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Tag: Semiconductor

  • Fact-checking Rep. Claudia Tenney on Micron plant

    Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney, whose congressional district stretches across much of Central New York, recently took credit for helping push forward a major semiconductor factory in Clay, N.Y., north of Syracuse.

    “It was exciting to break ground with @MicronTech on its historic investment in New York State,” Tenney posted on X Jan. 16. “This project will create 50,000 jobs and strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing across NY. I was honored to lead this effort in the House as Congress reaffirmed America’s commitment to long-term innovation & competitiveness.”

    Tenney touted her role in advancing the Micron plant, but her connection to the project is more complicated than her post acknowledged.

    Tenney’s office did not respond to inquiries for this article.

    What is the Micron plant in Clay, N.Y.?

    Micron, one of the United States’ largest producers of computer memory and data storage, is building a $100 billion “megafab” facility that will produce semiconductors, a key component of consumer and industrial electronics. 

    Upon completion, it is poised to become the country’s largest such plant. According to Micron, the Clay facility will include 2.4 million square feet of clean room space, or the size of about 40 American football fields. The $100 billion in expenditures will be spread over at least 20 years.

    Micron and public officials have projected that the plant will create upwards of 50,000 jobs, potentially providing a major boost to central New York’s faltering economy. 

    What has Tenney’s role been?

    Recently, Tenney has been a supporter of the plant. She was one of several high-ranking officials at the groundbreaking. Other attendees included Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., and New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul. 

    In 2022, Tenney opposed a key piece of legislation that made the Micron plant possible: the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed by then-President Joe Biden. The bill was designed to promote U.S. high-tech manufacturing through federal funding and incentives.

    On the eve of the bill’s signing, Micron wrote in a news release that it was announcing $40 billion in manufacturing investment because the CHIPS and Science Act made it possible for the company to “move toward this significant, long-term investment plan with confidence.”

    When the CHIPS and Science Act was being debated in the House — and before Micron had chosen Clay as the location — Tenney explained her opposition by saying the bill “lacks critical guardrails and includes loopholes that in the long run could benefit China.” She said that “much of the supported research under this bill will be executed in partnership with universities, which we know are notoriously vulnerable to Chinese espionage.”

    In December 2024, the U.S. Commerce Department finalized more than $6 billion in federal funds for Micron to assist in its New York and Idaho plants.

    Since the bill was signed into law and Micron announced the plant would be in New York, Tenney has become more supportive.

    In May 2025, Tenney and 20 bipartisan colleagues introduced the Building Advanced Semiconductor Investment Credit, or BASIC, Act, which builds on provisions of the CHIPS and Science Act. The legislation would increase the advanced manufacturing investment credit from 25% to 35% and extend its availability through Dec. 31, 2030.

    This bill was enacted as part of Trump’s signature tax and spending law in 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

    Tenney’s shifting positions on the value of the CHIPS and Science Act led to a community note on her X post, which cited her vote against the bill.

    Our ruling

    Tenney said she has led the House effort to build a large Micron semiconductor facility near Syracuse.

    Her role has been more complicated than that. In 2022, Tenney voted against the CHIPS and Science Act, which eventually provided billions of dollars in federal support for the Micron plant. 

    However, in 2025, she offered a bill that was enacted and signed by Trump that expanded and extended a key provision of the CHIPS and Science Act.

    The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it Half True.

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  • A timeline of the US semiconductor market in 2025 | TechCrunch

    Last year was a tumultuous one for the U.S. semiconductor industry.  

    From leadership changes at legacy companies to continuously changing dialogue around AI chip export controls, a lot has happened. If the first few weeks of 2026, which saw new chip tariffs and international semiconductor deals, are any indicator — this year will be as unexpected as the last.  

    But before we get too deep into 2026, here is a final look at everything that happened in the U.S. semiconductor industry in 2025:  

    December

    Nvidia finds gold with Groq 

    December 24: Nvidia announced that it struck a non-exclusive licensing deal with chip maker Groq. While this wasn’t an acquisition, Nvidia hired Groq’s founder and president, in addition to other employees. The company also bought $20 billion worth of Groq’s assets.  

    Chips to China 

    December 8: The U.S. Department of Commerce decided that Nvidia and AMD can send AI chips to China after all, a stark reversal to past messaging. The U.S. government specifically said Nvidia could sell its H200 chips, which are much more advanced than its H20 chips, to approved customers.  

    November 

    Nvidia keeps climbing 

    November 19: Nvidia reported record results in its third-quarter earnings report. The company racked up $57 billion in revenue in Q3, a 66% increase over the same quarter in 2024. A large portion of that revenue came from Nvidia’s data center business.  

    October

    Intel makes processor progress 

    October 9: Intel announced a new processor, dubbed Panther Lake, that is part of the company’s Intel Core Ultra processor family. This will be the first one built on the company’s 18A semiconductor process and will be exclusively made at Intel’s Arizona fab factory.  

