Semi. Fabs and Clean Rooms 3¾h ago: AI-driven fab and cleanroom activity continues strongly in mid-August 2026. Micron is deploying a $6.1B CHIPS Act grant into its $100B Clay, NY megafab with Boise expansions targeting 2027-2028 HBM output. SK Hynix approved $39B in fab construction (plus $80B+ equipment orders). TSMC CoWoS yield cleared 99%. Applied Materials raised 2026-2027 growth forecasts on cleanroom utilization and new builds. CXMT DDR5 yield hit 90%.
Analysis: End-User Capex Continues Boosting Chip Demand - Foxconn reported Q2 profit of TWD $59.97 billion, up 35% YoY, with cloud and networking products accounting for more than 50% of revenue. This report accompanies the Industry Performance Data Table.
Scientists Steer Infrared Light Through an “Invisible” Waveguide - The discovery could advance integrated photonics, on-chip optical signal transmission, and future quantum technologies. A nanoscale gold antenna placed on a crystal can send infrared light along one narrow route, even though no physical waveguide has been carved into the material. Researchers at the 4th...
Sony Semiconductor and TSMC Establishing Joint Venture - Sony Semiconductor Solutions and TSMC have entered into a legally binding agreement to establish Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation as a joint venture in Koshi City, Japan. The joint venture will serve as a core hub for the development...
Standards and AI will shape-shift EDA - As AI and machine learning are getting more and more integrated into the EDA workflows, there are new challenges emerging around areas such as interoperability, data exchange, trust, and reproducibility. […] The post Standards and AI will shape-shift EDA appeared first on Electronics Weekly .
Chip Industry Week In Review - Lam Research and ASE expansions; data center shifts; CPO system architecture initiative; 2D-transistor interface solution; USENIX HW security; patent suits; image sensors; programmable AI memtransistor; Nvidia's new plan; earnings. The post Chip Industry Week In Review appeared first on Semiconductor...
China Smartphone Vendor and OS Marketshare - Q2 2026 - China's smartphone shipments declined year-over-year (YoY) by 3.0% in Q2 2026 amid memory chip shortage and macroeconomic headwinds, including stagnant income, job, and real estate markets. Continued subsidies benefited smartphone sales, but no longer favor the annual comparison. Memory cost surges subdued...
the ai unleashed 2026 agenda - AI has moved beyond the demo phase. Enterprises are deploying models, operationalizing agents, rethinking infrastructure, and making consequential decisions about where—and how—to invest.From August 25–27, The Six Five Summit: AI Unleashed 2026 will bring the leaders making those decisions directly...
SEM Analysis for Semiconductor Failure Analysis - Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) is one of the most important imaging techniques used in semiconductor failure analysis. While optical microscopes remain extremely useful for initial inspection, many semiconductor defects are simply too small to characterize adequately with visible-light microscopy....
Radon: Level detection, risk determination, and as-needed mitigation - Radon, in both air and ground water, is a health risk whose prevalence should be regularly assessed and, if necessary, dealt with. The post Radon: Level detection, risk determination, and as-needed mitigation appeared first on EDN .
Fable: The Turnaround Artist - A little over 20 years ago, a chip company was heavily indebted and loss-making with a share price around $2 and a market cap of around $1.8 billion The CEO […] The post Fable: The Turnaround Artist appeared first on Electronics Weekly .
Korea eases rules to unlock $3 billion in advanced industry investment - Korea eases rules to unlock $3 billion in advanced industry investment The government plans faster permits and broader industrial access for semiconductors, batteries, biotechnology and other strategic sectors. 8/13/2026 - 12:02 AM News Team
First-principles cumulant approach to the vibronic structure of spin defects - Color centers in wide-band-gap semiconductors are leading platforms for solid-state quantum technologies, yet a quantitative description of their vibronic structure has remained elusive due to the complexity of multi-phonon processes in localized defect states. Here we present a first-principles Green's...
Self-Supervised Layout Generation To Fix Advanced-Node DRVs (Nvidia, Duke) - Researchers from NVIDIA and Duke University published a technical paper titled “SCALE: Self-Supervised Constraint-Aware Layout GEneration for Local P&R DRV Fixing at Advanced Nodes.” Abstract “As semiconductor manufacturing advances toward sub-2nm nodes, local place-and-route (P&R) design-rule violation...
