Samsung Electronics is entering a period of introspection and recalibration in its semiconductor foundry business, shifting focus from speed-driven innovation to consolidating its technological foundation. The South Korean tech giant is now betting on the more mature 2nm process as its critical path forward, aiming to restore client confidence, stabilize production yields, and alleviate growing financial pressure.
Kurt Sievers, the CEO of Dutch semiconductor giant NXP Semiconductors, who is set to officially step down at the end of October 2025, recently visited Shanghai and met with the mayor of Shanghai, Zheng Gong. Sievers stated that the Chinese market has become NXP's largest single global market. The company values its cooperation with Chinese enterprises and believes that success in China will translate into global success. Notably, Sievers' successor, Rafael Sotomayor, also accompanied him on this trip, underscoring NXP's strong emphasis on the Chinese market.
In a surprising change within the smartphone industry, MediaTek, long seen as the second largest chipmaker in the high-end sector, is gaining ground against American semiconductor giant Qualcomm in China's premium smartphone segment.
Innoscience, a leading Chinese GaN specialist, plans to expand its monthly production of 8-inch (200mm) wafers from 13,000 to 20,000 by the end of 2025, advancing toward its five-year target of 70,000 wafers per month. As the first IDM to mass-produce 8-inch GaN-on-silicon wafers, Innoscience's expansion highlights the growing global pivot to GaN technologies in power electronics.
Seoul-based AI chip startup Rebellions is moving fast to stake its claim as South Korea's top domestic supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. The company is ramping up production of its second-generation chip and forging new partnerships across Asia to grow its footprint.
TSMC has confirmed that it will phase out its gallium nitride (GaN) foundry operations within two years, which is expected to shake the industry given its role as the global leader in GaN wafer fabrication. The move has drawn attention to Navitas Semiconductor, a key TSMC GaN client that first disclosed the exit before TSMC confirmed it. Navitas, now parting ways with its long-time partner, is actively searching for alternative foundry partners.
In response to external allegations regarding collaboration with Chinese companies to develop chips and the involvement in exporting sensitive semiconductor materials to China, Topco Scientific Co. (TSC) issued a statement on July 10, 2025, to clarify the matter.
SK Hynix is rapidly closing the gap with Samsung Electronics in the global memory chip race, driven by surging demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI applications. According to a newly released report by Counterpoint Research, SK Hynix posted US$15.5 billion in combined DRAM and NAND revenue in the second quarter of 2025, placing it in a virtual tie with Samsung for the top spot in the global memory market.
Risks continue emerging one after another as the supply shortage of essential advanced packaging materials from Japan's chemical giant Asahi Kasei continues to escalate.
Jim Keller, acclaimed semiconductor architect and Tenstorrent CEO, will deliver his first keynote at the fifth RISC-V Summit China from July 16 to 19 in Shanghai. His speech, "Open Hardware for Future Intelligence," highlights the event's growing importance amid US-China tech tensions and China's push for chip independence.
As the global semiconductor competition intensifies, Silicon Valley chip guru and Tenstorrent CEO Jim Keller has shared exclusive insights on China's chip market, export restrictions, and the future of RISC-V. A legend in the industry known for leading AMD's Zen architecture, Apple's A-series chips, Tesla's AI hardware, and Intel core technology, Keller champions open-source, high-performance computing (HPC), and AI chip development at Tenstorrent. He aims to make HPC more accessible to the broader developer community.
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