The Tech Week that was.. Sept 18~22

?Welcome to the latest edition of my weekly newsletter bringing you all the key semiconductor and technology news from around the world in one easy read.?

GlobalFoundries has been awarded a new 10year contract from the US Department of Defence (DoD) ?with a spending ceiling of US$3.1billion to supply securely manufactured U.S. manufactured semiconductors for use across a wide range of critical aerospace and defence applications.?

The European Chips Act officially became law this week, with the aim of doubling the European Union’s current semiconductor manufacturing share to 20% by 2030.?

The US Commerce Dept this week has issued it’s final rules to prevent semiconductor manufacturing subsidies under the US Chips Act from being used by China and other countries deemed to pose American national security concerns.? The regulation prohibits funding recipients from significantly expanding semiconductor manufacturing capacity in foreign countries of concern for 10 years.

TSMC signed an agreement this week with Germany’s Saxony state government and Dresden University of Technology to jointly launch a semiconductor talent incubation program, to address the semiconductor talent shortage.? The new talent incubation program would support approx. 100 students a year from 11 German universities to take tailor-made semiconductor courses at Taiwan’s top universities, including National Taiwan University and National Tsing Hua University.

The state of Arizona is in talks with TSMC to try and persuade TSMC to build an advanced packaging Fab in the state to increase the semiconductor ecosystem in Arizona according to State Governor Katie Hobbs. Currently TSMC is building a US$40billion 300mm Fab in the state.

Japanese semiconductor tool manufacturer Kokusai Electric plans to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in what could be the largest IPO on the Japanese stock exchange in the last 5 years.? The company plans to offer US$750million worth of shares to give the company a market value of US$3billion, and allow investment company KKR a partial exit from the company.

Toshiba is set to go private as early as December after it announced that the US$14 billion takeover bid by JIP has succeeded. The JIP-led consortium has gained a 78.65% stake of Toshiba through tender offer, giving the group a majority of more than two-thirds which would be enough to take the company private.

US based plasma equipment manufacturer Plasma-Therm announced that it has acquired Italian based Thin Film Equipment SrL (TFE), effective September 18, 2023.? TFE is a supplier of PVD sputtering equipment for semiconductor R&D and production

US based indie semiconductor has acquired Swiss photonics company EXALOS AG for US$45million with possible revenue related add-ons of US$20million. indie semiconductors designs and manufactures automotive semiconductors for ADAS applications. The acquisition will expand indies portfolio by adding Breakthrough Near Infrared and Visible Superluminescent LED (SLED) as well as Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) Products.

?Intel has been fined US$400 million this week in an EU antitrust case stemming from the U.S. chipmaker's anti-competitive practice nearly two decades ago to block rivals.

In market research news..

Global shipments for wearable devices grew 8.5% YoY in the second quarter of 2023 reversing two quarters of decline, according to the latest data from the International Data Corporation.? Shipments grew to 116million devices ,but the overall market value declined as the average selling price fell due to increased competition and discounting by retailers

Global 200mm fab capacity is forecast to increase by 14% from 2023 through 2026, to reach a record high of more than 7.7 million wafers per month (wpm) by 2026 according to SEMI.? Power and compound semiconductors for the consumer, automotive and industrial segments, are the biggest drivers of 200mm investment growing 34%. The number of 20mm Fabs is expected to grow from 216 Fabs in 2022 to 227 Fabs by 2026.

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed the newsletter, please “like” or share the article and if you have not already done so, why don't you subscribe and automatically stay up to date with all the industry news in your inbox.

Stay safe and healthy... bye

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