chips

China has in his hands the world production of chips and batteries thanks to the gallium

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On December 2, one of the most aggressive Chinese sanctions packages of those who have deployed USA so far entered into force. And is that the government led by Joe Biden included 140 more companies on your blacklist. These prohibitions are aimed as Chinese companies that design and produce The lithography equipment involved in the manufacture of advanced semiconductors, hence the impact they are presumably having on the Chinese chips industry is deep. As expected, China soon react. Just one day later the government led by Xi Jinping announced the prohibition of export of critical minerals to the US. Among them are three essential chemical elements for the semiconductor industry, as well as some materials that are characterized by their extreme hardness, and that, therefore, can be used for military applications, such as gallium, Germanio and antimony. According to Japan, restrictions will affect the supply chains of chips and batteries China currently produces 59.2% of Germanio, 48% of the antimony and nothing less than 98.8% of the gallium. “This measure entails a considerable escalation of the tension to which supply chains are already subjected. It is difficult to access some raw materials,” Jack Bedder holdsco -founder of the Project Blue consultant. “It is logical that China responds to the growing restrictions of current and imminent US authorities with their own restrictions on these strategic minerals,” Peter Arkell points outPresident of the Global Chinese Mining Association. “It is a commercial war without winners.” Japanese Gallium imports since China have fallen no less than 85% between August 2023 and the same month of 2024 Several Japanese officials and executives linked to the semiconductor industry are aligned with Jack Bedder’s thesis. According to Financial Timesthese experts are warning of the US governments, Japan and their allies that the restrictions imposed by China on Galio’s export and other strategic raw materials will affect deeply to the supply chains of semiconductors and batteries. However, this is not all. Japanese officials suspect that the Chinese government could force them to inform them about all the products that contain Gallic exported by Japan to the US. Otherwise the administration of Xi Jinping could even more harden the measures that have caused that Japanese Gauling imports from China have fallen no less than 85% between August 2023 and the same month of 2024. Japanese companies are the ones that most Gallic, Germanio and Grafito consume. More than US, European, Taiwanese or South Korean companies. If the Beijing Government hardens its control over the Gallium the electric motors of Tesla cars from Japan, the lasers of Gallium Arseniuro used by Broadcom or some of the chips integrated in Apple’s iPhone could be affected by China’s export licenses. This situation reminds us of something important: no industrialized country can remain outside the economic and commercial war that the US and China hold. More information | Financial Times In Xataka | The era of supermaterials is about to begin. And we can thank the AI

