June 3, 2025

Round-up

Highlights

1. TSMC leans into AI demand – At its annual shareholder meeting the company forecast record 2025 earnings, saying AI orders will offset any drag from fresh U.S. tariffs and denying rumors of a Middle-East fab push.¹²³
2. SK hynix edges past Samsung in DRAM – A new TrendForce report shows Q1-25 DRAM revenue sliding 5.5 %, but SK hynix grabs the No. 1 spot for the first time on the strength of HBM shipments.⁴
3. Renesas pulls the plug on SiC wafers – Facing a “scorched-earth” price war by Chinese suppliers, the Japanese maker abandoned its silicon-carbide line and will buy devices instead, freeing capital for advanced MCUs and AI accelerators.⁵

Other developments:

• TSMC’s Kumamoto-2 build slips six months
• Lam Research pitches de-risking at a BofA tech conference
• Greenpeace confronts TSMC on renewable-energy pace
• U.S.-Vietnam talks widen to Chinese content in electronics
• Invesco’s Form 8.3 hints at Qualcomm M&A positioning

Did you know? Greenpeace says TSMC’s fabs now consume 8 % of Taiwan’s total electricity—more than Taipei City—and wants a 2030 100 % renewables target.⁶

In-depth

1. Government & Corporate Policy

• TSMC tariff stance and governance tweaks

  • CEO C.C. Wei called new U.S. duties “some impact, not decisive,” and shareholders passed a charter change adding environmental KPIs to director pay.¹⁷
  • Greenpeace East Asia urged a faster green-energy timetable outside the meeting hall.⁶

• U.S.–Vietnam “tough list” lands

  • A 20-page annex demands Hanoi cut Chinese-origin inputs in servers, PCBs, and batteries, or face up to 46 % tariffs from July 8.⁸
  • Washington also wants binding contracts for U.S. chip and tool imports.

• Kumamoto traffic jams stall fab-2

  • TSMC blamed “logistics gridlock” around its first Japanese site for a six-month delay to breaking ground on the second plant; local officials eye new rail links.⁹

• M&A watch: Qualcomm in UK cross-hairs

  • An Invesco Form 8.3 disclosure under the UK Takeover Code shows fund managers building positions ahead of any renewed Alphawave or Arm bid.¹⁰

2. Economics, Finance & Business Outlook

• Memory market contraction, leadership swap

  • TrendForce pegs Q1 DRAM sales at $17.6 billion, -5.5 % Q/Q; SK hynix ekes out a 28.2 % share vs. Samsung’s 27.9 %, buoyed by HBM3E volume.⁴

• TSMC signals “double-digit” growth

  • The firm reiterated a 24–26 % topline jump for 2025 and a NT$2.2 trillion cap-ex budget, citing tight 3 nm and CoWoS capacity.²³

• Capital shifts into equipment names

  • Capital Asset Advisory Services hiked its Applied Materials stake 27 %, mirroring broader fund rotation toward wafer-equipment plays.¹¹
  • Separately, Switzerland’s Unigestion disclosed a fresh $3.56 million Lam Research position.¹²

• Equity tape wobbles on tariff angst

  • Semiconductor indices lagged the S&P as European shares and U.S. futures slipped on trade-war headlines; bond yields ticked up and the dollar hit a six-week low.¹³

3. Technology & R&D

• World-first 321-layer mobile NAND

  • SK hynix unveiled a UFS 4.1 module using its 321-layer 4D NAND (1 Tb dies), claiming 80 % write-energy cut for on-device AI workloads.¹⁴

• China’s AMEC demos 5 nm logic without EUV

  • The domestic etch specialist showed gate-all-around samples processed on multi-patterned 193i DUV, aiming to sidestep export-controlled EUV tools.¹⁵

• Rare-earth-free laser crystals debut

  • Fraunhofer researchers announced YAG alternatives that tolerate higher power density, targeting next-gen lithography and wafer metrology optics.¹⁶

Footnotes