factor

Cisco and NVIDIA collaborate to expand secure artificial intelligence factories to embrace the era of rack-scale.

According to the Chosun Ilbo, in the context of the U.S. government increasing pressure on investment in South Korea, the U.S. has recently made demands to the South Korean government and companies to build storage semiconductor production facilities in the U.S. and ensure a stable supply of storage chips. In response to South Korea's promotion of a 800 trillion won semiconductor cluster plan, the U.S. has also informally expressed dissatisfaction, believing that South Korea is actively supporting domestic semiconductor investments while showing a negative attitude towards investing in the U.S. This is the first time the U.S. has mentioned the South Korean government's "super project" while pressuring for investment.Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang also discussed related matters during his recent visit to the U.S. for investment negotiations. The South Korean government believes that the U.S. semiconductor investment demands are independent of the previously agreed $350 billion investment arrangement with the U.S., and plans to announce its first investment project in the U.S. in September. Domestic semiconductor companies are concerned that if they formally accept the U.S. request to establish factories while promoting the Hunan cluster, it may create a dual burden. Additionally, it is reported that Foreign Minister Park Jin spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Rubio that evening to exchange views on investments in the U.S. and bilateral relations.

Data center developer Lancium announced a partnership with NVIDIA (NVDA.O) to advance the development of gigawatt-level AI factories in its portfolio of over 15 GW.

According to the Industrial and Commercial Times, there are widespread rumors in the market that TSMC intends to invest over 30 billion New Taiwan dollars to acquire AUO's two old-generation panel factories, L7 and L5C, located in the Central Taiwan Science Park, adjacent to TSMC's plant, to reserve space for large-size packaging such as CoPoS and FOPLP. Informed sources indicate that TSMC has sent personnel to complete on-site audits, and AUO plans to prioritize the disposal of the two factories, aiming to submit to the board of directors in October, with an estimated completion of production line relocation and factory vacating by the end of the first quarter next year. Both TSMC and AUO have not confirmed this transaction.Semiconductor industry analysts suggest that TSMC is extending from the A14 advanced process and advanced packaging to the COUPE silicon photonics platform, leveraging Taichung's role as a hub for precision optical components to build the Central Taiwan Science Park into a CPO ecosystem. TSMC's existing Fab 15A in the Science Park mainly uses a 28-nanometer process and can support the manufacturing of silicon interposers; the second phase of the Science Park, Fab 25, is planned to build four A14 wafer fabs, with the first two already entering steel structure construction, and the first factory striving for completion before April 2027. The existing advanced packaging and testing facility AP5 in the Science Park has already started CoWoS production, and in the future, it will integrate electronic and photonic chips through the COUPE platform.On the optical side, Largan Precision has recently acquired land and factories in Nantun, Taichung Industrial Zone, and nearby precision machinery clusters, with three transactions totaling approximately 2.568 billion, interpreted by the market as a warm-up for CPO mass production. The company has obtained its first mass production order for fiber optic arrays, with the first automated trial production line aiming for completion by the end of the third quarter, and mass production expected as early as mid-2027, while also laying out micro-lens arrays and integrated FAUs.

Cloverleaf plans to build a gigawatt-level artificial intelligence factory in the United States and will deploy the NVIDIA DSX platform at the AI site.

According to a report by Infomax under the Korea Herald, SK Hynix is advancing its plan to build a semiconductor factory in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, with an investment scale of hundreds of trillions of Korean won. SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won recently visited the area personally. Miyagi Prefecture is one of the three major semiconductor industry bases supported by the Japanese government.The report states that this factory will be an overseas production base added by SK Hynix outside of its clusters in Yongin, South Korea, and Hunan, China, aimed at meeting the ongoing tight global supply and demand situation for memory. If the plan materializes, SK Hynix will become the third foreign semiconductor company to establish a factory in Japan, following Micron and TSMC. The report points out that due to ongoing pressure from the United States for South Korean companies to increase investments in the U.S., this investment in Japan may further intensify U.S. pressure, while the Japanese government's subsidy policy is also an important consideration. SK Hynix has not officially responded to this news. Previously, on August 20, SK Hynix announced a 40 trillion won share buyback cancellation plan.

According to ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics is accelerating the expansion of its advanced wafer foundry capacity in the United States. The company plans to start the second phase of construction at the Taylor wafer plant in Texas by the end of this year, aiming for mass production by 2030, and has requested major equipment partners to obtain SEMI certification in advance for subsequent equipment import and export. SEMI certification is a standard for assessing the safety of semiconductor equipment and is usually a necessary procedure before equipment leaves the country.The Taylor wafer plant is responsible for Samsung's most advanced foundry mass production tasks. The first phase is currently undergoing equipment entry and installation, with a target to start production by the end of this year, focusing on a 2-nanometer mass production process, with Tesla seen as a core customer. Samsung stated in last month's second-quarter earnings call that to respond promptly to the growing customer demand, the second phase of Taylor will commence by the end of this year. Industry insiders say that although the specific specifications for the second phase have not yet been finalized, Samsung's foundry business has already pushed forward relevant preparations in advance.Previously, Samsung had postponed the investment in the first phase of Taylor multiple times due to insufficient customers and a sluggish market, until Tesla signed a foundry agreement worth approximately 22.76 trillion won in the third quarter of last year, which accelerated construction. The actual pace of mass production in the second phase will still depend on the expansion of supply to Tesla and the progress of new major customers. Additionally, there are reports that Samsung E&A is considering dispatching dozens of construction personnel locally.

