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TSMC rumored to build new CoWoS advanced packaging facility in Japan, only place outside Taiwan

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 18, 2024 7:02 PM CDT

TSMC is reportedly considering building advanced packaging capacity in Japan, which would fuel Japan's efforts to reboot its semiconductor industry.

TSMC rumored to build new CoWoS advanced packaging facility in Japan, only place outside Taiwan

In a new report from Reuters, "two sources familiar with the matter" report that the Taiwanese giant is in the early stages, with the sources "declining to be identified as the information was not public." According to one of the sources who was briefed on the matter, TSMC is considering building a chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology in Japan.

All of TSMC's new CoWoS capacity is located in Taiwan, so this would be a significant move for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. TSMC recently built a new fab in Japan in just two hours, with workers working 24-hour days around the clock, which has earned the site the nickname "Nightless Castle." I'm sure there will be many more sleepless nights if TSMC does indeed build new CoWoS packaging technology in Japan.

Continue reading: TSMC rumored to build new CoWoS advanced packaging facility in Japan, only place outside Taiwan (full post)

Apple must face a class-action lawsuit over the predatory dangers of AirTags

Jak Connor | Mar 18, 2024 5:22 AM CDT

A new report has revealed Apple won't be able to get out of a class-action lawsuit that accuses the company of negligence over the potential dangers of AirTags.

Apple must face a class-action lawsuit over the predatory dangers of AirTags

Bloomberg reported last week that a San Francisco judge ruled that Apple must face a lawsuit accusing the company of negligence over the potential stalking risks created by its AirTags device. Notably, the majority of the three dozen claims were dismissed by the court, but US District Judge Vince Chhabria has denied Apple's push to have the court throw out the case entirely. The suit alleges that Apple was warned of the potential dangers of its tracking device being misused by individuals and would be held liable for damages under California law.

However, Apple disagrees, as after its AirTags were released, it rolled out new safety features designed to prevent them from being used by bad actors. One of these safety features was AirTags beginning to emit a loud noise when they were moved too far away from the connected device, as well as notifications being sent to devices. Despite Apple's push back, the lawsuit argues that AirTags have "become the weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers," per Bloomberg.

Continue reading: Apple must face a class-action lawsuit over the predatory dangers of AirTags (full post)

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang wishes 'pain and suffering' on students

Jak Connor | Mar 18, 2024 12:46 AM CDT

The CEO of NVIDIA, a chip manufacturing company valued at approximately $2 trillion, has sat down for an interview at Stanford University, where he gave some wise words to students regarding being a successful entrepreneur.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang wishes 'pain and suffering' on students

Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, was asked what advice he would give to students to improve their chances of success, to which he answered that one of his strengths is that he has very low expectations and that many Stanford students have very high expectations of themselves due to the school and peers around them.

Huang then explained that when you have high expectations, you have very low resilience, "and unfortunately, resilience matters in success. I don't know how to teach it to you except for I hope suffering happens to you". The NVIDIA CEO goes on to explain that he uses the terms "pain and suffering" within his company in a very "happy way" because you want to "refine the character of your company," and character comes from "people who suffered".

Continue reading: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang wishes 'pain and suffering' on students (full post)

Intel survives US sanctions on China: can continue to provide Huawei with chips, but AMD can't

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 17, 2024 8:01 PM CDT

Intel has survived pressure from hundreds of millions of dollars of lost chip sales to Huawei, after Joe Biden put pressure on the company to revoke a license issued by the Trump administration that allows Intel to ship advanced CPUs to Huawei for use inside of their laptops.

Intel survives US sanctions on China: can continue to provide Huawei with chips, but AMD can't

In a new report from Reuters, the outlet says that Biden "has long been under pressure to revoke a license, issued by the Trump administration, that allows Intel to ship advanced central processors to Huawei for use in laptops". The push came from competitor AMD, which said it was unfair that the Ryzen CPU giant couldn't get a license to sell similar chips to Huawei.

Intel retaining its license is a huge deal, as it can continue to sell hundreds of millions of processors to the Chinese giant amid sanctions that stop GPU sales from NVIDIA and AMD. AMD can't sell its Ryzen CPUs to Huawei, but Intel can... I can understand why AMD wouldn't be happy with that, and rightfully so.

Continue reading: Intel survives US sanctions on China: can continue to provide Huawei with chips, but AMD can't (full post)

TikTok wants users to call their Senators to stop it being banned in the US

Jak Connor | Mar 15, 2024 4:01 AM CDT

The House of Representatives has voted on a bill that could result in TikTok being banned across the United States, and now the app is requesting users contact their Senators to tell them "how important TikTok is to you".

TikTok wants users to call their Senators to stop it being banned in the US

The message from TikTok is the second to be pushed out to users requesting them to contact their representatives to tell them how much they like TikTok, as the first message asked users to call House representatives. However, the prompt for calling lawmakers may have backfired on the company as officials have now claimed TikTok is attempting to "interfere" with the legislative process, as offices were inundated with calls, many of which were from teenagers.

The latest prompt from TikTok stated, "The House of Representatives just voted to ban TikTok, which impacts 170 million Americans just like you." For those that don't know, the bill has been passed in the House of Representatives and is now headed to the Senate where if its passed will then go to President Joe Biden who said he would sign it into law. If completely passed TikTok will have six months to sell itself or be hit with a nation-wide ban.

