Semicon Briefing

Samsung's new semiconductor chief Han Jin-man publicly responds to a provocation by TSMC chairman and promises to close the gap in manufacturing technology over the long term. The statement signals that Samsung, despite massive capacity problems and customer losses, is not exiting the leading-edge foundry race – strategically relevant for any fabless chip designer looking to reduce TSMC dependency.

According to industry sources, TSMC plans a price increase of around 15% for its 3nm node in the second half of 2026, which will exacerbate the already ongoing capacity shortage. The measure is likely to directly impact AI chip costs at Nvidia, AMD and Apple and create new margin pressure across the entire AI hardware supply chain.

The US government has given Nvidia the green light to sell H20 AI chips to ten selected Chinese companies – on the condition that 25% of sales proceeds flow to the US and chips are shipped via US territory. This sets a dangerous precedent in which export controls effectively mutate into price surcharges and undermines the strategic credibility of the US control regime.

Beijing has adopted a national AI infrastructure plan worth $295 billion over five years, which must consist of 80% domestic components – Nvidia is effectively locked out, Huawei Ascend takes over. In parallel, China certifies nine of its own chips for government procurement, which structurally accelerates the decoupling of global semiconductor ecosystems.

South Korean conglomerate Doosan has signed an agreement to acquire SK Siltron, one of the world's leading silicon wafer manufacturers, for approximately $3.6 billion. The transaction consolidates a critical supplier for TSMC, Samsung and Micron and could significantly shift negotiating power in the wafer market.

GlobalFoundries and Dutch deep-tech company Qualinx have completed the first fully European end-to-end semiconductor supply chain – from design to manufacturing without non-European dependencies. The deal is seen as proof of concept for the feasibility of European semiconductor sovereignty and is likely to directly influence discussion on Chips Act 2.0 funding priorities.