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Trade Wars
GlobalFoundries To Make Key AI Chip Component For TSMC In $2 Billion Deal
GlobalFoundries on Thursday said it has reached a $2 billion agreement to make a key component used to link AI processors and memory chips for TSMC at its New York facility. Known as a silicon interposer, the component sits beneath processors and memory chips inside advanced AI packages and enables them to communicate at high speeds. Under the five-year agreement, GlobalFoundries will expand manufacturing capacity at its Malta, New York, facility to produce the components for TSMC.
The Malta facility is expected to become the first US-based source of silicon interposers used in advanced chip-packaging technologies, the company said. The deal provides a framework for future capacity expansion as demand for advanced packaging grows, with volume production expected to begin ramping up in the first half of 2028. Advanced packaging has become a major constraint on AI chip production, as demand for the technology exceeds available manufacturing capacity
Read more at Reuters
Samsung Q3 Profit Jumps Nearly 9 Times To $80bn In AI Chip Boom
Samsung Electronics on Thursday projected its quarterly profit would top 100 trillion won, a world first for a technology company, estimating a nearly nine-fold jump in third-quarter earnings as booming demand for AI chips drove strong memory sales. The world's largest memory chipmaker estimated an operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($80.17 billion) for the July-September period, slightly ahead of an LSEG Smart Estimate of 106.1 trillion won. The forecast marks Samsung's fourth straight quarter of record operating profit, underscoring a deepening global memory chip shortage as AI infrastructure investment outpaces supply growth, which has driven chip prices up sharply.
Samsung and Micron expect the imbalance to persist into 2028, although Chinese competition and a potential slowdown in AI spending pose risks to the longer-term earnings outlook. Market research firm TrendForce expects conventional DRAM contract prices to rise 10% to 15% in the fourth quarter from the preceding quarter, much slower than a second-quarter surge of roughly 60%.
Read more at Reuters
As Cross-Border Shipping Gets More Complex, Trade Fraud Is Becoming a Supply Chain Problem
In 2024, U.S. imports from Mexico totaled about $503.1 billion, while imports from China totaled about $440.3 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Goods can move through multiple countries, ports, carriers and intermediaries before reaching their final destination. Canada provides a concrete example of this complexity: Statistics Canada found that more than 40% of Canadian imports originating in Mexico were shipped to Canada from the United States, while more than 25% of Canadian imports originating in China were first imported into the United States. In other words, the country where a product originates and the country from which it enters a market are not always the same.
For logistics leaders, these changes create an important question: Are we still treating trade fraud as primarily a compliance problem, when it has become an end-to-end supply chain problem? Most compliance processes have been designed around reviewing specific documents, transactions or rules. That approach remains necessary. But it becomes less effective when risk is distributed across multiple data points. Consider a shipment where the commercial invoice looks reasonable. The declared value falls within an expected range. The HS code appears valid. The tracking number exists.
Read more at Material Handling & Logistics
Wolfspeed Signs $1.5B DOD Loan For Semiconductor Production, R&D
Semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed has signed a $1.5 billion unconditional loan agreement with the Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital, the North Carolina-based company announced Wednesday. Wolfspeed plans to use the funds to upgrade its gallium nitride epitaxy capabilities for new communications infrastructure and electronic warfare systems, according to the press release. The money will also enable the wafer maker to develop ionizing radiation-resistant capabilities for its silicon carbide and future gallium nitride products. Additionally, Wolfspeed will be able to establish, expand and/or onshore low-voltage and high-voltage power device production capabilities.
