April 29, 2025

Round-up

1. White House woos fabs and AI giants. Donald Trump will parade CEOs from Nvidia, TSMC and others today to trumpet “Investing in America” pledges and hint at softer auto-parts tariffs—an early test of how CHIPS-era incentives mix with broadened trade walls. ¹
2. Qualcomm’s Alphawave play stays alive. Britain’s Takeover Panel pushed the bid deadline to 12 May, underscoring how scarce high-speed SerDes IP has become for next-gen AI accelerators. ²
3. Sony eyes a semiconductor carve-out. Bloomberg-flagged talks confirmed by Reuters say a spin-off of Sony Semiconductor Solutions could list as soon as this year, freeing capital while keeping Sony a minority holder. ³

Other developments:

• Cadence lifts 2025 guidance
• Apple investors fret over China-centric manufacturing
• FT warns “de-globalisation” could chop 7 % off world GDP
• Dow-futures wiggle as tariff relief talk circles Capitol Hill.

Did you know?
The WTO calculates that a full fracturing of global trade blocs could knock US$7 trillion off world output—roughly the entire semiconductor industry’s projected revenue for the next ten years. ⁴

In-depth

1. Government & Corporate Policy

• Washington’s “Investing in America” summit
  • CEOs from Nvidia, TSMC, Hyundai and more meet Trump to showcase new US fabs, steel plants and a mooted US-$500 bn private AI-infrastructure fund. ¹
  • Officials signal selective relief on auto-parts duties while leaving core chip-tool tariffs intact. ⁵
• Takeover Panel extends Alphawave deadline
  • Qualcomm now has until 12 May to file a formal offer for the London-listed IP vendor. ²
  • Alphawave suspended guidance earlier this month, citing tariff volatility; Arm is also circling the asset. ²
• Tariff-relief whispers for US carmakers
  • Reuters reports the administration may exempt some imported sub-assemblies to blunt cost spikes for domestic EV programs. ⁵
• Deglobalisation warnings at WTO forum
  • Singapore’s PM and WTO chief Okonjo-Iweala caution that tariff spirals could slice almost 7 % from global GDP, with chips highlighted as a choke-point. ⁴

2. Economics, Finance & Outlook

• Sony semiconductor spin-off under review
  • Listing could surface hidden value in image-sensor leadership while giving the parent fire-power for media M&A. ³
  • Sony says talks are “speculative,” but bankers pitch a valuation near US-$45 bn. ³
• Cadence guides higher despite China drag
  • 2025 revenue outlook rises to US-$5.23 bn; management argues EDA licences skirt most tariff schedules. ⁶
  • China revenue slipped to 11 % of sales and is expected to stay flat this year. ⁶
• Apple braces for its second straight iPhone sales dip
  • Analysts peg a 16 % YTD share-price slide on tariff cloud and delayed AI features; Cupertino is shifting more US-bound iPhone assembly to India. ⁷

3. Technology & R & D

• SerDes gold-rush drives Alphawave interest
  • The British firm’s ultra-low-power 224 Gb/s links are central to forthcoming AI/HPC die-to-die fabrics, explaining Qualcomm’s urgency. ²
• Cadence sees AI-era design cycles accelerate
  • Customers are tightening tape-out schedules for 3D-stacked GPUs and custom accelerators, boosting demand for the firm’s AI-augmented verification flows. ⁶
• TSMC & Nvidia highlight US capacity build-outs
  • At the White House event, both groups will tout Arizona and New York expansion milestones timed to catch CHIPS Act disbursements. ¹
• Apple shifts advanced-node ramp plans
  • Supply-chain sources tell Reuters the company is allocating more 3 nm “A19” wafer starts to its Indian partners to hedge against mainland tariffs. ⁷

Footnotes