Continue reading: TikTok wants users to call their Senators to stop it being banned in the US (full post)

Pentagon says no to Intel's $3.5 billion CHIPS Act grant, Department of Commerce to step in

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 14, 2024 10:08 PM CDT

The Pentagon has just pulled out of a plan to spend up to $2.5 billion on a new chip grant through the CHIPS Act to Intel, but now those billions of dollars will come directly from the Commerce Department.

Pentagon says no to Intel's $3.5 billion CHIPS Act grant, Department of Commerce to step in

In a new report from Bloomberg, the usual "people familiar with the matter" told the outlet that the Pentagon had pulled out of the billions of dollars going to Intel, which now threatens the total amount that Intel was expecting to receive through federal funding, which can have ripple effects... even though the company has a market cap of $180 billion, that $3.5 billion grant seems to be important.

Intel has been seeking around $10 billion through the CHIPS and Science Act, with defense funding to be part of that spending package that Joe Biden signed into law over the weekend. This would've seen Intel receiving $3.5 billion in funding to create advanced defense and intelligence-related semiconductors.

Continue reading: Pentagon says no to Intel's $3.5 billion CHIPS Act grant, Department of Commerce to step in (full post)

LG, Samsung and SK suspend US construction, spiralling costs causing problems

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 12, 2024 11:36 PM CDT

It appears as though there are some major issues in the US with South Korean companies in Samsung, LG, and SK hynix concerned over US operations.

LG, Samsung and SK suspend US construction, spiralling costs causing problems

The Korea Times has a new report that said "concerned about their investments in the United States amid a spike in construction costs and lingering subsidy uncertainties ahead of the upcoming presidential election in the world's largest economy," according to officials and analysts on Tuesday.

Samsung Electronics invested a rather chunky $17 billion to construct a new chip factory based in Taylor, Texas, which will begin mass production of semiconductors usef for fifth-generation network systems or AI solutions in the second half of the year. But, because of soaring material and labor costs in the United States, Samsung is expected to pony up as much as $8 billion for the construction of the plant.

Continue reading: LG, Samsung and SK suspend US construction, spiralling costs causing problems (full post)

Dutch government kicks off 'Operation Beethoven' to stop ASML from moving to another country

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 12, 2024 7:02 PM CDT

ASML is the biggest company in The Netherlands, so it makes sense that the Dutch government is kissing the ring to ensure they don't move countries... or expand overseas.

Dutch government kicks off 'Operation Beethoven' to stop ASML from moving to another country

In a new report from Reuters, the outlet covers that the news of the Dutch government making its moves with ASML from newspaper De Telegraaf, citing -- as usual -- "anonymous sources" that said the Dutch ministries involved have called this project "Operation Beethoven".

Economic Affairs Minister Micky Adriaansens said that she wouldn't address every aspect of the paper's report, but during an interview with Reuters, she confirmed a meeting with ASML CEO Peter Wennick in The Hague on Wednesday. Adriaansens added: "I don't know if they would leave," the Netherlands, as "They want to grow. And they want to grow in such an amount, it puts a pressure on our infrastructure."

Continue reading: Dutch government kicks off 'Operation Beethoven' to stop ASML from moving to another country (full post)

NVIDIA sued by three authors for copyright infringement

Jak Connor | Mar 11, 2024 12:02 AM CDT

Three authors have sued chipmaker NVIDIA, claiming the company used their books without their permission to train its AI platform, NeMo.

NVIDIA sued by three authors for copyright infringement

The proposed class action lawsuit was filed last Friday in San Francisco federal court and claimed that NVIDIA had used the author's books without their permission in the dataset used to train the NeMo AI platform, which is designed to simulate ordinary written language.

The lawsuit didn't specify the damages the authors are seeking, but according to the lawsuit, the following books were used to train the AI model: Keene's 2008 novel "Ghost Walk," Nazemian's 2019 novel "Like a Love Story," and O'Nan's 2007 novella "Last Night at the Lobster."

Continue reading: NVIDIA sued by three authors for copyright infringement (full post)

Video might have killed the radio star, but Biden's DEI is killing the CHIPS Act for US tech

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 10, 2024 3:02 AM CDT

The Biden administration signed the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, with $39 billion in grants and loans provided to semiconductor manufacturing companies to make chips on US soil... well, it's not going so well.

Video might have killed the radio star, but Biden's DEI is killing the CHIPS Act for US tech

We've seen multiple setbacks over the last couple of years in US semiconductor manufacturing, with TSMC building multiple new fabs in the USA, as well as Intel pushing virtually all-in on domestic manufacturing. TSMC has pumped billions of dollars into getting chip-making fabs up and running in Arizona, but back in late 2022 that TSMC's engineers in the United States were "babies" for leaving Taiwan after experiencing culture shock in the country.

But now, DEI (diversity, equality, and inclusion) rules in the US are strangling any hopes of domestic semiconductor manufacturing. In a new report, The Hill writes that DEI is killing the CHIPS Act, reporting that commentators noted the CHIPS and Science Act money has been "sluggish." Why? Because they haven't noticed that the CHIPS Act is "so loaded with DEI pork that it can't move."

Continue reading: Video might have killed the radio star, but Biden's DEI is killing the CHIPS Act for US tech (full post)