chips

The US is throwing blows to China. Many of them are fitting the European chips giant ASML

by

ASML It is going well, but it could go much better. This Dutch company is the most important photolithography equipment manufacturer on the planet. And it is because it is the only one that can offer its customers the machines of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) that are necessary to MANUFACTE INTEGRATED VANGUARD CIRCUITS. Even so, during the last three years this company is constantly undergoing all types of fluctuations. In fact, in the last hours his actions They have dropped to 7.1% Due to the threat that the very likely US tariffs represent the importation of foreign lithography equipment. And also to the uncertainty that looms over the growth of ASML In full struggle between China and the USA. Christophe Fouquet, the general director of this company, has the obligation to defend the interests of his company. And currently the tension held by the US and China does not make it easy. The sanctions that They have deployed US and the Netherlands They prevent Asml selling Your most advanced lithography teams To its Chinese clients. And neither can some maintenance and after -sales services services provide. In 2022 the sales of this company in China amounted to 2.9 billion euros, which represented 13.8% of its annual sales. At that time Taiwan was a more important market for Asml than China. However, in 2024 the country led by Xi Jinping was consolidated as The largest market for ASML with total sales of 10.2 billion euros. Asml’s rebellion Christophe Fouquet has removed the growth forecast that he and the board of directors of this company had set by 2026. This movement has contributed, as I mentioned a few lines above, to the fall of ASML’s actions. Anyway, it is understandable that this executive has taken this path: “We continue to observe a growing uncertainty promoted by macroeconomic and geopolitical events,” He has declared Fouquet In a statement. “Although we continue to prepare to grow in 2026, we cannot confirm it yet.” The evolution experienced by the actions of this company supports its prudence. In fact, 33% have fallen during the last year. This behavior is anomalous in a company that not only leads the market of photolithography equipment; In addition, it is the only one that markets UVE machines. At the end of last March Christophe Fouquet declared that he was convinced that the US would continue to put pressure on his partners to even more harden the sanctions that seek to stop the development of the Chinese industry of the integrated circuits. “Although we continue to prepare to grow in 2026, we cannot confirm it yet” However, Fouquet’s statements did not end here. He also defended that Europe “should decide for itself what you want” and “should not be dictated by anyone else.” Otherwise, He warnedleading European companies in strategic technologies, among which are ASML, could consider moving outside the old continent. His tone reflected a certain degree of helplessness, but in practice his company would be very difficult to relocate out of Europe. Anyway one of the figures in which we have repaired a few lines above gives us a very accurate track about how A ASML is dealing with prohibitions from the US and endorsed by the Government of the Netherlands that They could greatly degrade your business. As we have seen, in 2024 China was consolidated as its largest market. This success is because Chinese manufacturers of integrated circuits have bought A ASML many suitable photolithography equipment to produce mature semiconductors. On the other hand, currently TSMC, Intel, Samsung, Globalfoundries, Micron Technology and Sk Hynix are well building new chip manufacturing plants, they are well expanding some of those they have in operation. In any case, they all have something in common: they are buying the UVE and UVP equipment of ASML. And, in addition, TSMC, Intel and Samsung presumably will acquire for the next three years a large number of UVE Machines of Haute Opening. It is evident that even in the complicated current situation It is difficult to lie to ASML. At the moment his business in China endures, and will continue to do it at least until the moment when Chinese manufacturers of lithography equipment have their own UVE machines. Image | ASML More information | SCMP In Xataka | Japan wants to recover leadership as a manufacturer of lithography equipment. And he has a plan to end the Asml monopoly

Japan is reconquesting at full speed the chips industry. He has just manufactured his first 2 nm transistor