The proposed loan will build on Wolfspeed’s silicon-carbide technology, intellectual property and manufacturing footprint at its facilities in North Carolina, New York and Arkansas, according to the release. The plans include additional volume at Wolfspeed’s Mohawk Valley Fab in Marcy, New York, and its Research Triangle Park location in Durham, North Carolina, Brad Kohn, Wolfspeed’s EVP chief legal and global affairs officer, said in an emailed statement.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Raytheon to Start Producing New Interceptor Missiles
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency placed an eight-year contract with a potential total value of $6.3 billion with Raytheon Corp., to manufacture and assemble complete Standard Missile-3 Block IB interceptor "all-up-rounds" - meaning fully built, integrated missiles ready to be loaded into launchers. The multi-year award is designed to lock in the manufacturing capacity over an extended period, allowing Raytheon to begin work and incur costs before final contract terms and pricing are fully negotiated. But, as an undefinitized contract it does not establish delivery totals or schedules.
The SM-3 Block IB is an outer-atmosphere, “hit-to-kill” missile used for ship- or shore-launched response to incoming ballistic threats, mainly from Aegis-equipped warships and Aegis onshore sites. Although the Standard Missile-3 Block IB is based on the previous SM-3 Block IA, with the same structural dimensions and baseline performance metrics, the new version has upgraded seeker technology, maneuverability, and target discrimination capabilities. The SM-3 uses an advanced two-color infrared seeker and a throttleable divert and attitude control system (TDACS) to crash directly into and destroy incoming short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles outside Earth's atmosphere.
Read more at American Machinist
Schneider Electric to Acquire Industrial Software Maker PTC
Schneider Electric has signed an agreement to acquire PTC for approximately $22.6 billion. The deal is intended to create a unified industrial software and AI franchise by combining Schneider Electric’s energy and industrial expertise with PTC’s industrial software and intelligence platform. PTC serves more than 30,000 customers with computer-aided design, product lifecycle management, application lifecycle management and service lifecycle management capabilities.
“Joining Schneider Electric is an incredible opportunity to elevate the scope and impact of what we deliver for our customers globally,” said Neil Barua, president and CEO of PTC, in an October press release. “We gain substantial scale and resources to accelerate innovation, advance our Intelligent Product Lifecycle vision, and expand our business into more geographies and end markets to serve more customers.”
Read more at Plant Services
Grain Management Announces Definitive Agreement to Sell Nationwide 800 MHz Spectrum Portfolio to SpaceX
Grain Management, LLC, a leading global investment firm specializing in digital infrastructure, today announced a definitive agreement under which SpaceX will acquire 100% of Grain's nationwide 800 MHz spectrum portfolio. The transaction is subject to FCC approval and other customary closing conditions. BDT & MSD Partners served as financial advisor to Grain. Milbank served as legal counsel, and Latham & Watkins served as regulatory counsel.
The agreement utilizes scarce low-band spectrum to support next-generation satellite direct-to-device ("D2D") services, enabling Starlink Mobile to reach customers from both the ground and space. The transaction demonstrates the firm's ability to bring specialized capabilities, capital, and execution to opportunities that can reshape communications at national scale. "Spectrum is a finite resource with an expanding role in the economy," Grain said in a press release. "As terrestrial and space-based networks converge, we see a new horizon globally for our spectrum strategy, building on our experience to address larger industry challenges and help shape the next generation of connectivity."
Read more at PR Newswire
Electric Big Rigs Struggle to Compete, Even With Diesel at $8 a Gallon
Truckers in California are asking the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to subsidize the high costs of owning and operating zero-emission big rigs. Drivers of electric-powered rigs say they can’t compete with diesel-powered rivals even as fuel prices surge to record highs. Diesel hit a national average record of $6.528 a gallon in September, according to energy pricing specialists OPIS. In California, which has the highest fuel prices in the nation, it set a new high on Sept. 22 of $8.439.
The ports are considering paying truckers $60 each time they pick up or drop off containers with a zero-emission vehicle, up to a maximum $36,000 per truck per year, over the next three years. The boards of the two ports are expected to vote on the proposal in the coming months. California already offers generous grants to truckers to offset some of the higher costs of zero-emission vehicles that can run three times more than diesel rigs. Carriers say they also face bigger bills for charging infrastructure and higher operating costs related to financing, insuring and running trucks.
Read more at The WSJ
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