Chips Daily · Archive

Chips Daily archive, 7 issue

112026-11T-Head Cleared for Spinoff as TSMC Raises Capital SpendingAlibaba's T-Head spinoff listing wins HKEX confirmation, with 560,000 Zhenwu AI chips shipped to date as domestic compute assets begin to price independently; TSMC's board approves roughly $40.9 billion in capital budget, doubling down on advanced nodes and packaging; on the equipment side, AMEC delivers its first plasma wafer dicing tool to a domestic packaging customer, and Siemens signs a deal to acquire Lauterbach, shoring up the EDA debug segment.
102026-11Terafab Storage Capacity Targets Samsung Scale as Google Expands TPU LineupMusk's Terafab disclosed plans for 1 million wafers per month by 2032, 700,000 of them memory chips, directly targeting Samsung's current monthly DRAM capacity. Google launched two new TPU chips, with AMD's fifth-gen EPYC providing host infrastructure, as competition in AI compute chips escalates. On the device side, 6nm heterogeneous chips, GaN co-packaged controllers and cockpit-driving integrated chips are landing across consumer and automotive segments.
092026-11China's Domestic Front-End Lithography Platform Shows Interim Results as AI Chip Roadmaps UpdateAt the China International Import Expo, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) displayed a model of its next-generation front-end dry lithography general technology platform, claiming full-chain self-reliance in core components and an effective operating rate above 92%. Meanwhile, Tesla updated its AI accelerator roadmap, targeting 80x the compute of HW4 with SI6 and shifting Dojo D3 to multi-chiplet designs with stacked HBM; TSMC denied reports that it is developing 3D DRAM at Nvidia's request, reiterating its focus on logic foundry.
082026-11Advanced Packaging Becomes AI Compute's New Bottleneck as Nvidia Funds ASE ExpansionThe AI compute race has pushed advanced packaging from the periphery to center stage: TSMC's CoWoS capacity is tight, Nvidia is reportedly providing billions of dollars to support ASE's subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) in expanding capacity, and Yole expects the advanced packaging market to surpass traditional packaging for the first time in 2026, with capital expenditure approaching $28 billion. On the same day, Diamond Foundry produced the first 200mm diamond single crystal, while onsemi abandoned a $2 billion Czech expansion due to changes in the SiC market — one step forward and one step back on the materials side.
072026-11CSRC Window Guidance Slows AI and Chip IPOsChina's securities regulator gave investment banks window guidance this week to slow the IPO process for artificial intelligence and chip companies, according to people cited by Lianhe Zaobao. The move directly affects the pace of exits in the primary market and the financing plans of chip companies preparing to list, but the report has not been officially confirmed, and the specific enforcement terms and scope remain to be seen.
062026-11Compute flows reroute as mobile chip revenue slidesTwo threads on Nvidia GPUs point to the same thing: China's path to AI compute is taking detours. About 600,000 H200 chips sit in Hong Kong awaiting entry to the mainland, while Moonshot AI is reported to be negotiating to rent Nvidia compute in European data centers. Meanwhile, Qualcomm's mobile chip revenue fell 26% year on year in fiscal Q4 2026, putting end-demand pressure on the books.
052026-11Chip Flow to China Hits Three Roadblocks as AMD Beats EstimatesOn Nov 4, chip flows to China stalled at three points at once: Oracle reportedly scrapped a chip lease with Tencent under pressure from the Trump administration; Chinese firms' orders for about 6 million Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 chips will see only 1% delivered over the next four months; and the US Commerce Department has yet to approve a license for SK Hynix to ship US equipment into its Dalian plant. Elsewhere in the supply chain, Nexperia sued Wingtech Technology for more than $2 billion; AMD and Supermicro beat third-quarter expectations, lifting their shares after hours.