According to the Dong-A Ilbo, Samsung Electronics plans to expand the core project of the P5 1·2 factory (Fab 5·6) in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, from a dual-layer wafer factory to a three-layer wafer factory to respond to the global artificial intelligence semiconductor and memory supercycle and maximize production capacity. Samsung Electronics has recently submitted a plan to change the industrial park, proposing to increase the floor area ratio from 350% to a maximum of 490%. This change must be reviewed by the Gyeonggi Province governor and approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's industrial site policy review committee before it can be finalized.The Pyeongtaek P5 1·2 factory is the largest semiconductor factory in the world under a single standard, which began construction in 2022 and aims to be completed by 2030. It will produce high bandwidth memory (HBM), high-end DRAM, next-generation V-NAND, and advanced foundry products. The currently operational Pyeongtaek P4 uses a dual-layer structure with four clean rooms in a single building; if the change is approved, P5 will be configured with up to six clean rooms, and the number of clean rooms and production capacity is expected to increase by about 1.5 times. SK Hynix also plans to use a three-layer structure for all newly constructed wafer factories in the Yongin semiconductor cluster.Market research firm Counterpoint Research expects the global memory market size to increase from approximately 360 trillion won last year to 1,500 trillion won this year and 2,100 trillion won next year. In the context of increasingly difficult access to electricity, water, and land, increasing the floor area ratio to build three-layer wafer factories has become an important path to overcome the physical limitations of limited space and rely on the existing semiconductor industry ecosystem.

According to the Economic Daily, TSMC's advanced packaging CoWoS capacity is in short supply, and it has been reported that some backend orders have overflowed to Intel's factory in Malaysia, where Intel is assisting with packaging using part of its capacity to serve common major customers, breaking the past ecosystem competition norms. TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia previously stated at a conference call that TSMC focuses on advanced packaging in the frontend and welcomes "more manufacturers to supply capacity" for the shortage in the backend, providing flexible alternatives for common customers.The report points out that the bottleneck in advanced packaging capacity mainly lies in the backend ramp-up speed being lower than that of the frontend process, and the widening gap in CoWoS capacity has forced orders to overflow. SemiAnalysis Chipbook data shows that approximately $1.3 billion worth of HBM has been shipped to Malaysia, and industry analysis indicates that Intel's local factory should already have the capability for large-scale HBM integration. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger stated that the EMIB-T technology is ensuring reliable yield, and in the context of insufficient CoWoS capacity, "Intel is in a unique position to provide support." Companies with overlapping supply chains such as Unimicron, ASE Technology Holding, and Jiadeng are expected to benefit simultaneously, with Unimicron's stock price rising over 7% on that day. Intel's EMIB-T related applications are targeted for mass production by 2027.

According to a report by Reuters, influenced by multiple factors such as the tense Sino-U.S. relations, China's push for domestic software alternatives, and U.S. export controls, Microsoft has closed at least 15 branches and joint ventures in China over the past five years, executing a strategic contraction. In 2023, the company internally considered exiting the Chinese market, as some executives believed that "the geopolitical risks outweighed the limited economic returns," but ultimately did not proceed with the exit. Microsoft disclosed in 2024 that its business in China accounted for only about 1.5% of its global revenue.The report states that Microsoft's final decision to remain in China was primarily due to the establishment of a profitable path—providing Azure cloud and AI services to Chinese companies like ByteDance and Shein, helping them operate compliantly in overseas markets. Additionally, the company believes that retaining its business in China remains strategically significant for acquiring engineering talent. However, analysts question the sustainability of this AI business model: the service relies on third-party models like OpenAI, and Chinese companies are increasingly adopting domestic alternatives like Kimi, which offer comparable performance at lower costs.Microsoft's research and development presence in China is also contracting. Its predecessor, Microsoft Research Asia, has successively established new labs in Vancouver, Singapore, and Tokyo. In 2024, the company offered job opportunities to 1,000 top engineers to relocate to the U.S. and three other countries, but only about one-third accepted, with most senior engineers moving to domestic universities and tech companies. A Microsoft spokesperson responded that the company will continue to commit to the Chinese market but did not comment on specific decision details. ByteDance and Shein did not respond to related inquiries.

Grayscale's research director Zach Pandl released a report stating that despite the recent pressure on Bitcoin's price, Grayscale believes its adoption rate will continue to rise in the medium to long term for three reasons:First, the unsustainable growth of U.S. government debt is raising inflation and currency devaluation risks, which may drive various investors towards scarce assets and value storage tools; second, stablecoins and tokenization will make blockchain ubiquitous in financial services. As technology spreads, more intermediaries will have the infrastructure and regulatory conditions necessary to hold and trade Bitcoin, and Bitcoin will no longer be structurally isolated from the mainstream financial system; third, younger investors show a significantly higher preference for digital assets, and alternative investments have become a standard component of investment portfolios. Institutions, wealth management platforms, and individuals will continue to incorporate Bitcoin into diversified portfolios through tools such as exchange-traded products, a process that is already underway.Grayscale emphasizes that this bear market has not changed its expectations for the continued rise in Bitcoin's adoption rate.

