Round-up
Highlights
- Nvidia’s Jensen Huang lobbies for an export-curb rollback. Calling the current AI-chip controls on China “a failure,” Huang applauded the Trump team’s draft plan to replace them with a global licensing regime—an abrupt shift that could reopen a $15 billion market for U.S. GPU vendors. 1
- AMD steals the Computex spotlight. In a late-night keynote, Lisa Su previewed 96-core Threadripper Pro 9000 WX CPUs, a $349 Radeon RX 9060 XT, and the on-device “AI PC” roadmap—doubling down on local inference after Microsoft’s Copilot+ reveal. 2
- GlobalWafers flips the switch on America’s first new 300 mm wafer mega-fab since 2001. The Sherman, TX plant opened at $3.5 billion and instantly added a $4 billion Phase-2/3/4 expansion, lifting the total commitment to $7.5 billion. 3
Other developments
- China threatens legal action against anyone enforcing Washington’s Huawei AI-chip warnings. 4
- Malaysia distances itself from a Huawei-backed sovereign-AI project, saying no federal stake is involved. 5
- Ukrainian drones reportedly damage a Russian GaAs fab supplying cruise-missile electronics. 6
- Japan’s state-fund JIC says JSR’s ¥209 bn loss won’t derail its $6 bn photo-resist roll-up plan. 7
- Starlux Airlines opens the first Taipei-to-Phoenix route to serve TSMC’s Arizona fabs. 8
- Intel inks a long-term AI-sensor pact with Norway’s Elliptic Labs for next-gen laptops. 9
Did You Know? The new GlobalWafers site is designed for six manufacturing phases—enough floor space to polish one-third of all 300 mm wafers the U.S. consumed last year. 3
In-depth
1. Government & Corporate Policy
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U.S. export shift on AI GPUs
- Huang claims Nvidia wrote off $5.5 bn because of the H20 block and faces $15 bn in lost sales if rules stay. 1
- Trump advisers are weighing a single global licence model to regain leverage in WTO talks. 1
- Beijing warns it will “retaliate proportionally,” escalating the tech-trade détente struck only three weeks ago. 1
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China’s legal counter-move on Huawei curbs
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Malaysia–Huawei AI hub controversy
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Ukraine strikes Russian chip plant
2. Economics, Finance & Business Outlook
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JIC doubles-down on JSR turnaround
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GlobalWafers Texas expansion
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TSMC logistics dividend—direct flights
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Intel-Elliptic Labs AI-PC push
3. Technology & R&D
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AMD’s AI-heavy client & server silicon
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MediaTek 2 nm tape-out timeline—update to yesterday’s note
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2T1R memristor array prototype
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TUM’s ‘AI Pro’ neuromorphic chip
Footnotes
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Reuters: Nvidia CEO praises Trump move to scrap some AI export curbs ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Tom’s Guide: Computex 2025 live — AMD vs Nvidia heats up and more from the world’s largest computing event ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Data Center Dynamics: GlobalWafers opens Texas wafer fab in Sherman, plans $4bn additional US investment ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Reuters: China warns of legal consequences to those involved in US chip measures ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Bloomberg Law: Malaysia Downplays Huawei Deal As US Aims To Curb China AI Power ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Kyiv Independent: Russian semiconductor plant making missile, jet parts hit in Ukrainian attack ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Yahoo Finance: Japan’s JIC says JSR’s weak financials do not affect chipmaking ambitions ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Focus Taiwan: Starlux plans to launch direct flights to Phoenix in February ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Business Wire: Elliptic Labs and Intel Announcing Long-Term Partnership to Power the Future of AI PCs ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