Japan’s only hope to dominate the chips industry is an unknown: Rapidus

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The Taiwanese company TSMC and South Korean Samsung are the two semiconductor manufacturers that have the most advanced integration technologies in production. In fact, both manufacture Integrated 3 Nm circuits Since 2022. However, for many months The performance by wafer They obtained was very improvable, which transformed their nodes of 3 Nm into a bottleneck that perceptibly increased the cost of these chips. Three years later the 3 Nm nodes of these two companies are much finer. His performance by wafer has increased perceptibly and presumably is already exceeding 70% established by the semiconductor industry as a reference. Currently these two companies are in a relatively comfortable position, but there is a company that seems to be prepared to disturb them. To them already intel. His name is Rapidus corporation, he is Japanese and plans to manufacture 2 Nm semiconductors with an unpublished technology and unbeatable mate performance. Rapidus is the spearhead of Japan In 1988 NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Matsushita and other Japanese companies hoarded nothing less than 50% of the chips industry. However, today none of these companies is positioned among the leaders of a sector dominated with iron fist by Taiwanese, American, Dutch, South Korean and German companies. Whatever the government of Japan is determined to recover its ancient glory. The administration led by Shigeru ishiba claims the preeminent position he had in the semiconductor industry three decades ago. Its economy is at stake. But it has a plan. And it is already underway. In fact, he began to display his strategy to reinforce his integrated circuit industry more than two years ago, so the first results begin to see the light. Japan is currently investing more money in its integrated circuits sector than the US, Germany, France or the United Kingdom Japan is currently investing more money in its sector of integrated circuits than the US, Germany, France or the United Kingdom. Not in terms of net value, but its effort is greater if we weigh the investment of these countries on their gross domestic product (GDP). The US dedicates 0.21% of its GDP to its semiconductor industry, and Germany 0.41%. France, according to Nikkei Asia0.2%, and, finally, the United Kingdom 0.04%. The difference is very significant and puts on the table the effort that Japan is making with 0.71% of its GDP. As expected, Japanese companies have a leading role in the reconstruction plan of the Japanese chips industry. Tokyo Electron, Canon and Nikon are the main designers and manufacturers of integrated circuit production equipment. AND JSR Corporation leads the production of photorestoning materials. Curiously, it is necessary to pour these fluids on silicon wafers with the purpose of preparing them for the transfer of the geometric pattern that delimits the distribution of transistors, connections and other elements that make up an integrated circuit. The surprising thing is that, in reality, none of the companies I just mentioned is the best trick of Japan to catapult the competitiveness of its semiconductor industry. Not even JSR, which, as we have just seen, leads the manufacture of photorers. The company that is intended for compete from you to you With TSMC, Intel or Samsung in the chip production market is Rapidus corporation. In fact, it has been expressly created to replace Japan at the forefront of integrated circuits. This company’s website explains the background that has triggered its constitution and its purposes in The following six “commandments”: The importance of semiconductors has increased, and, at the same time, the growing concern for the decline of the chips industry in Japan has done so. The role of semiconductors in economic security has become an urgent matter. Many integrated circuit factories are located in Taiwan and Continental China. Given the increase in the use of semiconductors in cars and artificial intelligence, as well as the added value of the chips in the devices that will arrive during the next decade, it is necessary to guarantee manufacturing in Japan. After the summit between Japan and the US, both countries are developing next -generation semiconductors. It is necessary to establish 3D LSI technology (Large Scale Integration o large -scale integration) next -generation and Nanosheet Gaa (Gate-alall-around) in collaboration with the US and Europe, as well as build a cooperation framework with the manufacturers of materials and equipment in Japan and abroad. Our purpose is to establish an integrated circuit factory of 2 Nm avant -garde in Japan. The first four precepts recognize to what extent Japan has lost the relevance that had decades ago in the chips industry and support the need for rebuild a sector which currently has a strategic role. And the last two slogans outline the objective of Rapidus in the short and medium term, which goes through competing in The incipient market of 2 nm semiconductors in which this year TSMC, Intel and Samsung will enter. Rapidus is making a circuit manufacturing plant integrated in northern Japan in which it plans to produce 2 Nm chips Rapidus is a very young company. It was founded on August 10, 2022 by the Japanese government with an initial capital of 7,346 million yen (just under 46 million euros) contributed by, and here comes the interesting, Sony, Toyota, Nec, Softbank, Kioxia, dense , Nippon Telegraph and MUFG Bank. The initial capital invested in the constitution of this company is not very bulky, but there is no doubt that the companies that participate in it have an indisputable relevance in the sectors of technology, automotive and telecommunications. Rapidus is currently putting a circuit manufacturing plant integrated in northern Japan, in the city of Chitose (Hokkaido), in which it plans to produce semiconductors of 2 Nm. According to Nikkei Asia The first prototypes of these chips They will be ready in April 2025but large -scale manufacturing will not arrive at best until 2027. So far there is nothing really surprising because presumably at that time TSMC, Samsung and Intel will already be manufacturing integrated circuits with comparable lithographs. Rapidus’s competitiveness … Read more

Donald Trump prepares to apply tariffs of more than 25% for chips and that means one thing: much more expensive laptops

