The story of a covert Chinese lab building a working EUV lithography machine is falling apart. A new analysis reveals the prototype is a nonfunctional collection of mismatched parts, incapable of making a single chip.
TSMC is struggling under the weight of overwhelming AI demand from clients like NVIDIA and AMD. The chip giant faces severe labor shortages and skyrocketing capital spending as it races to expand capacity. This “one-man show” in the foundry market is creating major bottlenecks.
Samsung’s chip fabrication business is on a serious hot streak. After landing deals with Apple and Tesla, it’s now reportedly in talks to manufacture Google’s most powerful AI chips. This could be a game-changer for the semiconductor industry’s balance of power.
According to a Reuters report, scientists in Shenzhen have completed a prototype extreme ultraviolet lithography machine. The development, led by former ASML engineers, could put China on a path to producing its own advanced chips years ahead of some projections.
Chip interconnect specialist Arteris is moving to acquire security startup Cycuity. The deal aims to give engineers better tools to protect data as it flows through complex semiconductors, a growing concern for everything from data centers to cars.
Intel has lost its latest legal challenge in a long-running EU antitrust case and must pay a €237 million fine. The penalty stems from “naked restrictions,” where Intel paid PC makers to delay AMD-powered products between 2002 and 2006. This closes a major chapter in a legal saga that began in 2009.
The US has uncovered a major smuggling operation that moved over $160 million in restricted Nvidia AI chips to China. The scheme used falsified documents to bypass export controls, with funds traced back to China.
In a surprise post on Truth Social, President Trump announced he will allow Nvidia to ship its advanced H200 AI chips to China. The policy, which will also apply to AMD and Intel, immediately boosted the chipmakers’ stock prices in premarket trading.
AMD has made a major hire from Amazon Web Services to lead its charge into rack-scale AI infrastructure. Arvind Balakumar will head engineering for the ‘Helios’ platform, set to debut next year as AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s powerful AI server solutions.
Nvidia has locked in dates for its next GPU Technology Conference. GTC 2026 will run from March 15th to 18th in San Jose, with CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote on the 16th. The focus will be squarely on the Vera Rubin AI architecture and the future Feynman GPU.