SK Hynix has restarted the construction of its second NAND flash memory factory in Dalian, expecting to increase the monthly production capacity in the region by about 50%. The new production line is designed for a monthly capacity of approximately 50,000 wafers, combined with the existing Dalian Plant 1's monthly capacity of 100,000 wafers, bringing SK Hynix's total NAND production capacity in China to about 150,000 wafers per month. The factory began construction four years ago but was paused due to the downturn in the memory chip market and U.S. export restrictions on equipment to China, having only completed the structural framework.The investment in Dalian Plant 2 is driven by SK Hynix's NAND subsidiary Solidigm, with equipment installation expected to start as early as November this year, and plans to establish a mass production system in the first half of next year. Driven by the expansion of AI data centers, demand for enterprise-level SSDs has surged, with NAND prices rising nearly tenfold compared to a year ago, prompting the restart of investments. SK Hynix will adopt a dual-track strategy: the Dalian factory will use Intel's mature floating gate architecture to produce NAND at the hundred-layer level, while domestic factories like Cheongju M17 will focus on advanced NAND production of over 300 layers, the latter having announced an investment of 19.1 trillion won. Industry insiders expect that the equipment configuration of Dalian Plant 2 will be similar to that of Plant 1, maintaining a monthly production capacity in the range of 40,000 to 60,000 wafers.

According to the Economic Daily News, there are market rumors that TSMC plans to acquire AUO's L7 plant (7.5 generation line) and L5C plant (5 generation line), with the transaction amount estimated to exceed 30 billion New Taiwan Dollars (approximately 920 million USD). Both parties are negotiating based on the "Innolux model," and TSMC has sent personnel for on-site audits but has not yet signed a contract announcement. The AUO Zhongke plant is adjacent to TSMC's Zhongke No. 15 plant, providing geographical advantages.The report states that TSMC plans to use CoPoS technology as the next generation of 2.5D advanced packaging after CoWoS, introducing panel-level glass substrate packaging through "transforming round into square" to address the area waste and warping issues of ultra-large AI chips on 12-inch wafers. TSMC's first CoPoS production line has been completed and launched at the Chiayi AP7 plant. Industry insiders believe that panel manufacturers possess experience in handling large substrates and managing production lines, making them providers of "intermediate layer capabilities" for the mass production of advanced packaging.

SK Hynix plans to invest 35.2 trillion won in the second phase of chip factory construction in Yongin, South Korea.

SpaceX plans to build its own power facilities for the large semiconductor manufacturing plant Terafab being developed in Texas. Riley Trettel, who is responsible for energy and data center development, stated that a gas power plant and a large battery array will be constructed to store energy to meet the surging power demand. Elon Musk's companies have long favored vertical integration, and Tesla is also participating in the energy market in Texas.

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve Governor Cook stated that low consumer confidence is related to various factors such as high inflation.

According to Reuters, informed sources say that Changxin Storage is considering building a second 12-inch DRAM wafer fab in Beijing's Yizhuang and is negotiating financing with the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone and several state-owned technology companies. The company is seeking at least 60 million yuan (approximately 8.9 million USD) in support, but negotiations are still in the early stages, and the scale and structure of the financing may be adjusted.The proposed factory will be located at the site of Changxin Storage's existing DRAM wafer fab in Beijing. The planned production capacity and total investment for the project have not yet been determined, while building a fab capable of producing advanced DRAM typically requires over 10 billion USD. Currently, Changxin Storage operates two 12-inch DRAM wafer fabs in Hefei and one in Beijing, each with a monthly production capacity of about 100,000 wafers. Changxin Storage is also building new factories in Shanghai and Hefei, and once the related projects are fully operational, the company's monthly production capacity could double to over 600,000 wafers.This expansion comes as demand for storage chips is driven by AI infrastructure, data centers, and consumer electronics entering an upward cycle. The company completed an 8.6 billion USD IPO last month, marking the largest fundraising for a semiconductor company listed in mainland China, and its stock price has risen by 13% since going public. Changxin Storage is currently the fourth largest DRAM manufacturer in the world, but Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron together still account for nearly 90% of the global market share in the first quarter. Beijing and Shanghai are also providing funding and other support to Changxin Storage to gain economic and strategic benefits from its expansion.

According to Jinshi News, the European Union has launched a tender today, planning to establish up to 7 artificial intelligence super factories in Europe, which is an important initiative to promote technological autonomy in Europe. The plan is led by the industry and has received up to 10 billion euros in funding support, expected to leverage at least 20 billion euros in private investment.AI super factories will provide infrastructure for various enterprises and institutions, integrating advanced AI processors, software, and cloud technology, further strengthening Europe's leadership position in the technology sector.

According to Jinshi reports, Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that Ukraine has also attacked an export dock and a military factory in Russia's Rostov region.