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Donald Trump does not hesitate. At a press conference on Tuesday, the president of the United States Indian than your administration It could apply tariffs of about 25% to the car industry. But this is not the worst: the worst thing is that the pharmaceutical industry and The semiconductor They could be even more affected. In both cases, tariffs could be even greater than 25%. What are tariffs. Tariffs are taxes that apply to foreign products. They are paid by the importer of the product, which in this case are the US companies and consumers, but not for the exporter, which may be anywhere in the world. An example. Let’s give an example: Acer, Taiwanese company, wants to sell its laptops in the United States. Acer the factory in Taiwan, and sends them to the US. When those laptops reach the US Customs, a US -based company (the importer, which may be the Acer division in the US, or a wholesaler, for example) takes possession of them. The US customs applies tariffs. Let’s say it is 10%. The importer (which is not Acer Taiwan) pays those tariffs to the US government. If the order is one million, the importer would have to pay $ 100,000. It is then that the importer decides how to manage that extra cost. It can absorb the cost and reduce your profit margin, you can pass it to stores, which could increase the price for consumers, or you can negotiate with Acer Taiwan to make the original order come out something cheaper. More details on April 2. In the case of cars tariffs, the pharmacological industry and Trump chips Indian that “I will probably tell you on April 2, but there will be around 25%” when asked about tariffs on the car industry. For Farma and Chips, Trump said “it will be 25% or more, and will grow substantially in the course of a year.” The US president claimed to want to give companies “time to come (to the US)” before announcing new import tariffs. Manufacture here, or pay tariffs. All these measures are aimed at the same thing: avoid dependence on other countries to the maximum possible, boost companies to manufacture their products in the US (and make large investments in the country) and impose huge tariffs for those who do not. The impact will be colossal. The measures raised by Trump will have huge consequences. Among other things, will aggravate the historical crisis that the European car is experiencing. Last year about eight million cars and light trucks in the US were imported, half of all sales in that country. Manufacturers like Volkswagen They would be especially affectedbut also great Asian manufacturers (not only China) like Hyundai. We will pay more for (almost) everything. Experts are clear that these tariffs will have very important collateral effects, including the price increase for consumers and costs for these industries. Portable 10% more expensive. In the case of chips, among the many affected are laptops prices. Jason Chen, CEO of Acer, Indian that these tariffs will cause that “we have to adjust the final price to reflect these tariffs. We believe that 10% will probably be the default increase for the price for import rates. It is very simple.” Acer already considers manufacturing outside China. About 80% of the laptops that are imported in the US come from China. Trump imposed 10% tariffs in China this month, although they do not apply to products that abandoned China before February. Chen declared that they had already migrated part of the assembly of their computers outside China during Trump’s first mandate, when he imposed 25%tariffs. They are now looking for “different distribution chains beyond China”, and stressed that manufacturing in the US was “one of the options.” Much ado about nothing? The truth is that Trump has already announced important tariffs For Canada and Mexico. They had to go into force on February 1but They have not done soand also the tax and aluminum taxes have been modified –No exceptions– And that theoretically will be applied as of March 12. A series of “were also announcedreciprocal tariffs“Last week, but they will not take effect until April. There is a lot of ads of tariffs, but for the moment little start -up (or none) of such measures. Image | The White House | Laura Ockel In Xataka | All Big Tech wrapped Trump in his investiture. In return, 192,000 million dollars will be saved in taxes

So far Arm only designed chips. Now you will manufacture one for data centers, and goal will be your first big client

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There is a lot of money invested in data centers. Maybe too much. And that is a juicy cake in which many companies want to enter. One of them is ARM, which throughout its history He had limited himself to designing chips that others then licensed and manufactured. Now they will go further, and AI is the main reason. THE FIRST CHIP ARM. As revealed In Financial TimesARM will reveal his first chip this summer. Until now, Arm had remained outside a career in which Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm or Apple have been the protagonists, but now they want to enter that fight. Data centers in the spotlight. SoftBank, which has a majority participation in ARM, has ambitious plans in the data centers segment. It has allied with Openai and other companies for the colossal Stargate projectwhich will make them theoretically invest 500,000 million dollars in data centers in the US. And the company wants ARM to be part of that project with own chips that govern the servers of those data centers. Goal as a great first client. This chip is expected to be a CPU for servers and that it is created so that it can then be customized by companies as a goal. In FT they indicate that in fact the company of Mark Zuckerberg is already the first big client of ARM in this initiative. TSMC could be in charge of the production of chips, according to sources close to the plans. Acquisition of ampere in sight. We speak these days of the alleged advanced negotiations that They could end SoftBank buying ampere. The firm specializes precisely in the use of ARM architecture in multinuk chips Oriented to data centers. Threat to Intel and AMD. These two companies (especially Intel) and architecture X86 have always dominated the segment of servers and data centers. However, chips with ARM architecture have begun to be an interesting option, and the alleged appearance of these Arm’s own chips could further boost their market share. And Varapalo for Qualcomm. Qualcomm socate are references in our mobiles, but the company also takes time Working in chips for servers. In the last months Qualcomm and Ar had maintained a litigation that finally closed a few days agoand it is about to see what is the impact of this ARM project on the Qualcomm roadmap, which apparently He was also in negotiations with goal to provide chips for their data centers. Image | ARM In Xataka | West tries to block China in technology while giving him his greatest opportunity in decades

