ASML, TSMC, and imec move 2D transistors closer to manufacturing reality

ASML, TSMC, and imec have demonstrated a major advance in the effort to bring two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor materials from research laboratories into high-volume semiconductor manufacturing. At the 2026 IEEE/JSAP Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits, the partners unveiled a 300mm wafer integration flow that produced both n-type and p-type 2D-material transistors at a 50nm contacted poly pitch (CPP), marking the first time such scaled devices have been demonstrated using an industry-compatible process.

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Western Europe auto output set to fall by one-third by 2030, with Germany hit hardest

Western Europe’s auto industry is facing a deeper relocation shock, with passenger car and light commercial vehicle production projected to shrink by about one-third between 2015 and 2030 under pressure from slower-than-expected automotive electronics and electrification progress, geopolitics, trade tensions, and the shift toward localized manufacturing.

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China’s Nexchip breaks into foundry top eight after AI demand lifts market to record numbers

AI, high-performance computing, and early pull-ins from TV, PC, and notebook supply chains pushed the global foundry market to a record high in the first quarter of 2026. China’s Nexchip Semiconductor delivered the key ranking shift, overtaking Taiwan’s Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) for the first time to become the world’s eighth-largest foundry.

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