According to a report from Globes, amid significant layoffs at Intel, many former employees from the company in Israel have made the move to NVIDIA, including veteran staff who have worked at Intel for a decade or more.

The report noted that updates on LinkedIn indicate that at least 30 employees left Intel in 2024 to join NVIDIA’s offices in Yokneam and Tel Aviv. This group includes core processor development engineers, hardware architecture professionals, electric power management staff, and chip design software developers.

Currently, NVIDIA is undergoing a major expansion in Israel, having hired hundreds of employees from other companies and recent college graduates since the beginning of the year, as the report mentioned.

According to the report, NVIDIA is estimated to have hired between 60 and 90 former Intel employees in recent months. With Intel’s ongoing wave of voluntary retirements and layoffs, NVIDIA is likely to hire a dozen more, potentially bringing the total to around 100.

The report indicated that, according to Levels.fyi, NVIDIA offers higher salaries and better compensation packages—approximately 33% higher on average than at Intel. Notably, the biggest difference between Intel and NVIDIA lies in their share options. The report pointed out that, according to Levels.fyi, the annual value of the share option package for a hardware engineer at Intel starts at NIS 19,300 (around USD 5,187), while at NVIDIA it begins at NIS 56,200 (approximately USD 15,105).

Intel announced in August that it would reduce 15% of its workforce, estimated to be between 15,000 and 17,000 employees, while 7,500 have already opted for voluntary retirement, which includes 19 additional monthly salary payments, according to the report.

Regarding Intel’s situation in Israel, the report indicated that after thousands of employees were laid off in the U.S., several hundred employees at Intel’s development centers in Haifa, Petah Tikva, and Jerusalem are reportedly set to be laid off this week.

The report highlighted that most of Intel’s layoffs in Israel are occurring in the development centers, rather than at the production facility in Kiryat Gat. This is due to the construction of the new Fab 38 plant, which, once completed, will need more production staff.

According to the report, most of former Intel employees who joined NVIDIA this year made the move in recent months, with a noticeable increase in departures occurring this month. As for other former Intel employees in Israel, many have joined other major tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, and Mobileye, which is a subsidiary of Intel. The report also noted that a smaller number have transitioned to Microsoft, Google, and the Chinese company Huawei, which has a development center in Haifa.

Read more

• [News] Intel Employees Prepare for Layoff Notices as Cuts Enter Peak Phase This Week

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing is making strides in advanced process and packaging expansion. TSMC’s new 2nm fab in Kaohsiung will hold a tool-in ceremony this November, followed by equipment installations in December. Meanwhile, ASE’s Siliconware Precision Industries is set to expand advanced packaging capacity in the Erlin Science Park.

According to the Liberty Times, TSMC’s first 2nm fab in Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District is nearing completion. Industry sources indicate that TSMC has scheduled a low-profile tool-in ceremony with equipment suppliers on November 26, led by COO Y.P. Chyn, with equipment installations to begin on December 1. The Nanzih site is expected to serve as TSMC’s primary base for 2nm production.

The report also highlights the rapid progress at TSMC’s Nanzih facility. The P1 fab is nearing completion, with the office tower and P2 fab structure already in place, while groundbreaking for a third fab (P3) occurred this month. Industry insiders note that a fourth and fifth fab (P4 and P5) have received environmental approvals and could serve as wafer production sites for TSMC’s A16 process under the 2nm generation.

Key equipment suppliers, including Lam Research, ASML, and Tokyo Electron, have begun establishing presences in Kaohsiung to support this next-generation fab.

In related developments, ASE Technology announced on October 28 that its subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries will invest NTD 419 million to secure land-use rights in the Erlin Science Park. According to a report from the Commercial Times, industry sources indicate this acquisition is primarily to expand CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate) advanced packaging capacity.

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei noted earlier in its third quarter earnings call that CoWoS advanced packaging capacity remains constrained. TSMC has committed to doubling CoWoS capacity by year-end and will continue expanding in 2025 to better align supply with demand. However, due to ongoing capacity limitations, the Commercial Times reported that TSMC stated the capacity shortfall had led them to expand outsourcing to OASTs, seeking support from industry partners.