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    September

    A taste of tariffs 

    September 26: We got the first inkling of what the Trump administration’s semiconductor tariffs could look like at the end of September. Rumors started swirling that the administration would require semiconductor companies to produce the same volume of chips domestically as they do internationally, or they would otherwise be subject to tariffs.  

    China shuts out Nvidia 

    September 17: China’s campaign against Nvidia continued when the country told its domestic companies not to buy Nvidia’s chips. The Cyberspace Administration of China banned local companies from buying Nvidia’s chips in an effort to boost domestic chip sales.  

    China calls out Nvidia

    September 15: Despite being given a loose green light to start selling chips again in China, the process was not going to be smooth sailing for Nvidia. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation ruled that Nvidia violated the country’s antitrust regulations regarding the company’s 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies.  

    A leadership shakeup

    September 9: Just a few short weeks after the U.S. government took an equity stake in Intel, the company made some notable leadership changes. Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the chief executive officer of Intel products, departed after three decades. The company also created a central engineering group.  

    August

    Nvidia reports record quarter

    August 27: The turmoil in the semiconductor market over the year had clearly not hurt Nvidia. On August 27, the company reported that it had record sales in the second quarter. The highlights were the growth of its data center business, which saw its revenue grow 56% year over year.

    U.S. Government takes equity stake in Intel

    August 22: The U.S. government announced it was converting existing government grants into a 10% stake in Intel. The deal was structured to penalize Intel if the company’s ownership in its foundry program dropped below 50%.

    SoftBank takes a stake in Intel

    August 18: Japanese conglomerate SoftBank announced it was taking a $2 billion stake in Intel. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son called the deal “strategic.” The transaction was announced as rumors were swirling that the U.S. was going to take a stake in the company.

    Chip companies strike a deal to sell in China

    August 12: Nvidia and AMD announced that they struck a deal with the U.S. government to gain the necessary license to sell their AI chips in China. Both companies agreed to pay the U.S. government 15% of revenue from their chip sales in China.

    Trump and Lip-Bu Tan meet

    August 11: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan went to the White House to meet with President Trump. The pair talked about Tan’s past and how Intel can help the U.S. with its goal of bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. Both called the conversation productive.

    Trump comes for Lip-Bu Tan

    August 7: President Donald Trump demanded that Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan “resign immediately” due to “conflicts of interest” in a Truth Social post. While Trump didn’t clarify what the conflicts of interest were, this came the day after Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel’s board of directors inquiring about Tan’s ties to China.

    Trump says tariffs are coming for the industry

    August 5: President Donald Trump told CNBC’s Squawk Box that he was planning to announce tariffs on the semiconductor industry as soon as the following week. At the time, he didn’t mention specifics on what these tariffs could look like. As of September 5, no tariffs have been announced for this industry.

    July

    Intel spins out business unit

    July 25: Just one day after its second-quarter earnings call, Intel confirmed that it was spinning out its Network and Edge group, which is responsible for making chips for the telecom industry. The business unit produced $5.8 billion in revenue for the semiconductor company in 2024.

    Intel continues to look for efficiency

    July 24: Intel announced that it was pulling back on some of its manufacturing operations. The company said it will longer pursue its previously announced projects in Germany and Poland and that it was consolidating its test operations. Intel also announced it plans to end this year with around 75,000 employees.

    Trump’s AI Action Plan

    July 23: The Trump administration unveiled its much-anticipated AI Action Plan alongside multiple related executive orders. While the plan included a lot regarding the need for U.S. chip export controls and for the U.S. to coordinate with its allies on this effort, it didn’t provide concrete information on what those restrictions would look like.

    Groundbreaking UAE AI deal reportedly on hold

    July 17: The Trump administration helped foster a groundbreaking deal in May that resulted in a commitment from the United Arab Emirates to buy billions of dollars’ worth of AI chips from Nvidia. But now that deal was reportedly on hold as the U.S. worked through national security concerns and fears that those chips could be smuggled from the Middle East to China.

    Nvidia is a bargaining chip

    July 16: A day after semiconductor firms like Nvidia and AMD got the green light to resume selling certain AI chips to China, we found out why. U.S. Commerce Security Howard Lutnick said the plans to allow U.S. companies to start selling AI chips in China are tied to ongoing trade discussions between the U.S. and China regarding rare earth elements.

    U.S. chips head back to China

    July 14: Nvidia said it was filing an application to restart sales of H20 AI chips in China, confirming rumors from a few weeks prior. The company also announced that it would be selling a new chip, the RTX Pro, which was designed specifically for the Chinese market.

    Malaysia fights chip smuggling

    July 14: Malaysia announced that it was launching trade permits for U.S.-made AI chips. Under this new restriction, any individual or business would need to give the Malaysian government 30 days’ notice before exporting any U.S. AI chips.

