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Stuart Pann is senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services

Intel Pans Inward for Foundry Boss; Is Tower Deal in Trouble?

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
The executive Intel has appointed to head its foundry division has no experience managing a contract chipmaker. Was Intel tired of waiting for regulators to approve its quest for Tower Semiconductor, the contract chipmaker it was expected to tap for a seasoned general manager?  

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. boss Russell Ellwanger will not be heading Intel Corp.’s foundry services business.

Read More »Intel Pans Inward for Foundry Boss; Is Tower Deal in Trouble?
Foxconn MIH Open EV platform

Ex-CTO of Foxconn’s EV Biz Levels Charges, Forced to Quit

By Judith Cheng

William Wei, who helped Foxconn launch its ambitious EV platform, has sued for wrongful termination two Foxconn executives, current CEO and chairman Young Liu  and HR chief Emily Hsia. Wei, formerly CTO of Foxconn’s EV business, says he was forced to resign and is now seeking compensation of Taiwan dollars $62 million (about US $2.06 million). 

In Wei’s place, Foxconn has hired Jun Seki as Chief Strategy Officer for EV. Seki, a seasoned executive who worked for Nissan Motor and the world’s largest electric motor maker Nidec Corp in Japan, now reports directly to Foxconn chairman and CEO Young Liu.

Read More »Ex-CTO of Foxconn’s EV Biz Levels Charges, Forced to Quit
Cruise in San Francisco

Cruise Gambles on a Build-Your-Own Strategy

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Autonomous vehicle company Cruise confirmed it is dumping Nvidia’s GPU and developing its own central compute engine for its AV. Cruise also said it is developing a chip for its radar and for other custom chips. Unclear is whether such an extreme measure – build instead of buy – will eventually help or hurt the fledgling AV company’s prospects.

Read More »Cruise Gambles on a Build-Your-Own Strategy

ASML Results Show Asia Will Retain Chip Production Dominance

By Bolaji Ojo

Semiconductors will continue to be manufactured and consumed principally in Asia for the foreseeable future even if efforts by governments to revive and increase chip production in Europe and North America succeed and surpass current expectations. That is the conclusion reached by the Ojo-Yoshida Report after reviewing the latest regional sales data from ASML N.V., the world’s No. 1 supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Read More »ASML Results Show Asia Will Retain Chip Production Dominance

ST and GlobalFoundries Plan New 300mm Europe Chip Plant

By Bolaji Ojo

STMicroelectronics NV and U.S.-based contract chipmaker GlobalFoundries Inc. said they have agreed to establish a new 300mm semiconductor manufacturing fab in France with “significant financial support” from the French government. They expect the new fab to start production in 2024 and become fully operational by 2026 when it should start producing up to 620,000 wafers per year.

Read More »ST and GlobalFoundries Plan New 300mm Europe Chip Plant