by

Rapidus corporation It has just officialized A very important achievement: it has successfully manufactured its first 2 nm transist. It is very unusual for a company based just three years ago already stepping on the heels to the three giants of the semiconductor production industry: TSMC, Intel and Samsung. These companies plan to start Large scale manufacturing of 2 nm chips During the second semester of 2025, and, although Rapidus is not yet ready to manufacture this type of integrated circuits, the speed with which it is reaching intimidated milestones. This last company is with Tokyo Electron and JSR Corporation the best option in Japan for recover relevance which he had in the semiconductor industry in the 80 They monopolized in 1988 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, Chinese, South Korean and German companies. Rapidus is fulfilling its promises one by one The latest generation semiconductor production plant that this company has put up in northern Japan, in the city of Chitose (Hokkaido), started the wafer processing tests in a pilot line. The directive plan of this factory is to start large -scale production of 2 Nm semiconductors in 2027, and is perfectly credible. In fact, the milestone that has just announced invites us to anticipate that they could even manufacture these chips massively before the end of 2026, although it is only a conjecture. 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 (Something less than 46 million euros) contributed by, and here comes the interesting, Sony, Toyota, Nec, Softbank, Kioxia, Denso, 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 They have an indisputable relevance in the sectors of technology, automotive and telecommunications. The purpose of Rapidus is to tune an automated production line that will be specialized in the manufacture of 2 Nm chips for AI applications The relevance of this organization, in any case, lies in the role entrusted to him by the government currently led by Shigeru ishiba. And, as I mentioned a few lines above, this is the company with which Japan aspires to recover competitiveness in the semiconductor manufacturing industry that had three decades ago. Its economy is at stake. In fact, this Asian country began to deploy its strategy to reinforce its integrated circuit industry more than two years ago, so the first results begin to see the light. What is causing the new Rapidus factory to monopolize the looks of the semiconductor sector is that, According to Atsuyoshi Koikewhich is the president of the company, will be completely automated. Its purpose is to resort to robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to set up An automated production line which will be specialized in the manufacture of 2 Nm chips for AI applications. Its plan consists, in short, to produce integrated circuits faster, with a lower and more quality cost. To manufacture these semiconductors, equipment of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) produced by the Dutch company ASML, and practically all manufacturing processes are automatic. However, the tests of test and validation, interconnection and packaging of the chips are still largely carried out manually in most manufacturing plants. According to Rapidus, its automation technology of all these processes will allow you to reduce the delivery time of your chips by 66% compared to the times they usually offer TSMC and Samsung. More information | Nikkei Asia In Xataka | Japan takes the initiative with nuclear fusion and sets an extremely ambitious date: the 2030s In Xataka | Japan has taken the carrier to dominate the chips industry. Prepare a 325,000 million dollar plan

Intel pull the towel with the chips for ia. Its general director acknowledges that Nvidia’s advantage is insurmountable

by

“I think it is too late for us (to achieve the position of Nvidia in the field of artificial intelligence), Although we have other opportunities in this market (…) twenty or thirty years ago we were leaders. Now the world has changed. We are not among the ten main semiconductor companies. We have to be humble. “These words of Lip-Bu Tan, the Director General of Intel, have been collected by The Oregonian And they are aimed at company employees in a clear attempt to expose what challenges they face. The challenges with Those who are dealing Intel They exceed the other challenges that he has faced during his more than half a century of history. The leadership that has sustained for decades in the manufacturing industry of integrated circuits is in the hands of The Taiwanese company TSMC Since the mid -2000s. In addition, the stagnation during the last years of the PC market and the slowness with which Intel has participated in the AI industry have placed it in a very compromised position. In July 2024, the company that at that time led Pat Gelsinger gave a tremendous batacazo in the stock market. Their actions fell 30% in a few days and stabilized in the value they had in 2011. In addition, Intel lost $ 1.6 billion During the second quarter of 2024 and its year -on -year income fell by 1%. These circumstances triggered a crisis that still persists. Today China is a crucial support for Intel. Dram memories will be tomorrow Shortly after his arrival It was leaked that lip-bu so He planned to launch a new cut of the Intel template in a clear attempt to reduce their operating expenses, among which personnel costs or marketing expenses are counted. The figure that the company shuffled on this occasion amounted to 20% of its workforce, which in practice implied to dispense with approximately 20,000 workers. These people join the more than 15,000 employees of which Intel has dispensed with during the last months of 2024. In addition, since June 18 and throughout the month of July they will be forced to leave their jobs Between 8,000 and 10,900 workers Of the factories that this company has spread throughout the planet. However, presumably the most affected plant will be the largest of all: that of Oregon (USA). It is evident that Intel is going through a very difficult stage, although he still has some solid pillars to hold on. One of them is China. During the fiscal year of 2024, 29% of Intel’s turnover came from China, compared to the 24% of the US This Asian country is the largest market in which Intel is present. During the fiscal year of 2024 29% of its turnover He came from Chinacompared to 24% of the US. And is that of the 53,100 million dollars that This company entered Last year no less than 15,400 million arrived from China. These figures reflect very clearly how important the country led by Xi Jinping for Intel is. And also how sensitive it is to the geopolitical context. An important part of the Intel business is supported by the commercialization of relatively old integrated circuits that come from their mature lithography nodes. They are not at all avant -garde semiconductors, but they are still necessary. At the current tension situation between the US and China for this last country These mature integrated circuits are crucial. Chinese chip designers and manufacturers are capable of supply your own market With the mature chips needed by appliances, telecommunications or cars equipment, among other industries. However, many users, research centers and universities in China continue to use software for X86 and X86-64 processors, so at the moment they cannot do without the CPUs designed to execute it. Intel is currently benefiting from this need, although he is preparing another bet. An a priori accurate bet. And this American company has founded the Japanese investment group SoftBank A company specialized in the design and manufacture of memory chips. His name is Saimemory and he was born expressly to compete from you to you with SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron Technology. Your plan consists in developing A new type of dram memory Stacked high from some patents prepared by Intel and several Japanese research centers, among which is the University of Tokyo. Intel and Softbank have proposed to complete the development of a prototype and evaluate its viability from a technical point of view by 2027. Image | Intel More information | The Oregonian In Xataka | Intel has confirmed that the 20A node will be skipped to reduce expenses. The 18A node will enter production in 2025