Situational Awareness Boosted Micron, Sandisk Ahead of Turmoil - Situational Awareness increased its exposure to semiconductor firms Micron Technology Inc. and Sandisk Corp. in the second quarter, while the hedge fund cut options positions against Nvidia Corp., Broadcom Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Six Five Pod Ep. 314: TeraFab, Memory's Comeback, and the Custom Silicon Debate - Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman cover Tesla and SpaceX's $16.8 billion TerraFab chip factory, Samsung's zHBM debut at FMS 2026, a week of frontier model launches, and a simulated debate for “The Flip” over whether custom silicon will capture the majority of AI workload dollars by 2028. The episode...
Sunlight-Driven Quantum Entanglement Offers Alternative to Laser Sources - For the first time, researchers showed that solar light can be used to generate quantum-entangled photon pairs. The proof-of-principle demonstration challenges the long-held scientific belief that lasers provide the only suitable light source for...
X-Ray Inspection for Semiconductor Package Failure Analysis - Many important semiconductor package defects are completely hidden from optical inspection. A solder ball can contain a void. A bond wire can be broken inside an encapsulated package. A die-attach layer may contain large areas of voiding. A package substrate can contain an open trace, and an advanced...
A 0.42-Nanometer Breakthrough From TSMC Could Push Transistors Beyond Silicon - Researchers at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and TSMC Corporate Research engineered a 0.42-nanometer aluminum-oxide interface that protects electron transport in monolayer MoS₂ transistors while enabling strong gate control.
Intel at a Memory Crossroads, Again - The CPU specialist heeds a memory comeback while memory chips transform from commodity to AI gold rush. The post Intel at a Memory Crossroads, Again appeared first on EE Times .
Humanoid hype may be outrunning reality, IDC analyst warns - As Tesla, OpenAI, Nvidia and dozens of startups push bipedal robots forward, IDC's Phil Solis says the industry needs more focus on affordability, reliability and real-world deployments.
Verific Is Even More Terrific Than You Thought - If you cast your mind back to the 1980s and 1990s, the electronic design automation (EDA) landscape was a very different place to the one we find ourselves in today. There were lots and lots of small EDA companies, each beavering away on some clever new tool or technology. It was an exciting time to be...
A “Double Punch” Nanoparticle Could Reveal and Destroy Brain Cancer Cells - Light-activated nanoparticles could help surgeons see glioblastoma more clearly and destroy cancer cells that remain after surgery. Glioblastoma can spread microscopic cancer cells into healthy brain tissue, making the most aggressive form of brain cancer exceptionally difficult to remove completely....
Hong Kong Electronics Fairs Launch in October! - Cutting-Edge Technologies on Display This October, Shaping the Future of Industries The post Hong Kong Electronics Fairs Launch in October! appeared first on EE Times .
IC Decapsulation: Methods, Process and Applications - Many semiconductor failure-analysis techniques require direct access to structures that are hidden inside an IC package. The semiconductor die, bond pads, bond wires and other critical components may be completely covered by epoxy molding compound or other packaging materials. Before these structures...
The Best We Can Hope For Is A Soft Landing - The unprecedented 102.5% increase in the H1 semi market comes with a warning from Future Horizons’ CEO Malcolm Penn (pictured). “Growth is being driven by price (up 79.8 percent) and […] The post The Best We Can Hope For Is A Soft Landing appeared first on Electronics Weekly .
Dynamics of the spontaneous emission factor in multiple quantum well nanowire lasers - …parameter that can either be estimated or fit in a post-hoc manner. However, the \b{eta} factor can be derived from the transitions between valence and conduction bands in semiconductor quantum wells, together with knowledge of the cavity modes. Here we investigate the dynamic nature of the \b{eta}...
Insight: The Last Stops on the Planar Roadmap - DRAM's cell has been shrunk about as far as planar scaling allows, so the next big density lever isn't the cell at all. CBA, or CMOS-bonded array, lifts the periphery onto its own wafer and tucks it beneath the array, pushing cell efficiency from roughly 55-60 percent toward 80 and delivering about 40...
