The global race to develop semiconductor industries is heating up, with countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and India making significant strides. Now, the Philippines is joining the fray with a new push to expand its presence in the sector.

According to a Bloomberg report, the Philippines is actively reaching out to Taiwanese semiconductor giants such as TSMC and United UMC in an effort to secure equipment and expertise needed to build its own chip fabrication operations.

Dan Lachica, head of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI), explained that they are encouraging companies like TSMC and UMC to send their older, depreciated equipment to the Philippines. In return, Filipino workers would be trained to support these companies’ global operations.

The Philippines, home to more than 100 million people, lags behind its neighbors such as Malaysia and Singapore in the complex chip manufacturing industry, which requires billions of dollars in initial investment. Taiwan, led by TSMC, dominates the global semiconductor market, and its companies are expanding overseas to mitigate risks posed by tensions with China.

Neither TSMC nor UMC provided detailed responses to Bloomberg’s inquiries. TSMC declined to comment, while UMC reiterated its policy of not addressing market speculation.

The Philippines’ strategy is part of a broader effort to move beyond low-margin chip testing and packaging into more advanced areas such as IC design and semiconductor wafer fabrication.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has been increasing its focus on semiconductor development. Prime Minister Pham Minh signed Decision No. 1018/QD-TTg on September 21, as reported by the Vietnam Government News website. The decision outlines the country’s vision for semiconductor growth, with short-term goals set for 2030 and long-term projections extending to 2050.

India is also making strides in this field. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S. in September, the two countries agreed to build a semiconductor plant focusing on infrared, gallium nitride, and silicon carbide chips, backed by India’s Semiconductor Mission and a strategic partnership with the U.S. Space Force.

(Photo credit: SEIPI)

Following the investigation launched by the U.S. Commerce Department on whether TSMC has manufactured smartphone or AI chips for Huawei, the foundry giant seems to have identified the underlying issue. According to a report by Reuters, TSMC announced on Tuesday that it has notified Washington about a possible effort by Huawei to bypass U.S. export restrictions.

It is worth noting that TSMC had reportedly informed the U.S. Commerce Department after receiving an order for a chip similar to Huawei’s Ascend 910B, a processor designed for training large language models, Financial Times reveals. How the chip ended up in Huawei’s possession remains unclear.

Before U.S. sanctions were enforced, TSMC had produced an earlier version of the 910B chip, Financial Times notes.

Citing a source close to TSMC, the report by Financial Times suggests that after receiving a questionable order, TSMC engaged in discussions with both the customer involved and the U.S. Commerce Department. The department’s investigation into the matter would be “related to” TSMC, but the company itself would not be the target of any probe.

Another insider cited by the Financial Times’ report shares the same view, indicating that there had been “conversations” between the Commerce Department and TSMC regarding a possible attempt to circumvent export controls. However, there was no implication of any willful violations of compliance on TSMC’s part.

TSMC stated that at this time, the company is not aware of it being under any investigation, noting that it has not provided chips to Huawei since mid-September 2020, Reuters indicates.

Last week, a report by The Information revealed that the U.S. Commerce Department has been examining whether TSMC has been engaged in the production of AI chips designed by Huawei, which have gained popularity among Chinese customers as an alternative to NVIDIA’s chips, as they are barred from purchasing due to U.S. export regulations.

Additionally, the inquiry is said to be exploring whether TSMC manufactured smartphone chips for Huawei’s devices as well.

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(Photo credit: Huawei)

According to a report by the Maeil Business Newspaper, U.S. semiconductor giant Intel has reached out to Samsung Electronics to explore the possibility of forming a foundry alliance.

Citing sources in the semiconductor industry, the report reveals that a senior Intel executive recently requested a high-level meeting between the two companies. Intel’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger, is reportedly seeking a direct meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong to discuss comprehensive cooperation plans for their foundry divisions.

Since the establishment of Intel Foundry Services (IFS) in 2021, Intel has secured contracts with Cisco and AWS but has struggled to attract larger-scale clients. Samsung Electronics, which launched its foundry business in 2017, has gained some traction with customers but still trails far behind TSMC.

According to data from TrendForce, in the second quarter of this year, TSMC and Samsung held 62.3% and 11.5% market shares in the foundry sector, respectively.

The report also highlights that if an Intel-Samsung foundry alliance materializes, the two companies could collaborate on various fronts, including process technology exchanges, shared production equipment, and joint research and development (R&D) efforts.

Samsung Electronics is known for its advanced 3nm GAA (gate-all-around) technology, which enhances performance and power efficiency in fine processes,. Meanwhile, Intel possesses technologies such as Foveros, which combines chips produced using different processes into a single package, and PowerVia, which improves power efficiency. These combined strengths could be crucial in developing high-performance, low-power designs for AI, data centers, and mobile application processors.

