Semicon Briefing

The US has approved H200 chip sales to 10 Chinese companies – with an unusual structure: 25% of revenue goes to the US, chips must pass through US territory. Despite approval, deals are stalling as Beijing prefers domestic manufacturers like Huawei and has instructed companies to avoid US chips.

SkyWater shareholders have overwhelmingly approved acquisition by IonQ; closing expected for Q2/Q3 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. The merger combines IonQ's quantum computing expertise with SkyWater's US semiconductor manufacturing and creates a novel quantum manufacturing platform.

Siemens has signed a contract with the EU Chips Joint Undertaking and is opening its EDA software under preferential terms to European chip startups and SMEs. The cooperation is seen as a key pillar of the EU Chips Act design platform and aims to make Europe's fabless chip industry more competitive.

Archean Chemical has signed a Fiscal Support Agreement with the India Semiconductor Mission for a SiC fab (investment: ₹2.067 Cr.); in parallel, Tata Electronics is nearing a key agreement with ASML for the Dholera fab in Gujarat. India is positioning itself as a third strategic manufacturing alternative alongside the US and Europe.

Cerebras Systems has gone public at a valuation of $56 billion, 20x oversubscribed – the first serious Nvidia competitor in the public market. The IPO signals enormous investor appetite for alternative AI chip architectures beyond Nvidia.

Lumilens has placed an initial purchase order of $50 million with POET Technologies, with potential expansion to $500 million – for optical engines at semiconductor wafer level. The partnership brings semiconductor manufacturing precision to photonics and is an indicator of growing convergence between chip and optics supply chains for AI data centers.