South Korea’s exports surged 13.4% in December, far exceeding expectations, and set an annual record of over $709 billion for 2025. The explosive growth was fueled by semiconductor shipments, which jumped 43% in December alone to a new monthly high.
The U.S. government has issued TSMC an annual export license for its semiconductor facility in Nanjing, China. This move guarantees the chip plant can continue operations without interruption until at least the end of 2025.
Samsung is drastically ramping up its production capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. This major investment targets the core hardware need of the AI era, as demand from companies like NVIDIA continues to surge.
India’s L&T Semiconductor is taking a partner-led path into the cellular IoT module market. They’re starting with smart meters in India, but the real prize is automotive modules priced up to $150 each.
China is escalating a trade dispute over a Dutch chipmaker. The commerce ministry says the Netherlands must correct its “mistakes” after it seized control of Nexperia, a subsidiary of China’s Wingtech, in September.
Nvidia is paying $20 billion for a non-exclusive license to Groq’s inference chip technology, with $13B already wired. Founder Jonathan Ross gets a stock package worth hundreds of millions. But what’s the real strategy behind this massive check?
In a major consolidation move, China’s leading foundry SMIC is taking full ownership of its unit SMNC. The deal, valued at $5.79 billion, involves issuing over half a billion new shares to state-backed investors.
Nvidia just announced a massive $20 billion deal with AI chip startup Groq, but it’s not an acquisition. It’s a licensing agreement that gives Nvidia key tech and talent, raising big questions about competition and regulation in the AI hardware race.
Nvidia is reportedly spending $20 billion in cash to acquire the assets of AI chip startup Groq. This marks the GPU giant’s largest deal ever as it moves to integrate low-latency inference technology.
A major new industry event, Microelectronics US 2026, is set for Austin next April. It aims to unite over 5,000 professionals from across the semiconductor and embedded systems ecosystem to accelerate collaboration and innovation, directly supporting national initiatives like the CHIPS Act.
