Semiconductors

Nvidia in Early Talks with South Korean AI Chip Designer Rebellions

Nvidia is in early-stage discussions with South Korean AI semiconductor designer Rebellions regarding possible strategic tie-ups, including technology licensing partnerships, direct equity investments, or a full acquisition. Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang met with Rebellions co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Sunghyun Park at Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California, according to reporting from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter. The discussions remain preli

Micron Launches Micron Research Labs with $10B Commitment for AI Memory Architecture

Micron Technology announced on August 20, 2026, the creation of Micron Research Labs, a domestic long-horizon research institution headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Backed by a planned $10 billion investment across the next decade, the entity is designed to conduct precompetitive semiconductor and architecture research positioned upstream of commercial fabrication roadmaps. The funding operates independently from the more than $250 billion in domestic manufacturing and commercial development that

AI Chip Startup Fractile Seeks .5B Valuation on 00M Round After Anthropic Supply Deal

London-based semiconductor startup Fractile is in advanced negotiations to raise approximately $600 million at a $6.5 billion pre-money valuation, according to reports from Bloomberg. The funding round represents a steep escalation in valuation from the startup's previous round in May 2026, which valued the company at roughly $1 billion. The capital raise follows an initial supply agreement with Anthropic valued at approximately $250 million. Under the commercial arrangement, Fractile will supp

SK Hynix Announces 9 Billion Share Buyback to Calm AI Spending Worries

SK Hynix announced Wednesday it will buy back and cancel 40 trillion won ($28.61 billion) worth of treasury shares, allocating more than 50 percent of free cash flow generated between 2025 and 2027 to shareholder returns. The buyback, to be executed between August 20 and November 19, represents roughly 24 million shares. The company also said it would pursue an expansion of its total shareholder return target from the previous "within 50 percent of cumulative FCF" to "over 50 percent of cumulat

Samsung Raises 4nm and 5nm Foundry Prices up to 15% on AI Chip Demand

Samsung Electronics has raised prices for its most advanced contract chipmaking services by up to 15 percent for new orders, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as demand for AI chips tightens capacity at the South Korean foundry. The increases apply to Samsung's 4-nanometer SF4 and 5-nanometer SF5 process nodes. Prices for SF4 wafers rose 10 to 15 percent for customers in China and the United States from the previous month, while customers in Taiwan saw increases of 5 to 10 perc

Beijing Clears Initial Shipments of 10,000 Nvidia H200 Chips to ByteDance and Tencent

Chinese regulators have authorized the delivery of initial batches of Nvidia H200 artificial intelligence processors to mainland tech giants, marking a pivotal development in Beijing's management of high-performance compute access. According to reporting from the Financial Times, ByteDance and Tencent have each received roughly 10,000 H200 accelerators at their mainland data center facilities in recent weeks. Several additional domestic technology companies are currently awaiting clearance for

Etched in Talks to Raise 00M Led by Jane Street at 1B Valuation

AI inference chip startup Etched is in negotiations to raise $700 million in a new financing round led by existing investor Jane Street, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. The proposed financing would value the San Jose-based semiconductor company at approximately $21 billion. The planned round follows a $300 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital that valued the startup at $10.3 billion, effectively doubling its valuation within weeks amid intensifying enterprise demand for

Inside Pax Silica, the US push to weld AI supply chains to its allies

SK hynix commits $39 billion to two new fabs as AI memory demand reshapes its roadmap

SK hynix's board has approved 54 trillion won (about $39 billion) to build two new memory fabrication plants, the company announced on August 7, 2026, turning the first two arms of a much larger investment plan into funded construction schedules. The larger project, Y2, is the second fab at the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. At 35.2 trillion won it is a DRAM plant of roughly 1.13 million square meters, with ground breaking set for July 2027 and its first cleanroom opening in June 2029 to produce