    June

    Intel appoints new leadership

    June 18: Intel announced four new leadership appointments that Intel said will help it move toward its goal of becoming an engineering-first company again. Intel announced a new chief revenue officer in addition to multiple high-profile engineering hires.

    Intel began layoffs

    June 17: Intel began laying off a significant chunk of its Intel Foundry staff in July, according to various media reports. The company later confirmed it was restructuring. Reports said it planned to eliminate 15% to 20%, of workers in that business unit. These layoffs weren’t a shock: Layoffs were rumored back in April, and Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan had said he wants to flatten the organization.

    Nvidia won’t report on China

    June 13: Nvidia wasn’t counting on the U.S. backing off from its AI chip export restrictions. After the company took a financial hit from the newly imposed licensing requirements on its H20 AI chips, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company will no longer include the Chinese market in future revenue and profit forecasts.

    AMD acquired the team behind Untether AI

    June 6: AMD made another acquisition — this time focused on talent. The company acqui-hired the team behind Untether AI, which develops AI inference chips, as the semiconductor giant continues to round out its AI offerings.

    AMD is coming for Nvidia’s AI hardware dominance

    June 4: AMD continued its shopping spree. The company acquired AI software optimization startup Brium, which helps companies retrofit AI software to work with different AI hardware. With a lot of AI software being designed with Nvidia hardware in mind, this acquisition isn’t surprising.

    May

    Nvidia laid out the impact of chip export restrictions

    May 28: Nvidia reported that U.S. licensing requirements on its H20 AI chips cost the company $4.5 billion in charges during Q1. The company expected these requirements to result in an $8 billion hit to Nvidia’s revenue in Q2.

    AMD acquired Enosemi

    May 28: AMD kicked off its acquisition spree. The semiconductor company announced that it acquired Enosemi, a silicon photonics startup. Enosemi’s tech, which uses light photons to transmit data, is becoming an increasing area of interest for semiconductor companies.

    Tensions started to flare between China and the U.S.

    May 21: China’s Commerce Secretary didn’t like the U.S. guidance, issued on May 13, that warned U.S. companies that using Huawei’s AI chips “anywhere in the world” was a U.S. chip export violation. The commerce secretary issued a statement that threatened legal action against anyone caught enforcing that export restriction.

    Intel began the process to offload units

    May 20: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan seemingly got right to work on his plan to spin out Intel’s non-core business units. Back in May, the semiconductor giant was reportedly looking to offload its Networking and Edge units, which make chips for telecom equipment, and was responsible for $5.4 billion of the company’s 2024 revenue.

    The Biden administration’s AI Diffusion rule was officially dead

    May 13: Just days before the Biden administration’s Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Rule was set to go into place, the U.S. Department of Commerce formally rescinded it. The DOC said that it plans to issue new guidance in the future, and in the meantime, companies should remember that using Huawei’s Ascend AI chips anywhere in the world is a violation of U.S. export rules.

    A last-minute reversal

    May 7: Just a week before the “Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion” was set to go into place, the Trump administration planned on taking a different path. According to multiple media outlets, including Axios and Bloomberg, the administration wouldn’t enforce the restrictions when they were supposed to start on May 15 and is instead working on its own framework. 

    April

    Anthropic doubles down on its support of chip export restrictions

    April 30: Anthropic doubled down on its support for restricting U.S.-made chip exports, including some tweaks to the Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion, like imposing further restrictions on Tier 2 countries and dedicating resources to enforcement. An Nvidia spokesperson shot back, saying, “American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters.’” 

    Planned layoffs at Intel

    April 22: Ahead of its Q1 earnings call, Intel said it was planning to lay off more than 21,000 employees. The layoffs were meant to streamline management, something CEO Lip-Bu Tan has long said Intel needed to do, and help rebuild the company’s engineering focus. 

    The Trump administration further restricts chip exports

    April 15: Nvidia’s H20 AI chip got hit with an export licensing requirement, the company disclosed in an SEC filing. The company added that it expected $5.5 billion in charges related to this new requirement in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year. The H20 was the most advanced AI chip Nvidia can still export to China in some fashion. TSMC and Intel reported similar expenses the same week. 

    Nvidia appears to talk its way out of further chip exports

    April 9: Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang was spotted attending dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, according to reports. At the time, NPR reported Huang may have been able to spare Nvidia’s H20 AI chips from export restrictions upon agreeing to invest in AI data centers in the U.S. 

    An alleged agreement between Intel and TSMC

    April 3: Intel and TSMC allegedly reached a tentative agreement to launch a joint chipmaking venture. This joint venture would operate Intel’s chipmaking facilities, and TSMC would have a 20% stake in the new venture. Both companies declined to comment or confirm. If this deal doesn’t come to fruition, this is likely a decent preview of potential deals in the industry to come. 

    Intel warned it will spin off non-core assets

    April 1: CEO Lip-Bu Tan got to work right away. Just weeks after he joined Intel, the company announced that it was going to spin off non-core assets so it could focus. He also said the company would launch new products, including custom semiconductors for customers. 

