A Chinese nuclear research and development lab has gained access to U.S.-made semiconductors even though such institutions have been banned from making similar technological procurements for more than two decades. China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), a state-run institution that focuses on the testing, development, and research of nuclear weapons and related sciences, has successfully…

Commentary It was only six days before the 2016 American presidential election that the Obama administration finally had a public “aha” moment on the vital importance of semiconductors to the way we live now. The moment came when then-commerce secretary Penny Pritzker gave a speech in Washington in which she declared it was “imperative that…

News Analysis Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) recently announced the opening of a second chip plant in Arizona and increased its U.S. investment from $12 billion to $40 billion. President Joe Biden traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, on Dec. 6 to join the TSMC event. “American manufacturing is back, folks,” Biden said at the ceremony. “These…

Germany’s government on Wednesday blocked the sale of two of its semiconductor factories to Chinese-owned companies, citing security concerns. “We have prohibited a non-Union investor from entering into business ventures in Germany,” the country’s economy minister Robert Habeck told reporters in front of the German chancellor’s office on Wednesday. He added that the decision came because…

China has hit Taiwan with several economic sanctions following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile visit to the island. Among them is a ban on natural sand export to Taiwan aimed at hurting some of its industries, including semiconductors. However, Chinese media recently disclosed that China does not produce the high-purity sand required for chipmaking…

Qualcomm agreed to buy an additional $4.2 billion in semiconductor chips from GlobalFoundries’s New York factory, bringing its total commitment to $7.4 billion in purchases through 2028, according to a filing released Monday. The announcement expands on a prior $3.2 billion purchasing agreement between the two companies and will produce chips for use in 5G…

As every aspect of modern life becomes more and more digitized, not just the economies of nations but their sovereign influence will rely more and more on the command of technology. Although the United States and China are not engaged in traditional warfare, they are engaged in a war of ideas, trade, and technology, especially…

At least eight senior officials in China’s semiconductor chip industry were sacked in the past months. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) watchdog—Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)—announced most of the cases in late July, while state-run media announced some other cases. Both CCDI and the media said the eight officials were under investigation. “Under investigation”…

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday that lawmakers appear to be moving to carve off $52 billion in semiconductor chips manufacturing subsidies from a larger bill on boosting U.S. competitiveness with China. “Things seem to be coalescing around the path of chips, or maybe chips plus a thing or two, and getting…

PARIS—For Emilie Malherbe, choosing the color of her brand new Renault Arkana SUV was easy because only three were available: black, pearl-white, and gray. She and her husband swiftly settled on gray because what mattered most was getting the car delivered quickly. “We heard on television that we could face delays of six to eight…