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Unionized workers of Samsung Electronics have voted in favor of a strike after failing to reach a deal on wage hikes with management, according to industry sources. Wage negotiations between management and labor broke down in February after rounds of talks over this year's wage increase.
The Korea Times
Consumer prices in the US rose faster than expected last month, in a sign that the fight to slow inflation has stalled.
BBC News
The US has added four Chinese companies to an export blacklist for buying US-origin goods to support China's military modernization efforts, the Department of Commerce said in a statement published Thursday.
Bloomberg
Huawei Technologies and a secretive chipmaking partner in China have filed patents for a low-tech but potentially effective way to make advanced semiconductors, raising the prospect that China could improve chip production techniques despite US efforts to halt its progress.
Bloomberg
China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel and AMD from government personal computers and servers.
The Financial Times
TSMC is set to win more than $5 billion in federal grants to support a chipmaking project in Arizona, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would mark a major milestone in President Joe Biden's effort to revitalize American semiconductor manufacturing.
Bloomberg
China is in the process of raising more than US$27 billion for its largest chip fund to date, accelerating the development of cutting-edge technologies to counter a US campaign to thwart its rise.
Bloomberg
Water scarcity threatens chipmakers like TSMC and could push prices higher, according to S&P (Mar 6)
Semiconductor firms such as TSMC are at risk of water shortages as processing technology advances, S&P Global Ratings said in a report.
CNBC
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology said the graphene semiconductor they have developed is compatible with standard microelectronic processing methods, a fundamental requirement for any viable alternative to silicon.
EETimes Europe
With Vision Pro out the door and the recent cancellation of work on a car, it's becoming crystal clear that Apple is shifting huge resources into its forthcoming introduction of something like generative AI (genAI).
Computerworld
North Korean hackers have broken into South Korean chip equipment makers, according to South Korea's spy agency.
BBC News
European Union leaders recently opened several initiatives to promote the development of RISC-V-based chips-in response to anxiety over member countries' reliance on foreign companies for semiconductors. The recent global chip shortage, which has disrupted supply chains and highlighted the importance of chip sovereignty, exacerbated that concern.
EE Times
US chipmakers Intel and Micron are likely to win the largest share of the US$52 billion in CHIPS Act awards this year, analysts told EE Times. With the US 2024 presidential election approaching, the awards will help President Joe Biden show that he's creating jobs and returning semiconductor manufacturing to the nation following a long history of offshoring, the analysts said.
EE Times
Self-healing machines are becoming a reality, one generative AI (genAI) fault diagnosis tool at a time; one day, even your iPhone will tell you when it thinks it has a problem.
Computerworld
Japan's efforts to rebuild its semiconductor industry are getting a shot in the arm as more and more Taiwanese chip companies expand here - not only to support a new TSMC plant but also excited about the Japanese sector's prospects.
Reuters
Samsung Electronics sold its entire remaining stake in ASML Holding in the December quarter as part of its push to expand into new areas of chipmaking.
Bloomberg
Graphcore has struggled to gain a foothold in the market for AI chips despite huge spending on artificial intelligence. It has also been hit by the closure of its business in China amid US controls on selling AI technology.
Daily Telegraph (UK)
The Biden administration is considering restrictions on imports of Chinese "smart cars" and related components that would go beyond tariffs to address growing US concerns about data security, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg
Kioxia and Western Digital's joint venture manufacturing facilities in Yokkaichi and Kitakami have been approved for up to JPY150 billion (US$1 billion) in government subsidies.
Company release
Although economic factors are the main reason for tech layoffs, many companies are citing the race for artificial intelligence as a factor, as they are shifting resources to focus on AI talent.
Bloomberg
Soaring appetite for Huawei's artificial intelligence (AI) chips coupled with manufacturing constraints has forced the Chinese tech giant to prioritise AI and slow production for its premium Mate 60 phones, people familiar with the matter said.
Reuters
His disappearance came against the backdrop of a crackdown on leading technology companies by Chinese authorities. In late 2020, Alibaba founder Jack Ma also disappeared from public view for three months. Ma had been due to publicly list his digital payments firm Ant Financial - which would have most likely made him the richest man in China.
BBC News
The US Justice Department said Wednesday that the FBI surreptitiously sent commands to hundreds of infected small office and home office routers to remove malware China state-sponsored hackers were using to wage attacks on critical infrastructure.
Ars Technica
The most pressing question for Canada's semiconductor industry isn't whether it can scale up its chipmaking capabilities but how to go about doing so.
EE Times
Facebook owner Meta Platforms opens new tab plans to deploy into its data centers this year a new version of a custom chip aimed at supporting its artificial intelligence (AI) push, according to an internal company document seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Reuters
Teradyne, a supplier of semiconductor testing equipment, pulled manufacturing worth about $1 billion out of China last year, a Teradyne spokesperson said on Monday, after US export regulations led to supply chain disruptions.
Reuters
Chipmaking startup Cerebras Systems is weighing an initial public offering as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg
Ericsson said it expects further decline in 5G gear demand from mobile operators this year after beating fourth-quarter operating profit expectations on Tuesday helped by software sales.
Reuters
Shares of KLA declined 6% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company posted a profit miss in its fiscal second quarter amid weaker demand levels.
MarketWatch
Western Digital on Thursday posted December quarter sales that edged Wall Street estimates, and provided better-than-expected guidance for the March quarter-but the disk-drive and flash memory chip company's shares nonetheless were falling in late trading.
Barron's
Industry predictions suggest Samsung Electronics will significantly expand its HBM production capabilities with substantial equipment investment. This intensifies the industry leadership competition with SK Hynix, which is entering mass production of its fifth-generation HBM3E product in the first half of this year.
BusinessKorea
Intel's fab near Magdeburg, Germany, will not only be the most advanced semiconductor production facility in Europe, but, according to CEO Pat Gelsinger, the most advanced fab in the world when it comes online. The fab will process wafers using post-18A process technologies and will be used to make products both for Intel as well as its Intel Foundry Services customers.
TG Daily
China's chip imports suffered their steepest drop on record last year, hamstrung by prolonged economic uncertainties and US export controls.
Bloomberg
South Korea unveiled plans by leading firms such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to spend more than US$470 billion establishing the world's largest chipmaking cluster, joining a global race to safeguard domestic supply.
Bloomberg
Artificial intelligence is set to affect nearly 40% of all jobs, according to a new analysis by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
BBC News
Nvidia may not be able to sell its top-specced GPUs in China, but across the border in India, datacenter operators are buying up tens of thousands of accelerators to bolster their AI capabilities.
The Register
Chinese military bodies, state-run artificial intelligence research institutes and universities have over the past year purchased small batches of Nvidia semiconductors banned by the US from export to China, a Reuters review of tender documents show.
Reuters
Tesla is recalling more than 1.6m Model S, X, 3 and Y electric vehicles exported to China for problems with their automatic assisted steering and door latch controls.
Guardian
Microsoft pushed throughout 2023 to add generative AI capabilities to its software, even extending its new Copilot AI assistant to Windows 10 late last year. Now, those efforts to transform PCs at a software level is extending to the hardware: Microsoft is adding a dedicated Copilot key to PC keyboards, adjusting the standard Windows keyboard layout for the first time since the Windows key first appeared on its Natural Keyboard in 1994.
Ars Technica
The topic of quantum computing occupied an entire day at the recent PUZZLE X conference in Barcelona-with visionaries such as Nobel laureate Sir Roger Penrose, Bob Coecke (Quantinuum), Brian Subirana (Harvard and MIT), and Marta Estarellas (Qilimanjaro) served up as speakers.
EE Times
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