politico China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs had harsh words to describe the Biden administration’s new export controls on semiconductor technology: “Out of the need to maintain its sci-tech hegemony, the U.S. abuses export control measures to maliciously block and suppress Chinese companies,” spokesperson Mao Ning said over the weekend.
Biden administration imposes limits on semiconductor exports to China Axios “We are assessing the impact of the new export controls on the U.S. semiconductor industry and working with our member companies and the U.S. government to ensure compliance,” the Semiconductor Industry Association said in a statement.
Biden clamps down on trade to 31 Chinese companies, universities Fierce Electronics The full impact of the rule was still being weighed by US-based chipmakers, as represented by the Semiconductor Industry Association. “We are assessing the impact of the new export controls on the US semiconductor industry and working with our member companies and the US government to ensure compliance,” SIA said in a statement. “We understand the goal of ensuring national security and urge the US government to implement the rules in a targeted way—and in collaboration with international partners—to help level the playing field and mitigate unintended harm to US innovation.” |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETThe case for making chips at home again Market Watch In August of this year, President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act into law. The legislation, which was approved with significant bipartisan support, allocates $52.7 billion in subsidies to the semiconductor — or chip — industry.
Sen. Maria Cantwell says CHIPS Act is ‘unleashing’ response from private sector GeekWire Sen. Maria Cantwell likes what she sees so far with the quick reaction from U.S. companies to the CHIPS and Science Act. “We think it’s unleashing the response from the private sector that we wanted to see,” said Cantwell, speaking at the GeekWire Summit in Seattle last week.
Supply Chain ‘Normal’ Appears on Horizon, With Sights Set on March Bloomberg Few observers have had a better perch to watch the pandemic slowly clog — and now free up — one of the biggest arteries of global trade than Captain J. Kipling “Kip” Louttit.
To Protect America, Loosen Visa Caps for STEM Experts Defense One When it comes to immigration policy, there’s little that the authors—a former Trump administration official and a former Obama administration official—have in common. However, we both recognize that attracting the world’s best in key fields is critical to U.S. competitiveness and national security—and that today’s visa caps are imperiling those efforts. |
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TRADETruss Faces Fresh Headache as India-UK Free Trade Deal Stuck Bloomberg India’s reputation as one of the world’s toughest trade negotiators is becoming more than an inconvenience for UK Prime Minister Liz Truss.
UK Entry to CPTPP Trade Pact Still Under Discussion: Singapore Bloomberg Discussions for the UK’s accession into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) are continuing, Singapore’s trade minister Gan Kim Yong said during a meeting of the trade group.
Chilean lawmakers approve Trans-Pacific Partnership Reuters Chile’s congress voted to approve the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal on Tuesday after four years of legislative debate. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYMaterials science engineers work on new material for computer chips Science Daily Members of a multifunctional thin film research group have published two landmark studies that explain how to engineer and enhance the stability of ferroelectric hafnium oxides, which are compatible with mainstream semiconductors.
Foundational Changes In Chip Architectures Semiconductor Engineering We take many things in the semiconductor world for granted, but what if some of the decisions made decades ago are no longer viable or optimal? We saw a small example with finFETs, where the planar transistor would no longer scale. Today we are facing several bigger disruptions that will have much larger ripple effects. |
SIA NEWS
SIA Statement on New Export Controls Press Release “We are assessing the impact of the new export controls on the U.S. semiconductor industry and working with our member companies and the U.S. government to ensure compliance. We understand the goal of ensuring national security and urge the U.S. government to implement the rules in a targeted way—and in collaboration with international partners—to help level the playing field and mitigate unintended harm to U.S. innovation.”
Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 0.1% Year-to-Year in August Press Release Global semiconductor sales growth has stalled in recent months, and month-to-month sales decreased in August by the largest percentage since February 2019,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Sales into Europe paced all regional markets, while sales into China saw the sharpest declines. |
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CHINA
Biden Administration Clamps Down on China’s Access to Chip Technology NYT The Semiconductor Industry Association said Friday that it was assessing the impact of the export controls on the industry and working with companies to ensure compliance. “We understand the goal of ensuring national security and urge the U.S. government to implement the rules in a targeted way — and in collaboration with international partners — to help level the playing field and mitigate unintended harm to U.S. innovation,” it said in a statement.