    March

    Intel names a new CEO 

    March 12:  Intel announced that industry veteran and former board member Lip-Bu Tan would return to the company as CEO on March 18. At the time of his appointment, Tan said Intel would be an “engineering-focused company” under his leadership. 

    February

    Intel’s Ohio chip plant gets delayed again

    February 28: Intel was supposed to start operating its first chip fabrication plant in Ohio this year. Instead, the company slowed down construction on the plant for the second time in February. Now the $28 billion semiconductor project won’t wrap up construction until 2030 and may not even open until 2031.

    Senators call for more chip export restrictions

    February 3: U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo), wrote a letter to Commerce Secretary Nominee-Designate Howard Lutnick, urging the Trump administration to further restrict AI chip exports. The letter specifically referred to Nvidia’s H20 AI chips, which were used in the training of DeepSeek’s R1 “reasoning” model. 

    January 

    DeepSeek releases its open “reasoning” model

    January 27: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek caused quite the stir in Silicon Valley when it released the open version of its R1 “reasoning” model. While this isn’t semiconductor news specifically, the sheer alarm in the AI and semiconductor industries DeepSeek caused continues to have ripple effects on the chip industry. 

    Joe Biden’s executive order on chip exports

    January 13: With just a week left in office, former president Joe Biden proposed sweeping new export restrictions on U.S.-made AI chips. This order created a three-tier structure that determined how many U.S. chips can be exported to each country. Under this proposal, Tier 1 countries faced no restrictions; Tier 2 countries had a chip purchase limit for the first time; and Tier 3 countries got additional restrictions. 

    Anthropic’s Dario Amodei weighs in on chip export restrictions

    January 6: Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei co-wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal endorsing existing AI chip export controls and pointing to them as a reason why China’s AI market was behind the U.S. He also called on incoming president Donald Trump to impose further restrictions and to close loopholes that have allowed AI companies in China to still get their hands on these chips.

    This story was originally published on May 9, 2025, and is regularly updated with new information.

    Rebecca Szkutak

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  • China says Nvidia violated antitrust regulations | TechCrunch

    Trade tensions between China and the U.S. regarding semiconductors just got even more strained.

    On Monday, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation ruled that semiconductor giant Nvidia was in violation of the country’s antitrust regulations, as first reported by Bloomberg. The ruling was in reference to Nvidia’s 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, a computer networking supplier, for $7 billion.

    An Nvidia spokesperson supplied the following statement, “We comply with the law in all respects. We will continue to cooperate with all relevant government agencies as they evaluate the impact of export controls on competition in the commercial markets.”

    China didn’t announce any consequences tied to its findings and will continue to investigate. Still, the ruling is likely to cast a pall over ongoing tariff negotiations between the U.S. and China, currently taking place in Madrid. While these trade discussions aren’t specifically about semiconductors, the question of Chinese access to Nvidia chips is a major point of contention between the two regimes.

    The outgoing Biden administration announced its AI Diffusion Rule back in January that was meant to restrict U.S.-made AI chips to many countries, with further restrictions specifically for China and other adversaries.

    While the U.S. Department of Commerce formally repealed Biden’s AI rule in May, the future of AI chip exports to China remains in flux. The Trump administration slapped licensing agreements on chips heading to China in April. A few months later, in July, these companies were given the green light to start selling these chips again.

    Just a few weeks after that the country struck a deal requiring companies selling chips to China to give the U.S. a 15% cut of the revenue made on those sales. China has discouraged firms from buying Nvidia chips and, as of a recent earnings call, none of the company’s chips have made it through the new export process.

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  • Malaysia’s SkyeChip unveils the country’s first edge AI processor | TechCrunch

    Malaysia has developed its first domestic edge AI processor.

    Malaysian chip design company SkyeChip announced its MARS1000 processor at an industry event on Monday, Bloomberg reported. While an edge processor isn’t as powerful as an advanced Nvidia chip, it still represents a technological milestone for Malaysia, which is looking to play a bigger role in the global AI race.

    Malaysia already has a foothold in the chip manufacturing sector and has recently increased its efforts and investment around AI. The country announced the creation of the Malaysian National AI Office in late 2024, an agency that plans to focus on seven areas, including the acceleration of AI adoption, AI adoption regulatory frameworks, and AI ethics.

    It was rumored in early July that the Trump administration was considering restricting the sale of U.S. AI chips to Malaysia, and Thailand, in an attempt to prevent smuggling of these chips to China.

    While those rumors have yet to come to fruition, Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry announced that it was going to require trade permits for U.S. AI chips on July 14. This rule means individuals and companies are required to notify the Malaysian government at least 30 days in advance if they plan to export or transship U.S.- made AI chips.

    Rebecca Szkutak

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  • SMH ETF: Exposure to Nvidia and Other Top Chip Stocks

    SMH ETF: Exposure to Nvidia and Other Top Chip Stocks

    It’s hard to look past Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) these days, but it’s important to remember that there are also plenty of other great semiconductor (chip) stocks out there. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) enables investors to gain exposure to both Nvidia and other attractive opportunities within the semiconductor space.

