June 9, 2025

Round-up

Highlights

1. Qualcomm snaps up Alphawave Semi for $2.4 billion. The U.S. mobile-to-AI giant is buying the London-listed serDes and UCIe specialist it coveted just days after Alphawave touted its 2 nm IP in our 5 June issue, accelerating Qualcomm’s in-house chiplet roadmap while paying a 96 % premium to March prices ¹.
2. Washington and Beijing reopen trade talks in London—with export controls, not tariffs, topping the agenda. Negotiators are haggling over AI-class GPU licences and faster rare-earth approvals as both sides try to de-risk supply chains before the U.S. election ².
3. China begins mass-production of the world’s first non-binary AI processor. Developed at Beihang University, the “Hybrid-Stochastic” chip blends probabilistic and binary logic, promising big power savings for avionics and displays—and a path around U.S. curbs ³.

Other developments

• IonQ buys Oxford Ionics for $1.08 billion to bulk up trapped-ion quantum IP ⁴
• Rare-earth magnet squeeze sends automakers “into full panic” as Chinese export permits stall ⁵
• TrendForce says Q1 foundry sales fell only 5.4 % thanks to tariff-driven rush orders and China’s consumer subsidies ⁶
• TSMC delays equipment move-in at its new AP7 packaging fab after two safety incidents ⁷
• Japan moves to shield its “indispensable” niche chip suppliers from foreign takeovers ⁸
• UK FCA teams with Nvidia to launch an AI compliance “super-sandbox” for banks this October ⁹

Did you know? The average electric vehicle packs over one pound of rare-earth magnets—double a combustion car’s load—explaining automakers’ alarm at the fresh Chinese bottleneck ⁵.

In-depth

1. Government & Corporate Policy

• US–China London talks

  • Export-control relief on AI GPUs and critical minerals, not headline tariffs, tops the agenda ².
  • Beijing already signalled goodwill by approving a small batch of rare-earth exports ahead of the meeting ².

• Rare-earth magnet crunch

  • China’s tighter permit system has forced some EU tier-one suppliers to idle lines; executives warn of mid-July assembly stops ⁵.
  • The episode revives memories of the 2021 chip shortage and is pushing OEMs to dual-source magnets outside China ⁵.

• Japan’s “economic security” screen

  • Tokyo is strengthening FDI reviews after Yageo’s hostile bid for sensor maker Shibaura, aiming to keep core semiconductor and materials know-how onshore ⁸.
  • The policy echoes the U.S. outbound-investment review now moving through Congress.

• UK AI sandbox with Nvidia

  • Britain’s financial watchdog will let banks test generative-AI models on Nvidia DGX clusters inside a regulated cloud starting in Q4 ⁹.
  • The move is pitched as cutting compliance costs while giving regulators real-time visibility into model risk.

2. Economics, Finance & Business Outlook

• Qualcomm ↔ Alphawave deal

  • The all-cash offer values Alphawave at 8.5× sales and follows Arm’s failed courtship earlier this year ¹.
  • Qualcomm gains high-speed chiplet I/O that slots neatly beside its Oryon CPU and NPU cores for datacentre AI.

• IonQ’s UK quantum grab

  • Cash-and-stock structure caps shares issued between $30.22–$50.37, shielding IonQ from dilution swings ⁴.
  • Oxford Ionics’ silicon-compatible trapped-ion tech will feed a new European hub, easing export-control friction.

• Foundry Q1 scorecard

  • Tariff pull-ins and China’s subsidy vouchers limited revenue decline to 5.4 % QoQ, with TSMC down only 5 % but Samsung off 11 % ⁶.
  • SMIC bucked the trend, eking out a 1.8 % rise on subsidy-fuelled domestic orders ⁶.

• Packaging project slips

  • TSMC’s Chiayi AP7 site—earmarked for wafer-level multi-chip modules—now targets Q4 tool move-in after forklift and scaffold accidents halted work ⁷.
  • Analysts warn the slip could tighten 2026 CoWoS capacity for Apple and Nvidia.

3. Technology & R&D

• China’s non-binary AI chip hits the fab

  • Hybrid-stochastic number (HSN) logic merges binary and probabilistic bits, boosting fault tolerance while slashing power for control workloads ³.
  • The first mass-produced parts target touch displays and flight-control systems, sidestepping advanced GPU sanctions ³.

• Intel’s 18A data-centre comeback

  • Diamond Rapids (P-core) and Clearwater Forest (288 E-cores) are now confirmed for 2026 launch, both on Intel 18A with Foveros-Direct bonding ¹⁰.
  • The giant LGA-9324 socket hints at bandwidth-hungry optical or glass-substrate interconnects.

• Advanced packaging hiccup

  • AP7’s wafer-level MCM line will blend InFO and CoWoS flows, but the safety pause forces suppliers to re-book tool installs ⁷.
  • TSMC still plans to double SoIC capacity via AP7/AP8, but schedule risk grows.

• Lead-free chalcogenide perovskites

  • A SrHfSe₃ absorber paired with novel MXene hole-transport layers hit simulated 27.9 % efficiency, offering a stable, Pb-free path for on-chip PV or sensor power ¹¹.

Footnotes