The United States is convinced that the Chinese army already uses its chips for ia. Nvidia has a different opinion

by

The CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, recently granted An interview to the CNN medium, where he could speak without capujos about the current context of his company, about Nvidia’s position in the AI racethe benefits of this technology, and other relevant topics of current affairs. In addition, he has also provided his opinion about The commercial war with China and restrictions, as well as the possible use of American technology in Chinese military terrain. Chips for the Chinese army. The United States has shown concerns in the past about whether advanced Nvidia chips would be used by the Chinese army. Those concerns gave rise to The restrictions of chips A100 and H100. Despite this, There are indications that the chips would also be reaching the Chinese army. Nvidia is not worried. Huang It has subtracted importance To Washington’s concerns about the military use of its artificial intelligence chips by China, arguing that the Chinese army cannot depend on American technology that can end up being restricted at any time. Their statements come while the company promises to resume sales of Its H20 processors to the Chinese market and days after meeting with President Donald Trump in the White House. Huang’s position against Washington. In the interview, the manager defended that “we do not have to worry” about the military use of American technology in China, since “they simply cannot trust it.” His argument is that Beijing will avoid depending on US components due to the risk of future limitations. Huang added that China already has “a lot of computing capacity” and does not need Nvidia chips to develop its military capabilities. The restriccions have hit Nvidia. US administrations have maintained export controls on the most advanced semiconductors for fear of strengthening Chinese military capacities. These measures, applied in a bipartisan manner, have cost Nvidia billions of dollars in potential revenues. According to the company, restrictions made them lose approximately about 15,000 million dollars in sales After the latest restrictions imposed by the Trump administration to prohibit their chips to China. The company affirms which also had to amortize 5,500 million in inventory. Between Washington and Beijing. It is clear that the company is making extraordinary efforts to maintain a balance between Washington and Beijing. His CEO openly criticizes control policies, arguing that They are counterproductive For American technological leadership. His thesis is that for the United States to maintain its dominant position in AI, American technology must be available globally, included in China, where half of the world’s developers are located. American senators They have warned him specifically that avoids meeting with companies linked to the Chinese army or intelligence organizations during your visit to Beijing. Meanwhile, Nvidia faces Huawei’s growing competition and other Chinese chip manufacturers, although the country’s technology companies continue to demand their processors due to their platform CUDA. And now what. Nvidia has announced that you will request licenses for Resume Sales of the H20 Chip to Chinawith the US government ensuring that it will grant them soon. The company has also developed a new processor specifically designed to comply with current regulations: the RTX Pro GPU, which is part of the architecture Blackwell and is completely adapted to export controls. China represents 13% of the total income of Nvidiaabout 17,000 million dollars, which explains why Huang maintains its favorable speech towards the Chinese market while sailing among the geopolitical pressures of both countries. The H20 chip had been developed specifically for the Chinese market after the restrictions of the late 2023, becoming the most powerful product legally available until its effective prohibition in April. Cover image | Nvidia In Xataka | The Nvidia’s supercomputer costs millions of dollars. And to work we use a switch with three kilometers of cable