    I’m bullish on SMH based on its strong portfolio of top semiconductor stocks, which are performing well and harbor significant long-term growth potential, as well as its incredible track record of generating strong returns for its holders. We’ve covered SMH previously; it has performed well since then and continues to look like a compelling opportunity for the long term.

    What Is the SMH ETF’s Strategy?

    SMH is the largest dedicated semiconductor ETF. According to sponsor VanEck, SMH invests in the “MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index (MVSMHTR), which is intended to track the overall performance of companies involved in semiconductor production and equipment.”

    VanEck highlights the fact that these are highly liquid stocks, industry leaders, and companies with global scale.

    Portfolio of Compelling Semiconductor Stocks 

    SMH owns 26 stocks, and its top 10 holdings make up 76.2% of the fund. Below, you’ll find an overview of SMH’s top 10 holdings using TipRanks’ holdings tool.

    While the fund isn’t particularly diversified, it gives investors substantial exposure to Nvidia (which has a large weighting of 24.6%) and other top semiconductor stocks, including Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and more.

    Were it not for Nvidia’s 209.6% gain over the past year, it’s likely that we’d be hearing more about Broadcom and its 111.8% gain. But the semiconductor and software infrastructure giant is now knocking on the door of becoming one of the world’s 10 largest companies and is worthy of plenty of attention on its own accord. The stock is a long-term winner that has generated an incredible total return of 3,168% over the past decade.

    It’s also an underrated dividend growth stock that has increased its dividend payout for 13 straight years and grown this payout at an impressive 17.5% CAGR over the past five years. Additionally, like Nvidia, Broadcom has a stock split of its own coming up.

    The company recently announced that it will execute a 10-for-1 stock split, which will go live on July 12th. While stock splits don’t necessarily make a fundamental difference, they can drive considerable interest and momentum in a stock, as we recently saw with Nvidia. They can also make the stock more accessible to smaller investors and retail investors.

    In addition to Broadcom, Taiwan Semiconductor is another one of the many attractive chip stocks among SMH’s top holdings.

    Taiwan Semiconductor is the world’s largest and most advanced chipmaker. Leading semiconductor companies like the aforementioned Nvidia, Broadcom, Qualcomm, and others go to Taiwan Semiconductor to manufacture the cutting-edge chips that they design and develop. This makes Taiwan Semiconductor an attractive picks-and-shovels play within the semiconductor space. The $786.1 billion company has seen its stock gain a cool 75.2% over the past year and hit a new all-time high.

    Next, Qualcomm, which is up 93.8% over the past year, has made a name for itself, as the company is developing cutting-edge semiconductors for everything from smartphones to automobiles and Internet of Things devices.

    Additional top 10 holdings, ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) and Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), are among the few companies in the world providing the high-tech tools and equipment that are used in the semiconductor manufacturing process, making them crucial parts of the semiconductor value chain with wide moats (competitive advantages).

    One thing that Broadcom, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Qualcomm all have in common is that they all feature “Perfect 10” Smart Scores. The Smart Score is a proprietary quantitative stock scoring system created by TipRanks. It gives stocks a score from 1 to 10 based on eight market key factors. A score of 8 or above is equivalent to an Outperform rating. Seven of SMH’s top 10 holdings feature Outperform-equivalent Smart Scores of 8 or above.

    Additionally, SMH boasts an Outperform-equivalent ETF Smart Score of 8.

    Sensational Long-Term Performance 

    SMH owns a strong collection of highly-rated semiconductor stocks, and it has also generated excellent returns for its holders for a long time, giving it a track record that’s hard to beat.

    As of May 31, SMH has delivered an enviable annualized three-year return of 25.5%. This stellar return easily trumps that of the broader market. The Vanguard S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:VOO) returned 9.6% on an annualized basis over the same time frame. It even beats the strong performance of the tech-focused Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLK), which delivered an annualized return of 15.9% over the same time span.

    Over a longer five-year timeframe, SMH has generated a scorching annualized return of 38.6%. This number again handily beats the broader market and XLK (VOO returned an annualized 15.8% over the same time frame, while XLK returned an annualized 25.2%). Note that these are both great returns, and SMH still beat them by a considerable margin.

    Even going back 10 years, SMH has produced a phenomenal annualized return of 27.8%, again beating both the broader market and the tech-focused XLK. VOO returned an annualized 12.7% over the same time frame, while XLK returned an annualized 20.3%.

    How High Is SMH’s Expense Ratio?

    SMH features a reasonable expense ratio of 0.35%, meaning that an investor in the fund will pay $35 on a $10,000 investment annually. This isn’t the lowest fee out there, as many broad market index funds charge lower fees. However, it is on par with its peers and reasonable enough for a sector-specific ETF, especially one that is performing as well as SMH.

