Semicon Briefing

SK Hynix announces a Nasdaq listing via American Depositary Receipts worth up to $29.4 billion amid a chip sector selloff – despite market observers noting the company does not require the capital. The move is interpreted as strategic positioning for the next HBM/AI memory investment wave and could significantly shift global capital allocation in the memory segment.

Intel and Applied Materials each lost 10%, AMD crashed 8% – triggered by Samsung's record results, which suddenly revealed stretched multiples. Polymarket values Intel's Q2 foundry revenue above $5 billion at 84% probability, yet the market is pricing in real-time a Capex reduction, pointing to a confidence problem with the entire AI hardware stack.

Beijing's government has officially approved the purchase of 200,000 Nvidia H200 chips by DeepSeek, ByteDance, Alibaba and others for training purposes – a remarkable step given ongoing US export tightening. This signals a selective opening that questions the effectiveness of existing export controls and escalates the US-China chip conflict to a new level.

At the IEEE/JSAP VLSI Symposium 2026, ASML, TSMC and imec presented the first scalable 300-mm integration of 2D-material transistors at 50 nm Contacted Poly Pitch – a milestone on the road to the post-silicon era. The breakthrough lays the groundwork for process nodes beyond 1 nm and solidifies the trilateral R&D alliance as a global standard-setter against Samsung and Intel.

Qualcomm announced on June 26, 2026 the acquisition of Modular for nearly $4 billion, betting on AI inference at the edge as a growth segment. The deal positions Qualcomm more directly against Nvidia and Apple Silicon in the rapidly growing on-device AI market and intensifies M&A pressure on still-unacquired AI IP houses.

South Korea announced in late June / early July 2026 a government AI infrastructure package worth $649 billion, which includes custom silicon and restructuring of the AI supply chain. The program responds directly to US export restrictions and China's rising fab capacity and could significantly strengthen Samsung and SK Hynix as national champions.