FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, back from a whirlwind trip to Taiwan last week (see 2211020037), said the trip was a success. His goal, in part, was to “play a small role in continuing to deepen the partnership and ties between the U.S., particularly coming on the heels of last month’s Communist Party confab in Beijing,” Carr said in an interview Monday. Chinese leader Xi Jinping “continues to saber rattle and put force on the table when it comes to Taiwan,” he said: “In my view, a free and democratic Taiwan is vital to U.S. economic interest and to our national security interests. I think it’s important for all of us to continue to show support.” That support “helps Taiwan show strength and that’s a good thing for stability,” he said. Carr also said he met with officials at the National Communications Commission, the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after meeting virtually with the country’s regulators earlier in the year. “It’s important to continue to collaborate and share our two countries’ approaches when it comes to cybersecurity and network resiliency, undersea cable issues,” he said. “I focused a lot on those issues when I was there,” he said. Carr said he spent part of one day in Hsinchu, home to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. More than 90% of more advanced chips are “manufactured right there on the island,” he said. “The role that Taiwan plays in our semiconductor industry right now and our supply chain is irreplaceable,” he said. There probably won’t be another place to get that type of advanced chipset “for probably decades to come, in terms of the breadth and depth and long-term investments necessary,” he said. The $54.2 billion Chips and Science Act, signed into law in August (see 2208090062), will help build manufacturing facilities in the U.S., but “the reality is you can’t replicate the advanced nature of the work that’s in Taiwan outside of Taiwan at this point in time,” he said. As soon as Xi calculates that China’s military capacity is greater than that of Taiwan, plus its allies, the Chinese leader will “probably make a move on Taiwan,” Carr said. “The more we can do to show our collaboration and partnerships with Taiwan, the more likely it is that we achieve cross-[Taiwan] Strait peace,” he said.

Silicon Labs projects revenue of $245 million-$255 million for Q4, with a slight increase for Industrial and Commercial but a decline in Home and Life on a “slowdown in customer demand on certain programs,” said Chief Financial Officer John Hollister on the company’s Wednesday Q3 earnings call. Revenue in Q3 grew 3% sequentially and 46% year on year to $270 million for the quarter ended Oct. 1, with Home and Life up 36% to $124 million, it said. The company continues to see a “challenging operating environment in China,” Hollister said. Its inventory level at the end of the quarter was “slightly lower” at 59 days, with ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns “impacting our distributors’ ability to ship [point of sale] to end customers, resulting in higher than average channel inventory." Hollister cited "volatile” booking patterns varying by the week. The company’s cumulative backlog declined in Q3, but it “remains high by historical levels,” the executive said. Responding in Q&A to a question on Silicon Labs’ footprint in China against the backdrop of tightening U.S. export restrictions, CEO Matt Johnson said China represents about 13%-14% of Silicon Labs' business, with a smaller percentage of supply coming out of China foundries. None of its Series 2 products is sourced in China, he said. Johnson referenced “broad softening in the consumer space,” saying the company is seeing some customers having to “run off some inventory” amid overall demand softness. The company has seen order pushouts, Hollister said, but not “meaningful cancellations.” Shares hit a 52-week low Thursday at $109.44 before closing 4.2% lower at $112.89.

Export restrictions on semiconductors to China will hinder U.S. tech firms, said a Wednesday S&P Global Ratings report, noting export controls come amid "a potential recession, high inflation, lingering supply chain constraints and cyclical industry decline." The extent of the impact “will depend on how tightly they are enforced,” said analyst David Tsui, including in sectors beyond semiconductors such as auto, aerospace and defense and energy. It is difficult for the U.S. to narrowly identify technologies or entities that pose the biggest national security concern due to China's blend of military and civil technology research strategy, the report said. China President Xi Jinping affirmed the country's recent shift from rapid growth and more focus on national self-sufficiency, especially in technology, which S&P called a “direct aim” at U.S. major semiconductor suppliers to the Chinese economy."

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is “aware of” reports Huawei is attempting to circumvent U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports to the company by providing money for Chinese startup Pengxinwei (PXW) IC Manufacturing to build a chip manufacturing plant in Shenzhen that’s expected to largely distribute its products to Huawei, a department official said Tuesday. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio of Florida and four other GOP senators urged President Joe Biden Monday to “halt” the PXW construction plans (see 2210170078) and Commerce is “working with the White House” to respond to those concerns, a spokesperson said: “BIS is conducting a review of existing policies related to China and will potentially seek to employ a variety of legal, regulatory, and, when relevant, enforcement tools to keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands.” The bureau is “taking a comprehensive approach to implement additional actions necessary related to technologies, end-uses, and end-users to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” the spokesperson said.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio of Florida and four other Republicans urged President Joe Biden Monday to “take immediate action to halt” Huawei’s attempt to circumvent U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports to the company by providing money for Chinese startup Pengxinwei (PXW) IC Manufacturing to build a chip manufacturing plant in Shenzhen. The GOP senators in a letter to Biden cited reports Huawei would likely buy most of the semiconductors made at the new factory, which would have capacity to produce chips of up to 14 nanometers. The first chips are expected to be available in the first half of next year. The other signers are: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. “This would represent a dangerous leap in Chinese semiconductor manufacturing, as Chinese chipmakers have thus far only been able to produce 7-nanometer chips in limited quantities,” the senators wrote Biden. “With these new chips for its base stations, Huawei could resume its march towards 5G market dominance,” and the Chinese Communist Party “will advance its plan to control global telecommunications and extend its economic espionage and repression.” The lawmakers said they’re “deeply concerned that, despite the obvious threat that PXW poses, your administration has taken no official steps to delay the project’s progress, despite being aware of the project for some time.” The Bureau of Industry and Security’s “apparent inaction” in not already placing PXW on its entity list “is a dereliction of duty” given the company’s “clear connection with Huawei,” the Republicans said: “As far as we can tell, Commerce has not sent a single ‘informed’ letter to any entities potentially working with PXW, ordering them to halt all shipments to and transactions with the factory.” BIS and Huawei didn’t immediately comment.