The benefits of Chips chips manufacturer have fallen 45% in 2024. US sanctions have injured

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In the middle of last January we tell you that during 2024 the semiconductor industry of China has produced 12.5% more than in 2023. Not bad at all, especially if we are in mind that US sanctions And his allies prevent Chinese integrated circuit manufacturers access lithography equipment for extreme ultraviolet (UVE) produced by the Dutch company ASML. And since the beginning of 2024 they cannot buy more machines from deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP). At the current situation it is reasonable that we ask ourselves what kind are the integrated circuits that Chinese manufacturers are massively producing. And the answer is very revealing: these are chips derived from mature integration technologiesusually 28 nm or less advanced. After all, the semiconductors that we find mostly on electronic devices, appliances or cars, among other products, have been produced using them. The sanctions hinder the production of avant -garde chips to SMIC A good part of Chinese chip manufacturers, such as Hua Hong Semiconductor, China Resources Microelectronics or Guangzhou Zensemi, is manufacturing integrated circuits of 28 Nm or with even more mature technologies. And the company Beijing Yandong Microelectronics (YDME) will build A plant of 4.6 billion dollars expressly to produce 28 Nm semiconductors in 300 mm wafers. It is evident that these companies would not turn in this way in the manufacture of mature chips if it was not a profitable strategy, and, above all, necessary to support the Chinese industry of the integrated circuits at such a critical moment as the current one. SMIC has the ability to manufacture integrated 7 nm circuits. And probably also 5 nm However, the business of SMIC (Semiconductor manufacturing international corp), which is the largest Chinese manufacturer of semiconductors with a fee in the world market of about 5%it goes for other paths. This company currently has the ability to manufacture Integrated 7 Nm circuits. And probably also 5 nm. We know it with total certainty because this company manufactures, for example, the soc Kirin 9000s integrated into the smartphone Mate 60 Pro of Huawei, which has been scrupulously analyzed by several laboratories aligned with the US, such as the Canadian Techinsights. Unlike most of Chinese integrated circuit manufacturers, SMIC does not live from mature chips. Your business revolves around the avant -garde semiconductors. To manufacture the 7 NM circuits that is delivering to Huawei and other customers using the UVP lithography equipment that has in its possession has been forced to resort to a technique known as Multiple patterning. And this strategy has two problems: it has an upward impact on the cost of chips and the decrease in production capacity. In addition, it is important that we do not overlook that the sanctions deployed by the US and the Netherlands prevent SMIC from buying more UVP teams from ASML. And it also does not have access to some maintenance and support services. These circumstances have caused their performance and competitiveness for 2024 They have deterioratedand as a consequence Its benefits have fallen 45%: Of the 902.5 million dollars that reached in 2023 to 492.7 million in 2024. There is no doubt that it is a hard blow for a company with the size that SMIC has, so it will be interesting to verify how it reacts for 2025 To improve your competitiveness. More information | SCMP In Xataka | China prepares for the worst scenario: fears that the US prevents TSMC to give it chips for cars and smartphones

