May 21, 2025

Export rules bend, fabs build, and AI PCs boom

Round-up

Highlights

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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

  • 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

  • China’s legal counter-move on Huawei curbs

    • Commerce Ministry says U.S. guidance “violates international law” and threatens suits against firms that comply. 4
    • Move aims to shield Ascend 910B servers that now replace Nvidia A100 alternatives in state clouds. 4

  • Malaysia–Huawei AI hub controversy

    • Local firm Ekovest touted a $1 bn “Kuala Lumpur AI Park” using Huawei Atlas boards; finance ministry denies equity support. 5
    • Overshadows Kuala Lumpur’s bid for CHIPS-style incentives aimed at Western outsourced assembly. 5

  • Ukraine strikes Russian chip plant

    • Kyiv says the Bryansk fab produces GaAs MMICs for Su-34 radar; Moscow calls it “civilian”. 6
    • First confirmed drone hit on Russia’s advanced-semiconductor capacity may force supply reroutes via Belarus. 6

2. Economics, Finance & Business Outlook

  • JIC doubles-down on JSR turnaround

    • Despite a ¥209 bn operating loss, Tokyo’s PE fund keeps a five-year re-listing target and eyes tie-ups with Resonac. 7
    • Sale of JSR’s life-science arm to Tokuyama starts debt-cutting ahead of EUV resist capacity boosts. 7

  • GlobalWafers Texas expansion

    • Additional $4 bn phases lift U.S. share of the firm’s output from 8% to 25% by 2028. 3
    • Facility wins $406 m CHIPS grant and leans on “advantageous tariff structure” after Trump’s 25% wafer duty threats. 3

  • TSMC logistics dividend—direct flights

    • Starlux’s Taoyuan–Phoenix route starts Feb-26, shaving 6 h off engineer rotations to Fab 21. 8
    • Phoenix mayor notes 9,000 semiconductor visas issued since 2023, creating sustainable load factors. 8

  • Intel-Elliptic Labs AI-PC push

    • Virtual Smart Sensor suite ships pre-installed on Lunar Lake notebooks this autumn. 9
    • Partners pitch presence detection and low-power context sensing as differentiators against Qualcomm X-Elite laptops. 9

3. Technology & R&D

  • AMD’s AI-heavy client & server silicon

    • Threadripper Pro 9000 WX up to 96 Zen 5 cores; Radeon RX 9060 XT hits shelves Jun 5 with 16 GB. 2
    • “Redstone” FSR4 uses local ONNX models—AMD claims 1.3-3× Intel Meteor Lake NPU perf. 2

  • MediaTek 2 nm tape-out timeline—update to yesterday’s note

    • Yesterday’s Daily Chip Pulse flagged the early tease; Tsai now confirms September tape-out at TSMC and a 2026 Dimensity flagship. 2
    • Company hints at “integrated APU v4” doubling TOPS/W versus N3B parts. 2

  • 2T1R memristor array prototype

    • Forschungszentrum Jülich’s 28 nm CMOS stack regulates sneak currents, enabling analogue VMM on-chip. 2
    • Demo shows stable 2×2 array; authors eye RISC-V control core for edge inference. 2

  • TUM’s ‘AI Pro’ neuromorphic chip

    • Hyperdimensional-computing core runs fully offline at 24 µJ per inference—100× more frugal than cloud-first SoCs. 2
    • First silicon fabbed by GlobalFoundries Dresden; paper submitted to ESSERC 2025. 2

Footnotes

  1. Reuters: Nvidia CEO praises Trump move to scrap some AI export curbs ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. Tom’s Guide: Computex 2025 live — AMD vs Nvidia heats up and more from the world’s largest computing event ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. Data Center Dynamics: GlobalWafers opens Texas wafer fab in Sherman, plans $4bn additional US investment ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. Reuters: China warns of legal consequences to those involved in US chip measures ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. Bloomberg Law: Malaysia Downplays Huawei Deal As US Aims To Curb China AI Power ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. Kyiv Independent: Russian semiconductor plant making missile, jet parts hit in Ukrainian attack ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. Yahoo Finance: Japan’s JIC says JSR’s weak financials do not affect chipmaking ambitions ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. Focus Taiwan: Starlux plans to launch direct flights to Phoenix in February ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. Business Wire: Elliptic Labs and Intel Announcing Long-Term Partnership to Power the Future of AI PCs ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