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Semiconductorsi

Semiconductors are the cornerstone technology of the information age. These tiny electronic devices, usually smaller than a postage stamp, power the modern economy by acting as data-processing brains for products, from smartphones to cars and spacecraft.

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  • Uber, whose meal-delivery business outperformed globally during the most recent quarter, aims to complete the all-cash deal by the first half of 2025
  • The deal, unveiled on Tuesday, marks one of the biggest takeovers in Taiwan outside the semiconductor industry

Readers discuss Malaysia’s revival of its semiconductor industry, the exclusion of an elevated cycle track from Hong Kong’s Trunk Road T4 project, and the need to prevent work-to-rule-style bureaucracy .

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The US is expected to triple its domestic chip making capacity by 2032 and dwarf China’s output in advanced chips, according to a report published by a semiconductor trade group.

Huawei’s latest high-end smartphone features more Chinese suppliers, including a new flash memory chip and an improved processor, a teardown analysis showed.

China’s strengthened push to use RISC-V, an open-source chip-design architecture, is facing new risks amid scrutiny by the US and Google’s move to stop supporting it on Android.

On Tuesday, the US revoked licenses allowing Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant blacklisted by the US, to buy semiconductors from Intel and rival Qualcomm Inc.

Further restrictions on access to Intel and Qualcomm chips would pose challenges to Huawei’s PC business, which has been gaining ground in the China market.

Alat CEO Amit Midha said the only request so far has been to keep supply chains separate, but it would divest if asked because the ‘US is the number one partner for us’.

Apple is developing a chip to run AI tools on servers, but it is unclear if the tech giant will deploy it, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The South Korean memory chip maker has already sold out its high-bandwidth memory chips for this year, as enterprises aggressively expand artificial intelligence services.

Several Chinese online media outlets falsely reported that a Tokyo-based research firm found more than 90 per cent of the handset’s parts to be domestically sourced.

Total venture-capital investment in China in the first quarter fell 30 per cent quarter on quarter to US$11.5 billion amid economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, though China still accounted for eight of the top 10 deals.

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The world’s largest memory chip maker posted better-than-expected net income that is more than four times the company’s earnings a year earlier.

Across 16 sectors, artificial intelligence unicorns are the highest valued, at an average of US$6.76 billion, followed by financial technology firms at US$6.57 billion.

King Yuan Electronics Co, one of the world’s largest chip testing and packaging services firms, has divested its entire stake in a subsidiary at manufacturing hub Suzhou in eastern China.

Huawei’s new Pura 70 smartphones, powered by a chip designed by its in-house unit HiSilicon, are set to help the Shenzhen-based tech champion regain the top position in China’s smartphone market.

The city’s focus on China-made graphics processing units shows how mainland authorities are scrambling to build up computing resources, despite US export restrictions on advanced chips.

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Chinese electric vehicle start-up Xpeng said its partnership with AI chip supplier Nvidia has not been affected by tighter US trade sanctions, but it will keep its options open with local suppliers.

China’s status as a ‘near-peer competitor’ is driving efforts to limit access to key technologies such as semiconductors and counter its global influence.

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TSMC, a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, says a new chip-manufacturing technology called ‘A16’ will enter production in the second half of 2026.

Taiwan’s exports to the US in the first quarter beat shipments sent to mainland China, with analysts pointing to a ‘strategic plan’ by Washington to construct and lead a world supply chain and market order.

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Stunted economic growth on mainland and Sino-American political challenges weighed on 2023 decline led by agricultural and semiconductor shipments.

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