May 27, 2025

Round-up

Highlights

1. Nvidia pivots again: a lower-spec Blackwell GPU priced at $6.5–8 k will ship as early as June to keep the company in China’s AI-server market after Washington blocked the H20 accelerator ¹.
2. Europe turns from fabs to brains: TSMC will open a Munich Design Centre this autumn, cementing Germany as its R-&-D bridgehead while Dresden construction continues ².
3. Washington doubles-down on EUV controls: Trump-campaign tech adviser David Sacks called the China EUV ban “the single most important export control,” a sharp contrast to the warmer tone Beijing sought only four days earlier in our 23 May edition ³⁴.

Other developments

• German telco-software consortium seeks EU funds for a €20 bn “AI gigafactory” ⁵
• Oracle will buy about $40 bn of Nvidia GB200s for OpenAI’s Texas “Stargate” data-centre ⁶
• ASML disclosed another $61 m of share buy-backs in the week to 23 May ⁷
• Tom’s Hardware confirms Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D (a.k.a. B40) as the Blackwell part headed for China ⁸
• Researchers demonstrated a frequency-doubled dual-comb source on-chip at 420 nm—useful for integrated quantum-sensor schemes ⁹

Did you know? Nvidia’s downgrade still skirts right up to the 1.7-1.8 TB/s memory-bandwidth ceiling the U.S. now enforces—just 15 % of the H20’s throughput but exactly the level investment bank Jefferies predicted regulators would allow ¹.

In-depth

1 · Government & Corporate Policy

• EUV embargo stays on the books

  • Trump-campaign adviser David Sacks said lifting the EUV block “would gut the most effective U.S. leverage” ³.
  • The statement undercuts earlier hope of a China–Netherlands thaw covered in our 23 May newsletter ⁴.

• EU pitches “AI gigafactories”

  • Deutsche Telekom, SAP, Ionos and Schwarz are bidding to host one of five EU-funded centres; expressions of interest are due 20 June ⁵.
  • Chips and cheap power are explicit gating items—good news for European foundry and packaging suppliers.

• Design—not wafers—becomes Europe’s lure

  • TSMC’s Munich hub will help automotive and industrial clients co-optimise advanced nodes and 3-D packaging ².
  • The move follows Intel’s and GlobalFoundries’ separate German expansions, signalling an ecosystem approach rather than a single-supplier model.

• China-specific GPUs mark new compliance template

  • Nvidia’s Blackwell cut-down chip eschews HBM and CoWoS, showing how export-control rules are now baked into product definition ¹.

2 · Economics, Finance & Business Outlook

• $40 bn OpenAI cluster order

  • Oracle will lease 400 k GB200 accelerators to OpenAI at its Abilene, TX site, financed by $9.6 bn in JPMorgan loans ⁶.
  • The multiyear pipeline provides Nvidia a buffer against potential export-curb revenue hits.

• ASML keeps feeding investors

  • The lithography leader repurchased ~93 k shares (avg €657) between 19–23 May, part of a €12 bn 2022–25 plan ⁷.
  • Buy-backs have trimmed free-float by 2.4 % since January, a lever as EUV demand faces geopolitical overhangs.

• AI infrastructure gold-rush in Europe

  • Germany’s proposed AI data-centre would tap the EC’s new €20 bn fund, with Luxembourg, France and Spain also angling for projects ⁵.
  • The scramble could tighten regional demand for high-bandwidth memory and liquid-cooling gear in 2026-27.

• Share-price read-through

  • Tom’s Hardware estimates the B40’s bill-of-materials at half the H20’s, suggesting Nvidia may defend margin even at a lower ASP ⁸.

3 · Technology & R-&-D

• Blackwell 6000D/B40 revealed

  • Server-class GPU uses GDDR7, avoids NVLink and advanced packaging, and still nudges the export-bandwidth limit ¹⁸.
  • Mass production is slated for June with general availability by Q3.

• Integrated UV dual-comb chip

  • NIST researchers doubled a chirped dual comb to 420 nm on-chip, opening doors for compact quantum sensors and trace-gas meters ⁹.
  • The approach claims phase-stability advantages over discrete laser architectures.

• Design-enablement shift to Europe

  • TSMC’s Munich centre will staff mixed-signal and RF teams to help auto Tier-1s migrate to 3 nm and chiplet-based ADAS ².
  • ESD-safe labs and a 500-petaflop internal cluster are planned.

• AI-ready data-centre spec takes shape

  • The German consortium’s gigafactory plan includes on-premise 400 MW solar-plus-battery installation—hinting at the power-infrastructure dimension of future chip demand ⁵.