Today's Semiconductors Pulse
SMIC clears final hurdle for $5.97B takeover of SMNC
China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) secured regulatory approval to acquire the remaining 49 % of its Beijing‑based unit SMNC, valuing the stake at 40.6 billion yuan (≈$5.97 bn). The transaction will be funded by issuing 547.2 million A‑shares at ¥74.20 ($10.91) each, with a 12‑month lock‑up for sellers, making SMNC a wholly‑owned subsidiary.
Apple Talks Put Intel Foundry Ambitions And Investor Hopes In Focus
Apple is in early, informal talks with Intel about using the chipmaker’s U.S. fabs as a backup or complement to its current supplier, TSMC. The discussions are preliminary, with no binding agreement yet, but they signal Apple’s interest in on‑shoring production. Intel’s stock has surged, up 28% in the past week and over 115% in the last month, as investors weigh the potential impact of an Apple contract. The talks come as Intel’s foundry unit posted a Q1 2026 net loss of roughly $3.7 billion.
AMD's Server CPU TAM Surges, Revenue Soars 70%
Some color from the $AMD call that wasn't in the release. -Server CPU TAM revision. From ~18% annually (FAD November baseline) to >35% annually, reaching >$120B by 2030. This is a structural reframe. -Q2 server CPU revenue guide: >70% YoY. -Q1 server...
AMD Poised for 10% Jump on 18% CPU Growth
$AMD will be up 10% tomorrow after their new 18% growth on CPU. The Datacenter demand is shifting,
GPU Power Prediction Tool for AI Workloads (MIT, IBM)
MIT and IBM researchers unveiled EnergAIzer, a framework that predicts GPU power consumption for AI workloads in seconds instead of hours. By analytically modeling kernel patterns, the tool infers utilization inputs and feeds them to a power model, achieving roughly...
Undisclosed AMD Deal May Rebate Chips on Stock Surge
Have the precises terms and conditions of the Open Ai and $Meta deals with $AMD been disclosed. As far as I can tell the higher the share price goes the chips bought be these two go to zero in...
AMD Smashes Q1 Estimates, Raises Q2 Outlook
AMD very strong Q1 2026: • Revenue $10.25B vs Est. $9.85B • EPS $1.37 vs. Est. $1.29 • Data Center Revenue $5.8B vs Est. $5.6B • Gross Margin 55% vs. Est. 52% Q2 Guidance • Revenue $11.2B vs Est. $10.5B
Former TSMC Engineer Gets 10‑Year Prison Term for 2‑nm Espionage
A former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) yield engineer was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing 2‑nanometer process trade secrets and passing them to equipment supplier Tokyo Electron Taiwan. Two other TSMC engineers received three‑ and two‑year terms,...
Goldman Sachs Says AI Is Already Adding to US Consumer Inflation
Goldman Sachs warned that artificial intelligence is currently inflating US consumer prices, citing rising memory‑chip costs, higher software fees and surging electricity bills from data centers. The bank says the near‑term price pressure could offset expected long‑term disinflation from AI...
Replacing GPU Compute Dies With PNM-Enabled HBM Cubes For Long-Context Decode Attention (UCSD, Columbia, Yonsei U., NVIDIA, Samsung)
Researchers from UC San Diego, Columbia, Yonsei, NVIDIA and Samsung unveiled AMMA, a multi‑chiplet, memory‑centric architecture that replaces traditional GPU compute dies with HBM‑PNM cubes. By roughly doubling memory bandwidth, the design targets the memory‑bound decode‑phase attention of large language models with...
Lattice Semiconductor's $1.65 B AMI Deal Hits Earnings Call, Shares React
Lattice Semiconductor disclosed a $1.65 billion acquisition of firmware specialist AMI in its Q1 2026 earnings call, citing immediate gross‑margin accretion. The deal, split $1 billion in cash and $650 million in stock, is positioned to deepen Lattice’s AI and cloud infrastructure footprint.
ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet on His Company’s Monopoly: No One Is Coming for Us
ASML, the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, remains a monopoly in the chip‑making ecosystem, with each system priced between $200 million and $400 million and a market value exceeding $530 billion. The surge in AI investment—over $600 billion this year from...
Astera Labs Scorpio 320-Lane PCIe Switch Update
Astera Labs unveiled its Scorpio X‑Series 320‑lane PCIe switch, now shipping to leading hyperscalers, and broadened the P‑Series portfolio to cover 32‑320 lanes. The 320‑lane fabric can connect up to 20 devices at 16 lanes each, cutting the number of...
Rice Researchers Unveil Room‑Temperature Multiferroic with 10× Magnetization Boost
A team led by Rice University’s Lane Martin has created a room‑temperature multiferroic that delivers a ten‑fold increase in magnetization and a hundred‑fold jump in magnetoelectric coupling. The discovery could enable spin‑based logic and memory devices that consume a fraction...
Robinhood Retailers Bet $X B on Nvidia, Alphabet and Microsoft as Quantum Picks Surge
Robinhood users have vaulted Nvidia, Alphabet and Microsoft into its top‑10 most‑traded stocks as retail enthusiasm for quantum computing spikes. The trio’s recent breakthroughs—Nvidia’s Ising AI models, Alphabet’s Willow processor and Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip—are fueling a $100 billion market outlook, even...
AI’s Shift From Thinking to Taking Action
In this episode, Sean Kim explains the transition from generative AI, which merely responds to prompts, to agentic AI that can autonomously act across workflows, remember past interactions, and adapt to changing contexts. He highlights the technical shift from GPU‑centric...
Trump Administration Looks to Ease Memory Chip Crunch with Supply Chain Bloc
The Trump administration is forming a multilateral supply‑chain coalition to alleviate the global memory‑chip shortage that is throttling data‑center expansion and AI workloads. The bloc will bring together partners in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, with the United States...
ROHM Targets Smart Rings with Ultra-Compact NFC Wireless Power Chipset
ROHM has introduced the ML7670/ML7671 NFC‑based wireless power chipset aimed at ultra‑compact wearables such as smart rings and bands. The solution delivers up to 250 mW at roughly 45 % efficiency while integrating the transmitter, receiver and firmware into a single 2.28 × 2.56 × 0.48 mm...
Intel Stock Price: Why INTC Hit an All Time High Today—And How Apple Is Involved
Intel shares jumped over 13% to a record above $100 after Bloomberg reported Apple is evaluating Intel and Samsung to produce its main device chips in the United States. The news follows Apple’s strong Q2 earnings, with $111.2 billion revenue and...
Apple Eyes Intel and Samsung as AI Boom Squeezes Chip Supply
Apple is quietly exploring U.S. alternatives to its longtime chip partner TSMC as AI‑driven demand strains advanced‑node capacity. The company has held preliminary talks with Intel and toured Samsung’s under‑construction Texas fab to assess feasibility for future iPhone, iPad and...
Synopsys and TSMC Deepen AI Design Alliance: What It Means
Synopsys and TSMC announced an expanded AI design alliance that couples silicon‑proven IP, AI‑driven EDA flows, and advanced packaging for 3 nm and emerging 2 nm nodes. The partnership adds 64 G UCIe and 224 G high‑speed interconnect IP, agentic run assistance in the...
IShares Semiconductor ETF Soars 40% in April on AI-Driven Chip Rally
The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) posted a 40% gain in April, far outpacing the S&P 500. The rally was powered by strong earnings from Nvidia, Intel, TSMC and other chip leaders, as hyperscalers and AI workloads drove unprecedented demand for...
Elmos Semiconductor Boosts FY26 Outlook After 41% Q1 Profit Surge
Elmos Semiconductor SE lifted its fiscal‑2026 guidance after reporting a 41.2% jump in Q1 net income to €26.2 million and a 20.2% rise in sales to €152.5 million. The German firm said accelerating demand for automotive semiconductors and a “significant growth opportunity”...
South Korea and Taiwan Set Record Highs as AI Chip Rally Fuels Asian Markets
South Korea's KOSPI and Taiwan's TAIEX surged to fresh all‑time highs on Monday, with the KOSPI up 5.1% to 6,937 and the TAIEX climbing 7% as AI‑related semiconductor earnings lifted market sentiment. The rally was powered by SK Hynix’s 12%...
TDK Ventures' $500M AI Play Targets Inference Chips and Rugged Robots
Nicolas Sauvage is steering TDK Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Japanese electronics giant TDK, with a $500 million portfolio that backs low‑profile AI infrastructure such as inference chips, solid‑state grid transformers and warehouse robots. His four‑year horizon strategy aims to...
AMD Poised to Beat Estimates; Watch GPU Ramp
$AMD reports after close. Consensus ~$9.84B / ~$1.30 EPS (+32% rev, +35% EPS). Stock up 74% in April sets a high bar. I think they will beat. I’m watching a few things: MI355 ramp, MI400/Helios timing, Meta 6GW progress, EPYC...
AMD's CPU Growth Outpaces GPU Surprise
$AMD CPU business may be even cooler than the GPU business. Who would have believed that a year ago? 🙃
Cabinet Boosts Semicon Push with Two Gujarat Units, Investment over Rs 3,900 Cr
The Union Cabinet approved two semiconductor projects in Gujarat, committing roughly $470 million (Rs 3,936 crore) and creating about 2,230 skilled jobs. One project in Dholera will produce compound‑semiconductor display modules and GaN foundry services, while the Surat facility will operate an OSAT...
Wafer Shortage Forces Companies to Fight for Compute Capacity
What is clear in semis right now is that we are in a wafer and capacity scarcity moment. A key part of the analysis is which companies are best positioned to secure the capacity they need to meet unprecedented compute...
AMD Forecasts 35% YoY Rise in Server CPU Market
$AMD @LisaSu conviction that CPU server TAM 35% YoY driven by agentic. This is actually going to be more fun to track than GPU/ASIC volumes YoY :)
End-to-End ASIC Manufacturing Solutions | From Design to Production
Custom ASIC projects now require more than circuit design; they demand a coordinated semiconductor supply chain from architecture through long‑term production. End‑to‑end ASIC manufacturing solutions bundle feasibility studies, design, tape‑out, wafer fab, packaging, testing, qualification, and logistics into a single...
Lisa
Lisa Su: "With loads and loads of agents, you could imagine more CPUs than GPUs." CALLED IT. I FRICKIN CALLED IT.
Data Center Sales Surge 57% on EPYC, Instinct Demand
JUST IN: Sales in the chip maker's data center segment rose 57% year-over-year, fueled by robust demand for its EPYC processors and the escalation of Instinct GPU shipments.
SiTime Boosts GPU Utilisation in AI Data Centres with Elite 2 Super-TCXO
SiTime unveiled the Elite 2 Super‑TCXO, a precision oscillator designed to tighten time‑synchronisation in AI data‑centre clusters. The device delivers sub‑nanosecond accuracy—up to 10× better than the industry’s 10 ns target—helping raise GPU utilisation from the current 20‑40 % range. SiTime estimates the...
AMD Secures Deal; Lisa Bullish on Datacenter AI
$AMD did the business. Now let’s see how bullish Lisa is about Datacenter AI on the call. 👏🏻🚀
Optical Hype Outpaces Market
There has been too much talking of optical technology, but not mapping to market timing or vendor deployment analysis. This is generally where supply chain checks are useful.
Custom ASIC Solutions | Find ASIC Design & Turnkey Chip Development Partners
Custom ASICs enable hardware firms to cut power, boost performance, shrink size, and protect IP, but the development path involves many technical and commercial decisions. AnySilicon positions itself as a matchmaking service, guiding companies from feasibility studies through turnkey silicon...