Government regulations and mandates, and growing consumer awareness, are expected to drive a 26% compound annual average growth rate (CAAGR) for electric vehicles through 2026, with shipments approaching 54.1 million units by 2029, reported Strategy Analytics Thursday. That will drive demand for xEV powertrain semiconductors, which are estimated to have a CAAGR of 31% to $27.3 billion over the forecast period. Battery-driven EVs will comprise the largest market for powertrain semiconductors at 82%, growing at a 39% CAAGR; chips for hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric powertrains are included in the forecast. “Semiconductors required for power electronics will comprise the largest market, with growth accelerating in line with the push towards battery electric vehicles and the move towards higher performing, more efficient wide bandgap semiconductors,” said analyst Asif Anwar.

Samsung pitched partnership opportunities and its role as a “total solution” fabless semiconductor company at Samsung Tech Day in San Jose Thursday. Samsung’s System LSI Business’ fabless IC design house offers about 900 products, including SoCs, image sensors, modems, display driver and power management ICs and security solutions; it plans to merge the various logic technologies into one platform to deliver optimized solutions to customers as part of what it calls “the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” A company goal is to improve the importance of its logic chips to a level that they can “carry out human tasks just as well as people can.” To get there, it will collaborate with leading global industry companies to improve performance of its intellectual property in neural processing units and modems, central processing units and graphics processing units, it said. The company introduced its fifth-generation 10-nanometer DRAM and eighth- and ninth-generation vertical NAND and said a 1-beta DRAM is under development with plans for mass production in 2023.

Micron Technology announced Tuesday a 20-year, $100 billion semiconductor project (see 2209300002) in Clay, New York, that it said will be the largest chip fabrication facility in the U.S. The fab will increase the domestic supply of memory and create nearly 50,000 New York jobs and about 9,000 “high-paying” Micron jobs, it said. The first $20 billion of investment is planned by the end of the decade and could eventually include four 600,000-square-foot cleanrooms, Micron said. The central New York fab will complement Micron’s previously announced fab in Boise, Idaho, and is part of its strategy to gradually increase American-made DRAM production to 40% of the company’s global output over the next decade, it said. Preparation work at the New York site will start next year, construction will begin in 2024 and production output will ramp in the latter half of the decade, “gradually increasing in line with industry demand trends,” the company said. Micron cited $5.5 billion in incentives from New York State over the life of the project, plus anticipated federal grants and tax credits from the Chips and Science Act as “critical to support hiring and capital investment.”

Samsung announced Tuesday its most advanced process technology, 1.4-nanometer, for mass production in 2027. At its Foundry Forum event in San Jose, the company cited market growth in high-performance computing, AI, 5G and 6G connectivity and automotive as drivers for innovation in semiconductor process technology. “The technology development goal down to 1.4nm and foundry platforms specialized for each application, together with stable supply through consistent investment are all part of Samsung’s strategies,” said Siyoung Choi, president-Samsung’s foundry business. The company is in mass production with its 3nm process technology and plans to introduce the 2nm process in 2025. Samsung plans to expand its production capacity for advanced nodes by more than three times by 2027.

Even before President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act into law Aug. 9 (see 2208090062), Analog Devices, Inc., had invested about $1 billion internally “to build out semiconductor fabrication capability” at its factories in Ireland and U.S. fabs in Beaverton, Oregon, and Camas, Washington, CEO Vincent Roche told a J.P. Morgan investment conference Tuesday. “We've been making sure that we secure ADI's manufacturing needs and the footprint that we need” at nodes of 18 nanometers and above, he said. “We've done that without Chips Act funding. We're taking a very, very hard look now at the resiliency of our supply chain at 90 nanometers and below.” ADI “flagged” to its investors that it expects an increase in capital expenditures in its manufacturing operations “over the next few years,” he said. “Any activity we take upon ourselves to build more resiliency in our manufacturing model, Chips Act funding either in Europe or America is something that we'll be in conversation on.” ADI deploys a “hybrid manufacturing model,” said Roche. “We're not intending to build everything that we need inside ADI. We've had a very successful partnership with many of the brand-name foundries over the last several years. So we intend to work in a collaborative way with these vendors for the next several years.”