We already know when and where will 1 nm chips manufacture

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The economic results that has reached TSMC for 2024 They have been extraordinary. In fact, their income has broken a record by increasing 34% compared to those obtained in 2023. Only during last December the 8,400 million dollarsa figure that represents an increase of 57.8% compared to the same month of the previous year. The engine of these figures are semiconductors for applications of artificial intelligence (AI) that TSMC manufactures for Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom and other customers. However, the arrival of Donald Trump to the US government pours some clouds over this Taiwanese company. During the electoral campaign he promised that he would make the decisions that were necessary to reinforce the business of US companies within the US. And he also assured that he would sanction tariffs all those countries that threaten the interests of the nation that leads since January 20. As soon as he has been in the government for three weeks, and he is already doing both. “In the very close future we will impose tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products to return the manufacture of these essential goods to the US (…) went to Taiwan; now we want them to return. We do not want to give them Millions of dollars in the ridiculous Biden program. 100%”, Donald Trump recently declared during a conference that was held in Florida (USA). Punta technology is the best TSMC asset The express mention to Taiwan that the US president has made is a very clear allusion to TSMC. On this Asian island there are other semiconductor manufacturers, such as UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) or PSMC (Powerchip semiconductor manufacturing corporation), but its relevance in the chips market is much lower than that of the company currently leads CC Wei. TSMC dominates the integrated circuit market with A quota of approximately 60%so your leadership in the chip manufacturing industry is indisputable. TSMC is developing its infrastructure in the US to protect your business in the US market Anyway, the passing step that the US administration is going to give will not take TSMC by surprise. This company has been outlining its strategy for more than four years to extend its semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure Beyond Taiwan’s borders. And he is doing it for two reasons. On the one hand it is an effective way to protect your business if at any time it is triggered A war conflict between China and Taiwanand their plants on the island were useless. And, in addition, TSMC is significantly developing its infrastructure in the US to protect your business in the US market. However, this is not all. The newspaper Taiwan Economic Daily He has published a report in which he ensures that TSMC plans to tune up a cutting -edge semiconductor plant that will be expressly designed to produce 1 Nm chips. It will be housed in the Taiwanese town of Tainan, and will be called ‘Fab 25’. He will work with 12 -inch wafers, will have six production lines and start large -scale manufacturing in 2030. It may seem that there is still a long time left, but it is not so. Building a state -of -the -art chips factory usually requires at least three years. And then TSMC engineers will have to purify and Optimize your 1 Nm production nodes. We will see if this company finally fulfills its purpose, but there is no doubt about one thing: the most effective protection against the measures that the administration led by Donald Trump approves in the future is having the best technology in the semiconductor industry. This is precisely what TSMC pursues. Image | TSMC More information | Taiwan Economic Daily In Xataka | Intel was about to snatch Apple as a client from TSMC. Having achieved its story would be another

Philips was the second largest chips manufacturer on the planet. Now it is out of a market led by its creation: ASML

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What we have promised you in the head of this article is strictly true. As Marc Hijink explains in his highly recommended and fresh out of the oven ‘Focus: The Asml Way’during the decade of the 70s of the last century Philips was the second largest manufacturer of semiconductors of the world. The leader in this market at that time was the American company Texas Instrumentsbut the Dutch firm had a long career in the field of innovation and technological development. In the early 70th Philips had more than 400,000 employees, and approximately 90,000 worked in the Netherlands. At that time his business was mainly held on The design and manufacture of televisionsradios, medical equipment, appliances and lighting solutions. His Porfolio was not but that nothing wrong, although his true strength was that absolutely everything was designed and manufactured within Philips. Today this strategy would be impracticable. Anyway, if we stick to the production of integrated circuits, the interesting thing is that the lithography equipment used at that time had also been devised and manufactured by engineers of the company itself. In fact, its first flirting with the semiconductors dates back to the late 50s of the last century. At that time the Philips Board of Directors realized of the enormous potential the chips had And he decided to create several research centers, as well as collaborate with technological universities and laboratories. ASML is the result of an inspired alliance During the decades of the 60s and 70th Philips was already a great technological emporium. In the early 80s he had acquired a lot of experience in the field of semiconductor manufacturing, but the industry sued smaller and capable chips. These requirements represented a technical challenge for company engineers who were responsible for the design of photolithography equipment, so in 1984 the Philips directive dome made a very important decision: he decided to associate with the Dutch company ASM International (Advanced material semiconductor). Currently all companies that produce advanced semiconductors have in their plants the UVP or ASML UVE machines The purpose of this alliance was to take advantage of Philips’s extensive experience in the set -up Design and manufacture avant -garde photolithographic equipment. The result of this collaboration was the birth of ASML (Advanced Materials Semiconductor), the Dutch company that leads the production industry of these machines thanks to the enormous success that their teams have had extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE). Currently all companies that produce advanced semiconductors have in their plants the machines of deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP) or extreme ultraviolet asml. Some of them are TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, Micron Technology, SMIC or UMC. However, once we have reached this moment it is reasonable that we ask ourselves why Philips is no longer a relevant actor in the integrated circuit manufacturing industry. In ‘Focus: The Asml Way’Marc Hijink tells us that after the creation of Asml Philips he settled. Its chips factories lost competitiveness and little by little they ceased to be able to develop the semiconductors required by the market. Jon Yu, the person in charge of the Newsletter The Asianometrysuggests essentially the same During the conversation who has maintained with Ben Thompson, the author of the interesting publication Stratechery. “As they count on ASML, Philips failed. It was a company with Too much bureaucracy and too much clinging to their customs. It is something similar to what happened with the Japanese in the 90s. Philips had already fulfilled his cycle and deserved to conclude, although he apparently sold his participations too soon. “It is a pity. And it is because there is no doubt that in the Current situation to Europe would have two leading companies in semiconductors. * Some price may have changed from the last review Image | ASML BIBLIOGRAPHY | ‘Focus: The Asml Way’by Marc Hijink More information | The Asianometry In Xataka | 2024 has been a year full of uncertainty for chip designers. So much that the market has changed leader

