June 20, 2025

Round-up

Highlights

1. SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son floated a US $1 trillion “AI Mega-Hub” in Arizona—a campus that would mix chip fabs, robotics R&D and renewable energy, signalling that the post-CHIPS-Act gold-rush is far from over.¹
2. Nvidia and Foxconn plan to staff a new Houston GB300 server plant with humanoid robots as soon as Q1 2026, a first for large-scale AI-server production and a major showcase for robotics inside the semiconductor supply chain.²
3. China’s rare-earth magnet exports plunged 52.9 % month-on-month in May, the steepest drop since early-2020, reviving memories of 2010-era material shocks for motor, EV and chip-package makers.³

Other developments

• Beijing–Brussels video call seeks détente after EV-tariff barbs and fresh export-control skirmishes.⁴
• White House AI czar David Sacks warns that China is “no more than two years” behind the US in chip design—and increasingly good at skirting controls.⁵
• SK hynix pushes custom HBM4E stacks for Nvidia and Microsoft, while Samsung hunts to catch up.⁶
• Samsung’s 1c DRAM pilot lines reportedly hit 70 % yield, clearing the runway for HBM4 by year-end.⁷
• TSMC stock lags UMC after high-dividend ETFs shun the foundry giant, underlining how cash yields suddenly matter again.⁸
• AMD teases a cross-platform custom-chip roadmap that stretches well beyond Xbox into handhelds and cloud gaming.⁹

Did you know? Micro-LEDs pack up to 25,600 emitters in a 13 mm module—Audi’s new Q3 headlights use that density to project warnings directly onto the road.¹⁰

In-depth

1. Government & Corporate Policy

• Trade curbs squeeze critical materials

  • Beijing’s May shipments of rare-earth magnets fell to 1,238 t, a 74 % y/y collapse, after April’s export-licence overhaul.³
  • Auto, aerospace and chip-packaging sectors now face longer lead times and higher spot prices.

• China-EU try to cool tariff war

  • Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič discussed EV duties, export controls and market access in a video call on 20 June.⁴
  • Both sides pledged to “maintain stable supply chains,” but no concrete rollback was announced.

• Washington’s new rhetoric on design parity

  • AI policy chief David Sacks told Bloomberg that Chinese design teams trail the US by “at most two years,” stressing China’s growing prowess at routing around block-lists.⁵
  • The remark is already fuelling Congressional chatter about the next round of EDA-tool controls.

• Seoul backs regional AI infra

  • SK Group and Amazon Web Services will pour ₩7 trn (≈ US $5.1 bn) into a 100 MW AI-ready datacentre in Ulsan, endorsed by President Lee.¹¹
  • Officials claim the site could scale to 1 GW and anchor non-Seoul semiconductor investment.

2. Economics, Finance & Business Outlook

• SoftBank’s trillion-dollar moon-shot

  • Son’s concept bundles fabs, robotics factories and a power grid into a single Arizona “mega-campus.” SoftBank is seeking partners—and massive US incentives—to foot the bill.¹

• HBM money race heats up

  • SK hynix says its first custom HBM4E will sample in 2H 2026 for Nvidia and Microsoft, widening the gap with Samsung’s roadmap.⁶
  • Analysts expect contract premiums as high as 20 % for application-tuned stacks.

• Robotics as a cost lever

  • Nvidia-Foxconn estimate humanoid robots will cut assembly labour 20–30 % on the Houston GB300 line while improving cable-routing precision.²

• Dividend math dents TSMC sentiment

  • Taiwanese income ETFs now steer ~US $44 bn toward higher-yield UMC, leaving TSMC under-owned and 11 percentage points behind its smaller peer YTD.⁸

3. Technology & R&D

• Samsung’s 1c DRAM milestone

  • Yield rises to 70 %, clearing engineering exit and paving the way for HBM4 capacity by Q4—important for Nvidia’s 2026 Blackwell refresh.⁷

• Micro-LED headlights go mainstream

  • Audi’s 2025 Q3 uses DMD-based micro-LED clusters (25,600 LEDs per lamp) to project lane and hazard icons—an early automotive win for compound-semiconductor backplanes.¹⁰

• Tesla eyes 3 nm for FSD HW5

  • Rumours point to TSMC’s N3P node, targeting 2–2.5 kTOPS—4–5× HW4—before mass production in 2026.¹²

• AMD expands custom-silicon playbook

  • A new roadmap promises Ryzen-/Radeon-based SoCs for consoles, handhelds and cloud clients, with AI-assisted upscaling baked in from day one.⁹

Footnotes