The loss of the Broadcom chips factory is a malazo for Spain. Now you have to trust everything to your plan B

by

For Spain lose the packaging plant Integrated circuits that Broadcom was going to build on Spanish soil is a real maza. And it is for several reasons of weight. The most obvious is that the presence of a factory of this American company would place the country on the European map of The production of advanced substrates. And, in addition, presumably would generate high qualification jobs, would develop the technological ecosystem of the area in which new investment would finally be installed and attracted. As we explain yesterday, this project finally It will not come to fruition. The leaks ensure that the negotiation held by the Spanish government and the Broadcom directive since July 2023 entered a man -dead point several months ago. There is no doubt that it was a very interesting plan for Spain, but, fortunately, it is not the only project that seeks to develop the local semiconductor industry and increase the relevance of Spanish companies in the global market of integrated circuits. These projects give Spain the opportunity to grow in the chips industry The installation that we can see in the cover photography of this article is the authentic protagonist of one of the most important projects that Spain is developing in the sector that concerns us: INNOFAB. The image building is the Alba synestron, which is housed in the Catalan town of Cerdanyola del Vallès, just 6 km from the center of Barcelona. And his role in the Innofab project will be crucial. An note before moving forward: a syncrotron is an electrons of circular electrons used to analyze atomic level the properties of matter, such as various types of materials, or even proteins. The Spanish institution that is involved in this Plan is the Barcelona Microelectronics Institute belonging to the CSIC (IMB-CNM-CSIC), a center that has a lot of experience in both microelectronics and in advanced techniques for integrated circuit manufacturing. INNOFAB will be a state -of -the -art semiconductor factory which will be housed next to the Alba syrrtron. It will cost approximately 392 million euros and will be financed with funds from the Next Generation Plan of the European Union, as well as with capital contributed by the governments of Spain and the Generalitat. Innofab’s construction works will begin soon with the purpose of the plant starting chips production in 2028 Construction works will begin soon with the purpose of the plant starting chips in 2028. This project is led by the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and will reside very close to the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Its purpose is to develop, as I have mentioned a few lines above, next -generation integrated circuits, but it will not be conventional chips; They will be semiconductors in which advanced materials, such as graphene, will be used to unmark silicon semiconductors whose production It is controlled by Asia and the USA. When the INNOFAB factory is ready, the ALBA particle accelerator will allow to analyze the candidate materials to be used in the production of semiconductors atomic. And also the properties of integrated avant -garde circuits. An important note is that Innofab will not produce chips in large quantities; Your role will be to develop advanced technologies which will then be commercially exploited in other plants. This role in a way justifies that its cost is somewhat less than 400 million euros. In any case, Innofab is not the only project dedicated to the chips that Spain is developing. The Godic plan It seeks to develop the necessary technologies to make possible the large -scale manufacture of polyristaline silicon carbide. This initiative is framed within the belonging of microelectronics and semiconductors (popularly known as the chip) and has a budget of 3.3 million euros to which the State contributes by assuming 68% of the total cost. It sounds good, but there is more than we should not overlook: the reason why this project is so important to Europe and Spain. The Godic plan seeks to develop the necessary technologies to make possible the large -scale manufacture of polyristaline silicon carbide The current situation of tension in geopolitical and geostrategic fields That they support the US and Europe on one side, and China to the other, it is promoting that the old continent is doing everything in its hand to reinforce its supply chain linked to the integrated circuit industry. Its purpose is put an end to its deep dependence of Asian suppliers in general, and of China in particular, so having a manufacturing plant of their own silicon carbide is crucial on the road to this objective. It is for Spain and also for Europe because it currently lacks this resource. The Diosic project began its journey at the end of 2023 and will last 26 months, so presumably the Spanish companies involved in it will conclude the development of innovations that are necessary to carry it forward in early 2026. Or, perhaps, if everything goes like silk, at the end of 2025. Anyway it is important that we do not overlook that beyond consolidating the independence of Spain and Europe Cost of the production of integrated circuits by 30%, and, at the same time, increase their yield by 35%. Before concluding this article, it is worth not overlooking another project that is also very important for Spain: the set -up The new European pilot line that pursues Lead the integration and encapsulation of components and electronic systems. The Spanish institution that is involved in this plan is the CSIC Barcelona Microelectronics Institute (IMB-CNM-CSIC), a center that has a lot of experience in both microelectronics and in advanced techniques for manufacturing integrated circuits. Any initiative that increases the competitiveness of Europe in a strategic industry such as semiconductors must be welcome “We intend to work on two approaches depending on whether the evacuation of high heat densities is required, as in the case of the ASIC, or if what is sought is a homogeneous distribution of temperature, more applicable to … Read more

