Singapore-based startup Nexstrom, incubated by Xora Innovation, has built a system called North Star designed to grow transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) directly onto standard 300mm chip wafers used in commercial foundries. These ultra-thin materials, just a few atomic layers deep, are seen as a potential alternative to silicon as transistors shrink toward physical limits. The company's approach draws on research from co-founder and chief scientist Lance Li.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-22
China's Institute of Microelectronics (IMECAS) says it has completed early process integration for stacked-nanosheet gate-all-around transistors built entirely with immersion DUV lithography, avoiding EUV tools that Chinese fabs cannot access. The devices reportedly achieved Ion/Ioff ratios above the 5×10⁵ threshold needed to prove effective gate control over the nanosheet stack. However, IMECAS has not released key figures like gate pitch, transistor density, or nanosheet dimensions needed to compare it to actual 3nm-class chips from TSMC or Samsung.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-21
As AI data centers rise across the country, the trucking industry is quietly benefiting from hauling the materials needed to build them—HVAC systems, wiring, tubing and semiconductors. Industry executives say this equipment-heavy freight, especially flatbed and heavy-haul segments, has seen multiyear-high spot rates and tighter capacity even as broader freight demand remains uneven amid tariffs and record diesel prices.
cnbc.com
· 2026-09-05
Taiwan's Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau has pursued 166 investigations into companies illegally operated by Chinese owners disguised through shell firms or local nominees, resulting in at least 36 convictions since 2020. These businesses skirted Taiwan's Cross-Strait Act, which requires Chinese entities to obtain government permits before operating on the island, permits that are increasingly hard to secure amid rising cross-strait tensions.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-05
The European Commission is preparing Chips Act 2.0 to fix flaws in its 2023 semiconductor strategy, which aimed for a 20 percent global production share by 2030 but is on track for only about 11.7 percent. The new plan will add demand-side measures like public procurement and industrial coordination to spur chip investment, even as the EU's own AI factories and data centers rely almost entirely on advanced processors designed in the U.S. and manufactured in Asia.
spectrum.ieee.org
· 2026-08-31
The Trump administration is weighing new tariffs on semiconductors, prompting pushback from tech lobbyists who say the move would raise chip costs and slow data-center construction. Industry representatives argue that domestic chip manufacturing capacity is years away from meeting soaring demand, making the tariffs impractical. The Computer and Communications Industry Association warned that the resulting cost increases and uncertainty could jeopardize the ongoing data-center expansion.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-08-28
Politico sources report the Trump administration is drafting another round of tariffs on semiconductors, aiming to push chipmakers toward US-based production. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly favors letting companies import chips duty-free up to a threshold linked to their domestic investment, though the exact terms remain unsettled. The move would layer new costs onto PCs, consoles and data centers already strained by memory shortages.
techspot.com
· 2026-08-28
Politico reports the Trump administration is considering wide-ranging tariffs that could extend beyond raw semiconductors to products built with them, such as gaming consoles, servers and data-center equipment, with an announcement possible within weeks or months. Sources familiar with internal discussions say the exact scope remains unsettled, but one option under review would sharply broaden the list of taxed tech goods.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-27
Politico reports the Trump administration is considering expanding semiconductor tariffs to cover finished consumer electronics like laptops and gaming consoles, and potentially smartphones and accessories, rather than just standalone chip imports. Companies investing in US-based chip manufacturing could be granted exemptions, but building such facilities typically takes years and billions of dollars, meaning near-term relief is unlikely.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-08-27
On his CNBC Investing Club Morning Meeting, Jim Cramer discussed Apple's newly unveiled Mac Mini and Mac Studio, which feature upgraded chips for better AI performance. The new Mac Mini now starts at $899, a $100 increase reflecting higher memory and storage costs passed on to consumers.
cnbc.com
· 2026-08-25
Prosecutors in Keelung, Taiwan have indicted nine individuals—including a senior Nvidia manager and two Supermicro employees—on charges of breach of trust and document forgery tied to illegal exports of high-end AI servers to China. Investigators say the group falsified paperwork to make it look like 130 B300 servers were deployed in Taiwan, when 74 were actually shipped to Chinese customers; the remaining 56 were stopped after customs officials spotted inconsistencies.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-24
A technology explainer walks through the history of the transistor, starting with the electric relay invented in 1835 for telegraph systems. It explains how relays used a small current to control a larger one, solving signal-loss problems over long telegraph wires, laying groundwork for the switching logic that transistors would later perform electronically.
wired.com
· 2026-08-23
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