SINGAPORE – The decision by GlobalFoundries (GF) to expand its manufacturing base here proves that Singapore will continue to have a strong, competitive and vibrant semiconductor industry despite the intense global battle for high-end chip investments, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Tuesday.

In response to persistent softening in demand, Samsung has taken a decisive step: a sweeping 50% production cut from September, with the focus mainly on processes under 128 layers. According to TrendForce's research, other suppliers are also expected to follow suit and increase their production cutbacks in the fourth quarter to accelerate inventory reduction. With this maneuver in play, Q4 NAND Flash average prices are projected to either hold firm or witness a mild surge, possibly in the ballpark of 0~5%.

Taiwan has a well-established ecosystem for producing semiconductors, which is why Micron Technology Inc has decided to produce its most advanced DRAM chips in the country, corporate vice president and head of Micron Taiwan Donghui Lu (盧東暉) said in an exclusive interview with the Central News Agency.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is to decide this week whether to invest in Arm Holdings Ltd, which plays a vital role in the semiconductor ecosystem, the company said yesterday.

Arm’s customers, including Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Alphabet Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc have agreed to back the UK-based chip designer’s US$55 billion initial public offering (IPO) in the US. Intel Corp has also agreed to be a cornerstone investor in the offering.

TSMC is currently constructing a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Some office spaces have already been completed, and TSMC employees from Taiwan are gradually moving in.

According to reports from Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun and the local news channel KKT, TSMC's subsidiary in Japan, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), is building a new factory in Kikuyo-cho, Kumamoto Prefecture. It is expected to be completed around the end of 2023, with some office buildings already completed in August of the same year.

ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is expanding capacity at a factory in Penang, Malaysia, as the company is bullish about longer-term semiconductor demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and people-to-machine and machine-to-people applications.

Apple
has struck a deal with Arm through 2040 and “beyond,” Arm said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday.

The news indicates that Apple has secured access to a core piece of intellectual property, the Arm architecture, used in its iPhone and Mac chips, for the foreseeable future.

MILPITAS, Calif. – September 6, 2023 – Global semiconductor equipment billings dipped 2% year-over-year to US$25.8 billion in the second quarter of 2023, while quarter-over-quarter billings slipped 4%, SEMI announced today in its Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) Report.

A proposed loss of 100 jobs at the UK's largest chip plant has been blamed on UK government restrictions.

Chinese-owned Nexperia was ordered by UK ministers to sell its 86% stake in the Newport site due to national security concerns.

Semiconductors made at Newport Wafer Fab are used in millions of electronic products, from smartphones to household equipment and cars.

The UK government said it is committed to a new site owner being found.

The UK chip designer Arm will be valued at up to $52bn (£41.4bn) when it floats on the New York stock exchange. The listing will raise less than its owner, SoftBank, had hoped, but could still deliver a fees bonanza of $100m to investment banks working on the deal.