May 15, 2025

Round-up

Highlights

1. TSMC’s nine-fab blitz – The foundry will break ground on eight wafer fabs and one advanced-packaging site this year, while confirming sub-2 nm volume in Taichung by 2028 ¹.
2. Beijing hits back at Huawei ban – China’s commerce ministry accused the U.S. of “abusing” export controls hours after Washington warned that using Huawei Ascend GPUs “anywhere in the world” is illegal ²³.
3. Samsung moves photomasks offshore – The company will outsource low-end masks and redirect internal capacity toward ArF and EUV work, accelerating localisation of Japan-sourced blanks and pellicles ⁴.

Other developments

• Dutch tool-maker ASM International tells investors it will pass new U.S. tariffs straight to customers ⁵.
• AI-server demand and early shipments drove Foxconn revenues to record highs in April ⁶.
• Qualcomm re-enters the data-centre CPU arena via Saudi-backed HUMAIN cloud projects ⁷.
• Deutsche Bank discreetly lifted its ASML stake to $17 million, underscoring EUV confidence ⁸.
• Next week’s Computex will revolve around AI alliances and tariff hedging, with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang topping the keynote slate ⁹.
• Huawei teases a foldable PC powered by its own Kirin X90 SoC, launching 19 May ¹⁰.

Did you know? Shrinking nodes add masks fast: a 10 nm logic chip needed ~67 masks, but 1.75 nm designs will pass 78‍—a 16 % jump that helps explain Samsung’s photomask rethink ⁴.

In-depth

1. Government & Corporate Policy

• Global ban on Huawei Ascend use

  • New BIS guidance makes operating Huawei’s Ascend 910B/910C/910D GPUs worldwide a licence violation ³.
  • China’s Commerce Ministry called the step “blatant abuse” and demanded a policy reversal ².
  • Lawyers warn multi-national cloud operators face sudden audit exposure.

• Tariff pass-through by ASM International

  • ASM told Bank of America analysts it will forward U.S. tariff costs down the chain ⁵.
  • Management claims flexible manufacturing keeps it competitive with AMAT and Lam.
  • Chinese orders may still hit the high-end of 2025 guidance despite duties.

• Samsung photomask localisation push

  • Outsourcing i-line/KrF masks frees internal fab space for EUV blanks ⁴.
  • Part of a broader drive to cut Japan dependency on ArF blanks and pellicles.
  • Domestic suppliers being qualified through Q3 2025.

• Computex tariff undercurrent

  • Organisers expect 1,400 exhibitors; AI-server partnerships likely centre-stage ⁹.
  • Nvidia may unveil more Taiwan-made Blackwell systems amid U.S. tariff rhetoric.
  • Qualcomm, MediaTek and Foxconn plan side events on “edge AI” resilience.

2. Economics, Finance & Business Outlook

• TSMC’s nine-plant expansion

  • Facilities span Taiwan, the U.S. and Japan, lifting annual fab build-rate from five to nine ¹.
  • Fab 25 (Taichung) will target nodes beyond 2 nm, with mass production in 2028.
  • Advanced-packaging SoIC/CoWoS capacity forecast to grow >80 % through 2026.

• AI server boom lifts Foxconn & peers

  • Combined April revenue of Taiwan’s top 19 tech firms hit NT$1.61 trn, up 27 % y/y ⁶.
  • Foxconn’s Q1 profit surged 91 %, driven by >50 % growth in AI-server sales.
  • TSMC’s April revenue jumped 22 % m/m to a new record NT$349.6 bn.

• Qualcomm returns to data-centre silicon

  • MoU with Saudi-backed HUMAIN positions Snapdragon-based CPUs in local AI clouds ⁷.
  • Company will open a chip design centre in Riyadh; first deployments expected 2026.
  • Marks the first server push since the Centriq cancellation in 2019.

• ASML attracts fresh institutional cash

  • Deutsche Bank raised its holding by 614 shares, now worth $17 m ⁸.
  • Move follows analyst upgrades that cite long-term High-NA EUV demand.

3. Technology & R&D

• Samsung shifts mask resources to EUV

  • Internal teams redeployed from legacy i-line/KrF to ArF and EUV development ⁴.
  • Trial partners include Toppan’s Tekscend and Photronics-owned PKL for low-end masks.
  • Strategy aims to safeguard capacity for 2 nm and below.

• Huawei’s foldable PC with Kirin X90

  • 10-core arm-based SoC built at SMIC 7 nm, paired with HarmonyOS-PC ¹⁰.
  • Launch underscores Huawei’s pivot away from Windows after licence revocations.
  • Device slots into “Ultimate Design” premium line, shipping 2H25.

• Computex AI hardware previews

  • Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to headline, likely announcing new Foxconn and Quanta servers ⁹.
  • Qualcomm to demo edge-AI PCs; MediaTek to outline on-device LLM roadmap.
  • Intel’s Lip-Bu Tan holds private round-table on 14A and high-NA pilots.

• Ascend crackdown reverberates in R&D

  • Guidance forces global labs to audit accelerator clusters for Huawei silicon ³.
  • Start-ups exploring open-source tool-chains to avoid U.S. IP entanglement.
  • Could shift some AI model-training demand toward domestic Chinese GPU makers.

Footnotes