U.S. Restricts Semiconductor Exports in Bid to Slow China’s Military Advance WSJ The Semiconductor Industry Association said it was assessing the impact of the new rules. “We understand the goal of ensuring national security,” the trade group said, but added that it hoped the rules could be implemented in a way that wouldn’t result in “unintended harm to U.S. innovation.”
White House Adds New Restrictions on Chip Exports to China Bloomberg The Semiconductor Industry Association, a lobbying group representing all of the largest US chipmakers, said it’s evaluating the impact of the new export controls and will ensure compliance with the restrictions. “We understand the goal of ensuring national security and urge the US government to implement the rules in a targeted way — and in collaboration with international partners — to help level the playing field and mitigate unintended harm to US innovation,” the association said in a statement.
Taiwan Pledges to Keep Advanced Chips From Chinese Military Bloomberg Taiwan pledged to work closely with the US and other allies to prevent China’s military from acquiring state-of-the-art technology, as Washington steps up efforts to contain the world’s No. 2 economy.
South China Morning Post China’s semiconductor sector, a strategic industry that Beijing wants to see less dependent on foreign technology, faces a big skills and knowledge gap, according to an executive at a domestic education agency. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKETSenator Kelly named ‘CHIPS Champion’ by Semiconductor Industry Association Gila Herald “We greatly appreciate the leadership of Senator Kelly in helping to enact the historic CHIPS and Science Act, which will boost U.S.-based production and innovation of semiconductors that are critical to America’s economy, national security, and supply chains. We’re pleased to present Sen. Kelly with SIA’s CHIPS Champion Award as a token of our appreciation and look forward to continuing to work with him to strengthen U.S. semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing,” said Semiconductor Industry Association President and CEO John Neuffer.
Semiconductors: The modern day arms race Electronics 360 Currently, only 12% of all semiconductor manufacturing is done in the U.S. If the situation does not change, it will decline to 10% in the coming decade, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). In 2021, 54% of semiconductors were produced by American companies.
Biden has $52 billion for semiconductors. Today, work begins to spend that windfall NPR President Biden is heading to an IBM manufacturing plant in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Thursday to tout a new $20 billion investment the company is making in semiconductor research and development as well as other advanced technologies.
Hochul lauds incentivized semiconductor investment in New York Politico New York sought to lure the world’s largest computer chip manufacturers with the biggest incentive package in state history. Now it landed one — thanks to a potential $6 billion in subsidies.
South China Morning Post Taiwanese officials and entrepreneurs from the global tech hub are talking with their counterparts from Brazil about working together to help Latin America’s biggest economy develop its nascent semiconductor industry. |
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TRADEUS moves to implement new EU data-sharing agreement Financial Times US president Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order detailing the measures the White House will take to implement a new data-sharing agreement with the EU, a move the administration called a “critical step” for transatlantic relations.
India plays hardball on UK trade deal as Liz Truss scrambles for a win Politico India is driving a hard bargain as Britain’s crisis-hit government tries to get a coveted trade deal over the line within weeks. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYBeyond Silicon? The New Materials Charting the Future of Microchips WSJ Microchips are in pretty much all of our electronic devices—if it’s got a plug or a battery, it’s probably got a chip. For the past 60 years, most of these have been made of silicon.
New form of silicon could revolutionize semiconductor industry Phys.Org After a 10-year research study that started by accident and was met with skepticism, a team of Northeastern University mechanical engineers was able to synthesize highly dense, ultra-narrow silicon nanowires that could revolutionize the semiconductor industry. Their research appears in Nature Communications. |
SIA NEWS
Press Release Enactment of the CHIPS Act was an historic win for the semiconductor industry and American innovation, economic growth, and national security. To realize the full benefits of the CHIPS Act’s R&D investments, it is critical for government, industry, and academia to work collaboratively to ensure the new funding bridges key gaps in the current semiconductor R&D ecosystem.
