Semicon Briefing

The USA is considering a new rule that ties exports of Nvidia and AMD AI chips to foreign investment commitments in the USA – valid for all countries, not just China. The Commerce Department confirmed that chip access will be bound to 'hard commitments', which could fundamentally restructure the global semiconductor supply chain.

Tesla is negotiating with Samsung Electronics for a massive expansion of 2nm AI6 chip production from 16,000 to 40,000 wafers per month – a deal worth 16–17 billion USD through 2033. The AI6 chip powers Tesla's FSD, Optimus, and AI clusters and could be critical in ramping Samsung's Texas fab.

TSMC plans investments of 54–57 billion USD for 2026, SMIC adds another 8 billion USD – global semiconductor capex reaches a record 136 billion USD (+25% vs. 2025). SemiAnalysis sees Arizona Phase 1 already at 2.1 billion USD revenue with 24% net margin, while Samsung and TSMC reduce 8-inch capacity.

ASML has confirmed that its High-NA EUV systems have exposed over 500,000 customer wafers and the tool is officially classified as high-volume manufacturing ready (HVM-ready). This is the technological key to sub-2nm production at TSMC and Intel and marks a milestone for the next chip generation.

Reports from 'The Information' indicate a tentative agreement between Intel and TSMC to form a joint chip manufacturing venture, despite earlier denials. With 153 upvotes and 56 comments actively discussed – the community is skeptical, but the scenario would fundamentally change Intel's foundry strategy and US chip production.

QCI (Quantum Computing Inc.) has completed the acquisition of Luminar Semiconductor for 110 million USD, creating a vertically integrated photonics company. The deal is part of a broader M&A wave in the semiconductor sector, which also includes Intel's planned sale of majority stake in Altera to Silver Lake as well as a Japanese power semiconductor buyout of ~1.3 trillion yen.