The Trump administration has launched an interagency review to determine whether to authorize the first exports of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, Reuters reported.

Japan plans to guarantee up to 80 percent of private-sector loans raised by Rapidus as the government intensifies financial backing for the chipmaker’s plan to mass-produce 2nm semiconductors, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on December 18.

TI has begun shipping chips from its newest 12-inch semiconductor fabrication plant in Sherman, Texas, marking a key milestone in the company's long-term manufacturing expansion in the US. The facility, known as SM1, is the first fab at TI's Sherman mega-site and comes online about three and a half years after construction began.

TSMC Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer Y.J. Mii has been awarded the Executive Yuan Award for Outstanding Science and Technology Contribution, underscoring both his personal achievements and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's long-standing leadership in advanced semiconductor innovation.

Former COO of TSMC and a veteran semiconductor industry leader, J.K. Wang, shared insights from his 30-plus-year career at the company in an exclusive interview with DIGITIMES' IC Broadcasting podcast, marking his first media interview since retirement.

Tata Group has invested an additional INR15 billion (US$170 million) in Tata Electronics, the company that manufactures iPhones for Apple, bringing its total investment in the subsidiary to INR45 billion over the past year. The latest funding, made in October, reflects ongoing support for expanding production capacity as Tata Electronics strengthens its role in Apple's global supply chain.

Onsemi has signed a collaboration agreement with GlobalFoundries to develop and manufacture next-generation gallium nitride (GaN) power devices, expanding its power semiconductor portfolio to include high-voltage lateral GaN solutions. The companies said the effort will focus initially on 650-volt devices produced using GlobalFoundries' 8-inch enhancement-mode (eMode) GaN-on-silicon process technology.

India's semiconductor sector has increasingly turned to cross-border acquisitions and investments, reflecting a broader push to accelerate technology capabilities and integrate into global supply chains. Notably, Cyient Semiconductors' recent agreement to acquire over 65% of US-based Kinetic Technologies for US$93 million is part of a larger trend of Indian firms targeting foreign semiconductor assets.

A South Korean logic IC startup is moving closer to cable-free device design with the development of a 60GHz millimeter-wave communication chip designed to replace short-range wired connections in consumer and industrial electronics.

South Korea's Doosan Group has been selected as the preferred negotiation partner for the acquisition of semiconductor wafer maker SK Siltron, valued at approximately KRW4 trillion (approx. US$2.72 billion) to KRW5 trillion, according to reports from The Korea Economic Daily, The Elec, and other media outlets.

Intel has completed acceptance testing of the industry's first commercial high-NA EUV lithography system with a numerical aperture of 0.55, the ASML Twinscan EXE:5200B, laying the foundation for mass production of its 14A process node. This milestone marks the transition of high-NA EUV technology from research and development verification to high-volume manufacturing (HVM), enabling wafer throughput of 175 per hour and reinforcing Intel's efforts to reclaim leadership in advanced semiconductor processes.

On December 17, Rapidus announced a new suite of AI-based semiconductor design tools under its Rapidus AI-Assisted Design Solution (Raads), aimed at supporting the company's Rapid and Unified Manufacturing Service (RUMS) concept. The technology will be rebranded as Rapidus AI-Agentic Design Solution, with multiple tools scheduled for release starting in 2026. Customers will receive the tools alongside a process design kit (PDK) and reference flows.

China has quietly crossed a psychological and potentially strategic threshold in the global semiconductor race. In a tightly controlled laboratory in Shenzhen, Chinese scientists have built a working prototype of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine, the most complex and geopolitically sensitive tool in modern chipmaking, according to Reuters.

Cyient Ltd's wholly owned subsidiary, Cyient Semiconductors Singapore Pte Ltd, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire over 65% of US-based power semiconductor company Kinetic Technologies for US$93 million. The transaction is expected to close by April 30, 2026.

As more AI GPU, CPU, and ASIC customers ramp up their market push, advanced packaging capacity continues to face tight supply. This has prompted upstream IC packaging substrate makers to adopt a more aggressive investment and capacity expansion stance, supported by improved order visibility.

Apple is reportedly in preliminary talks with Indian chip manufacturers to assemble and package components for the iPhone, potentially marking a first step in shifting part of its semiconductor operations to India.

Taiwan has long dominated advanced semiconductor manufacturing, with TSMC's global R&D headquarters in Hsinchu alone employing over 10,000 researchers. The government continues to foster collaboration between academia and industry to advance both technology and talent development. Against this backdrop, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is launching a new initiative in 2025 to sustain Taiwan's leading position in next-generation chip manufacturing over the next five to ten years.

Rapidus, Japan's state-backed chipmaker, has developed a prototype glass interposer for artificial intelligence chips. The company says the technology could lower production costs and strengthen its challenge to industry leader TSMC as Japan pushes to rebuild its advanced semiconductor base.

Samsung Electronics' foundry division is reported to have secured an 8nm manufacturing order from Intel, adding another blue-chip customer to its mature advanced-node portfolio after Nvidia. Analysts say the win strengthens Samsung Foundry's order momentum at nodes where yields and cost structures have largely stabilized.

Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest and Tokyo Seimitsu have announced a joint plan to co-develop a next-generation die-level prober for high-performance computing components.

Burn-Jeng Lin, one of TSMC's six R&D pioneers and current dean of National Tsing Hua University's College of Semiconductor Research, introduced the concept of a "Moore's Law of Economy" on December 16, 2025. He emphasized that innovation can still overcome the physical limits of chip size reduction, but warned that global semiconductor talent shortages may expand 15-fold as countries race to build complete supply chains.

MSScorps signaled a business recovery on Wednesday following a midyear lull, citing surging demand for angstrom-era semiconductor manufacturing and silicon photonics as key drivers for growth heading into 2026. The Taiwan-based materials analysis firm reported record November 2025 sales after overcoming third-quarter delays caused by strategic adjustments at major foundry and equipment clients.

In a strategic move to bolster Taiwan's semiconductor talent pipeline and advanced research capabilities, Topco Scientific Co. (TSC) announced on December 16, 2025, a deep industry-academia collaboration with the College of Semiconductor Research at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU).