Semicon Briefing

TSMC and Samsung formally committed to ASML's High-NA EUV machines at ~$400M on September 8, 2026, catching up with Intel – Samsung plans DRAM deployment by 2028, TSMC high-volume production thereafter. Bank of America praised the deals as a vote of confidence in ASML's roadmap; the industry has united behind the most expensive lithography platform in history.

AMD acquires World Labs, the AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li's startup, for roughly $8.2B in stock, integrating spatial intelligence research directly into its hardware roadmap. The deal signals that leading chip companies are bringing proprietary AI model research and capabilities in-house as a strategic differentiator.

Infineon completed the acquisition of AI power supply specialist C2i Semiconductors in late August 2026, complementing the ams-OSRAM sensor portfolio acquisition completed in July. The dual acquisition positions Infineon strategically in the fast-growing AI data center power segment against Texas Instruments and Renesas.

Reports indicate Samsung-Qualcomm negotiations over 2nm Snapdragon chips failed on price, not yield – current Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips remain on TSMC's N2P process. A potential switch to Samsung 2nm slipped to no earlier than 2027, which weighed on Qualcomm stock by ~7% and cemented TSMC's foundry dominance in the near term.

SEMICON India 2026 closed with 56 signed agreements and approximately 1 trillion rupees (~$11–12B) in investment commitments, including an MoU for Tata Electronics' first commercial 300-mm fab in Dholera. India is establishing itself as a serious new location in Western companies' global semiconductor diversification strategy.

On September 24, EU industry ministers debated Chips Act 2.0 (COM(2026) 504), which supplements the pure subsidy strategy with government chip procurement and so-called 'demand accelerators' – a direct response to ASML's zero revenue in Europe. The Commission acknowledges that fabs without buyers are economically worthless and aims to cap approval procedures at 12 months.