Semicon Briefing

On June 3, 2026, the EU Commission officially unveiled the Chips Act 2.0: €120 billion in public-private investments through 2035, €30 billion dedicated foundry for sub-2-nm chips, and up to five AI gigafactories. Beneficiary companies include STM, Infineon, NXP, GlobalFoundries, and Sivers – the plan represents Europe's most ambitious attempt to date to reduce technological dependencies on the USA and Asia.

The US Department of Commerce (BIS) has clarified that export license restrictions for AI chips also apply to Chinese companies headquartered outside China – exposing a massive loophole dispute within the Trump Administration. In parallel, China confirms that the USA is abusing export controls and endangering global supply chain stability; Beijing has also introduced new rules for foreign tech deals that could directly impact US companies.

The global semiconductor index recorded its sharpest single-day decline since the COVID crash on June 5, 2026, with over $1 trillion in destroyed market capitalization. Analysts point to extreme advance gains (+150% in 12 months), geopolitical uncertainties surrounding export controls, and doubts about whether AI demand justifies the accumulated valuations.

SkyWater Technology shareholders have approved the merger with IonQ; closing is expected for Q2/Q3 2026. The transaction combines quantum computing expertise with the only purely US American semiconductor foundry and is considered strategically significant for US chipmaking independence from Asian fabs.

TSMC has officially acquired High-NA EUV systems from ASML but is initially NOT deploying them for mass production – the unit price of approximately $400 million per machine significantly strains CapEx. TSMC Co-COO stated the company is unmoved by Intel's packaging ambitions; Intel had previously purchased the majority of ASML's High-NA production in 2024/25 and plans mass production in H2 2026.

Cadence and Samsung Foundry have agreed to a multi-year partnership for Samsung's second generation 2-nm process, encompassing AI-optimized GPU EDA flows, NVLink-C2C interface IP, and advanced memory integration. The deal is an important signal that Samsung Foundry is seriously competing for high-end AI chip customers despite internal challenges.