Beating the Drum on ITA Expansion in Geneva SIA Blog While the weather forecast this week in Geneva calls for lots of clouds and rain, the mood of the sizable global industry delegation here to talk expanding the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA) for a second time is downright sunny. It’s always great to be back in this town working on an affirmative effort to expand trade and bolster the institution of the WTO. |
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INDUSTRY/MARKET
VP Harris seeks computer chip partners in Japan meetings Associated Press Jimmy Goodrich, vice president for global policy at the Semiconductor Industry Association, “there’s a big opportunity and significant space for future investment” involving Japan.
‘India has a big role to play’: New Delhi is trying to turn the country into a chip powerhouse CNBC India could have a large role to play in the semiconductor industry, analysts say, as the world’s fifth-largest economy looks to boost its domestic chip sector.
University of Arkansas to establish semiconductor research center Axios A $10.35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy will establish a research center dedicated to the manufacturing of semiconductors used in computers and other electronic devices.
Taiwan says chip companies in talks about Europe investment Reuters Some Taiwanese chip companies are in talks with European countries about investments there, a government minister said on Wednesday, adding the administration was “pleased” to see efforts by local companies to work with democratic allies. |
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CHINAUS Senate weighing limits on US investments in Chinese hi-tech businesses South China Morning Post Members of a US Senate committee said Thursday they are considering new rules to block investments in China’s hi-tech sectors, a move they said was needed to stop American money from financing Beijing’s tenacious efforts to out-compete Washington, even as they differed on what form the rules should take.
Apple’s Tech Supply Chain Shows Difficulty of Dumping China Bloomberg American companies have had a growing list of reasons to downgrade their ties with China in recent years. Former President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Beijing’s stringent Covid lockdowns. The US-Sino standoff over Taiwan. Political pressure to “friend-shore” supply chains toward nations aligned with Washington. |
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TRADENew UK trade minister visits United States in first trip overseas Reuters Britain’s new trade minister Kemi Badenoch will visit New York on Wednesday in her first overseas trip, where she will stress the importance of the United States as a trading partner even as talks over a free trade deal between the countries are blocked.
South China Morning Post The United States convened a preliminary meeting of a working group with East Asian countries to discuss semiconductor supply chain resilience and cooperation, a Taiwan official said on Friday.
New Foreign Secretary Cleverly says UK’s strategic shift to Indo-Pacific is ‘permanent’ CNBC The United Kingdom will commit itself more fully to the Indo-Pacific region, beyond its ongoing efforts to join a massive trade deal in the region, the country’s new foreign secretary said Thursday. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYDecreasing Refresh Latency Of Off-The-Shelf DRAM Chips Semiconductor Engineering DRAM is the building block of modern main memory systems. DRAM cells must be periodically refreshed to prevent data loss. Refresh operations degrade system performance by interfering with memory accesses.
Chipotle Mexican Grill will test robotic tortilla chip maker ‘Chippy’ in California restaurant CNBC Chipotle Mexican Grill is moving one step closer to having a robot make its tortilla chips. Restaurants and retailers have been testing robotics and automation to speed up operations and reduce menial tasks for workers. |
INDUSTRY/MARKET
CHIPS Act could make the US a semiconductor powerhouse Automotive World Nevertheless, as demand for new vehicles featuring the latest technology increases, it’s forecasted that the global semiconductor industry will increase manufacturing capacity by 56% in the next decade, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
Biden administration announces Chips Act implementation team Washington Post The White House and Commerce Department on Tuesday announced the team that will oversee the doling out of $52 billion in federal subsidies for the semiconductor industry, pledging strict oversight to “responsibly spend taxpayer dollars.”
