2023-08-08
My take on TSMC's announcement. 1. The EU Chips Act produces appreciable results, just not those expected by its early advocates. 2. Industrial concentration in Germany is inevitable but can be addressed by corrective measures. @EURACTIV https://www.euractiv.com/...
Bloomberg
TSMC agrees to build a €10B plant in Germany's Dresden, owning 70% of the facility with Infineon, NXP, and Bosch each holding 10% stake, set to open in 2027
- Taiwanese giant will own 70% of fab in eastern city of Dresden — Facility to supply auto, industrial sectors starting in 2027
2023-04-12
Russia's Hong Kong/Shenzhen route to US semiconductors. “There are many formless shell companies and small trading companies in HK that serve as receptacles for secondary sales. If you spot one illegal trade, they can just change their name”. https://asia.nikkei.com/...
Nikkei Asia
Customs data: Russia imported $570M worth of US chips from Hong Kong and mainland China from February 24, 2022 to December 31, 2022, despite US sanctions
Nikkei Asia :
2022-12-23
The narrative (rather mainstream in Taiwan) that building fabs overseas is not commercially viable looks more and more like a negotiation strategy to get better packages from governments. https://twitter.com/...
Financial Times
Sources: TSMC is in advanced talks with key suppliers about setting up its first European plant in Dresden, Germany; construction could begin in early 2024
Company to send senior executives to Dresden early next year to discuss potential factory project in Germany
2022-08-05
China puts pressure on Pegatron, but not on TSMC despite Morris Chang also meeting with Pelosi in Taipei. It says something about Chinese strengths and vulnerabilities. https://asia.nikkei.com/...
Nikkei Asia
Sources: Apple asks suppliers to ensure shipments from Taiwan to China are labeled as “Taiwan, China” or “Chinese Taipei”, after Pelosi's visit stirs tensions
Stepped up scrutiny of import documents raises disruption fears for iPhone maker
China puts pressure on Pegatron, but not on TSMC despite Morris Chang also meeting with Pelosi in Taipei. It says something about Chinese strengths and vulnerabilities. https://asia.nikkei.com/...
Nikkei Asia
After Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan, sources say shipments to Pegatron's factory, used by Microsoft, Tesla, and others, were being held by Chinese customs
iPhone manufacturer denies reports Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Philip Elmer‑DeWitt : So far, Apple's Pegatron shipments have been spared Chinese slowdown Tweets: Cheng Ting-Fang / @cheng...
2022-08-01
A fascinating dive into the complexities of the chipmaking supply chain - and you learn that a COVID virus measures 100 nm. But there's a bias, no government seeks self-sufficiency, the policies aim at reducing vulnerabilities to leverage and disruptions. https://asia.nikkei.com/...
Nikkei Asia
A look at the supply chain resilience myth, as efforts to replicate the chipmaking process inside single countries or regions reveal and exacerbate bottlenecks
Nikkei Asia : Tweets: @genemgrossman , @kizzy224 , @chengtingfang , @mtdtl , and @pstasiatech Tweets: Gene Grossman / @genemgrossman : A good explanation of why subsidies for resh...
2022-07-30
On SMIC's intriguing leap to 7nm, without access to EUV. 1) So far, made for mining cryptocurrency; 2) It's been based on, or stolen from TSMC; 3) No one knows about the yield and the potential to mass-produce. https://www.nytimes.com/...
New York Times
As Congress debated the $280B CHIPS Act for 13 months, China's semiconductor industry surged ahead, making a 7nm chip that may be based on, or stolen from, TSMC
2022-07-12
With “significant”, yet unspecified at this stage, support from the French government, within the framework of the EU Chips Act. https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
STMicro and GlobalFoundries plan to build a €5.7B chip factory in France with full capacity by 2026, with “significant” funding from the French government
2021-09-26
Meng's admissions confirm the crux of the government's allegations that Meng and her fellow Huawei employees engaged in a concerted effort to deceive global financial institutions, the U.S. government and the public about Huawei's activities in Iran. https://www.justice.gov/...
Wall Street Journal
US DOJ allows Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou to return to China in a deferred prosecution agreement as part of which Wanzhou admitted to some wrongdoing
hours after the U.S. agreed to free a Huawei executive https://www.wsj.com/... Michael McFaul / @mcfaul : You're revealing your nerdy (and that's a compliment @stanford) ways to su...
2021-06-02
Chinese suppliers “willing to take low-margin businesses that other suppliers are reluctant to pick up to gradually level up by working with Apple”. Trend simultaneous to diversification of Apple's supply chain in India and Vietnam. And TSMC irreplaceable https://asia.nikkei.com/...
Nikkei Asia
Analysis: Apple had more suppliers in China than any other country including Taiwan in 2020; number of Apple suppliers in US also slid despite Trump's trade war
Number of US companies in supply chain also slides despite Trump's trade war — TAIPEI — China now boasts more Apple suppliers …
2021-02-24
This should accelerate Europe's discussion on transatlantic cooperation on China. A US executive order for a national supply chain strategy in semiconductors, EV batteries, rare-earth and medical products, with Australia, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. https://asia.nikkei.com/...
Nikkei Asia
Draft executive order from Biden admin orders development of a US supply chain strategy less reliant on China, focused on chips, batteries, rare-earth metals
Nikkei Asia :
2020-09-28
Getting closer and closer to sanctions against SMIC https://www.ft.com/... via @financialtimes
Financial Times
US sets export restrictions on China's biggest chipmaker SMIC, saying exports to SMIC posed an “unacceptable risk” of being diverted to “military end use”
Specifics yet to be issued. Department of Commerce's letter to the US semiconductor industry stresses “an unacceptable risk of diversion to a military end use in the PRC”. This means enforcing a dual-use export control regime to sales to SMIC https://www.wsj.com/...
Financial Times
US sets export restrictions on China's biggest chipmaker SMIC, saying exports to SMIC posed an “unacceptable risk” of being diverted to “military end use”
2020-09-27
Getting closer and closer to sanctions against SMIC https://www.ft.com/... via @financialtimes
Financial Times
US sets export restrictions on China's biggest chipmaker SMIC, saying exports to SMIC posed an “unacceptable risk” of being diverted to “military end use”
Move against SMIC further hurts chip sector after penalties on Huawei — The US government …