Round-up
Highlights
- TSMC goes “5×‑9×‑9.5×” on CoWoS. The foundry will expand interposer reticle sizes up to 9.5×, clearing the path for 12‑stack HBM monster packages and keeping AI accelerators fed through 20271
- White House mulls easing NVIDIA chip restrictions for the UAE. A bilateral accord could be announced during President Trump’s upcoming Gulf trip, signaling a selective thaw in AI‑hardware export controls2
- ASM International shifts tool production to Arizona. The Dutch ALD specialist is already turning out equipment stateside to skirt looming U.S. tariffs and stay close to priority customers3
Other developments
- Samsung hints at “massive” new U.S. fabs as tariff hedges grow4
- Zoho scraps its $700 M India foundry bid, denting New Delhi’s silicon dreams5
- Micron starts sampling G9‑NAND UFS 4.1 for 1 TB phones6
- EU auditors warn one‑third of legacy chips now come from China, calling it a “high‑risk” dependency7
- Rare‑earth export curbs from Beijing threaten higher fab costs by 20268
- FDA grants Neuralink breakthrough status for a speech‑restoring brain‑computer chip9
Did you know? TSMC’s planned 9.5× CoWoS interposer would exceed the photolithography reticle field of a standard ASML EUV scanner by nearly three orders of magnitude in package area, turning an entire wafer quadrant into a single substrate1
In‑depth
1. Government & Corporate Policy
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Selective détente on AI hardware.
- U.S. officials are weighing a carve‑out that lets NVIDIA ship advanced GPUs to the UAE under a broader investment deal2.
- Any exemption would still require end‑use monitoring similar to recent Singapore and Vietnam waivers.
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Samsung’s U.S. mega‑fab teaser.
- President Trump claimed Samsung plans “massive” new plants beyond its Taylor, TX site, attributing the decision to tariffs4.
- Korean media say equipment imports, including EUV tools, remain hostage to tariff timing.
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ASM International’s tariff dodge.
- By localizing ALD tool assembly in Arizona, ASMI protects 21 % of its revenue tied to U.S. customers and mitigates 10–25 % duty exposure3.
- The firm says proximity also accelerates service cycles for Intel and TSMC fabs in the Southwest.
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EU legacy‑chip alarm.
- A European Court of Auditors report shows China supplies 33 % of EU mature‑node demand, calling the dependency “high risk”7.
- Funding gaps under the EU Chips Act mean Brussels may miss its 20 % global‑share goal by 2030.
2. Economics, Finance & Business Outlook
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India’s silicon stumbles.
- Zoho halted its $700 M 28 nm fab project after failing to secure a tech partner, the second big Indian plan paused in three weeks5.
- The retreat underscores how capital‑intensive fabs strain even “unicorn” software margins.
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Korean exports defy tariff headwinds.
- April shipments jumped 3.7 % y/y on a 17 % surge in memory chips, offsetting weaker autos10.
- Economists warn the boost may fade once the current 90‑day tariff pause expires in July.
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Rare‑earth squeeze kicks up cost forecasts.
- EE Times Asia cites BCG modeling that rare‑earth restrictions could add single‑digit percentage points to wafer‑fab COGS by 20268.
- III‑V compound‑semiconductor lines are most vulnerable to dysprosium and terbium supply shocks.
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Micron’s smartphone storage gambit.
- Early G9‑NAND samples target flagship phones with 10‑15 % faster writes and a sub‑1 mm package6.
- Analysts see the part as a volume driver for FY2026 even as DRAM ASPs plateau.
3. Technology & R&D
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CoWoS reticle leap‑frog.
- TSMC will scale interposers from 3.5× today to 5× this year, 9× in 2026, and 9.5× in 2027, enabling >12 HBM stacks per package1.
- Intel’s Foveros‑S counters with glass‑core bridges, setting up a packaging arms race.
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Neuralink’s speech‑restoration implant.
- FDA “Breakthrough Device” status clears human trials for a 1,024‑electrode BCI aimed at ALS patients9.
- The design uses a custom low‑power RF ASIC fabricated on a 6‑nm node.
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Samsung’s HBM4 customization push.
- Korean reports say Samsung is negotiating bespoke HBM4 stacks for NVIDIA and Google Cloud, beating SK Hynix to volume quotes4.
- Tweaks cover non‑standard voltages and TSV pitch to align with Blackwell‑class GPUs.
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Micron’s G9‑NAND UFS 4.1.
- Sequential write speeds gain 15 % vs G8 while shrinking board footprint by 25 %6.
- Early adopters include foldable smartphone OEMs targeting Q4 launches.
Footnotes
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TrendForce — “Wafer-Level Packaging Showdown: TSMC Scales up CoWoS Reticle Size, as Intel Readies Foveros-S” (May 2, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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TrendForce — “Trump Reportedly Weighs Loosening NVIDIA Chip Curbs for UAE Amid Intel-Linked Investment Talks” (May 2, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎
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TrendForce — “Dutch Firm ASM International Reportedly Starts U.S. Production to Sidestep Tariffs, Taps Arizona” (May 2, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎
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TrendForce — “Trump Says Samsung Plans Massive U.S. Plants Despite Taylor Project Hurdles” (May 2, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Reuters — “Zoho Suspends $700 Million Chipmaking Plan in Latest Setback for India, Sources Say” (May 1, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎
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TrendForce — “Micron Began Sampling G9-NAND-based Mobile UFS 4.1 Products” (May 2, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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TrendForce — “EU Auditors Warn of High Risk: China Supplies One-Third of EU Legacy Chip Imports” (May 1, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎
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EE Times Asia — “Production Delays, Higher Costs in the Chip Industry Expected Amid China’s Rare Earth Controls” (May 2, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎
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India Today — “Elon Musk’s Neuralink Gets FDA Nod for Chip That Will Let Speech-Impaired People Speak; Human Trials Soon” (May 2, 2025) ↩︎ ↩︎
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Reuters — “South Korea Exports Beat Forecast as Chips Soar, but Outlook Uncertain” (May 1, 2025) ↩︎