Semiconductor News 20250517

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1. GlobalWafers began operating an advanced silicon wafer plant in the U.S., significantly increasing its investment in the U.S. This represents a major move by a major company to diversify its semiconductor supply chain geographically and to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities in the US.
2. Xiaomi plans to launch its first self-developed smartphone SoC in late May. The move by major smartphone makers to produce SoCs in-house, a key component, could affect the competitive structure of the mobile semiconductor market.
3. Memory chip prices are skyrocketing worldwide and manufacturers are cutting production. This is an important indicator of the fluctuating supply-demand balance in the semiconductor market and of market conditions for certain types of memory (especially DRAM).
4. The U.S. government is reportedly considering adding Chinese DRAM giant CXMT and other Chinese tech companies to its entity list (export control list). This is a new move in the battle for technological supremacy between the U.S. and China, and could have a major impact on China’s semiconductor industry.
5. NVIDIA reportedly plans to establish an R&D facility in Shanghai under U.S. export restrictions, but is expected to maintain key design functions overseas. NVIDIA is also reported to have said that it recognizes the importance of the Chinese market and that it should “embrace it without blockade. This is a complex move that illustrates the company’s market strategy under geopolitical constraints.
6. Samsung is reportedly reviewing its plans to introduce high-NA EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography) and is considering limiting its use to memory applications and using it in its 1.4nm process at its foundry. This is indicative of the trends of major companies in the development of cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technologies and their implementation strategies.
7. AMD is planning to launch its next-generation rack-scale architecture, the Instinct MI400 series, and is preparing the MI450X system with 128 GPUs. This is an important move that signals increased competition in the high-performance computing market for AI and data centers.
8. According to Mizuho’s analysis, Huawei will likely sell more than 700,000 Ascend chip-based products, despite a “fairly low” yield of about 30% for SMICs. This suggests the current state of technological challenges as well as certain market penetration in China’s domestic AI chip ecosystem, which is under constraint.
9. The Presidents of the UAE and the United States attended the unveiling of the first phase of the new 5GW AI campus in Abu Dhabi. This marks a major AI infrastructure investment in the Middle East region and progress in international technology cooperation.
10. A person in his 40s was arrested at the airport in South Korea for attempting to take core semiconductor technology out of the country (to China). This event illustrates the confidentiality of semiconductor technology and the importance of its protection, as well as the risk of IP (intellectual property) theft in the context of competition for technology among nations.

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