The Chip Market / China Conundrum

The Chip Market / China Conundrum
by Malcolm Penn on 02-28-2021 at 2:00 pm

China Taiwan Chip Dilema

In its February 20, 2021 edition, the Economist published an article entitled “How to kill a democracy; China faces fateful choices, especially involving Taiwan”.  It went on to quote “To many Chinese, the island’s conquest is a sacred national mission” as well as a by-line “America is losing its ability to deter a Chinese attack… Read More


Our US chip foundry comments confirmed by WSJ

Our US chip foundry comments confirmed by WSJ
by Robert Maire on 05-11-2020 at 10:00 am

Trump Intel TSMC China TAiwan

-Could GloFo come back?
-TSMC or Intel or both or neither?
-Samsung would be a long shot?
-Perhaps Apple could convince TSMC?

The Wall Street Journal put out an article that detailed what we had indicated in our newsletter 10 days ago, that the US government is looking at getting a US based foundry to protect our interests given our … Read More


China Winning the Future of the semiconductor industry?

China Winning the Future of the semiconductor industry?
by Bart van Hezewijk on 09-01-2019 at 11:00 am

In this second article about China’s role in the global semiconductor industry I analyse the impact of the Chinese government’s Big Fund and compare Chinese investments in semiconductor R&D with those in other countries. In my previous article, I looked at the possible effects of a US-China decoupling in theRead More


Is Hong Kong a preview of Taiwan? Will HK embolden China to take Taiwan faster?

Is Hong Kong a preview of Taiwan? Will HK embolden China to take Taiwan faster?
by Robert Maire on 08-15-2019 at 6:00 am

On our recent Asian tour, Hong Kong was our last leg, arriving this past Friday and departing Monday, the day the airport stood still. We were on a 2:20PM flight out of Hong Kong back to the states which was one of the last flights to leave before the airport was shut down. Much like the China trade issue, the Hong Kong problem looks to be… Read More


The Flash and the Taiwan ESD Seminar!

The Flash and the Taiwan ESD Seminar!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-24-2019 at 6:00 am

During my trip through Asia last week I attended the Taiwan ESD Workshop. Hsinchu is densely populated with some of the smartest semiconductor people in the world so it is well worth the trip, absolutely.  As it turns out ESD is one of the top concerns in semiconductor design and manufacture. The current rule based and simulation … Read More


Upcoming HBM and CDM ESD Verification Seminar in Taiwan

Upcoming HBM and CDM ESD Verification Seminar in Taiwan
by Tom Simon on 06-25-2019 at 10:00 am

The electrostatic discharge that occurs in lightening, as seen in the picture below, can cause serious damage to the objects on the ground. Over centuries mankind has devised ways, such as lighting rods and arresters, to deflect the energy so it is dissipated harmlessly. The same drama plays out on modern semiconductors due to … Read More


Opening a new front in multi faceted trade war

Opening a new front in multi faceted trade war
by Robert Maire on 05-30-2019 at 5:00 am

We had warned in our May 10th note about the rare earth element risk.  It is one of the few remaining leverage points that China has left that has a potentially strong impact on the US much similar to the US’s impact on Huawei and perhaps even worse. Cutting the US off from rare earth elements is clearly worse than cutting Huawei
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Could China Take the Lead in Installed 300mm Capacity?

Could China Take the Lead in Installed 300mm Capacity?
by Scotten Jones on 02-17-2017 at 12:00 pm

China buys more than half of the semiconductors manufactured in the world and yet only produces less the 10% of their own demand. Recently there have been a lot of announcements out of China about large scale investments in semiconductor manufacturing. The Chinese government for example has announced plans to invest $161 billion… Read More