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Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has revealed his latest venture after stepping down from the semiconductor giant. In a recent announcement on social media platform X, Gelsinger disclosed that he has become a seed investor in Fractile.ai, a UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup, signaling his ongoing interest in the rapidly evolving AI chip market.

On January 19, Li Auto officially opened its first overseas research and development (R&D) center in Germany. This marks the company's first step toward a global R&D strategy and highlights its commitment to advancing innovation on a global scale.

On January 21, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan's Chiayi region, with tremors affecting semiconductor giants TSMC and UMC's fabs in Tainan. Due to the seismic intensity exceeding level 4 in certain areas, both companies implemented immediate safety protocols, including personnel evacuation and equipment inspections. While no major equipment damage was reported, unavoidable wafer breakage occurred within furnace tube equipment.

On January 21, the Institute of Microelectronics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced a significant breakthrough: the successful development of China's first high-voltage radiation-resistant silicon carbide (SiC) power device. This achievement marks a new milestone for China in the field of semiconductor power devices.

The semiconductor industry has recently seen two significant acquisition developments: onsemi finalized its acquisition of Qorvo’s silicon carbide (SiC) JFET technology, while Lenovo acquired Israeli enterprise storage company Infinidat.

Samsung Electronics has announced a significant reduction in its 2025 capital expenditure (CapEx) for its foundry business due to weak market demand and sluggish orders in some segments. According to Korean media reports, Samsung's foundry CapEx for 2025 is projected at KRW 5 trillion, a sharp decline from the KRW 10 trillion allocated in 2024.

Record-Breaking Performance On January 23, 2025, SK Hynix reported its financial results for FY2024, ending December 31, 2024. The company achieved record annual revenue of KRW 66.193 trillion, up over KRW 21 trillion from its previous high in 2022, and an operating profit of KRW 23.467 trillion with a robust operating profit margin of 35%. Net profit reached KRW 19.797 trillion, with a net profit margin of 30%.

Silicon Motion (SMI) is reportedly developing its next-generation PCIe 6.0 solid-state drive (SSD) controller, the SM8466, utilizing advanced 4nm semiconductor process technology.Building on its legacy with the SM8266 and SM8366 controllers for PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 enterprise-grade SSDs, the SM8466 is expected to target enterprise applications. This controller will support PCIe 6.0 x4 lanes, delivering a theoretical bandwidth of up to 30.25 GB/s—doubling the data transfer rate compared to PCIe 5.0-based SSDs.

According to a recent report from South Korean media outlet MoneyToday, Samsung has postponed the completion of its sixth-generation 10nm-class (1c) DRAM process development by six months, now targeting June 2025 for finalization. Originally planned for completion and production by the end of 2024, the delay is attributed to yield challenges, which have impacted the company’s timeline for high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) production.

Researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have developed a groundbreaking method to manufacture semiconductor materials with highly ordered crystal structures at room temperature. This innovative process could revolutionize the fields of optoelectronics and solar energy by significantly enhancing material efficiency.

On January 21, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan, with its epicenter located in Chiayi County, southern Taiwan. The earthquake occurred at 12:17 AM, and tremors were felt in nearby cities, including Tainan and Kaohsiung, with the strongest shaking reaching a 5-weak intensity. The tremors triggered an immediate response from TSMC, the world's leading semiconductor manufacturer, and other industrial facilities in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP).

On January 14, MACOM, a leading radio frequency (RF) semiconductor company, announced a significant investment of $345 million (approximately ¥2.52 billion CNY) to upgrade its semiconductor wafer manufacturing plants in Massachusetts and North Carolina.