Texas Instruments (TI) today announced its plans to invest more than $60 billion across seven U.S. semiconductor fabs, making this the largest investment in foundational semiconductor manufacturing in U.S. history. Working with the Trump administration and building on the company's nearly 100-year legacy, TI is expanding its U.S. manufacturing capacity to supply the growing need for semiconductors that will advance critical innovations from vehicles to smartphones to data centers. Combined, TI's new manufacturing mega-sites in Texas and Utah will support more than 60,000 U.S. jobs.

"TI is building dependable, low-cost 300 mm capacity at scale to deliver the analog and embedded processing chips that are vital for nearly every type of electronic system," said Haviv Ilan, president and CEO of Texas Instruments. "Leading U.S. companies such as Apple, Ford, Medtronic, NVIDIA and SpaceX rely on TI's world-class technology and manufacturing expertise, and we are honored to work alongside them and the U.S. government to unleash what's next in American innovation."

LG Display, the world's leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it plans to make an investment in new OLED technologies at the trillion-KRW level to enhance its technological competitiveness and growth foundation. The company's board met on June 17 and approved an investment of KRW 1.26 trillion in new OLED technologies to secure a leading position in the display market.

It will focus on infrastructure development, including facilities for applying new OLED technologies. The investment period has been set for approximately two years, from June 17, 2025, to June 30, 2027. This investment is part of LG Display's mid- to long-term capital expenditure (CAPEX) plan, and efforts to improve the company's financial structure will continue independently of it.

Earlier today, GlobalFoundries announced a boosted $16 billion investment. This cash injection will further drive the expansion of current North American chip production facilities. Specifically, an extra $3 billion will be spent on supporting advanced research and development projects. The multinational corporation's leadership outlined key R&D goals: packaging innovation, silicon photonics, and next-generation gallium nitride technologies. An additional $1 billion "capital spending boost" will bolster upgrades of the firm's New York and Vermont foundry sites. AMD, Apple, General Motors, NXP Semiconductors, Qualcomm and SpaceX were listed as notable partners—collectively, they are engaged in elevating the domestic semiconductor industry.

Top brass did not detail a firm upgrade timeline, but Tim Breen—the GlobalFoundries CEO—provided a short explanation (via Reuters): "the reason we're not sort of being super clear about exactly what's spent by when is because obviously some of this is demand-driven. We see a very strong demand, but it takes time to convert (demand) into specific ramps and project timing. And what you don't want to do is shoot too far ahead or fall too far behind." As part of the original $12 billion outlay, GlobalFoundries revealed intentions for its Malta, New York site. Around mid-January (2025), the company unveiled blueprints for an advanced packaging and photonics center—destined for construction at their Saratoga County-based chip manufacturing hub. GlobalFoundries is best known for its decidedly mature product portfolio—around late March/early April, the firm's executive team denied that they were considering a merger with UMC. This speculative deal could lead to a greater international footprint of foundries; mostly tasked with pumping out 28 nm (and larger) wafers.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a technology leader enabling connected intelligent computing, and HUMAIN, a national artificial intelligence (AI) champion advancing Saudi Arabia's goals for AI, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to enter a strategic collaboration for the development of next-generation AI data centers, infrastructure and cloud-to-edge services to meet the rapidly growing demand for AI across the globe, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The MOU was signed during the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh, which was held during the official visit of President of the United States Donald Trump to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The data centers and supporting ecosystem are intended to provide both government and enterprise organizations with access to high-performance and power efficient CPU and AI cloud infrastructure and cloud-to-edge services. These offerings will enable the deployment of AI solutions that can make real-time predictions and decisions, in addition to significantly increasing the availability and value of advanced AI-enabled applications.

Today IBM announced plans to invest $150 billion in America over the next five years to fuel the economy and to accelerate its role as the global leader in computing. This includes an investment of more than $30 billion in research and development to advance and continue IBM's American manufacturing of mainframe and quantum computers.

"Technology doesn't just build the future—it defines it," said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago, and with this investment and manufacturing commitment we are ensuring that IBM remains the epicenter of the world's most advanced computing and AI capabilities."