Additionally, Samsung operates manufacturing facilities in the U.S., South Korea, and China, while Intel has facilities in the U.S., Ireland, and Israel, enabling potential collaboration or equipment sharing when needed. The report also notes that with tightening controls on advanced semiconductor exports, particularly from the U.S. and EU, regional production capabilities are becoming increasingly important.

However, both Samsung and Intel declined to confirm whether a top-level meeting will take place, according to the Maeil Business Newspaper.

(Photo credit: Intel)

Would Samsung finally be able to secure major orders from tech giants, even one of the world’s top AI companies? According to a report by The Information, the most successful and lucrative partnership in AI business, which is formed by NVIDIA and its foundry partner TSMC, is showing signs of strain, while Samsung may turn out to benefit from the development.

However, it is worth noting that the orders Samsung might get from NVIDIA may not be the most advanced AI chips. According to the reports by The Information and SamMobile, the U.S. AI chip giant is mulling to team up with Samsung to produce its new GPUs, which are considered less complex to manufacture than its AI accelerators.

The reports also suggest that NVIDIA is trying to secure discounted pricing from Samsung, as it aims for a 20-30% reduction compared to what it pays TSMC.

According to the analysis by SamMobile, NVIDIA’s move is an attempt to reduce its dependence on TSMC for upcoming chips, which is a positive development for Samsung.

Though the struggling semiconductor giant is said to have several clients for 5nm, 7nm and 8nm nodes, the continuous yield issues for 3nm and 4nm makes it unable to attract major customers, according to SamMobile, while the company now hopes to improve its yields and regain clients like Qualcomm and NVIDIA.

According to The Information, Samsung’s opportunities arise while NVIDIA’s Blackwell chips, built with TSMC’s 4nm, reportedly faced delays due to issues discovered in the testing process. The chips are said to have failed in high-voltage environments typical of data centers, which put strain on the decades-long partnership between the two firms.

For now, the issues have been resolved, and Team Green’s Blackwell chips are expected to ramp up starting from Q4 2024. According to a report by Wccftech, citing the projection by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Blackwell’s estimated shipments are expected to be around 150,000 to 200,000 units this quarter, and surging to 500,000 to 550,000 units in Q1 2025.

According to Kuo, Microsoft is believed to be the major customer, with its orders for GB200 in Q4 skyrocketing, rising 3 to 4 times from the previous range of 300 to 500 racks (primarily NVL36) to about 1,400 to 1,500 racks (approximately 70% NVL72).

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(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

TSMC has passed the test of the market with flying colors as it reported record high profit in the third quarter at the earnings call. By confirming that the AI demand is “real,” TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei stated that the foundry giant is expected to enjoy healthy growth over the next five years. But which node would be the one most clients show strong interest in?

According to the reports by the Economic Daily News and MoneyDJ, customer inquiries for 2nm are even higher than those for 3nm, while A16 is highly attractive for AI server applications.

TSMC’s 3nm has already shown robust momentum this year, as its shipments accounted for 20% of total wafer revenue in the third quarter, rising from 9% and 15% in the first and second quarter, respectively.

According to an industrial source cited by MoneyDJ, TSMC started the mass production of 3nm in 2022, while the 2nm is expected to enter volume production in 2025, indicating that the generation cycle for a node has been expanded to three years.

Thus, supported by TSMC’s major clients, the contribution from 3nm will continue to rise next year and remain a key revenue driver in 2026, while the 2nm process is expected to replicate or even surpass the success of 3nm, MoneyDJ notes. According to previous market speculations, tech giants such as Apple, NVIDIA and AMD are believed to be the first batch of TSMC’s 2nm customers.

Citing C.C.Wei, the Economic Daily News notes that the high-performance computing (HPC) applications demand more powerful processors, which accelerates the development of chiplet designs. However, the trend does not seem to impact the adoption of 2nm, and clients are showing even stronger interests for the node compared with 3nm.

And TSMC does plan to expand its 2nm capacity thanks to the strong demand, as the schedule of mass producing 2nm in 2025 remains on track.

According to a previous report from MoneyDJ, TSMC’s 2nm fabs in Hsinchu’s Baoshan and Kaohsiung will achieve a monthly capacity of approximately 30,000 to 35,000 wafers, respectively. By 2027, their combined capacity is set to exceed 100,000 wafers, marking the mainstream transition to the next generation of processes.

As for TSMC’s angstrom-level A16 process, it is creating a buzz even before mass production in 2026. Citing C.C.Wei’s remarks, the report by the Economic Daily News notes that the A16 is highly attractive for AI server applications, and TSMC is actively preparing the related production capacity to meet customer demand.

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