➀ EnSilica, a mixed-signal ASIC designer, has opened a second design centre in Brazil;

➁ The new centre is in Campinas, São Paulo State, complementing the company's existing facility in Porto Alegre;

➂ The expansion is driven by a multimillion-pound contract from an optical computing systems customer and aims to meet the growing demand for a resilient European-based supply chain.

Strathclyde University has received £9 million from Innovate UK to pursue semiconductor packaging R&D.

The goal is to create an advanced packaging line for power electronic semiconductors that will reduce packaging times from months to days.

Global material shortages, limited manufacturing capacity, and a lack of innovation facilities have left the UK supply chain dependent on international markets for key components, leading to long delays.

➀ HP has announced that by October 2025, 90% of its products for North America will be manufactured outside of China.

➁ The shift in production is a response to the Trump administration's imposition of prohibitive tariffs on imports from China.

➂ HP is working to restructure its production network to reduce reliance on China, historically a key manufacturing hub for North America.

➀ The Q4 Optical Transport equipment market grew approximately 45% y-o-y, despite the full-year market falling 13%;

➁ Dell’Oro’s VP Jimmy Yu suggests that the strong fourth quarter growth indicates near equilibrium in supply and demand;

➂ The market outside of China grew about 35% sequentially in 4Q 2024, with North America experiencing a third consecutive quarter of revenue increase.

➀ Farnell has expanded its industrial and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) offerings;

➁ The expansion includes new partnerships with Airotronics, Dwyer, Endress+Hauser, Pickering, Peltec, Siemens, SICK, Trimax, and TKD Kabel;

➂ Customers now have access to 18 product categories through a dedicated webpage.

➀ The approved IC design companies and semiconductor packaging and testing companies are mainly from Europe, the United States, and Taiwan, indicating a clear intention to decouple technology. It is necessary to build a complete and independent domestic electronic information industry chain.

➁ The requirement for sensitive chip outsourcing and the use of designated packaging and testing companies show that packaging and testing will be the next target of US suppression. It is necessary to enhance wafer manufacturing and packaging and testing capabilities, ensuring close cooperation among design, manufacturing, and packaging and testing companies.

➂ The safety of nodes above 16/14nm, such as 20nm and 28nm, will not be a concern as long as a complete and independent industry chain is formed.

➃ It is necessary to ensure the sufficient supply of 16/14nm process technology as soon as possible to avoid affecting the upgrade of many products.

➄ Short-term focus on technology optimization and capacity expansion of mature processes such as 28nm, and medium to long-term breakthroughs in special processes such as automotive chips and the third generation of semiconductor. In addition, accelerate the research and development of new materials and new architectures, such as SiC/GaN, computing-in-memory chips, and silicon photonics chips.

➀ Apple's supply chain management has been recognized as the best in the world since 2010, with Tim Cook further reducing suppliers to 24.

➁ Apple's supply chain diversification strategy helps reduce supply risks and strengthens control over the supply chain.

➂ Suppliers like Imagination and Dialog have faced challenges due to Apple's shifting supply chain strategy.

➃ Cirrus Logic, an Apple key supplier, provides high-quality audio chips and has a long-standing partnership with Apple.

➄ Cirrus Logic's SoundClear technology is used by Amazon Voice Service for high-fidelity audio playback.

➅ Apple's supply chain strategy involves self-developed chips and maintaining a diverse supplier base.

➆ The high dependency on Apple poses risks for suppliers like Cirrus Logic.

➀ The transition from 6-inch to 8-inch SiC wafers is discussed, with experts expressing concerns about the readiness of the SiC industry for this shift.

➁ The importance of cost reduction and maintaining quality is emphasized, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities in the domestic SiC supply chain.

➂ The need for industry collaboration and the role of research institutions in advancing 8-inch SiC technology are highlighted.

➀ European chip giants Infineon, STMicroelectronics, and NXP have recently expressed the importance of the Chinese market and plan to produce chips in China to better serve Chinese customers;

➁ Infineon is localizing the production of some products in China to meet the needs of Chinese customers and address their concerns about supply security;

➂ NXP aims to establish a Chinese chip supply chain for its customers and has established a business relationship with SMIC and is exploring partnerships with TSMC Nanjing and Hua Hong Semiconductor;

➃ STMicroelectronics has announced a partnership with Hua Hong Hongli to produce 40nm MCUs in China by the end of 2025, meeting market demand and optimizing the supply chain;

➄ STMicroelectronics has been increasing its cooperation with Chinese companies, establishing a joint wafer manufacturing plant in Chongqing for 8-inch silicon carbide chips and setting up a packaging and testing factory in Shenzhen;

➅ China is the world's largest automotive market and the demand for automotive chips is leading globally, accounting for 23.56% of the global automotive chip market in 2023.

➀ NXP and World Advanced are constructing a 12-inch wafer factory in Singapore with an investment of 7.8 billion USD, aiming to start mass production in 2027 and reach a monthly capacity of 55,000 12-inch wafers by 2029.

➁ NXP is actively seeking to establish a supply chain in China to serve customers needing Chinese production capacity.

➂ NXP plans to move some chip front-end manufacturing to China and establish a complete Chinese supply chain.

➀ Cisco has issued a notice to suppliers to strictly enforce the provision of chip origin certificates, requiring products to be free of China-made chips;

➁ The standard for COO certification has been upgraded from the final packaging location to the production site of the chips and masks, to ensure no 'origin washing';

➂ Cisco's network communication equipment involves national security considerations, necessitating strict tracing of chip origin;

➃ Dell, another PC manufacturer, has also planned to stop using China-made chips by 2024;

➄ HP, another PC manufacturer, is transferring some production capacity out of China, with the exclusion of China-made chips in the supply chain still under evaluation;

➅ The exclusion of China-made chips by US manufacturers could have a severe negative impact on local supply chain vendors in China;

➆ If US manufacturers want to retain the Chinese market, they may not require the exclusion of China-made components in products sold in China.