(Photo credit: TSMC)

As HBM has become a key battlefield for memory giants amid the AI wave, NAND chips with more layers, which are also ideal for high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) used in AI data centers, are in great demand as well. According to the latest report by the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung aims to introduce the 400-layer vertical NAND by 2026 to capture a leading position in the booming AI-driven storage market.

According to the Korean media outlet, following Samsung’s current mass production of its 286-layer V9 NAND flash chips, the company’s Device Solutions division is targeting the production of vertical NAND with a minimum of 400 stacked layers as early as 2026.

Samsung’s major rival, SK hynix, is also developing 400-layer NAND, aiming to get the technology ready for mass production by the end of 2025, according to a report by etnews in August. The current HBM leader reportedly eyes the full-scale production for the 400-layer NAND to begin in the first half of 2026, which is roughly similar to Samsung’s timetable.

Samsung Develops “Dream NAND for AI” to Boost Density Per Unit Area by 1.6 Times

The report by the Korea Economic Daily notes that in conventional NAND chips, memory cells are stacked above the peripheral circuitry, which acts as the chip’s brain. However, stacking beyond 300 layers has frequently caused damage to the peripheral.

Back in 2013, Samsung was the industry’s first to introduce V NAND chips with vertically stacked storage cells to maximize capacity, the report notes.

Now, to address the issue occurred, Samsung is reportedly developing its advanced 10th-generation V NAND (V10), in which it intends to use an innovative bonding technology where cells and the peripheral circuitry are manufactured separately on distinct wafers before being bonded together.

Named by Samsung as bonding vertical NAND Flash or BV NAND, the technology is also praised by Samsung as the “dream NAND for AI,” stating that it will boost bit density per unit area by 1.6 times, according to the Korea Economic Daily.

This method is expected to support “ultra-high” NAND stacks by offering substantial storage capacity and efficient heat dissipation, which is ideal for SSDs used in AI data centers.

Roadmap for 1,000-layer NAND Revealed

Samsung is indeed ambitious as it also reveals the long-term roadmap for NANDs with more layers. According to the Korea Economic Daily, it plans to advance its stacking technology with the launch of V11 NAND in 2027, featuring a 50% increase in data input and output speed. Moreover, executives cited by the report state that the memory giant also aims to develop NAND with over 1,000 layers by 2030.

According to TrendForce’s latest research, in the second quarter of 2024, Samsung maintained its global leadership in the NAND Flash market with a 36.9% market share, up 0.2% from the previous quarter. SK Group followed with a 22.1% share, down 0.1%. Other key players include Kioxia (13.8%), Micron (11.8%), and Western Digital (10.5%).

Read more

• [News] SK hynix Reportedly Develops NAND over 400 Layers, Eyeing Mass Production Ready by 2025
• [News] Outpacing Samsung or the End of Race? Kioxia Aims 1000-layer NAND by 2027

(Photo credit: Samsung)

TSMC has recently been implicated in a controversy surrounding Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip, which was reportedly manufactured by TSMC. According to Reuters, Huawei placed its chip orders through a proxy, Chinese firm Sophgo.

Although Sophgo quickly issued a statement on its website denying any connection with Huawei, TechNews cited industry sources suggesting that Huawei has exploited proxy firms like Sophgo to bypass U.S. sanctions. These sources say the chips are ordered by a third party, shipped back to China, then split and advanced-packaged to create AI processors.

In the same report, an anonymous semiconductor industry insider revealed that the 910B chip was previously paired with HBM2E memory but was found this time in a variant containing TSMC’s 7nm HPC chip. Huawei reportedly uses proxy companies to obtain TSMC-manufactured chips, bringing them back to China for IC splitting and advanced heterogeneous packaging into AI chips.

This time, the proxy was none other than Sophgo, the firm revealed in Reuters’ initial report. In response, Sophgo emphasized on its website that it has no direct or indirect business dealings with Huawei and that it complies with U.S. export control regulations.

However, according to a TMTPOST report, public records show that the legal representative for Xiamen Sophgo Technologies Co., Ltd., is Zhao Hong’ai, with around 30% ownership. After multiple layers of shareholder tracing, Bitmain co-founder Micree Zhan is revealed to still own over 20% of Sophgo.