AMD Data Center Surge Confirms AI Bull Thesis
AMD monster data center numbers another validation sign for AI Revolution bull thesis. Brick by brick 🔥🏆🐂🧱🍿
Agentic CPU Market Forecast May Become Obsolete in Six Months
The agentic CPU, as a specific product, will evolve over this year. It's possible much of what we know now will be out of date in six months. That said... This was a stab at detailing the market...
UK Semiconductor Centre Names Its First CEO
Andy McLean, a former senior executive at Analog Devices, Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor, has been appointed the first chief executive officer of the UK Semiconductor Centre (UKSC). McLean will lead the centre’s push to accelerate scale‑up, attract investment and...
PCB and Wire Bonding: Overlooked Semiconductor Bottleneck
"Clearly the most underrated bottleneck in the semi supply chain is in printed circuit board and die-attach wire bonding", EthereumFire's senior crypto analyst wrote in a note to clients.
U.S. Forms Global Coalition to Tackle Memory Chip Shortage
LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. is working to address the global memory chip shortage through a supply chain coalition with allies in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, a State Department official told Nikkei Asia Monday.
Huawei Braces for $12 Billion in AI Chip Revenue Driven by Homegrown AI Model Demand — Chinese Fabs Can Barely...
Huawei projects AI processor revenue of about $12 billion in 2026, up from $7.5 billion last year, driven by orders from Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent. The surge follows the launch of DeepSeek’s V4 large‑language model, which was optimized for Huawei’s Ascend 950PR...
Next-Gen Low-Power Memory Boosts High-Performance Computing
New CPU Memory Module: Benefits and questions surrounding a next-gen low-power standard for high-performance compute. https://t.co/1O8k7qRB7d #DDR #SOCAMM #thermalmanagement #lowpowermemory https://t.co/pfo54Qm7Pt
Huang Urges US AI Lead, Blocks China From Top Chips
Nvidia's Jensen Huang says China should not have its most advanced chips CEO backs US lead in AI while pushing for ability to sell older chips in China https://t.co/5ZqkduCG9u via @NikkeiAsia
NXP Semiconductors Shares Surge 49% on Q1 Beat and Aggressive Guidance
NXP Semiconductors' shares leapt 49.1% in April 2026 after the Dutch‑American chipmaker posted Q1 sales of $3.18 billion, a 12% year‑over‑year gain, and adjusted earnings of $3.05 per share, topping analyst forecasts. Management also raised the midpoint of its Q2 revenue...
UBS Predicts TAM Expansion, Shared Gains for Intel, AMD, ARM
Now this is the UBS chart that will be HOT debated. $INTC, $AMD, $ARM. Remember, this is TAM expansion, so dollars for everyone. This is share grab not share taking. For now... https://t.co/KfyXsEftNa
Memory Prices Rise 6
MU up another 6%, people keep trying to call tops in Memory names but the demand/supply picture keeps pushing out as far as 2028
Siemens U2U 3D IC Design and Verification Panel
Siemens convened a panel of industry experts to discuss the shift from 2D chips to 3D ICs and chiplet architectures. The discussion highlighted how stacking multiple dies improves performance, power efficiency, and bandwidth for AI, HPC, and data‑center workloads. Panelists...
Apple's Foundry Talks With Intel Are More Advanced Than Expected
Agree with this, we think Apple is much farther along than just "discussions" with Intel on foundry.
Lattice to Buy AMI for $1.65B, Targeting $200M 2026 Revenue
News: @latticesemi announced its agreement to acquire @ami_bios, aka American Megatrands, for $1.65b ($1b cash, $650m stock). AMI is expected to revenue $200m in 2026. Official PR: https://t.co/UUXittYx9j The whole Megatrends vs Megatrands debacle from @Patrick1Kennedy: https://t.co/n6IiHQsGg0