Chinese private equity firm Wise Road Capital and US chipmaker Magnachip Semiconductor have terminated their $1.4 billion merger agreement struck in March, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued to block Nvidia's $40 billion acquisition of a fellow chip company, Arm, halting what would be the biggest semiconductor industry deal in history, as federal regulators push to rein in corporate consolidation.

Japan is allocating about JPY600 billion (US$5.2 billion) of its fiscal 2021 supplementary budget to support advanced semiconductor manufacturers, Nikkei has learned.

Amkor Technology has announced plans to build a state-of-the-art smart factory in Bac Ninh, Vietnam. The first phase of the new factory will focus on providing advanced SiP assembly and test solutions to the world's leading semiconductor and electronic manufacturing companies.

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.

GlobalFoundries debuted on the Nasdaq this week, valued at over $25 billion, as it became increasingly evident that a global chip shortage could persist through 2023 or later.

Sony Group on Thursday confirmed it is considering a plan to join with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in building a chip factory in the western Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto.

The global semiconductor chip shortage cost Volkswagen and Stellantis a combined 1.4 million vehicles in lost production in the third quarter, Europe's two biggest carmakers said on Thursday, though both reported some early signs of improvement.

Intel's plans for a multibillion-dollar investment in a new US semiconductor plant hang in part on Congress moving on a stalled plan to bolster the domestic chip industry, the company's chief executive said.

The semiconductor chip shortage that is hamstringing the production of products ranging from cars and computers to appliances and toothbrushes will extend into 2022 and potentially beyond that, the CEO of semiconductor company Marvell Technology said.

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.

Having said that, the rise of RISC-V cannot be ignored. Introduced in 2010, RISC-V ISA has become more reliable and promising with a series of new tape-outs from members and incremental ecosystem support.

Merck plans to invest more than EUR3 billion (US$3.5 billion) through 2025 in its electronics business to capitalize on rising demand for semiconductor and display panel materials.

Chinese auto-chip startup Black Sesame Technologies said on Wednesday that it had raised "hundreds of millions of dollars" from Xiaomi and other investors as China accelerates development of its semiconductor industry.

Infineon Technologies has opened its high-tech chip factory for power electronics on 300-millimeter thin wafers at its Villach site in Austria. At EUR1.6 billion (US$1.88 billion), the investment made by the semiconductor group represents one of the largest such projects in the microelectronics sector in Europe.

Infineon Technologies and Robert Bosch were forced to halt key chip factories in Germany after a power failure, potentially exacerbating a global semiconductor supply crunch.

The chip shortage that is disrupting global car production could continue into 2022 and even 2023, a leading German car industry figure has said.

As carmakers gathered in Munich on Monday to launch almost exclusively zero- or low-emission vehicles, an ongoing semiconductor shortage cast a long shadow over the first major car show since before the pandemic began.

The closing of the acquisition of Dialog, following the landmark acquisitions of Intersil and IDT, reinforces Renesas as a premier embedded solution provider.

Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger is committed to buying other chip-makers as the industry consolidates, despite a leading acquisition candidate's plan to go public.

Infineon chief executive Reinhard Ploss on Tuesday supported the idea of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) building a chip fabrication plant in Germany, expressing a clear preference for its technology over that of Intel.

Chinese automobile-chip maker stocks tumbled after the government launched a probe into possible price manipulation, putting a brake on share surges buoyed by a global semiconductor shortage that's approaching the 12-month mark.

Any talks don't appear to include Globalfoundries executives, as a spokeswoman for the company said it isn't in discussions with Intel.

Strains in the semiconductor supply chain have worsened in some areas as trends such as remote working combine with an industrial recovery from last year's pandemic slump to drive chip demand, the head of Germany's Infineon said.

Intel has said investment in its planned new European $20bn semiconductor factory could be spread across several EU member states, as it lobbies to win the bloc's financial and political support for the project.

The UK's largest chip producer, Newport Wafer Fab, is set to be acquired by Chinese-owned semiconductor company Nexperia for around US$87 million.

A global shortage of semiconductors is continuing to put the brakes on Japan's car-manufacturing industry.

Hyundai Motor Group is in talks with South Korean chip companies to help it reduce reliance on foreign supplies amid a global shortage that has halted assembly lines at automakers around the world, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Magnachip Semiconductor said on Friday that it has received a takeover bid from Cornucopia Investment Partners, topping a rival offer, which values the South Korea-based display and power chip maker at $1.66 billion.

Intel CEO said on Monday it could take several years for a global shortage of semiconductors to be resolved, a problem that has shuttered some auto production lines and is also being felt in other areas, including consumer electronics.

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.

Raytheon Technologies and Globalfoundries will collaborate to develop and commercialize a new gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) semiconductor that will enable game-changing radio frequency performance for 5G and 6G mobile and wireless infrastructure applications.

A surge in demand for various chips is causing select shortages and extended lead times for many types of 300mm semiconductor equipment, photomask tools, wafers, and other products.

The European Union's plan to become a powerhouse in producing next-generation semiconductors will do little to help the region's vital industries today, one of its biggest homegrown chipmakers said Thursday.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the National University of Taiwan (NTU) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have jointly announced that a significant breakthrough was made in the development of 1-nanometer (nm) chips. The research results are published in the international journal Nature.

Chip lead times, the gap between ordering a chip and taking delivery, increased to 17 weeks in April, indicating users are getting more desperate to secure supply, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. That is the longest wait since the firm began tracking the data in 2017, in what it describes as the "danger zone."

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.

IBM has unveiled a breakthrough in semiconductor design and process with the development of the world's first chip announced with 2-nanometer (2nm) nanosheet technology.

Infineon Technologies has concluded a supply contract with Japan-based Showa Denko for an extensive range of silicon carbide material (SiC) including epitaxy. The German semiconductor manufacturer has thus secured more base material for the growing demand for SiC-based products.