At some point in 2023, Sam Altman founded a new AI hardware device firm: io Products. Last September, Jony Ive confirmed his involvement in this startup tech company. Industry whispers suggest that Open AI's CEO (Altman) and the former Apple chief designer (Ive) were collaborating on the making of voice-enabled smart AI assistant household products. According to a (paywalled) The Information news article, this fledgling operation attracted an "undisclosed amount of funding" from wealthy benefactors. The "small team" is reportedly working on some type of "revolutionary" screenless AI phone, but this rumored project is likely in a very early stage of development—so moles have not disclosed exact details.

The report posits that Ive has recruited Tang Tan and Evans Hankey—both high-level ex-Apple industrial leads, with long-term iPhone design experience. The Information's anonymous inside sources believe that Ive's LoveFrom boutique agency will determine the visual setup for forthcoming io Products smart devices. Additionally, the report extends to a potential takeover bid—valued at around $500 million (USD)—coming from Altman's main gig. Open AI's leadership is supposedly weighing up its options. The Information disclosed an alternative avenue; a simple partnership—rather than a comprehensive takeover.

Global fab equipment spending for front-end facilities in 2025 is anticipated to increase by 2% year-over-year (YoY) to $110 billion, marking the sixth consecutive year of growth since 2020, SEMI announced today in its latest quarterly World Fab Forecast report.

Fab equipment spending is projected to rise by 18% in the following year, reaching $130 billion. This growth in investment is driven not only by demand in the high-performance computing (HPC) and memory sectors to support data center expansions, but also by the increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI), which is driving up the silicon content required for edge devices.

Samsung Electronics is taking a close look at its chip design and foundry operations. This action could lead to organizational restructuring, including executive reassignments and workforce reallocation. The initiative aims to strengthen Samsung's competitive position against industry leaders such as TSMC. In January, the company's executives initiated an in-depth evaluation of the System LSI division, which handles chip design. After that, the company plans to extend the review to its foundry business. Significant restructuring may occur within the System LSI division, one proposal involves transferring the Exynos system-on-chip (SoC) business to the Mobile Experience (MX) division to better align with Samsung's smartphone strategy.

Samsung is also evaluating the potential pause of investments in its Pyeongtaek (South Korea) and Taylor (US) manufacturing facilities for its foundry business. At the same time, the company is developing strategies to improve yield rates in its advanced manufacturing processes. Moreover, Samsung is also considering changes within its image sensor business, potentially shifting focus from high-resolution sensors toward products for autonomous vehicles and robotics applications. This action represents the first major internal assessment since Samsung established its management analysis department in November 2024. The primary objective is to revitalize underperforming business divisions.

Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY), together with its subsidiaries ('the Group'), today announced Q3 results for fiscal year 2024/25, reporting significant increases in overall group revenue and profit. Revenue grew 20% year-on-year to US$18.8 billion, marking the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Net income more than doubled year-on-year to US$693 million (including a non-recurring income tax credit of US$282 million) on a Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standards (HKFRS) basis. The Group's diversified growth engines continue to accelerate, with non-PC revenue mix up more than four points year-on-year to 46%. The quarter's results were driven by the Group's focused hybrid-AI strategy, the turnaround of the Infrastructure Solutions Group, as well as double-digit growth for both the Intelligent Devices Group and Solutions and Services Group.

Lenovo continues to invest in R&D, with R&D expenses up nearly 14% year-on-year to US$621 million. At the recent global technology event CES 2025, Lenovo launched a series of innovative products, including the world's first rollable AI laptop, the world's first handheld gaming device that allows gamers free choice of Windows OS or Steam OS, as well as Moto AI - winning 185 industry awards for its portfolio of innovation.

TSMC has unveiled today its board meeting decisions, the chip giant has greenlit a massive US$17 billion investment to boost production capacity. According to TSMC, to meet long-term capacity plans based on market demand forecasts and TSMC's technology development roadmap, the board approved capital appropriations of approximately US$17.14 billion for installation and upgrade of advanced technology capacity, installation and upgrade of advanced packaging, mature and/or specialty technology capacity, fab construction, and installation of fab facility systems.

