Amid ever-shifting geopolitical concerns and a US$50 billion injection from the CHIPS and Science Act to revitalize domestic semiconductor production, a new round of competition has arisen across the US to attract investment. For Taiwan's electronics sector, the question is no longer whether to invest in the US, but which state to choose.
Atomic Semi, the semiconductor equipment startup founded by chip architect Jim Keller, has rebranded as Fab2 and moved its headquarters to Austin, Texas, with a vision of mass-producing small fabs. According to Tom's Hardware, Fab2's core idea is a "fab fab": it designs and builds all of its own equipment, from pumps, valves, and gas lines to lithography tools and vacuum chambers, then assembles the components into machines and the machines into a complete fab.
LG Chem has begun supplying semiconductor strippers to Amkor Technology, a major US-based packaging and testing provider, in its first commercial move into the market. The deal highlights rising demand for advanced chip-making chemicals as artificial intelligence, high-bandwidth memory, and smaller device designs reshape global semiconductor manufacturing.
SK Group, Samsung Electronics, and Amkor will invest a combined KRW896 trillion (US$585.2 billion) to build South Korea's second major semiconductor production base in the country's southwest, the industry ministry said.
South Korea is considering exempting research and development personnel from the country's 52-hour workweek limit inside proposed Mega Special Zones. These would include a planned second semiconductor cluster in the southwestern Honam region.
SJ Semiconductor has started construction of a CNY10 billion (approx. US$1.47 billion) 3DIC manufacturing project in Shanghai's Lingang New Area, expanding advanced packaging capacity for high-performance computing, AI and data center chips.
China's leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers are accelerating expansion through acquisitions and fundraising, as surging AI investment, memory chip capacity growth, and import substitution combine to create one of the industry's strongest growth cycles in years.
As Moore's Law approaches its physical limits, simply shrinking semiconductor process nodes is no longer the sole path to improving chip performance.
As physical AI and robotics spread globally, NXP CEO Rafael Sotomayor said robots will only reach commercial scale if they can think and act independently. For international industries, that shift could determine whether factory automation, humanoids, and smart machines become practical tools or remain costly demonstrations.
