Round-up
Highlights
- Samsung lines up Qualcomm for 2 nm. A near-final foundry agreement would give Samsung’s next node a marquee anchor and builds on Tuesday’s restart of its delayed Taylor, TX logic fab (trendforce.com)1.
- Washington seeks “Chip LoJack.” Industry witnesses urged Congress to pass the Chip Security Act—mandating on-die location verification for export-controlled processors—to close loopholes in current China curbs (exportcompliancedaily.com)2.
- Micron’s HBM blitz lifts the entire memory stack. Record Q3 results and news that four top GPU/ASIC vendors have signed on for its next-gen HBM vaulted the stock and set a 24 % share goal for year-end (trendforce.com, reuters.com)34.
Other developments
- SEMI projects a 69 % jump in sub-7 nm capacity by 2028, topping 1.4 M wpm (semi.org)
- TSMC injects US $10 B into an overseas arm to hedge FX swings ahead of multi-site fabs (bloomberg.com)
- Jefferies downgrades ASML and ASM International on customer cap-ex caution (seekingalpha.com)
- Texas awards US $5.3 M TSIF grant to MGC Pure Chemicals for local ultrapure acids (einpresswire.com)
- Chinese AI-chip unicorn Biren raises ¥1.5 B (~US $207 M) and files for a Hong Kong IPO (reuters.com)
- Beijing threatens retaliation after Taiwan blacklists Huawei and SMIC (wccftech.com)
- Blocks & Files leaks an aggressive roadmap through HBM8 with 64 TB/s bandwidth (blocksandfiles.com)
Did you know? If SEMI’s forecast is correct, wafer capacity at 2 nm and below will soar from <200 k wpm this year to >500 k wpm by 2028—2.5 × in just four years (semi.org).
In-depth
1 | Government & Corporate Policy
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Chip Security Act heads to markup (exportcompliancedaily.com)2
- Would embed GPS-like tags in export-controlled AI accelerators to prevent diversion.
- Remote-access loopholes via offshore cloud providers also targeted.
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Texas strengthens chemical supply chain (einpresswire.com)5
- TSIF grant helps MGC Pure Chemicals triple HF and HCl purification capacity for advanced nodes.
- Move answers tool OEM complaints about single-source acids.
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Cross-strait tension rises over Huawei/SMIC blacklist (wccftech.com)6
- Beijing promises “reciprocal measures,” raising risk for Taiwan fabs’ mainland customers.
- Follows Monday’s export-license cancellations on 5 G base-station silicon.
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Micron’s $100 B New York mega-fab clears key environmental step (fingerlakes1.com)7
- Draft impact statement keeps first-tool timeline on track for late 2026.
- State officials say bond funding could arrive before CHIPS Act incentives.
2 | Economics, Finance & Business Outlook
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Micron’s blow-out quarter & HBM share goal (trendforce.com, reuters.com)34
- 50 % jump in HBM revenue; targets 24 % market share by December.
- Street lifted FY-25 EPS by 9 % overnight.
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Biren raises war chest ahead of Hong Kong listing (reuters.com)8
- Funds earmarked for a 3 nm AI-GPU tape-out at TSMC’s new Arizona fab.
- Valuation exceeds US $4 B despite U.S. export hurdles.
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TSMC’s US$10 B forex buffer (bloomberg.com)9
- Capital injection into TSMC Global Ltd. cuts NT$ exposure as euro-zone and U.S. fabs ramp.
- CFO notes every 1 % NT$ swing moves gross margin ±20 bps.
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Equipment sentiment splits: Jefferies downgrades ASML & ASMI on EUV tool push-outs, while Micron rally lifts memory names (seekingalpha.com, reuters.com)104
3 | Technology & R&D
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Samsung → Qualcomm 2 nm handshake (trendforce.com)1
- Would be Samsung’s first external anchor at the gate-all-around node.
- Follows Tuesday’s Taylor-fab restart noted in yesterday’s DCP; combined, the moves aim for 2026 risk production.
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HBM roadmap races ahead (blocksandfiles.com)11
- KAIST projects 64 TB/s bandwidth by HBM8 (2038) with embedded cooling.
- Nvidia’s 2029 “Feynman” GPU slated for HBM5 adoption.
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Secure chiplet architectures gain traction (semiengineering.com)12
- Cadence & Secure-IC propose post-quantum crypto blocks for UCIe packages.
- Automotive ADAS flagged as first high-volume target.
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Thermal metrology for ultra-wide-bandgap devices (today.uconn.edu)13
- UConn team demos UV thermoreflectance for GaN-on-diamond transistors.
- Could unlock >200 °C operation for power electronics.
Footnotes
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https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/06/26/news-samsung-nears-qualcomm-2nm-deal-as-foundry-recovery-gains-momentum/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://exportcompliancedaily.com/article/2025/06/26/congress-urged-to-pass-two-bills-to-tighten-chip-export-controls-2506250027 ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/06/26/news-micron-scales-up-hbm-to-four-major-gpuasic-clients-targets-24-market-share-by-year-end/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/business/micron-shares-rise-bets-strong-demand-ai-related-memory-chips-2025-06-26/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.einpresswire.com/article/825713503/governor-abbott-announces-texas-semiconductor-innovation-grant-to-mgc-pure-chemicals-america-inc ↩︎
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https://wccftech.com/china-to-retaliate-against-taiwan-decision-to-blacklist-huawei-and-smic/ ↩︎
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https://www.fingerlakes1.com/2025/06/26/micron-investment-environmental-impact-new-york/ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-ai-chip-firm-biren-raises-new-funds-plans-hong-kong-ipo-say-sources-2025-06-26/ ↩︎
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-25/tsmc-unit-to-issue-10-billion-of-stock-to-counter-forex-swings ↩︎
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https://seekingalpha.com/news/4462684-asml-asm-international-in-focus-as-jefferies-downgrades-on-spending-concerns ↩︎
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https://blocksandfiles.com/2025/06/26/four-more-hbm-generations/ ↩︎
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https://semiengineering.com/redefining-soc-design-the-shift-to-secure-chiplet-based-architectures/ ↩︎
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https://today.uconn.edu/2025/06/making-electronic-devices-faster-more-powerful-and-better-at-staying-cool/ ↩︎