Semicon Briefing

Elon Musk has publicly confirmed discussions with TSMC about a joint chip manufacturing venture called 'Terafab' that is supposed to exclusively supply Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI – Intel is so far the only other named partner. The project would represent unprecedented vertical integration of AI hardware for Musk's business portfolio and further strengthen TSMC's geopolitical diversification strategy.

Navitas Semiconductor ($NVTS) officially completed the acquisition of Claros Inc. on October 6, 2026 for approximately $232.8M (cash + stock) and thereby integrates voltage regulator technology for the 'last mile' of power delivery directly into AI processors. The program, referred to as 'Navitas 2.0,' aims at the booming AI datacenter market and positions the company as a key supplier in the power delivery stack.

Applied Materials and Besi have expanded their collaboration in advanced packaging for AI chip integration, while Applied Materials simultaneously announced an expanded R&D partnership with Intel covering transistors, interconnects, and advanced packaging. This dual move signals that packaging is becoming the next critical differentiation level in AI chip competition.

AMD CEO Lisa Su meets Samsung Vice President Joh Sung-hoon to build on the March 2026 deal on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and to explore further strategic collaborations in chip core divisions. The meeting could significantly accelerate Samsung's foundry repositioning in the AI compute segment and strengthen AMD's HBM supply security against competitor SK Hynix.

Qualcomm has signed a multi-year cross-license agreement with Huawei covering AI services, optics, networking, and Huawei's LogicFolding chip design patents – a highly unusual deal given ongoing US export controls. The agreement points to pragmatic IP arrangements below hardware export restrictions and could serve as a precedent for other US chipmakers in dealing with Huawei.

ASML has publicly announced that it sold 'absolutely nothing' in Europe in 2026 and is calling on EU governments to actively aggregate and guarantee chip demand beyond mere fab subsidies. This exposes a fundamental weakness of the EU Chips Act, which relies almost exclusively on the supply side (subsidies for fab construction) without obligating European major buyers to commit to local procurement.