Previous reports by MoneyDJ suggested that TSMC might unveil plans for a third Arizona fab, a potential fourth fab, or its first advanced packaging plant after the board meeting. However, no updates have been confirmed yet. Industry sources suggested that TSMC's second Arizona fab, featuring 3 nm, will likely go ahead of schedule, providing a temporary response to U.S. pressures. According to the same report, TSMC's second Arizona fab is expected to begin equipment installation in mid-2026, with mass production expected by 2027. Notably, this progress would exceed TSMC's projections which expected the second plant to start 3 nm and 2 nm production in 2028, with a third plant potentially for the 2 nm process by the late 2030s. The MoneyDJ report further notes that initially, TSMC's second Arizona plant will offer 25K-30K 3 nm wafers per month. TSMC's first Arizona plant, initially slated for 2025, started 4 nm production ahead of schedule in Q4 2024.

Reports from last November suggested that Samsung Electronics had semi-abandoned its second-generation 3 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process, due to missed production goals. Disappointing production yields—as low as 20%—have been floated by industry insiders, they believed (at the time) that the South Korean's foundry teams had simply moved onto developing a next-gen 2 nm manufacturing process. A freshly published news article, courtesy of Business Korea, provides further evidence of a shift to 2 nanometer processes—Samsung's S3 plant in Hwaseong is reportedly in the process of being upgraded (from 3 nm GAA). Insiders believe that new equipment will be installed across the existing production line, requiring a small-scale investment of funds.

The Pyeongtaek 2 (P2) plant is supposedly being prepared for a 1.4 nm test line—targeting a manufacturing capacity of 2000 to 3000 wafers per month. Inside track information suggests that trials will begin within the year. Business Korea's report suggests that Samsung has halved its foundry facility investment budget for 2025—around 5 trillion won, instead of last year's 10 trillion won. The article puts a spotlight on alleged "sluggish customer orders"—the primary factor behind Samsung's decision to slash its chip-making budget by 50%. Competition is fierce at this point in time—TSMC leads the way with its cutting-edge technologies. Taiwan's premier foundry has attracted many high-profile clients away from rival manufacturers. In contrast, industry watchdogs believe that Samsung's struggles have caused "big tech" customers to seek alternate channels.

Intel Corporation ("Intel") today announced its intention to separate Intel Capital, its global venture capital arm, into a standalone fund. The new fund will bring Intel Capital's corporate structure into alignment with other leading venture firms, enabling greater autonomy and the flexibility to attract external capital. Intel will remain an anchor investor in the new company.

"The separation of Intel Capital is a win-win scenario as it provides the fund with access to new sources of capital to expand its franchise while allowing both companies to continue benefiting from a productive long-term strategic partnership," said David Zinsner, interim co-chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Intel. "This step supports our broader strategy to maximize the value of our assets while driving greater focus and efficiency across the business."

Micron Technology, Inc. today announced results for its first quarter of fiscal 2025, which ended November 28, 2024.

Fiscal Q1 2025 highlights

• Revenue of $8.71 billion versus $7.75 billion for the prior quarter and $4.73 billion for the same period last year
• GAAP net income of $1.87 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share
• Non-GAAP net income of $2.04 billion, or $1.79 per diluted share
• Operating cash flow of $3.24 billion versus $3.41 billion for the prior quarter and $1.40 billion for the same period last year

"Micron delivered a record quarter, and our data center revenue surpassed 50% of our total revenue for the first time," said Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO of Micron Technology. "While consumer-oriented markets are weaker in the near term, we anticipate a return to growth in the second half of our fiscal year. We continue to gain share in the highest margin and strategically important parts of the market and are exceptionally well positioned to leverage AI-driven growth to create substantial value for all stakeholders."

Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announced its Series J funding. The company is raising $10 billion of expected non-dilutive financing and has completed $8.6 billion to date. This funding values Databricks at $62 billion and is led by Thrive Capital. Along with Thrive, the round is co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners and WCM Investment Management. Other significant participants include existing investor Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and new investors ICONIQ Growth, MGX, Sands Capital and Wellington Management.

The company has seen increased momentum and accelerated growth (over 60% year-over-year) in recent quarters largely due to the unprecedented interest in artificial intelligence. To satisfy customer demand, Databricks intends to invest this capital towards new AI products, acquisitions, and significant expansion of its international go-to-market operations. In addition to fueling its growth, this capital is expected to be used towards providing liquidity for current and former employees, as well as pay related taxes. Finally, this quarter marks the first time the company is expected to achieve positive free cash flow.

The Biden-Harris Administration has given Micron Technology up to $6.165 billion in direct funds through the CHIPS Incentives Program to back the company's manufacturing growth. The money will allow Micron to execute its plan announced in October 2022 by investing about $100 billion into Clay, New York fab, and $25 billion into Idaho over 20 years aiming to boost the United States' advanced memory manufacturing from under 2% to around 10% by 2035. This large investment aims to make the U.S. economy stronger by creating a home supply of cutting-edge DRAM chips, moreover it is expected to create approximately 20,000 job across the U.S. Micron plans to spend about $50 billion before 2030 focusing on making more advanced memory semiconductor technology.

Also, the Department of Commerce has put pen to paper on a first draft of terms with Micron. This could lead to funding of up to $275 million to upgrade its Manassas, Virginia plant. The $2 billion investment project aims to bring Micron's 1-alpha technology back to U.S. The 1-alpha process was launched in 2021 and is used for the latest LPDDR5 DRAM chips. This would boost monthly wafer production and create over 400 factory jobs. At its busiest, the project could generate up to 2,700 jobs in the local area.

Japan has proposed a $65 billion (or more) plan to strengthen the semiconductor and AI industries in the country through grants and financial support by fiscal year 2030. The government plans to present this proposal at the next parliamentary session. The draft includes support for mass production of next-generation chips, focusing on AI chipmakers such as Rapidus, the government estimates an economic impact of about 160 trillion yen from this investment. Rapidus plans to start mass production of advanced chips in Hokkaido from 2027 and will work with IBM and Belgian research organization Imec.

According to the report from Reuters, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the government would not issue deficit-financing bonds to fund the support plan, although specific financial details are not yet known. The new initiative builds on last year's 2 trillion yen investment in the chip industry, and it is part of a broader economic package. Expected to be approved by the Cabinet on November 22, the plan calls for combined public and private investment in the semiconductor industry of more than 50 trillion yen over the next decade.

Intel's ambitious fab expansion plans, which are currently facing a temporary halt, are of significant importance. The German government, as reported by HardwareLuxx, is now considering redirecting €10 billion from the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) initially allocated to Intel, potentially returning these subsidies to the federal budget. The pause on Intel's investment to 2029-2030 (according to Tom's Hardware) not only threatens Germany's hopes of becoming one of semiconductor industry leaders but has also sparked debate over the intended use of this substantial financial support. Given the rise of geopolitical tensions, the urgency and significance of the German semiconductor industry in the current economic landscape cannot be overstated. The potential negative impact of the halt on Intel's investment is a cause for concern and engagement.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner has proposed that the funds be reallocated to address other economic needs, emphasizing fiscal responsibility amid current challenges. In contrast, Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck, whose department manages the KTF, opposes this reallocation, arguing that the fund should continue to support long-term economic growth and environmental initiatives. This disagreement between Lindner and Habeck illustrates the competing priorities within the government over the best use of public funds in uncertain economic times. The urgency of resolving this impasse is clear, as it will require navigating these tricky political waters while weighing the strategic importance of securing significant semiconductor investments in Germany. If Intel continues its Magdeburg expansion by the end of this decade, the terms for state subsidies might be changed. However, that is something to worry about in the distant future, as the blue giant has the priority of getting its financials back in line first.

