Semiconductor News 20251022

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1. Nexperia Meltdown and Its Impact on the Automotive Industry Issues related to Nexperia (such as the export ban) have had a major impact on the automotive industry, causing a rush demand for power devices. The export ban is reportedly driving up prices for automotive chips by 5% to 20% in the fourth quarter of 2025, leading to a surge in orders, especially in Taiwan. The automotive industry is reportedly panicking over the possibility of a new semiconductor shortage.
2. Taiwanese Government’ s Commitment to Keep Chip Ecosystem in Taiwan The Taiwanese government has expressed its commitment to keep Taiwan’s chip ecosystem in the country, despite pressure from the United States. This is an indication of the government’s intention to keep the core functions of the semiconductor industry, including major companies such as TSMC, in Taiwan, and reiterates the importance of Taiwan’s position in the global supply chain.
3. Samsung’s HBM4 Logic Die Yield Progress Samsung’s HBM4 logic die yield has reportedly exceeded 90% ahead of Nvidia’s final testing. Samsung’s HBM4 business is also looking promising, with its 1c$ DRAM yield approaching 80%. This indicates that Samsung’s competitiveness in the HBM market is improving as SK Hynix achieves profit milestones and alerts Samsung.
4. China’s Attempts to Reduce ASML Dependence and Technical Challenges China is moving rapidly to reduce its dependence on ASML, and AMIES has announced its lithography product lineup. Meanwhile, it has been reported that a Chinese engineer’s attempt to reverse engineer ASML’s DUV machine resulted in the machine breaking down and he had to seek help from a Dutch company. This suggests that China’s path to self-sufficiency in semiconductor manufacturing equipment remains challenging.
5. Google’s First Arm-Based CPU, Axion, Manufactured on TSMC 3nm Google’s first Arm-based CPU, Axion, is reportedly built on TSMC’s 3nm process, with design support from GUC (Jiyuan Technology). This move indicates that major cloud providers are bringing processors for data centers in-house, which could drive TSMC’s data center revenue growth.
6. NVIDIA CEO Averts Crisis in Deal with OpenAI NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has reportedly “rushed in” to prevent the collapse of a stalled deal with OpenAI. This was in the context of OpenAI, a leading AI company that was considering switching to Google’s TPU chips instead of NVIDIA’s GPUs. This event illustrates the intense competition between NVIDIA and its competitors (especially Google TPUs) in the AI infrastructure market.
7. Taiwan and Japan’s oligopoly structure supporting AI server substrates In the supply of AI server substrates, Taiwan and Japan have quietly formed a double oligopoly, which is noted to be the next supply chain advantage As demand for AI servers grows, demand for IC substrates and related equipment is increasing, especially in Taiwan occupies an important position in the key supply chain for AI servers.
8. OpenAI Unveils AI Browser with Built-in GPT LLM OpenAI has unveiled an AI browser with built-in GPT LLM, threatening existing browser services such as Google’s Chrome and Perplexity’s Comet. The emergence of this new AI browser has the potential to significantly change the browsing experience and the way we search for information, intensifying competition among major tech companies.
9. GaN Technology to Drive AI Server Power Chip Competition Gallium nitride (GaN) technology is expected to drive the future of AI server power chip competition. GaN is attracting attention as an important technology in fields such as AI servers and automotive technology, where high-performance, low-power devices are required.
10. Promoting Standardization of Advanced Packaging The Global Electronics Association, in collaboration with AMD and ASE, is promoting standardization of advanced packaging in IMPACT 2025. Advanced packaging technologies are critical to achieving higher performance and cost efficiency in the era of chiplet and heterogeneous integration, but the challenges of standardization have been discussed in the columns. This collaboration is critical to driving efficiency and innovation across the industry.

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