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Industry

FCC grants Intel exemption on foreign-made robots for U.S. chip plants

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission granted Intel an exemption for foreign-made automated guided vehicles used at its U.S. semiconductor plants, allowing the company to partly avoid import restrictions in force since July. Intel said there were no proven U.S.-made substitutes that meet its needs and warned a disruption could quickly hit U.S. chip production. The waiver follows the FCC’s addition of advanced foreign-made robots to its covered list on national security grounds.

Industry

ASML lithography tools supply squeezed as AI boom fills production lines

Surging demand for AI semiconductors is straining supplies of ASML lithography tools, with the Dutch equipment maker saying planned capacity will not meet customer demand in 2027 and 2028. ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said demand forecasts keep rising as AI chip investment expands, and some customers are already showing interest in ordering tools for 2029 and 2030. The company plans to expand capacity and improve existing equipment performance.

Industry

Wafer supply bottleneck drives longer-term contracts

As supply bottlenecks for AI semiconductors spread from high-bandwidth memory and substrates to silicon wafers, long-term supply agreement terms have extended to as long as 10 years from a standard 3 to 5 years. Wafer capacity expansion has stalled while advanced packaging has increased wafer consumption. Micron provided $500 million in strategic financing to GlobalWafers and signed a 10-year agreement. South Korean memory makers are also shifting toward 5-year-plus lock-in and capacity-linked contracts.