Intel has plans to expands its chip packaging and testing operations in Chengdu, China. The company will put $300 million into Intel Products (Chengdu), as stated in a WeChat post by Chengdu's Reform and Development Commission, and reported by TrendForce. Intel announced its Chengdu plant in August 2003 as a semiconductor chip packaging and testing facility in the Chengdu Hi-Tech West Zone. The first phase began in February 2004 with the construction of a chipset factory, which was completed and put into production by the end of 2005. The second phase commenced in August 2005 and was completed in October 2006. By 2007, the packaging and testing facility was fully operational, handling Intel's most advanced processors.

Since its launch in 2003, Intel's Chengdu plant has handled over half of the packaging and testing for Intel's laptop processors. Even with rising US-China tensions, China remains Intel's biggest market making up 27 percent of its total income last year. The announced expansion will increase the packaging and testing ability of server chips and will add a new "customer solutions center." This center aims to make the supply chain more effective, give more support to Chinese customers, and speed up response times. Intel's Chengdu site plays a key role in the company's global supply chain, benefiting from the area's "favorable" business climate, CEO Patrick Gelsinger said during his visit last year.

Intel could get a substantial multibillion-dollar investment from Apollo Global Management Inc., according to a recent report by Bloomberg which relies on inside information from people familiar with the matter. It is said that Apollo is willing to invest up to $5 billion in Intel, and it is worth noting that this came up just after rumors about Qualcomm's intentions for a friendly takeover of Intel emerged last week. Intel and Apollo representatives have declined to comment thus far, however, it is said that Intel executives have been weighing Apollo's proposal.

Apollo is not a newcomer to the chipmaking industry; in 2023, the New York-based company made a $900 million investment in Western Digital buying convertible preferred stock. As for Intel and Apollo, they are no strangers to each other. Just this past June, Intel agreed to sell a stake in a joint venture that controls Intel's Fab 34 plant in Ireland to Apollo for $11 billion. While rumors come and go, one thing is for sure: Intel's short-term future relies on the success of its upcoming products like Arrow Lake desktop architecture to be released on October 24, and its foundry business division.

Texas Instruments (TI) (Nasdaq: TXN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce have signed a non-binding Preliminary Memorandum of Terms for up to $1.6 billion in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to support three 300 mm wafer fabs already under construction in Texas and Utah. In addition, TI expects to receive an estimated $6 billion to $8 billion from the U.S. Department of Treasury's Investment Tax Credit for qualified U.S. manufacturing investments. The proposed direct funding, coupled with the investment tax credit, would help TI provide a geopolitically dependable supply of essential analog and embedded processing semiconductors.

"The historic CHIPS Act is enabling more semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the U.S., making the semiconductor ecosystem stronger and more resilient," said Haviv Ilan, president and CEO of Texas Instruments. "Our investments further strengthen our competitive advantage in manufacturing and technology as we expand our 300 mm manufacturing operations in the U.S. With plans to grow our internal manufacturing to more than 95% by 2030, we're building geopolitically dependable, 300 mm capacity at scale to provide the analog and embedded processing chips our customers will need for years to come."

Cyclic Materials, an advanced metals recycling company building a circular supply chain for rare earth elements and other critical metals, today announced it has received an equity investment from Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, an initiative dedicated to accelerating technology development and deployment of new climate innovations. This investment is representative of Microsoft's commitment to a circular economy and interest in hard drive rare earth element recycling.

Over the past two years, Cyclic has developed a patent-pending technology, CC360, to specifically address the challenge of recovering rare earths contained in end-of-life hard drives. While hard drives are typically sent to an IT asset disposal (ITAD) company at the end of life, this disposal process is designed for data destruction, followed by shredding of drives for the recovery of other metals such as gold and silver. The rare earths contained are currently not recovered. With the CC360, ITAD companies can separate a portion of hard drives for rare earth recovery, while retaining the rest of the hard drives for their traditional process. These separated magnets can then be processed by Cyclic Materials' processing technologies, unlocking an additional value stream from hard drive disposal.

Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) and Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced a definitive agreement under which Apollo-managed funds and affiliates will lead an investment of $11 billion to acquire from Intel a 49% equity interest in a joint venture entity related to Intel's Fab 34. The transaction represents Intel's second Semiconductor Co-Investment Program (SCIP) arrangement. SCIP is an element of Intel's Smart Capital strategy, a funding approach designed to create financial flexibility to accelerate the company's strategy, including investing in its global manufacturing operations, while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

Located in Leixlip, Ireland, Fab 34 is Intel's leading-edge high-volume manufacturing (HVM) facility designed for wafers using the Intel 4 and Intel 3 process technologies. To date, Intel has invested $18.4 billion in Fab 34. This transaction allows Intel to unlock and redeploy to other parts of its business a portion of this investment while continuing the build-out of Fab 34. As part of its transformation strategy, Intel has committed billions of dollars of investments to regaining process leadership and building out leading-edge wafer fabrication and advanced packaging capacity globally.

Malaysia is firmly positioning itself as a hub for semiconductor investment, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stating the country aims to attract over $100 billion in investment into the industry. This aligns with recent trends in the region, such as China's announcement of a massive $47.5 billion investment fund or Micron's plans to build a new chip factory in Hiroshima, Japan by the end of 2027.

As a major player accounting for 13% of global chip testing and packaging, Malaysia has benefited from strong investments by Intel ($7 billion for an advanced packaging plant) and Infineon ($5.4 billion to expand its power chip plant). The country now hopes around 10 local companies will make substantial investments in new facilities focused on chip design and advanced packaging. To support this goal, the Malaysian government plans to allocate $5.3 billion in fiscal backing, along with tax breaks and subsidies. It is targeting these investments to generate revenues between $210 million and $1 billion for the semiconductor industry in Malaysia.

Beijing has doubled down on its push for semiconductor self-sufficiency with the establishment of a new $47.5 billion investment fund to accelerate growth in the domestic chip sector. The fund, officially registered on May 24th under the name "China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Phase III", represents the largest of three state-backed vehicles aimed at cultivating China's semiconductor capabilities. The announcement comes as tensions over advanced chip technology continue to escalate between the U.S. and China. Over the past couple years, Washington has steadily ratcheted up export controls on semiconductors to Beijing over national security concerns about potential military applications. These measures have lent new urgency to China's quest for self-sufficiency in chip design and manufacturing.

With a war chest of 344 billion yuan ($47.5 billion), the "Big Fund" dwarfs the combined capital of the first two semiconductor investment vehicles launched in 2014 and 2019. Officials have outlined a multipronged strategy targeting key bottlenecks, focusing on equipment for chip fabrication plants. The fund has bankrolled major projects such as flash memory maker Yangtze Memory Technologies and leading foundries like SMIC and Huahong. China's homegrown chip industry still needs to catch up to global leaders like Intel, Samsung, and TSMC. However, the immense scale of state-directed capital illustrates Beijing's unwavering commitment to developing a self-reliant supply chain for semiconductors—a technology viewed as indispensable for economic and military competitiveness. News of the "Big Fund" sent Chinese chip stocks surging over 3% on hopes of fresh financing tailwinds.

SK hynix Inc., the world's leading producer of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, announced today that it will invest an estimated $3.87 billion in West Lafayette, Indiana to build an advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for AI products. The project, the first of its kind in the United States, is expected to drive innovation in the nation's AI supply chain, while bringing more than a thousand new jobs to the region.

The company held an investment agreement ceremony with officials from Indiana State, Purdue University, and the U.S. government at Purdue University in West Lafayette on the 3rd and officially announced the plan. At the event, officials from each party including Governor of Indiana Eric Holcomb, Senator Todd Young, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Arun Venkataraman, Secretary of Commerce State of Indiana David Rosenberg, Purdue University President Mung Chiang, Chairman of Purdue Research Foundation Mitch Daniels, Mayor of city of West Lafayette Erin Easter, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States Hyundong Cho, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Chicago Junghan Kim, SK vice chairman Jeong Joon Yu, SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung and SK hynix Head of Package & Test Choi Woojin, participated.