The video conference meeting between the two leaders, which lasted more than three-and-a-half hours represented their most substantial discussion since Biden took office in January, and comes at a time of particularly high tension.

The Japanese government said it will make an aggressive push to help domestic semiconductor companies expand globally, with a goal of increasing their annual revenue to more than JPY13 trillion (US$114 billion) by 2030.

Every major semiconductor company has pledged to comply with a US request for information pertaining to the global chip shortage, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on the day of a deadline set by the government.

Personal consumption slowed sharply, due in part to a drop in outlays for cars, Commerce Department data showed Thursday. That subtracted 2.39 percentage points from gross domestic product growth and drove the decline in goods spending in the period, as automakers had a tough time keeping dealer lots full.

Micron Technology said on Wednesday it is considering building a new memory factory in the United States but that state and federal subsidies will be needed to offset costs that are higher than its factories in Asia.

The Biden administration is pressuring companies involved in the semiconductor supply chain to be more transparent as the global chips shortage continues to wreak havoc across many industries, officials said.

The EU must offer at least EUR20 billion (US$23.51 billion) in subsidies if it wants to "move the needle" on computer chipmaking in the bloc, according to the head of Soitec.

Intel plans to build new chip-making facilities in Europe valued at up to $95 billion, responding to a cross-border race to add manufacturing capacity at a time of a global chip-supply crunch.

The planned 瞿29bn purchase of UK chip designer Arm by US firm Nvidia raises "serious" competition concerns, the UK's competition watchdog has said.

GlobalFoundries has filed confidentially with US regulators for an initial public offering (IPO) in New York that could value the chipmaker at around US$25 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Washington's moves showed that "the US is pressuring Taiwan and TSMC to support its supply chain" over China, said Paul Triolo, an analyst at consultancy Eurasia Group. They also challenge TSMC's historic position of neutrality and the company's strategy of "being everyone's foundry."

Globalfoundries is working with Morgan Stanley on an initial public offering that could value the chipmaker at about US$30 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Monday a proposed $52 billion boost in U.S. government funding for semiconductor production and research could result in seven to 10 new US factories.

China's Huawei Technologies said it will launch its new Harmony operating system for smartphones on June 2, its biggest move yet aimed at recovering from the damage done by US sanctions to its mobile phone business.

Reasons for the ongoing global chip shortage, which is set to last into 2022 and possibly 2023, are complex and multifaceted. However, nations are planning to pump billions of dollars into semiconductors over the coming years as part of an effort to sure up supply chains and become more self-reliant, with money going toward new chip plants, as well as research and development.

TSMC is weighing plans to pump tens of billions of dollars more into cutting-edge chip factories in the US state of Arizona than it had previously disclosed, but is cool on prospects for an advanced European plant, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

India has held up approvals for import of wifi modules from China for months, driving companies such as US computer makers Dell and HP and China's Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo to delay product launches in a key growth market, two industry sources said.

The US Commerce Department is pressing TSMC and other Taiwanese firms to prioritise the needs of US automakers to ease chip shortages in the near term, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

While more and more chips are needed in the US, fewer and fewer are manufactured here.

Chipmaking equipment supplier BE Semiconductor said on Friday it planned to boost its operations in the United States and Taiwan as its top customers ramp up investment to meet a surge in chip demand.

Export controls against China will not only fail to halt its technological progress but also hurt the US economy, ASML CEO Peter Wennink said, after trade tensions between Washington and Beijing led to restrictions on the sale of the Dutch company's advanced chip equipment to Chinese firms.

Apple is increasing its US investments by 20% over the next five years, allocating US$430 billion to develop next-generation silicon and spur 5G wireless innovation across nine US states, after outstripping its growth expectations during the pandemic.

Chip industry executives have a huge collective challenge: deciding how to prioritize the $50 billion in support promised by President Joseph R. Biden in an executive order.

US President Joe Biden met with executives from major companies on Monday to discuss the global chip shortage that has hit automakers and spurred Intel to announce it plans to make chips for car plants at its factories in the next six to nine months.

General Motors is extending production cuts at some of its North America factories due to a chip shortage that has roiled the global automotive industry, the US carmaker said on Thursday.

The Biden administration on Thursday placed seven Chinese firms and government labs under US export controls for their involvement in China's effort to build supercomputers that help develop nuclear and other advanced military weapons. All seven are linked to China's ambition to build the world's first exascale computer, Commerce Department officials said.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will virtually attend a meeting being put together by President Joe Biden's administration for April 12 to discuss the semiconductor supply chain issues disrupting US automotive factories, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Intel and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have announced a three-year partnership to advance the development of domestically manufactured structured ASIC platforms.

Baidu has raised US$3.1 billion in its Hong Kong secondary listing, according to a filing by the Chinese internet search giant.

The working group will meet twice a year to discuss issues such as intellectual property, trade policy and encryption.

The US Senate is considering including in a new bill to boost competitiveness against China $30 billion in funding for previously-approved measures to supercharge the country's chipmaking industry, a congressional source said on Thursday.

Globalfoundries will invest US$1.4 billion this year to raise output at three factories in the US, Singapore and Germany, as a global shortage of semiconductors has boosted demand for chips, its chief executive said.

Samsung Electronics' foundry in Austin, Texas, still remains suspended after having been shut down by a power outage on the afternoon of February 16.

"Despite our private-sector and university leadership in AI, the US remains unprepared for the coming era... China is a competitor possessing the might, talent and ambition to challenge America's technological leadership, military superiority and its broader position in the world."

A new Apple patent published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office describes an iPhone display that, with high refresh mode enabled, may be capable of updating content at two times, three times, or even four times the native refresh rate. For example, an iPhone with a 60Hz display would be able to increase its variable refresh rate to 120Hz, 180Hz, or 240Hz automatically.

Samsung Electronics' plans to build semiconductor foundry plants in the US could yield $8.9 billion in the local economy, according to analysis by Impact DataSource, quoted in Samsung Electronics' letter of intent to the Texas authorities.

A pair of reports are out today from Opensignal detailing the state of 5G as well as the broader mobile experience in the US.

TSMC is aggressively recruiting over 600 engineers and executives for what will be its first US plant in 20 years.

U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in October, the lowest reading in five months, suggesting that a price spike over the summer is beginning to fade as coronavirus cases spread.

Shares in Japan hit a near 30-year high on Monday, the first day of trading following news that Joe Biden had won the US presidential election. The Nikkei 225 closed up 2.1% at a level not seen since 1991.