The CHIPS and Science Act, part of the Investing in America agenda, aims to reverse the decline in U.S. semiconductor production. A preliminary agreement between the Department of Commerce and BAE Systems, Inc. for a $35 million incentive award represents a key milestone, supporting the modernization of a facility crucial for national security and signaling a broader effort to boost semiconductor production, research, and development in the United States.

TOKYO — December 12, 2023 — Global sales of total semiconductor manufacturing equipment by original equipment manufacturers are forecast to reach $100 billion in 2023, a contraction of 6.1% from the industry record of $107.4 billion posted in 2022, SEMI announced today in its Year-End Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – OEM Perspective at SEMICON Japan 2023. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment growth is expected to resume in 2024, with sales forecast to reach a new high of $124 billion in 2025, supported by both the front-end and back-end segments.

“We anticipate a temporary contraction in 2023 due to the cyclical nature of the semiconductor market,” said Ajit Manocha, SEMI President and CEO. “2024 will be a transition year. We then expect a strong rebound in 2025, driven by capacity expansion, new fab projects, and high demand for advanced technologies and solutions across the front-end and back-end segments.”

A plan by ROHM Co., Ltd. (“ROHM”) and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation (“Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage”) to collaborate in the manufacture and increased volume production of power devices has been recognized and will be supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as a measure supporting the Japanese Government’s target of secure and stable semiconductor supply. ROHM and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage will respectively make intensive investments in silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon (Si) power devices, effectively enhance their supply capabilities, and complementally utilize other party’s production capacity.

TrendForce’s research indicates a dynamic third quarter for the global foundry industry, marked by an uptick in urgent orders for smartphone and notebook components. This surge was fueled by healthy inventory levels and the release of new iPhone and Android devices in 2H23. Despite persisting inflation risks and market uncertainties, these orders were predominantly executed as rush orders. Additionally, TSMC and Samsung’s high-cost 3nm manufacturing process had a positive impact on revenues, driving the 3Q23 value of the top ten global foundries to approximately US$28.29 billion—a 7.9% QoQ increase.

Global semiconductor revenue is projected to grow 16.8% in 2024 to total $624 billion, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc. In 2023, the market is forecast to decline 10.9% and reach $534 billion.

“We are at the end of 2023 and strong demand for chips to support artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), is not going to be enough to save the semiconductor industry from double-digit decline in 2023,” said Alan Priestley, VP Analyst at Gartner. “Reduced demand from smartphones and PC customers coupled with weakness in data center/hyperscaler spending are influencing the decline in revenue this year.”

SANTA CLARA, Calif., and MUNICH, Dec. 4, 2023 – Siemens AG, a leading technology company, and Intel Corporation, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on driving digitalization and sustainability of microelectronics manufacturing. The companies will focus on advancing future manufacturing efforts, evolving factory operations and cybersecurity, and supporting a resilient global industry ecosystem.

Our Next Energy (ONE), a Michigan-based energy storage technology company, announced that a BMW iX test vehicle—powered by its Gemini dual-chemistry battery—achieved over 600 miles of range on a single charge.

The demonstration project, conducted in partnership with BMW Group, was announced in mid-2022, with a goal of achieving 600 miles on ONE's battery, which would be up to around two times more than the production BMW iX.

According to data from Layoffs.fyi, over 250,000 tech employees were laid off across over 1,100 companies in the past year. Despite this, over 23,000 development vacancies still exist on company websites, according to a report from Qt Group.

The company explained that there were a lot of redundancies reported in 2023, and that many layoffs were the result of re-prioritization efforts. For example, one tech company that had 27,410 redundancies still had 5,437 developer roles on its website as of November 15.

The lithium-ion EV battery market appears to be on the verge of correction in the U.S., after a few years of rapid growth with multi-billion investments.

There is no doubt about the growth in the EV segment, however, the expansion is not as fast and smooth as initially planned. Because of that, some of the EV battery manufacturers are following carmakers and are scaling back/delaying their investments in new battery factories.

According to the Financial Times, two South Korean battery manufacturers—LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation's SK On—recently slightly reduced their workforce in the U.S.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is considering building a third plant in Japan that would make advanced 3-nanometer chips, people familiar with the matter said, potentially turning the East Asian nation into a major global chipmaking hub.

The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc has told its supply chain partners it is mulling construction of a third factory, code-named TSMC Fab-23 Phase 3, in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not public.