Semicon Briefing

Lam Research and Applied Materials are reportedly seriously considering takeover bids for BE Semiconductor Industries – driven by exploding demand for advanced packaging technology for AI chips. An acquisition would further accelerate consolidation in the chip equipment sector and massively strengthen the market power of US players in the packaging segment.

TSMC extends its lead in contract manufacturing by 62.7 percentage points – Samsung's share collapses to a historically weak 7.2%. Simultaneously, NVIDIA becomes TSMC's largest customer, displacing Apple, while Google appears in Samsung's top-5 customers for the first time (HBM/TPU demand).

Samsung Foundry has closed the historically largest single-customer foundry contract: Tesla allocates $16.5 billion for exclusive manufacturing of 2nm AI chips in Texas, driving Samsung's fab utilization to 80% – the highest level in over a year. This marks a significant turnaround for Samsung's struggling foundry business.

Japan's Rohm and Toshiba are exploring the integration of their power semiconductor business segments – a combination that would form a formidable competitor to Infineon and ON Semi in the global SiC/power market. The move comes in the context of aggressive restructuring at Bosch (22,000 job cuts) and signals structural pressure on European and Japanese automotive supplier semiconductors.

The Trump Administration has withdrawn a comprehensive new AI chip export rule, signaling a cooling of aggressive export control policy – despite simultaneous reports of an upcoming US-wide ban on Chinese chips (SMIC/CXMT/YMTC) from government procurement starting end of 2027. Ironically, China's semiconductor exports grew 66% year-over-year despite years of sanctions.

While TSMC, Intel, and Samsung ramp 2nm mass production by end of 2025, strategic competition is already shifting to 1.4nm roadmaps and the next ASML EUV generation for 2027/28. Pre-investment decisions in High-NA EUV systems will cement foundry hierarchy for at least a decade.