A giant is ready to get into the market of chips manufacturing machines: LG Electronics

by

The HBM memories market (High Bandwidth Memory) that work side by side with the GPUs for artificial intelligence (IA) Three companies lead it clearly: Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technology. Interestingly, memory chips are The South Korean economy engine Trade dependent. And Samsung and Sk Hynix are Companies that support this industry In this Asian country. In fact, these two South Korean companies compete with each other to master the lucrative HBM memory chips. AND They do not supply when it comes to manufacturing as many integrated circuits as their customers demand. The most important of all of them is, as we can intuit, Nvidia. The export of semiconductors in South Korea increases, but its chips stocks 33.7% fell in April of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023 according to the National Statistics Office. In any case, another South Korean company is ready to enter the market for integrated HBM memory circuits, although it will not compete with SK Hynix and Samsung. LG is preparing a unique machine to produce HBM memories Manufacturing integrated VAGUARD HBM circuits is not simple. The processes involved in the production of these chips are complex, and in them very advanced technologies are involved. SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are manufacturing on a large scale, although with different success12 -layer HBM3E memories. The two South Korean firms will produce large -scale HBM4 chips during the second semester of 2025, and Micron will do so in 2026. However, CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies), one of the Chinese companies specialized in the production of memoirs, will launch Your first HBM3E chips in 2027. The main quality of this equipment will be its ability to allow the stack of integrated circuits in a much more efficient way China has several memories manufacturers Important, but they currently do not have solutions capable of competing with the best of SK Hynix or Micron. This circumstance reminds us of how complex it is to manufacture latest generation HBM chips. LG Electronics is going to enter this marketbut you will not compete from you to you with memory chips manufacturers. The opposite; aspires to be your customers. Koo Kwang-Mo, the president of this company, has confirmed That its strategy is to participate in the hardware industry for AI, but it will make it marketing its own chips manufacturing equipment. In fact, LG is developing a machine that will be specifically designed to produce avant -garde HBM memories. According to this company, the main quality of this equipment will be its ability to allow the stack of integrated circuits in a much more efficient way than with the technologies currently available. In theory, the innovation in which LG engineers are working will contribute to the tuning of HBM memories of more capacity and with a lower heat dissipation index. LG plans go to make their HBM memories production team in 2028. The main manufacturers of these machines are the American company Applied Materials and the Dutch Besi, so these are The companies with which LG will compete If finally its memory semiconductor production machine comes to fruition. If so, it is likely that Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron are interested in their team, although it is also possible to apply materials or kiss forward to LG. In fact, SK Hynix and Samsung plan to introduce this technology this year. More information | Economic Seoul In Xataka | Chinese memory chips manufacturers are a nightmare for the US and South Korea. There is a lot at play

Spain finally runs out of the Broadcom chips factory. This US company has broken with the government

