Chip news live: All the latest in the semiconductor industry
The semiconductor industry, as it happens
GlobalFoundries: GlobalFoundries has announced a $16 billion chip production expansion in the U.S., following increased demand from domestic customers. Read more
SpaceX: Elon Musk's SpaceX is planning to build its own advanced chip packaging factory in Texas with a 700mm x 700mm substrate size, purported to be the largest in the industry. Read more
DDR4 prices: A new report indicates DDR4 prices increased by 50% in the second half of May alone, as costs continue to soar. Read more
Chips Act: U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says the White House is renegotiating with Chips Act recipients. Read more
Chip news: June 5
Intel could be planning an Arrow Lake refresh
A new manual for an upcoming Intel W880 motherboard hints at a refresh for Arrow Lake dubbed 'Arrow Lake S'. Previous rumors have swirled that there could be another generation of Arrow Lake architecture chips on the way, with K and KF variants only. Details from the leak are scant aside from 125W TDP.
Sales of Arrow Lake generally have been stagnant, and even in the burgeoning AI industry, customers are turning towards older Raptor Lake CPUs.
TSMC targets UAE for chip manufacturing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) is reportedly in talks with White House officials to discuss the possibility of opening a chip fab in the UAE. According to reports, TSMC has met with U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and state-owned investment firm MGX. The plant would reportedly be of a similar size to its Arizona project.
Nvidia allegedly working on new China alternative to H20
Reports indicate that Nvidia is working on a new Blackwell-based alternative to its banned H20 chip for China. This B30 will reportedly feature multi-GPU scaling capabilities, which some have suggested could be NVLink. More likely, Nvidia may use its ConnectX-8 SuperNICs, currently deployed in its new RTX Pro Blackwell servers, which can feature up to eight RTX Pro 6000 GPUs.
Intel and SoftBank collaboration
Intel and SoftBank have reportedly set up a company called Saimemory, with a view to building a stacked DRAM substitute for HBM. The new prototype is reportedly based on Intel technology and Japanese patents, with a commercialization target before the end of the decade. SoftBank is also gunning for priority supply of these chips.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite variant coming?
A seasoned tech tipster has stated that Qualcomm is testing Snapdragon X2 Elite devices in configurations with 64GB of RAM. Roland Quandt, best known for his exclusives published via Germany’s WinFuture.de, stated this weekend that the “SC8480XP aka SD X2 Elite [is] in testing with 64GB RAM.” He is also more convinced than ever that this upcoming Oryon V3 CPU architecture chip will come packing 18 cores.
U.S. extends Section 301 exemptions
The U.S. has extended tariff exemptions under Section 301, which include graphics cards and motherboards, until at least August 31. It means a 25% price rise that has been lurking behind some PC components for years. While a court recently struck down some of President Trump's tariffs, they'll remain in effect as the court battle over their legality plays out. Section 301 tariffs aren't included in the ruling, however.
TSMC quashes UAE expansion rumors
TSMC has quashed rumors that it is planning to build a chip fab in the UAE, telling members at its annual shareholders meeting that this wouldn't align with its strategy.
CEO C.C. Wei also addressed tariffs, saying slowing demand caused by increased prices could impact its business, but stated that AI demand was consistently strong and continued to outpace supply.
EDA ban to hit Chinese companies
A new ban on the sale and licensing of semiconductor design software to China could hit the company hard when it comes to building more advanced semiconductors in the future. While a new FT report notes that China has usable software for the 7nm process and up, more advanced processes for use in AI aren't supported yet, possibly hampering China's longer-term semiconductor development.
Less advanced chips for smartphones and the like are not expected to be affected.
Next-gen Intel CPUs break cover
In Intel news, an official document from the company points to new Nova Lake-S/U and LGA 1700 Bartlett Lake-S chips in the company's pipeline. Not a confirmation by any means, it shows what Intel is at least targeting over the next year or two. High volume manufacturing is expected later this year for launch and sales in 2026.
Zen 6 spotted in AIDA64
Not to be outdone, fresh AMD leaks also point to the Zen 6 Ryzen range in AIDA64. The latest update for the software adds "preliminary support for next-generation AMD desktop, server and mobile processors," pointing to future support for the Ryzen 10000 series, if that's the branding AMD chooses to adopt.
TSMC's rising wafer costs
A new report indicates that TSMC is gearing up to begin its N2 (2nm-class) chips later this year, with prices of $30,000 per wafer. That would be a hefty increase on the $18,000-$20,000 for N3 currently used. Furthermore, the A16 node (1.6nm-class) could cost 50% more than that, an eye-watering $45,000 per wafer.
Nova Lake GPU overhaul
According to a new leak, Intel's upcoming Nova Lake chips will feature both Xe3 and Xe4 chiplets, going one step beyond the media and display unit chip separation found in recent chips.
GlobalFoundries announces mammoth U.S. spend
GlobalFoundries has announced a $16 billion U.S. chip production spend following a surge in domestic demand. $13 billion of the funds will go to its existing New York and Vermont fabs, a further $3 billion to advanced package research and other new technology.