India expects at least $25 bln investment under semiconductor incentive scheme Reuters India is expecting to court a total investment of at least $25 billion as a result of its incentive scheme meant to boost local manufacturing of chip and display panels, junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar told reporters on Wednesday. |
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CHINAHuawei dives into chip production to battle U.S. clampdown Nikkei Asia China’s Huawei Technologies is attempting to get its own chips back into production as early as this year by partnering with domestic semiconductor companies to build up “U.S.-free” production lines.
Supply-Chain Decoupling From China Gets Sharper Teeth WSJ Covid-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and rising geopolitical risks in Asia have thrown a wrench into global supply chains. That has reinvigorated the push to put key supply links back onshore—particularly those currently located in manufacturing juggernaut China. |
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TRADESouth Korea complains of growing friction with US over high-tech trade Financial Times
Britain’s Truss doesn’t expect UK-US trade deal anytime soon ABC Prime Minister Liz Truss has kicked off her first visit to the United States as Britain’s leader with an admission that a U.K-U.S. free trade deal is not going to happen for years.
Brazil’s Lula Expects to Reach Trade Agreement With EU in Six Months if Elected Reuters Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday he should reach an agreement on a trade deal between South America’s Mercosur trade bloc and the European Union within six months, if he wins October’s presidential election. |
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RESEARCH/TECHNOLOGYSemiconductor Engineering A recent wave of quantum computing investment has given rise to claims of a quantum computing bubble, based on overly optimistic technological claims in a field area that experts say has yet to demonstrate any real utility.
Phys.org Perovskite solar cells have been the subject of much research as the next generation of photovoltaic devices. However, many challenges remain to be overcome for the practical application. One of them concerns the hole transport layer (p-type semiconductor) in photovoltaic cells that carries holes generated by light to the electrode. |
SIA NEWS
Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 7.3% Year-to-Year in July, but Growth Slows Press Release |
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INDUSTRY/MARKET
Global semiconductor sales increased 7.3% YoY in July Evertiq The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reports that global semiconductor industry sales were $49.0 billion in the month of July 2022, an increase of 7.3% over the July 2021 total of USD 45.7 billion, but a decrease of 2.3% compared to the June 2022 total of USD 50.2 billion.
Global Chip Sales Up Over 7% YoY in July EE Times Asia “Global semiconductor sales remained strong in July, easily topping the total from last July, but market growth has slowed substantially in recent months, with year-to-year sales increases dropping into the single digits for the first time since December 2020,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Sales into the Americas market increased 20.9% year-to-year to lead all regions.”
Chip growth slows as Chinese market contracts EE News Europe John Neuffer, CEO of the SIA, said market growth has slowed substantially in recent months, with year-to-year sales increases dropping into the single digits for the first time since December 2020.
CHIPS Act would give 25% tax credit on new fabs Electronics360 According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the U.S. manufactures about 12% of all chips made globally, this is down from about 37% in the 1990s. If the supply chain remains the same or the situation worsens, this will more than likely decline to 10% or less in the coming years as more manufacturing capacity is built in other countries to meet demand.
US Lays Out $50 Billion Chips Plan and May Issue Funds in the Spring Bloomberg The Biden administration published its strategy for subsidizing US output of semiconductors, with the first phase of funding potentially being rolled out next spring, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
Biden administration unveils plan for bolstering semiconductor production The Hill The administration will use the majority of the funding, around $28 billion, to establish domestic production of leading edge logic and memory chips through grants, subsidized loans or loan guarantees, the Department of Commerce said in an announcement.
Biden Administration Releases Plan for $50 Billion Investment in Chips NYT The Department of Commerce on Tuesday unveiled its plan for dispensing $50 billion aimed at building up the domestic semiconductor industry and countering China, in what is expected to be the biggest U.S. government effort in decades to shape a strategic industry. |
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CHINAXi Renews Call for China Tech Push After US Escalates Curbs Bloomberg Xi Jinping renewed calls for China to step up the development of technology critical to national security, issuing a forceful reminder just as escalating US sanctions threaten Beijing’s efforts to become self-reliant in semiconductors.
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