by

At the beginning of July 2023 Charlie Kawwas, the president of the Broadcom subsidiary specialized in the manufacture of semiconductors, announced that your company had reached an agreement with the Government of Spain to build An advanced integrated circuit factory on Spanish soil. Its budget touched the 1,000 million dollars (about 850 million euros), and although it never became completed its location for several months a filtration anticipated that this plant would stay in Zaragoza. According to Kawwas, these facilities were going to be specialized in Substrate manufacturing And they would help this American company reinforce its position in the semiconductor production market. For Spain, the construction of this factory was great news because it would place the country on the European map of The production of advanced substrates. And, in addition, presumably would generate high qualification jobs and develop the technological ecosystem of the area in which it finally be installed. Unfortunately this project will not come to fruition. Broadcom has back According to the Europa Press agencyBroadcom will finally not build its factory in Spain. The negotiation that this company maintained and the Spanish government has been broken, apparently. At the moment it has not transcended the reason why this project will not prosper, but according to Europa Press Donald Trump’s return To the White House has been able to exercise as a death sentence in a context in which the commercial relationship between the US and Europe goes through a very complicated moment. “That collapsed by Trump. It was a very interesting operation and in the end he did not curdle,” In fact, the arrival of Trump ended another project in which the Spanish government intended to invest 400 million euros to establish a company joint with an American company. Its purpose was also to build a chips manufacturing plant. “That collapsed by Trump. It was a very interesting operation and in the end it did not curdle. Right now there is a feeling that US companies are very restricted when investing in Europe, ” has declared One of the sources of Europa Press. It makes sense. The administration led by Trump pursues reinforce your local semiconductor industryso it is perfectly credible to be zancadilleando the plans of US companies that plan to invest outside the US. On the other hand, the construction of a avant -garde semiconductor manufacturing plant usually costs Between 20,000 and 30,000 million eurosso it is evident that the factory that Broadcom was going to be tuned in Spain was not going to be at all toe. Even so, it is a pity that this project has been frustrated. Image | Chris Hsia More information | Europa Press In Xataka | Chips manufacturers are coming from pearls to attract them. These are your reasons to come

The 2020 chips crisis will be a joke compared to that with a high probability will come in 2035

by

The crisis of the chips that started in 2020 and lasted until well into 2023 was The result of a perfect storm. The Covid-19 pandemia triggered the demand for electronic devices, and, at the same time, at the same time, degraded production capacity of many companies. In addition, the commercial war between the US and China, the severe climatic events and several fires in critical facilities The global distribution chain of integrated circuits overflowed almost combined. Now, in full 2025, we are in a very different situation. The scarcity of semiconductors has been left behind, but According to a report Prepared by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) is maturing a new crisis with the ability to achieve its peak in 2035. A crisis that can presumably end with a third of the global chips supply in a decade. There are ten years left, it is true, but probably its first effects will be presented much earlier. Serious droughts are already committing copper mining The PWC report holds something very important: if the weather continues to evolve as it has done during the last decade and the droughts are aggravated by the manufacture of integrated circuits will resent drastically. And it will do so because copper mining depends inevitably on available water resources. According to the CSIRO organization (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), The National Science Agency of Australia, to obtain 19 kg of copper it is necessary to use about 1,600 liters of water. These figures clearly illustrate the deep dependence of water copper mining. According to the International Copper Association Currently almost 28 million tons of this chemical element are consumed annually, and presumably this figure will increase a lot over the next few years. As we can intuit, to process this amount of copper it is necessary to use a lot of water, and this resource is increasingly scarce due to The effects of climate change. In fact, PWC estimates that semiconductor production will reduce 58% in 2050 If the weather continues to evolve as it is doing now. The production of semiconductors will reduce 58% in 2050 if the weather continues to evolve as it is doing now This forecast does not invite us at all to be optimistic, especially in a context in which chips are increasingly important and their demand does not cease to increase. Copper is used for many other things, but its role in the integrated circuit industry is essential. And it is because its physicochemical and electrical properties make it ideal to participate in the manufacture of interconnections within the integrated circuits, as well as in the production of all types of wiring and printed circuit plates (PCB). Its most appreciated properties are its high electrical conductivity, its outstanding thermal conductivity, its ductility and its corrosion resistance. For several decades, aluminum occupied the place in the chips industry in which copper now resides, but this last metal finally managed to impose itself, although it was not easy. His problem was that he could leak in silicon. This process is known as Dissemination of copper in siliconand it 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. Fortunately, IBM found the solution to this problem in 1998. His researchers realized that it was possible to put a lining for copper interconnections capable of acting as a barrier, and, therefore, of preventing copper atoms from infiltrating the silicon. This strategy was so effective that the semiconductor industry adopted it and has maintained it so far. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | The two most important chip companies in China have a problem: the 5 Nm have been choked