    Is SMH Stock a Buy, According to Analysts?

    Turning to Wall Street, SMH earns a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 21 Buys, five Holds, and zero Sell ratings assigned in the past three months. The average SMH stock price target of $285.18 implies 7.5% upside potential from current levels.

    Investor Takeaway 

    In conclusion, I’m bullish on SMH because it provides investors substantial exposure to Nvidia and top semiconductor stocks like Broadcom, Taiwan Semiconductor, and others. Plus, its phenomenal returns over the past three, five, and 10 years give it an unassailable track record.

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  • Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and AMD’s Lisa Su Unveil Competing A.I. Chips at Computex 2024

    Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and AMD’s Lisa Su Unveil Competing A.I. Chips at Computex 2024

    Both Lisa Su and Jensen Huang spoke at Computex 2024 in Taipei this week. Photos by I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Images and SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images

    Jensen Huang and Lisa Su have a lot in common. In addition to their respective positions as CEOs of chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD), the two are both first-generation Americans hailing from the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan and are even distant cousins. As industry leaders in semiconductor manufacturing, they have also in recent years become key players amid the artificial intelligence (A.I.) boom. Huang and Su laid out their company roadmaps for the next generations of A.I. chips while taking the stage at Computex 2024, an annual tech trade show held in Taipei, Taiwan. Nvidia and AMD made a name for themselves with graphics processing units (GPUs) powering data centers that run generative A.I. models like OpenAI’s GPT and Google’s Gemini.

    Yesterday (June 2), before the conference officially kicked off, Huang announced a new A.I. chip platform called “Rubin,” expected to roll out in 2026. The announcement came less than three months after Nvidia unveiled its next-generation A.I. chip Blackwell, which has yet to hit the market. “I’m not sure whether I’m going to regret this or not. We have code names in our company and we try to keep them very secret—oftentimes most of our employees don’t even know,” Huang said. Rubin is named after the U.S. astronomer Vera Rubin.

    Both Blackwell and Rubin are in full development, said Huang, who noted they will be produced on a “one-year rhythm.” Blackwell will be made available later this year alongside the Blackwell Ultra in 2025 and the Rubin Ultra in 2027.

    “The pace of product releases from Nvidia is jaw-dropping, not just because the products are so incredible but also because they’re launching or announcing new products every six months when it used to be that the standard was 12 to 18 months,” Cory Johnson, chief market strategist at Futurum Group, told Observer. “Everyone else is playing catch-up, including AMD.”

    How AMD plans to catch up with Nvidia

    Huang gave his presentation solo, joined only by a group of robots as he discussed his vision for “physical A.I.” as the next wave of the technology—one that will see A.I.-powered robots able to work among humans. During her keynote today, Su brought out a series of AMD partners including Microsoft Windows chief Pavan Davuluri and HP CEO Enrique Lores before she divulged details on AMD’s A.I. chip timeline.

    Like Nvidia, AMD plans to develop new A.I. processors on an “annual cadence.” Following the launch of MI300X last year, the company in the fourth quarter of 2024 will make available its successor MI325X, which Su described as faster and offering more memory. This will be followed by the MI350 in 2025 and MI400 series in 2026. “It’s just so clear that the demand for A.I. is accelerating so much going forward,” said Su. “We’re really just at the beginning of a decade-long megacycle for A.I.”

    Nvidia, which accounts for around 70 percent of A.I. semiconductor sales, has a market capitalization of $2.8 trillion, while AMD’s measures at around $264 billion. Nvidia’s success has made Huang the world’s 14th wealthiest person with an estimated net worth of $99.8 billion. Su, meanwhile, has for five consecutive years been ranked the highest-paid female CEO in the U.S.

    Their recent announcements indicate a turning point in the tech industry, according to Johnson. “The pace of innovation is faster, and specifically the pace of product releases,” he said, adding that the developments are all the more impressive coming from Huang and Su. “It’s a pretty amazing thing, this day in the history of the world, to look up and see two Americans who were born in Taiwan leading innovation, really changing the world—and back in Taiwan talking about it.”

    Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and AMD’s Lisa Su Unveil Competing A.I. Chips at Computex 2024

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • South Korea aims to bolster local chip production with $19 billion of support

    South Korea aims to bolster local chip production with $19 billion of support

    South Korea is the latest country to support its local industry in a significant fashion. It’s trying to stay competitive with the likes of the US, China and Taiwan with the help of a 26 trillion won ($19 billion) support package. The country will extend tax breaks that were set to expire at the end of this year and provide financial support to chipmakers through the state-run Korea Development Bank, as reports.

    Amid large demand for chips to power AI systems and other computing needs, South Korea saw exports of semiconductors rise 56 percent in April compared with a year earlier. That’s despite fierce competition from the likes of Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TMSC). SK Hynix said it would bolster its AI chip manufacturing capacity in South Korea with an extra $14.6 billion investment, while Samsung replaced the leader of its semiconductor division to try and become more competitive.

