Catching up on some of the August news after the summer break, let’s start by briefly recalling Intel’s disappointing second-quarter results and the company’s cost-reduction plan: Intel will cut its headcount by more than 15%, with the majority completed by the end of 2024. Consistently with the cost-reduction plan, Intel has reportedly sold its share stake in Arm. More news this week include new solutions challenging Nvidia AI dominance, just when Nvidia’s Blackwell family is experiencing issues in reaching high volume production. According to SemiAnalysis, the problems are related to the complexity of TSMC’s CoWoS-L packaging technology and insufficient capacity for this specific version of the package.
TSMC’s European joint venture holds groundbreaking ceremony
On August 20, ESMC – a joint venture between TSMC, Bosch, Infineon and NXP – held a groundbreaking ceremony for its first semiconductor fab in Dresden, Germany. When fully operational, ESMC is expected to have a monthly production capacity of 40,000 300mm wafers on TSMC’s 28/22 nanometer planar CMOS and 16/12 nanometer FinFET process technology. Total investments are expected to exceed 10 billion euros consisting of equity injection, debt borrowing, and strong support from the European Union and German government.
Fraunhofer’s Chiplet Center of Excellence
Also based in Dresden, Germany, is the Chiplet Center of Excellence (CCoE) launched by three Fraunhofer Institutes with the purpose of partnering with industry to drive forward the introduction of chiplet technology. The CCoE will initially focus on automotive applications, developing the first workflows and methods for electronics design, demonstrator construction, and the evaluation of reliability. The Fraunhofer initiative adds to the already existing “Automotive chiplet program” from Belgian technology hub imec.