load the chips with 18A

by

Lip-bu Tan, that for a few months He took Pat Gelsinger’s witness As Executive Director of Intel, he is considering An important strategic turn in its chips manufacturing division. The play goes through betting directly on the 14th technology instead of The 18A processin which his predecessor Pat Gels had invested billions of dollars. It would not be the first time that Intel leaves a manufacturing node in this way. A crisis that is maintained despite the change of leader. Intel has been losing ground in front of TSMC for years, the Taiwanese giant who dominates the manufacture of chips for colossal clients such as Apple or Nvidia. That the company has shown signs of wanting to focus on the following manufacturing node and abandon the 18A process (in force for its next Panther Lake processors) represents one of the most risky movements to try to recover competitiveness in a sector where Intel has ceased to be a leader after decades of domain. The strategy of such. Since assumed office in Marchthe new CEO has acted quickly to reduce costs and find new growth paths. Its proposal is to concentrate resources in the 14A process, considered more competitive in the face of TSMC technologies, and slow down the 18A marketing to external clients. This decision could involve throwing hundreds of millions, or even billions, dollars in investments already made. The risks are huge. Leaving the 18th would mean assuming millionaire losses due to the investments made, but maintaining it could further away to the great clients that Intel needs for their contract manufacturing division. The company already He has committed Small 18A production volumes with Amazon and Microsoft, but these contracts would not change with the new strategy. The financial context. Intel is going through one of the deepest crises in its history. In 2024 he registered his first year with losses since 1986, with red numbers of 18.8 billion dollars. The company has already fired more than 15,000 employees Since 2024 and planned to cut between 8,000 and 10,900 additional workers from its factories between June and July. What comes now. The Board of Directors of Intel will analyze the options proposed by so at its meeting this month, although the final decision could be delayed until autumn given the complexity of the matter. Meanwhile, Intel will continue to use the 18th for his own chips and fulfill the commitments already acquired with some clients, but the future of their manufacturing division will depend on whether it manages to convince the market that the 14th can really compete with TSMC. Cover image | Intel In Xataka | AI is one of the most advanced technologies that the human being has built. It also gets distracted with a cat

China is at the gates of overcoming Taiwan in number of chips produced. Sounds very intimidating but it is not so much

by

China will surpass Taiwan in 2030 in the production capacity of semiconductors. This is indicated by a recent Yole Group report that highlights how the efforts of the Asian giant will soon be rewarded. At least in the quantity section. Not so much in quality. Chinese-Taiwan tension. China has one especially delicate relationship With Taiwan, and that shows in the chips race. TSMC is the jewel of the Taiwanese crownabsolute protagonist in the semiconductor sector. No one produces more and better chips, and the restrictions that affect the People’s Republic of China (China) do not affect the Chinese Republic (Taiwan). China, however, has been investing in its own continental companies and manufacturing plants (“Foundries”), and that is giving results. The data. According to this study, the production capacity of semiconductors in continental China plants will represent 30% of the world total quota before the decade ends, when in 2024 it was 21%. Taiwan currently is the market leader with a 23%share, while China is already second with the aforementioned 21%. Behind are South Korea (19%), Japan (13%) and the US (10%). Big Fund. Beijing put years ago its plan to be a “complete nation” in the field of semicoductors. This is: not depending on anyone. To do this, he created the so -called Investment Fund of the Integrated Circuit Industry of China, popularly known as the “great background” or “Big Fund”. The economic support of this body has allowed SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor – two of the main manufacturers of Chinese semiconductors – to flourish especially. Chinese manufacturers evolve. The domestic plants of continental China have been growing in relevance, and They have invested significantly in expansions that allow working in chips for sectors such as automotive or generative artificial intelligence. All this makes the panorama for semiconductors in China improve, but only in a section. Good for quantity, bad for “quality”. The problem of these semiconductor plants is that they use less advanced photolithographs ranging from 8 to 45 Nm. Although these types of chips remain perfectly valid for industries such as automotive, IoT devices or appliances, they are not for advanced AI chips, which are in which TSMC dominates. The great Chinese promise, in trouble. SMIC, the main Chinese semiconductor manufacturer, has been trying to make the leap to a 5 Nm photolithographic node, but this technology He is choking. In fact, his 7 nm node already had Notable problems In performance per wafer, and failing to take that step is for the moment a negative note in that remarkable advance in production rhythms. And while his rivals for all. TSMC and Samsung have already overcome that photolithographic node and are going at full speed to start the mass production of 2 nm chips. It is expected that TSMC achieves it this year and that Samsung does it in 2026. Taiwan in fact is Testing your lithography A14 (1.4 Nm), which will enter large -scale production in 2028. Image | Xataka with chatgpt In Xataka | ASML’s new lithography team divides chips manufacturers. TSMC considers not using it until 2030

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.