Copper has reigned in the chips industry for decades. It already has an unbeatable substitute: Ruthenium

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Rare earth monopolize the prominence in the field of semiconductors and other industries since they began The tensions between the US and China. Gallic, Germanio and antimony do not belong to this group of exotic chemical elements, but they are also being used as exchange currency For these two great powers To assault yourself. Anyway, in the domain of integrated circuits there is a chemical element that is much more humble, but that is also essential. And it is not the essential silicon. It is copper. This transition metal is not one of the most abundant chemical elements on our planet, but it is not uncommon either. And fortunately, it is relatively simple to extract and process it. It stands out for its high electrical conductivity and good thermal conductivity, as well as its ductility and corrosion resistance. These properties have caused it to be one of the essential elements in the manufacture of semiconductors for decades, but little by little an alternative is being made that seems to be called to unseat it. And it is really exotic. Ruthenium is making its way in the integrated circuit industry Before we investigate the properties of Ruthenium, it is good for us to know precisely what the chips manufacturers use the copper. And they use it first of all in the connections of the transistors within the integrated circuits. Copper links are responsible for transmitting electrical signals between some transistors and others, so their intervention is essential within the semiconductors. In fact, the electrical properties that I have highlighted in the previous paragraph are responsible for this metal having such a relevant role. However, its adoption was initially not simple. And it was not because copper can be filtered in silicon. This process is known as the diffusion of copper in silicon, and is similar to the electromigration of which We talk to you in this other article To explain why this last phenomenon represents a threat to our electronic devices. In any case, during the diffusion the copper atoms move and infiltrate the crystalline structure of the silicon, degrading it and conditioning its physicochemical properties. “Now I think the industry is probably considering ruthenium as the next great advance in interconnections beyond copper.” Fortunately, IBM found the solution to this problem in 1998. His researchers realized that it was possible copper infiltrate silicon. This strategy was so effective that the semiconductor industry adopted it and has maintained it so far. However, innovation makes its way, and Ruthenium, as I mentioned a few lines above, seems to be called to replace copper in connections between transistors. Jon Yu, the person in charge of the Newsletter The Asianometryhe has suggested very rightly During the conversation who has maintained with Ben Thompson, the author of the interesting publication Stratechery. “The entire industry followed the steps of IBM And copper had to be treated in an innovative way that has worked well for more than 20 years. Now I believe that the industry is probably considering ruthenium as the next great advance in interconnections beyond copper. “ Like copper, Ruthenium is a transition metal. The two properties that make it so interesting to occupy the place of copper within the integrated circuits are its high electrical conductivity and its excellent corrosion resistance. However, we cannot overlook something very important: Ruthenium is very scarce in the earth’s crust. Very scarce. Only 0.0000002% of the cortex of our planet is Ruthenium. The main reserves of this metal are found in South Africa, Russia, Zimbabue, Canada and the US. We will see if it is finally consolidated as one of the essential ingredients of The next generation of integrated circuits. If so, in all likelihood it will become another object of desire for the great powers. Image | TSMC More information | The Asianometry Newsletter In Xataka | The 2 Nm chips race will start in 2025. And it will be the most fierce of all

