Latest Semiconductor News Update on Dec 24 to 30, 2023

Alphawave Semi Partners with Keysight to its PCIe 6.0

Alphawave Semi today announced successful collaboration with Keysight Technologies, demonstrating interoperability between Alphawave Semi’s PCIe 6.0 64 GT/s Subsystem (PHY and Controller) Device and Keysight PCIe 6.0 64 GT/s Protocol Exerciser, negotiating a link to the maximum PCIe 6.0 data rate. The move proves that Alphawave is ready to build chips with the PCIe 6.0 interface, joining a growing number of companies preparing the ecosystem for the arrival of the first commercial PCIe 6.0 devices in 2024.

The PCIe 6.0 64 GT/s interface chip not only uses four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) signaling at full speed with Keysight protocol trainers, but also supports the industry-first CXL 2.0 protocol. The implementation also fully supports PCIe Gen6's forward error correction (FEC), FLIT mode, and other features of the new interconnect standard. In addition, this PCIe 6.0 platform can be further expanded through the CXL 3.0 protocol.

Intel to invest $25b in chip factory in Southern Israel

Intel will invest $25 billion in Israel, deciding to make the investment after receiving $3.2 billion in Israeli incentives. Intel is one of the largest employers in Israel's high-tech industry, with 11,700 employees in Israel. The chip giant has 3,900 employees in Israel engaged in production and 7,800 in development. According to 2022 data, Intel's business exports to Israel reached US$8.7 billion, accounting for 5.5% of high-tech exports and 1.75% of GDP.

ADI plans to increase prices by 10% to 20% in February 2024

Analog Devices Inc (ADI) plans to increase prices by 10% to 20% in February 2024. The company pointed out in the price increase letter that the company attaches great importance to the reliability of stable production of parts and components, so it will not arbitrarily stop production of parts within a controllable range. In order to maintain supply guarantee to customers, it will increase the prices of some older product lines to offset the cost pressure caused by maintaining production. If customers have objections to the price increase, ADI will provide the best parts replacement solution.

TSMC aims to integrate over 1 trillion transistors

At the IEEE International Electronic Components Meeting (IEDM), TSMC laid out a path to delivering multi-chip packages containing 1 trillion transistors. These behemoths will come from collections of 3D-packaged chiplets on a single chip package, but TSMC is also working on developing chips containing 200 billion transistors on a single piece of silicon. To achieve this goal, the company reiterated that it is working on 2-nm N2 and N2P production nodes as well as 1.4-nm A14 and 1-nm A10 manufacturing processes, which are expected to be completed by 2030.

In addition, TSMC expects advances in packaging technology (CoWoS, InFO, SoIC, etc.) to enable it to build large-scale multi-chip solutions that package more than 1 trillion transistors around 2030.

Broadcom hands VMware partners 'Termination Notice'

Broadcom has announced its decision to terminate all of its partner agreements with VMware resellers and service providers. Broadcom will tell partners next month whether they will be allowed to continue to sell its virtualization software. The company said the shift will help partners gain greater monetization opportunities through simplified bundled products and expanded service revenue opportunities.

Micron and Fujian Jinhua reach global settlement

US chip company Micron Technology Inc has settled an intellectual property lawsuit with Chinese company Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. The two companies will each withdraw their lawsuits against each other globally and end the dispute between the two parties.

In December 2017, Micron sued UMC and Fujian Jinhua in the California federal court, claiming that UMC had stolen its intellectual property rights, including key memory chip technologies, through Micron employees in Taiwan and handed them over to Fujian Jinhua, this behavior violated Micron’s trade secrets.

Micron subsequently launched a lawsuit, and until November 26, 2021, UMC issued an announcement stating that the company had reached a global settlement agreement with Micron. Both parties would withdraw their lawsuits against the other party, and UMC would pay a one-time sum to Micron. With a confidential settlement amount, both parties will jointly create cooperation opportunities in the future. After two years, Micron and Fujian Jinhua have officially reached a global settlement.

The world's top 3 chip equipment makers are now all in Taiwan with Lam Research's latest R&D center

Lam Research, ASML and Applied Materials announced the establishment of high-end R&D center in Taiwan, which is expected to increase purchases from Taiwan by 13.3 billion yuan, driving 433.7 billion yuan in sales.

This move enhances Taiwan’s independent research and development capabilities in advanced nodes and high-end process technology. It can also drive 50 island manufacturers to participate in foreign R&D and enter the international supply chain. As a result, Taiwan has become the place with the highest R&D density of semiconductor equipment in the world.