Build Your Own DRAM Supply Model - Wafer starts, die size, yield, HBM mix, node migration impacts, etc. Simple enough to follow, but detailed enough to learn from.
China Aid for Key Sectors Can Feed Trade Tensions, ECB Blog Says - Chinese subsidies for strategic industries are boosting exports in those areas, according to European Central Bank research that adds to an intensifying debate among the region’s policymakers about such practices.
MicroIP sees second-half revenue lift as board approves cash raise - MICROIP, which focuses on AI software design services and ASIC design services, said its first-half 2026 financial report showed continued investment in core technologies and key IP. The company also disclosed that its board approved a cash capital increase to support working capital and ongoing development...
Technical Report: OmniVision OV52A Exploratory Analysis - This report presents a Device Essentials Plus (DEP) exploratory analysis of the OmniVision OV52A CMOS image sensor (CIS) extracted from the OPPO Find X9 Ultra rear periscope-telephoto camera. The OV52A is a 200 MP resolution, 0.61 µm pixel pitch, stacked back-illuminated (BI) CIS for mobile applications....
SPIE Accepting Applicants for 2027 SPIE Startup Challenge: Week in Brief: 8/14/26 - Sivers Semiconductors, a provider of photonics and wireless technologies, and SemiNex Corporation, a laser technology developer, established a program for next-generation indium-phosphide (InP) light sources for AI data center interconnects. The...
Secrets of oscilloscope time measurements - Oscilloscopes utilize both hardware and software to enhance time measurement resolution. Happily, most of the processing is transparent. The post Secrets of oscilloscope time measurements appeared first on EDN .
Research insight: Delta, Lite-on raise capex to 9% of revenue in AI data center power race - The speed of AI data center deployment is raising the bar for power and cooling suppliers. Chipmakers such as Nvidia and AMD are refreshing platforms annually, with each generation bringing sharp increases in power density and thermal requirements. Suppliers that cannot match that pace in R&D or capacity...
Most Read – PCB shortage, Elon’s Cash Cow, Driverless cars - The most popular stories on the site cover the Israeli deep-tech EDA company Hiveware, the value of the Starlink satellite internet service, and Waymo, the Alphabet driverless car unit. The post Most Read – PCB shortage, Elon’s Cash Cow, Driverless cars appeared first on Electronics Weekly .
Water strategy becomes urgent as extreme droughts become routine (KOR) - Water strategy becomes urgent as extreme droughts become routine (KOR) As extreme droughts become more frequent, Korea must build resilient water infrastructure and maintain long-term policies beyond political shifts. 8/13/2026 - 08:44 PM Opinion Desk
Water strategy becomes urgent as extreme droughts become routine - Water strategy becomes urgent as extreme droughts become routine As extreme droughts become more frequent, Korea must build resilient water infrastructure and maintain long-term policies beyond political shifts. 8/13/2026 - 11:01 AM Opinion Desk
Four-channel USB-UART IC boosts server management - A high-speed USB-to-UART bridge, MaxLinear’s Carmel MxL81434 supports console access and infrastructure management in AI data centers. The post Four-channel USB-UART IC boosts server management appeared first on EDN .
What Will It Take To Deploy CPO At Scale? - The path to widespread deployment of co-packaged optics depends on solving challenges in manufacturing, testing, and operations. The post What Will It Take To Deploy CPO At Scale? appeared first on Semiconductor Engineering .
Apple and AI : Siri the Early Years - One of the reasons for studying technology history is to look for recurring patterns: characteristics of either the technology itself or of firms that are built around it that are repeated time and time again.
After a decade-long halt, Korean escalators return and set their sights on the U.S. market - After a decade-long halt, Korean escalators return and set their sights on the U.S. market Korea’s revived escalator industry is betting that safety concerns at home and tougher barriers against Chinese rivals in the United States can fuel its comeback. 8/12/2026 - 09:55 PM News Team
MIT selected to lead new NSF materials research center - The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center unites researchers across disciplines to develop technologies for medical imaging, sustainable metals production, and next-generation electronics.
Liquid-cooled SSDs in the Age of AI - Learn how Solidigm is overcoming power and thermal bottlenecks in AI architecture with improved cold plate technology for liquid cooled SSDs.