It will impose tariffs from 25 to 100% to the chips manufactured in Taiwan

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Donald Trump is fulfilling his word. During the electoral campaign he promised that he would make the decisions that were necessary to reinforce the business of US companies within the US. And he also assured that he would sanction tariffs all those countries that threaten the interests of the nation that leads since January 20. As soon as he has been in the government for a week, and he is doing both. “In the very close future we will impose tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products to return the manufacture of these essential goods to the US (…) went to Taiwan; now we want them to return. We do not want to give them Millions of dollars in the ridiculous Biden program. 100%”, Donald Trump declared yesterday during a conference that was held in Florida (USA). This measure of the Donald Trump’s government has not taken TSMC offset The express mention to Taiwan that the US president has made a few hours ago is a very clear allusion to TSMC. On this Asian island there are other semiconductor manufacturers, such as UMC, but its relevance in the chip market is much lower than that of the company currently leading CC Wei. TSMC dominates the integrated circuit market with A quota of approximately 60%so your leadership in the chip manufacturing industry is indisputable. TSMC has been leaching its strategy for more than four years to extend its semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure beyond Taiwan’s borders Anyway, the passing step that the US administration is going to give will not take TSMC by surprise. This company has been outlining its strategy for more than four years to extend your manufacturing infrastructure of semiconductors beyond the borders of Taiwan. And he is doing it for two reasons. On the one hand it is an effective way to protect your business if at any time it is triggered A war conflict between China and Taiwanand their plants on the island were useless. But, in addition, TSMC is significantly developing its infrastructure in the US. His plan is that their new Arizona factories not only serve to protect their business from a possible conflict between China and Taiwan; They also protect it from the foreseeable US tariffs. The first of these plants is already producing integrated circuits in the N4 lithographic node, which belongs to the Finfet family of 5 Nm. In fact, he is about to deliver Apple’s first chips games. The second Arizona factory will be operational in 2028 and will produce circuits integrated in N3 (3 Nm) and N2 (2 Nm) nodes. And finally, the third factory will not be listed at all until the end of this decade and will produce chips in the N2 (2 nm) node. So far the most advanced TSMC integration technologies were only available In its Taiwan plantsbut, as we have just seen, Soon they will also be in the US. And in this way it will solve two problems of a stroke: it will be fought from the tariffs that the Trump government will approve and will reinforce its production infrastructure beyond its country of origin. One last note: in addition to the US, TSMC is building New plants in Japan and Europe. Image | TSMC More information | C-Span In Xataka | Intel’s plan in front of an unattainable TSMC: beat Samsung and consolidate as the second largest chips manufacturer

The price of energy that its chips factory is using in Ireland

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The tuning of an advanced semiconductor factory equipped with machines with avant -garde lithography It costs up to 30,000 million euros. This is precisely what will cost the plant that Intel will build in Magdeburg (Germany) If the project finally goes ahead. And, as we tell you at the beginning of last November, this company has decided delay the start of construction of this factory until 2029 or 2030. Initially the works were going to start during the first half of 2023, but The negotiation of subsidies forced to delay this date until the summer of 2024. However, Finally Intel and the German government agreed as a construction start date May 2025. Anyway, the four or five years of lag planned by this company are a consequence of the delicate situation in The one that is intel. The cost of energy is crucial to preserve the competitiveness of a factory The center of the conversation on this occasion is not occupied by the Magdeburg plant, although we stay in Europe; It is monitored by the factory that Intel has in Leixlip (Ireland). These facilities began producing integrated avant -garde circuits In the Intel 4 node In September 2023, and they are also manufacturing semiconductors in the Intel 3 node. This plant is equipped with equipment of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) produced by the Dutch company ASML, and has a fundamental role in Intel infrastructure to serve its European clients. Intel is paying for electricity in Ireland that in the US or Israel As we have seen in the first lines of this article, the cost derived from the tuning of a last niche plant is very high, but, in addition, Intel has just stumbled with a problem in his Leixlip factory: The price of electricity in Ireland. According to this US company, this cost amounts to 15 cents per kilovatio houra figure that is approximately double high as in the US or Israel, which are the venues of some of its most advanced semiconductor production plants. As we can intuit, the price of electricity paid a chip factory has a direct impact on the final cost of the integrated circuits it produces. And, therefore, also in its competitiveness. Intel has rushed to ensure that the future of the Leixlip plant is assured due to the very important role he plays in his infrastructure, but in Rte They argue that he is negotiating with the Irish government to find a way to reduce the cost of electricity that he is currently paying. Presumably it is likely that the State finally assume a part of the cost of energy. Image | Intel More information | Rte In Xataka | The US does not press only Nvidia and Asml against China. Prepare more restrictions for TSMC, Intel and Samsung

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