Intel makes sharp reversal, is ‘going big time into 14A,’ says CEO Lip-Bu Tan — ‘serve the customer well’ remark hints at external client

Intel’s CEO says he expects ‘great momentum in terms of yields and IP’ on the company’s 14A process technology.

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Elon Musk wants to build a dirty 2nm chipmaking fab that you can smoke and eat cheeseburgers in — bets that Tesla will turn the concept of cleanrooms upside down

Elon Musk says that modern cleanrooms are built wrong, and if Tesla builds its own fab, he will be able to eat and smoke in that facility.
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China’s top chip foundries move to consolidate as Beijing pushes semiconductor self-sufficiency — SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor deals pave the path to unified power

China’s two largest pure-play foundries, SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor, are in the middle of significant consolidation efforts that demonstrate how industrial policy is reshaping the country’s chip sector.
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China’s president Xi Jinping calls Taiwan reunification “unstoppable” — military drills around the island escalate in area and deployments

China calls Taiwan reunification “unstoppable” as military drills proceed.

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U.S. allows TSMC to import chipmaking equipment to its China fabs — Samsung, SK hynix likewise receive go signal from Commerce Department

The U.S. Department of Commerce didn’t renew the validated end-user status of these chipmakers, requiring them to acquire annual licenses to import chipmaking tools containing U.S. tech into their Chinese fabs.
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Huawei’s Ascend and Kunpeng progress shows how China is rebuilding an AI compute stack under sanctions

Huawei used its New Year message to highlight progress across its Ascend AI and Kunpeng CPU ecosystems, pointing to the rollout of Atlas 900 supernodes and rapid growth in domestic developer adoption as “a solid foundation…

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UK company shoots a 1,000-degree furnace into space to study off-world chip manufacturing — semiconductors made in space could be ‘up to 4,000 times purer’ than Earthly equivalents

British startup Space Forge has just successfully turned on its first in-orbit furnace, reaching 1,000 degrees Celsius in space. This is a crucial first step for the company in studying the feasibility of manufacturing chi…

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China warns the Netherlands to ‘immediately correct its mistakes’ over Nexperia saga that has disrupted auto production — chip shipments remain suspended, auto industry suffering from undersupply

Beijing says that the Netherlands is not taking steps to resolve the Nexperia issue, thus extending the chip shortage affecting automotive makers across the globe.
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China tells chipmakers to use homegrown chipmaking tools for 50% of new capacity — decree designed to squeeze foreign suppliers out of supply chain

China has quietly mandated that at least 50% of equipment used for new semiconductor capacity be domestically sourced. However, as China’s industry cannot produce enough lithography tools, authorities tend to get flexible …

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TSMC begins quietly volume production of 2nm-class chips — first GAA transistor for TSMC claims up to 15% improvement at ISO power

TSMC has quietly begun volume production of its 2nm-class N2 process in Q4 2025 as planned, marking the company’s first GAA nanosheet node that will be ramping production at two new fabs to meet strong demand from various …

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