Intel appears to be recalibrating a cornerstone of its advanced manufacturing strategy as CEO Lip‑Bu Tan signals that the company's 18A process might soon be offered to external chip customers—a notable shift after initially planning to reserve the technology mainly for Intel's own products. According to Reuters, CFO David Zinsner told investors at a San Francisco tech conference that recent progress on 18A has convinced Tan that the process "is actually a good node to offer to external customers as well."

In the AI era, technological competition among leading chip design companies continues to intensify. Broadcom announced in 2024 that it was working with TSMC to launch its 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System in Package (XDSiP) platform, with products scheduled to ship in 2026. Broadcom has now confirmed that the product, built on a 2nm process and using 3.5D system-level packaging, has begun shipping on schedule, primarily to customer Fujitsu.

Samsung Electronics is accelerating the expansion of its Pyeongtaek semiconductor campus in South Korea, aiming to establish the site as a core production base for next-generation AI memory. The company's fifth fabrication plant, P5, is scheduled to begin operations in 2028 and will support the long-term supply of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM used in AI servers and data-center infrastructure, according to Yonhap and Munhwa.

ASML dominates extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, the technology used to manufacture the world's most advanced logic chips. Decades of R&D and a deep patent portfolio have given the Dutch equipment maker a near-monopoly in EUV systems, securing pricing power and a structurally defensible market position.

The US is moving to bar federal agencies from buying certain semiconductors tied to major China-based chipmakers, widening procurement restrictions even as memory shortages and rising prices strain electronics supply chains.