    South Korea’s moves could help it keep pace with the US, which has been trying to ramp up domestic chip production to reduce its reliance on imports. Through the CHIPS Act, the US is subsidizing manufacturers such as , and . As it happens, one of the largest recipients of a CHIPS Act subsidy is , which is receiving up to $6.4 billion in federal funding for a new semiconductor plant in Texas.

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    Kris Holt

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  • Meta and Google announce new in-house AI chips, creating a “trillion-dollar question” for Nvidia

    Meta and Google announce new in-house AI chips, creating a “trillion-dollar question” for Nvidia

    Hardware is emerging as a key AI growth area. For Big Tech companies with the money and talent to do so, developing in-house chips helps reduce dependence on outside designers such as Nvidia and Intel while also allowing firms to tailor their hardware specifically to their own AI models, boosting performance and saving on energy costs.

    These in-house AI chips that Google and Meta just announced pose one of the first real challenges to Nvidia’s dominant position in the AI hardware market. Nvidia controls more than 90% of the AI chips market, and demand for its industry-leading semiconductors is only increasing. But if Nvidia’s biggest customers start making their own chips instead, its soaring share price, up 87% since the start of the year, could suffer.

    “From Meta’s point of view … it gives them a bargaining tool with Nvidia,” Edward Wilford, an analyst at tech consultancy Omdia, told Fortune. “It lets Nvidia know that they’re not exclusive, [and] that they have other options. It’s hardware optimized for the AI that they are developing.”

    Why does AI need new chips? 

    AI models require massive amounts of computing power because of the huge amount of data required to train the large language models behind them. Conventional computer chips simply aren’t capable of processing the trillions of data points AI models are built upon, which has spawned a market for AI-specific computer chips, often called “cutting-edge” chips because they’re the most powerful devices on the market. 

    Semiconductor giant Nvidia has dominated this nascent market: The wait list for Nvidia’s $30,000 flagship AI chip is months long, and demand has pushed the firm’s share price up almost 90% in the past six months. 

    And rival chipmaker Intel is fighting to stay competitive. It just released its Gaudi 3 AI chip to compete directly with Nvidia. AI developers—from Google and Microsoft down to small startups—are all competing for scarce AI chips, limited by manufacturing capacity. 

    Why are tech companies starting to make their own chips?

    Both Nvidia and Intel can produce only a limited number of chips because they and the rest of the industry rely on Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC to actually assemble their chip designs. With only one manufacturer solidly in the game, the manufacturing lead time for these cutting-edge chips is multiple months. That’s a key factor that led major players in the AI space, such as Google and Meta, to resort to designing their own chips. Alvin Nguyen, a senior analyst at consulting firm Forrester, told Fortune that chips designed by the likes of Google, Meta, and Amazon won’t be as powerful as Nvidia’s top-of-the-line offerings—but that could benefit the companies in terms of speed. They’ll be able to produce them on less specialized assembly lines with shorter wait times, he said.

    “If you have something that’s 10% less powerful but you can get it now, I’m buying that every day,” Nguyen said.

    Even if the native AI chips Meta and Google are developing are less powerful than Nvidia’s cutting-edge AI chips, they could be better tailored to the company’s specific AI platforms. Ngyuen said that in-house chips designed for a company’s own AI platform could be more efficient and save on costs by eliminating unnecessary functions. 

    “It’s like buying a car. Okay, you need an automatic transmission. But do you need the leather seats, or the heated massage seats?” Ngyuen said.

    “The benefit for us is that we can build a chip that can handle our specific workloads more efficiently,” Melanie Roe, a Meta spokesperson, wrote in an email to Fortune.

    Nvidia’s top-of-the-line chips sell for about $25,000 apiece. They’re extremely powerful tools, and they’re designed to be good at a wide range of applications, from training AI chatbots to generating images to developing recommendation algorithms such as the ones on TikTok and Instagram. That means a slightly less powerful, but more tailored chip could be a better fit for a company such as Meta, for example—which has invested in AI primarily for its recommendation algorithms, not consumer-facing chatbots.

    “The Nvidia GPUs are excellent in AI data centers, but they are general purpose,” Brian Colello, equity research lead at investment research firm Morningstar, told Fortune. “There are likely certain workloads and certain models where a custom chip might be even better.”

    The trillion-dollar question

    Ngyuen said that more specialized in-house chips could have added benefits by virtue of their ability to integrate into existing data centers. Nvidia chips consume a lot of power, and they give off a lot of heat and noise—so much so that tech companies may be forced to redesign or move their data centers to integrate soundproofing and liquid cooling. Less powerful native chips, which consume less energy and release less heat, could solve that problem.

