Weekly News Bulletin Oct 17, 2025

Weekly Semiconductor Industry News Brief

① WOTE Acquires Valqua Sealing Business to Expand Semiconductor Material Layout

Shenzhen WOTE Advanced Materials announced its board approved the acquisition of 100% equity in Valqua Sealing Products (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. from Japan’s Valqua for RMB 25.716 million (tax included). The transaction has won shareholder approval and administrative registration is underway, turning the target into a wholly-owned subsidiary.

② Monash University Develops Novel Microfluidic Chip

A Monash University research team has developed a new microfluidic chip mimicking human brain neural pathways, paving new paths for next-generation neuromorphic computing.

③ Domestic 12-inch SiC Achieves New Breakthrough with Effective Thickness Over 35mm

Following its 12-inch N-type SiC monocrystal developed in Q2, Tiancheng Semiconductor produced high-purity semi-insulating 12-inch SiC monocrystal using self-developed crystal growth equipment. The valid thickness of its 12-inch N-type SiC wafer exceeds 35 mm.

④ Li Auto & United Nova: SiC MOS Wafers Start Mass Delivery

On October 13, United Nova held a partner exchange meeting with Li Auto and an offline ceremony for bare SiC wafers, marking major progress in their deep cooperation on silicon carbide products. Senior executives from both firms attended the event.

⑤ Hon Hai Partners with NVIDIA to Build Kaohsiung AI Factory

At OCP Global Summit 2025 in San Jose on October 13, Hon Hai Technology Group announced cooperation with NVIDIA to deploy the 800V HVDC power architecture and build infrastructure for future AI Factories in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

⑥ OpenAI Teams Up with Broadcom on 10GW Custom AI Chips

According to the October 13 announcement, OpenAI and Broadcom will jointly develop custom AI chips and network racks supporting 10GW scale. Broadcom’s stock surged nearly 10% and market value rose over USD 150 billion after the news.

⑦ Kioxia and SanDisk’s Kitakami Fab2 Begins Operation, Mass Production Due H1 2026

Kioxia and SanDisk announced Kitakami Fab2 (K2) in Iwate Prefecture, Japan has officially gone into operation.

⑧ Hantian Advanced: Global Demand for 8-inch SiC Wafers to Surpass 3.8 Million Pieces

According to Hantian Advanced’s prospectus, global shipments of 8-inch SiC epitaxy wafers will jump from 100,000 pieces in 2024 to 3.8 million pieces in 2029, representing a 94.2% CAGR. The world’s top five SiC chip manufacturers have collectively invested more than USD 25 billion.

⑨ Intel Launches New Data Center GPU Codenamed Crescent Island

At OCP Global Summit on October 14, Intel unveiled its new data center GPU Crescent Island. Built on Xe3P microarchitecture with up to 160GB LPDDR5X, it targets surging AI inference workloads and represents another milestone for Intel in data center GPUs.

⑩ Groundbreaking for RMB 1 Billion Expansion Project with Annual Output of 6 Million High-Precision Wafer Substrates

On the morning of October 11, Zhejiang Baisheng Optoelectronics held the groundbreaking ceremony for its expansion project capable of producing 6 million high-precision wafer substrates per year.

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