Semiconductor - Interconnected

TikTok and Semiconductors -- Contributions for the Asia Society

Hi all, I’m switching things up a bit to share a couple of recent contributions I did for the Asia Society, spanning from the latest development in the TikTok legal saga to semiconductors and GPU smuggling in China. (I’ll be back in

Topics: Semiconductor• TSMC• Industrial Policy•

($) TSMC: Where and How Will It Raise Prices

Most of the CHIPS Act subsidies have (finally) been (preliminarily) allocated. Out of the pot, and out of the companies’ whose fabs and capabilities actually matter in the industry, Intel got $8.5 billion, TSMC got $6.6 billion, Samsung got $6.4 billion,

Topics: Semiconductor• Japan• Taiwan•

Japan's Semiconductor Red Carpet

Over the weekend, while I was recovering from jetlag after attending a wonderful three-day, closed-door conference on China hosted by the Salzburg Global Seminar, TSMC quietly opened its first chip fab in Japan. I only say quietly because very few mainstream English media outlets

Topics: TSMC• Industrial Policy• Semiconductor•

TSMC Hedges Against a CHIPS Act Fail

The much-lauded CHIPS Act is not going well. And TSMC, which is supposedly to be one of the Act’s biggest beneficiaries, is starting to hedge against a failing industrial program. Since its passage 16 months ago, the Act’s implementation led by the

Topics: AI• Semiconductor• EVs•

($) Top 5 US-China Tech Stories of 2023

Topics: Semiconductor• Geopolitics• South Korea•

🏴‍☠️Traitors or Treasures: the Semiconductor Talent Conundrum

Last month, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called the global semiconductor competition “a national all-out war.” As the home country of the world’s two largest chips manufacturers, Samsung and SK Hynix, South Korea is a global semiconductor leader in all respects. Its

Topics: Deglobalization• TSMC• Semiconductor•

How Much Does Deglobalization Cost?

When TSMC’s Arizona fab held its “tool-in” ceremony to much fanfare last December, its founder, Morris Chang, sagely framed the event as simply the “end of the beginning [https://interconnect.substack.com/p/globalization-is-dead-and-no-one].” This “end” not only marks the end of the

Topics: Annual Letter• Semiconductor• Investing•

Interconnected Annual Letter 2022

As we shake off the holiday-induced “mental cobwebs'' and embrace a new year, I’m starting a new ritual – the Interconnected Annual Letter. Admittedly, this is a shameless mimicry of the ritual behind Warren Buffett’s famed Berkshire Hathaway annual letters, as

Topics: TSMC• Semiconductor• Morris Chang•

Globalization is Dead and No One is Listening

The “tool-in” ceremony of TSMC’s new fab in Arizona drew a lot of attention last week. CEOs from Apple, Nvidia, and AMD attended and spoke. President Biden, along with a coterie of cabinet officials, congresspeople, and local Arizona politicians, came to rally, celebrate,

Topics: Industrial Planning• Semiconductor• China•

US vs China: How Can America Win?

The technology competition between the US and China is often framed as a race where China is trying to catch up, while the US is trying to maintain its lead by using tools, like export control, to keep China behind. For the first time

Topics: Intel• Semiconductor• South Korea•

Not Intel, but South Korea, is where CHIPS Money Should Go

The comically embarrassing timing between the final passage of the CHIPS and Science Act and Intel’s disastrous quarterly earnings, both occurring on the same day last week, elucidated one hard truth: Congress may be barking up the wrong tree. Many have assumed that

Topics: Morris Chang• TSMC• Semiconductor•

When Morris Chang Speaks, America Should Listen

Last month, Morris Chang, the founder and two-time CEO of TSMC (now retired and in his 90s), gave a rare interview [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwCWYcag5RE] , hosted by the Brookings Institution and CSIS, two of the most prestigious DC think tanks. During

Topics: Russia• Ukraine• Semiconductor•

Fog of War

The analogies of “war” are used often to describe and analyze non-war situations – businesses, sports, electoral politics. We now have a real war between Russia and Ukraine, and the “fog of war” between clarity and confusion is as thick as ever. Because there is