    AI chips developed by Meta and Google are long-term bets. Ngyuen estimated that these chips took roughly a year and a half to develop, and it’ll likely be months before they’re implemented at a large scale. For the foreseeable future, the entire AI world will continue to depend heavily on Nvidia (and, to a lesser extent, Intel) for its computing hardware needs. Indeed, Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Meta was on track to own 350,000 Nvidia chips by the end of this year (the company’s set to spend around $18 billion on chips by then.) But movement away from outsourcing computing power and toward native chip design could loosen Nvidia’s chokehold on the market.

    “The trillion-dollar question for Nvidia’s valuation is the threat of these in-house chips,” Colello said. “If these in-house chips significantly reduce the reliance on Nvidia, there’s probably downside to Nvidia’s stock from here. This development is not surprising, but the execution of it over the next few years is the key valuation question in our mind.”

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    Dylan Sloan

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  • GlobalFoundries, politicians talk expansion

    GlobalFoundries, politicians talk expansion

    MALTA, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The message on Tuesday was clear: invest in America’s future by bringing back manufacturing. GlobalFoundries opened its first chip manufacturing site in Malta 15 years ago, the new investments will go towards expanding the existing site and building a new one next door. 

    “This is the future for upstate New York. This is the future for America, that we’re not making these things overseas anymore. We’re not gonna let foreign countries hold us hostage, they’re gonna be made right here in America and in Malta,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

    The semiconductor, or microchip, market is expected to double over the next decade. When the new chip fabrication site is fully operational, GlobalFoundries expects to produce more than 1 million chips a year, tripling its current output and that includes one specifically for the military.

    U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said this announcement is not just exciting for the Capital Region but for the nation as a whole. 

    “The Department of Defense will finally have a steady, secure, domestic supply of these chips. That’s a big deal, that is a big, big deal,” said Raimondo.

    The Department of Commerce awarded GlobalFoundries a record $1.5 billion grant to build a new fabrication site and expand the existing one, as part of the CHIPS and Science Act.

    Another $1.6 billion will be covered by loans and $575 million will be invested by News York state. The rest will be covered by the company. The project is slated to total more than $12 billion.

    GlobalFoundries President and CEO Dr. Thomas Caulfield said the expansion will create 1,500 permanent manufacturing jobs. 

    The company laid off about 220 employees in 2022. Caulfield said there may be potential to rehire some of those employees.

    “We are always looking to build our workforce and part of our industry, the cyclicality, has ebbs and flows in employment. More times than not we are growing more than we are shrinking,” said Caulfield.

    Governor Kathy Hochul believes this is the beginning of a historic shift that will change the nation’s trajectory by bringing back manufacturing.

    “Never again can we be so dependent on foreign supply chains and all the uncertainty around political circumstances that we have no control over. We can’t let our economy come down to that,” said Hochul. “We are competitive, we don’t like to lose.”

    A timeline for the project was not clear, however GlobalFoundries did share plans to develop workforce training programs with local colleges and universities. 

    $15 million will be invested in cultivating a local pipeline of talent, which will also include internship and apprenticeship programs, as well as K-12 STEM outreach.

    Carina Dominguez

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  • dpiX is Now InnovaFlex Foundry

    dpiX is Now InnovaFlex Foundry

    2023 Colorado Manufacturer of the Year dpiX Announces New Name: InnovaFlex Foundry


    COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 19, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    dpiX, a Colorado-based local semiconductor manufacturer and 2023 Colorado Manufacturer of the Year in the technology sector, today unveiled a major corporate rebranding to become InnovaFlex Foundry. The rebranding represents a strategic move in a new, innovative direction. Chief Executive Officer Lindsay Pack unveiled the new corporate identity alongside Mayor John Suthers, state representatives from Senator Michael Bennet and from Congressman Doug Lamborn, Commissioner Stan VanderWerf, and members of the Colorado Springs City Council at InnovaFlex headquarters. 

    The new corporate identity reflects InnovaFlex’s expanded commitment to innovation and growth in even more markets, building upon the company’s 20-year history of delivering high-quality digital imaging solutions to a range of industries including military, medical, industrial, and security imaging.

    “InnovaFlex’s new corporate identity represents a significant and strategic step forward for our company,” said Lindsay Pack, CEO. “As the only company in the U.S. to do what we do, we are excited to find new ways to push the boundaries of what’s possible in semiconductors, and we believe this new identity reflects our vision for the future of the industry.”

    The unveiling event included a presentation by Pack, showcasing the new corporate identity and its significance for the company’s future. Attendees were also able to view the new logo and branding, with a celebratory social following the announcement.

    About InnovaFlex Foundry

    InnovaFlex Foundry is a nontraditional semiconductor, design and manufacturer that has capabilities to create a variety of electronics on both glass and flexible substrates. InnovaFlex provides the foundation for some of today’s most innovative solutions in the military, medical, industrial, and security imaging businesses. At InnovaFlex, what we are doing is making a positive impact through collaboration, innovation, and technology. We believe the HOW we do things is as important as WHAT we do. To learn more, visit https://www.innovaflexusa.com.

    Source: InnovaFlex Foundry

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