Bitmain, Sophgo’s parent company, reportedly had ties with Huawei in its early years and hired former Huawei employees as legal representatives and executive directors when Sophgo first launched, indicating close connections between the two companies.

TechNews reports that Huawei’s use of proxies to secure advanced semiconductor processes through major foundries has been an open secret in the industry. Huawei’s drive to develop these chips is part of its AI ambitions.

Although Huawei’s Ascend series currently cannot compete with NVIDIA in computing power, it is understood that advanced packaging using heterogeneous integration offers greater flexibility in wafer manufacturing orders. This approach also allows Huawei to more easily outsource wafer production through proxies, bypassing U.S. restrictions and achieving significant gains in AI chip performance.

(Photo credit: Huawei)

A battle between two tech giants has been launched, as major IP supplier Arm Holdings is terminating its architectural license agreement with Qualcomm, the world’s top mobile chipmaker. The move may be regarded as a counter measure by Arm to the emerging trend of custom silicon designs, as companies like Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek take sides.

According to a report by The Register, Arm has been the leading architecture provider for mobile chips since modern smartphones emerged, with its Cortex processors powering nearly every mobile device. However, as Apple and Qualcomm move toward custom silicon designs, Arm’s dominance seems increasingly under pressure.

Qualcomm’s Acquisition of Nuvia Reportedly Sidesteps Royalty Increase

It is worth noting that the recent lawsuit between Arm and Qualcomm may arise from technologies acquired by Qualcomm from Nuvia, a startup founded by former Apple chip engineers, which Qualcomm purchased for USD 1.4 billion in 2021.

According an industry insider familiar with the situation, originally, Arm charged royalties based on chip price, typically around 5% to 7% of the price tag. This structure reportedly applied to customers directly using Arm’s CPU IP or those licensing the instruction set/architecture, with the instruction set licensing generally being slightly lower.

Nevertheless, around two years ago, Arm attempted to significantly increase royalties by implementing a new licensing agreement for its highest-tier mobile CPU IP, changing the structure from 7% to a flat fee of USD 20 per chip, which would be quite a boon for the company, the source explained.

Qualcomm, by acquiring Nuvia, a company focused on Arm server and PC CPUs with an instruction set architecture licensed by the world’s leading semiconductor IP supplier, allows it to leverage this team’s CPU base for high-end mobile applications, therefore sidestepping Arm’s strategy (potentially paying only 5% of the chip price under their agreement), the source noted.

Arm’s Pre-built Cortex Designs Face Challenges from Custom Silicon Designs

To put things in context, Qualcomm’s acquisition of Nuvia indicates its efforts to develop custom Snapdragon cores and reduce dependence on Arm’s pre-built Cortex designs, which is now the main approach adopted by several tech giants.

For instance, according to the report by The Register, the Oryon CPU cores featured in Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X Elite are based on Arm’s v8.7-A ISA, which are similar to earlier designs prior to Nuvia’s integration into Qualcomm However, this strategy allows Qualcomm to create cores tailored to its specific requirements, making it capable of competing directly with Apple’s M-series and challenge Intel and AMD in the notebook sector, the report notes.

On the other hand, Apple is leading the way in custom chips, as it has shifted from the traditional licensing model to create proprietary designs. Earlier in May, Apple announced M4, which is built using second-generation 3-nm technology. A report by Wccftech also suggests that the Cupertino tech giant is preparing for the next-gen chipset, M5, which is said to be launched next year.

According to the analysis by The Register, Apple’s strategy for custom silicon stands in contrast to Arm’s, which offers a broad ecosystem based on its Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). In contrast, Apple manages both its hardware and software ecosystems using its signature iEverything approach.

Nevertheless, it would be hasty to underestimate Arm’s impact. The Register highlights that MediaTek recently revealed that it is maintaining the Armv9 architecture for its new Dimensity 9400 chips, indicating that Arm’s Cortex-X4 and A720 cores are still competitive.

Read more

• [News] Arm Holdings Reportedly Cancels Qualcomm Chip Design License
  
• [News] Taiwanese Chipmaker MediaTek Likely to Benefit Most from Arm-Qualcomm Licensing Dispute

(Photo credit: Qualcomm)