Topics: RISC-V• Intel• Arm•

Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Semiconductor Edition

Three months after Softbank announced its acquisition of Arm in 2016, Masa Son (founder and CEO of Softbank) invited Jensen Huang (founder and CEO of Nvidia) for dinner at his California mansion. Just the two of them. Among the many things they talked about

Topics: Semiconductor• TSMC• Morris Chang•

Morris Chang's Last Speech

Today’s post is the translation of a speech Morris Chang delivered on the history and future of TSMC and the semiconductor industry at large in April. Chang is the founder and two-time CEO of TSMC, now 90-years-old and retired. The audience of the

Topics: Industrial Planning• Semiconductor• Top Articles•

Can the US “Out China” China?

The passage of the US Innovation and Competition Act [https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/06/08/senate-china-science-technology/] by the US Senate last week generated a lot of media attention. It’s a unique piece of news in that it’s newsworthy both as

Topics: TSMC• Semiconductor• Morris Chang•

Morris Chang, Global Semiconductor Competition, Make “Making Stuff” Cool

(The audio version of this post can be found on the Interconnected YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/c/Interconnected_newsletter]): Morris Chang, the founder and two-time CEO of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC), gave an hour-long speech [https://mp.weixin.qq.com/

Topics: Semiconductor• Open Source• IPO•

March 14, 2021: State of the Cloud; More Semiconductor Investment; Open Source in China

Hello Interconnected Readers: This Interconnected Weekly issue covers more news on China’s semiconductor industry as it continues to balloon. I also shared some thoughts on Bessemer Ventures’ 2021 State of the Cloud report, the Apache Software Foundation, and yet another Chinese tech company

Topics: Semiconductor• RISC-V• Open Source•

Semiconductor Design Consolidation: MIPS -> RISC-V

Consolidation in the semiconductor industry continues. The latest event is MIPS Technologies embracing the open source instruction-set architecture (ISA), RISC-V, and no longer designing for the MIPS architecture that gave birth to the company more than three decades ago. While this news, reported in

Topics: Semiconductor• Xiaomi• 5G•

March 7, 2021: No American likes China; More semiconductor thoughts

Hello Interconnected Readers: I’m flying back to the US from Mexico this weekend, wrapping up my six-week trip. I will organize my learning and publish my thoughts on Mexico’s tech ecosystem (and to the extent applicable, LATAM’s) in the coming weeks.

Topics: Semiconductor• China• Top Articles•

China's “Semiconductor Theranos”: HSMC

(The audio version of this post can be found on the Interconnected YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/c/Interconnected_newsletter]): China’s semiconductor ambition just had its first ponzi scheme fully exposed: Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing [http://en.hsmc.com/] (HSMC). The HSMC

Topics: Jack Ma• Cloud Industry• Semiconductor•

November 8, 2020: Due Process and Procedural Justice

Hello Interconnected Readers: I want to start off by citing a phrase from Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare: > I, personally, believe in strong Freedom of Speech protections, but I also acknowledge that it is a very American idea that is not shared

Topics: Open Source• Semiconductor• RISC-V•

Some Bearish Thoughts on RISC-V

I have been a supporter, if not an outright cheerleader, of RISC-V, the open source instruction set architecture (ISA). In my writings here on Interconnected [https://interconnected.blog/tag/risc-v/] and elsewhere [https://www.wired.com/story/opinon-the-future-of-american-industry-depends-on-open-source-tech/] , I’ve often used RISC-V as

Topics: Cloud Industry• Data Center• Facebook•

October 25, 2020: Be Good at Destroying Your Best Ideas

Hello Interconnected Readers: I’m trying something new starting this week. In addition to the six stories summary that you’ve been getting, I will open this weekly issue with a more raw, personal, and reflective letter to you about something I thought about

Topics: Apple• Facebook• Huawei•

October 18, 2020: Censorship, Apple in India, Huawei Selling Honor, Lithography, Chinese IPO

This issue covers the period between October 12 - 18, 2020 with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources. Disclaimer: all translated article titles are done by me, not official translations from the media outlets. Before you go