Semicon Briefing

Samsung and Broadcom have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for $200 billion in memory and foundry services through 2030, including 2nm manufacturing and advanced packaging for AI silicon. The deal positions Samsung as a serious TSMC rival in the hyperscaler segment and significantly strengthens Samsung's foundry utilization.

Volantis Semiconductor closed an $88 million Series A round led by Abstract Ventures and Lachy Groom, bringing total capital to $97 million; backers include Sam Altman, Jeff Dean, and Dylan Patel. The company is developing photonic memory systems to overcome the AI memory wall – a segment of growing strategic importance.

Navitas Semiconductor has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Claros Technologies (from the portfolio of General Catalyst and Red Cell Partners) for approximately $232.8 million. The deal expands Navitas' AI power portfolio and signals continued consolidation pace in the GaN/SiC segment.

Following the Trump-Xi summit, the USA and China agreed on tariff reductions for approximately $60 billion in trade volume, but semiconductors, electric vehicles, and batteries remained explicitly exempted. Export controls for advanced chips were left untouched, while in parallel a reported $7 billion cloud lease deal grants Tencent access to ~100,000 AI chips via Southeast Asia – a growing loophole.

ASML management confirmed that no EUV systems were sold in Europe in the first half of 2026, despite the EU Chips Act provisioning €43 billion to double its global production share to 20% by 2030. The discrepancy between subsidy policy and missing demand-side drivers is being addressed through the Irish Council presidency with Chips Act 2.0 – a strategic shift toward 'demand accelerators'.

The joint venture VSMC between Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) and NXP has officially commenced operations at its first 300mm fab in Singapore; TSMC, as VIS's largest shareholder (~19%), was represented by a VP. The facility strengthens regional semiconductor diversification beyond Taiwan and primarily serves automotive and IoT demand.