6/

We don’t know how bad the leak is yet, or who might have accessed the secrets. But insider threats at this level show just how fragile the world’s most critical tech infrastructure really is.

Full story so far is here: www.cnbc.com/2025/08/05/c...

#Breaking #Tech #Chips #Semiconductors

5/ What are the implications?

A leak of TSMC's most advanced chipmaking tech could:

-Undermine its competitive advantage

- Shift the global chip race

- Complicate already tense geopolitics over tech sovereignty

- Expose new national security risks

4/
Why this matters:

TSMC isn’t just any chip company.

It’s a critical supplier to Apple, Nvidia, AMD and more. It’s also a strategic asset at the center of U.S.-China tech tensions.

No one else can do what TSMC does — not at its level or at its scale.

3/
What happened?

They found “unauthorized activities” inside the company that might have led to trade secret leaks. They’ve taken serious disciplinary and legal actions, but details are still under wraps.

2/
TSMC makes the most advanced chips powering everything from your iPhone to AI data centers. It’s basically the heart of the global semiconductor supply chain and a key player in U.S.-China tech tensions.

6/ What this means strategically:

For Samsung: bolstering its foundry and design reputation. Proving out its foundry business.

For Rebellions: validation ahead of IPO, scaling production and global market reach. Rebellions told me it is aiming for IPO.

Full story: www.cnbc.com/2025/07/29/s...

5/ Why it matetrs for Samsung:

Samsung has its own chip manufacturing business which is hugely behind leader TSMC. This gives Samsung a new customer. If Rebellions gets bigger, it could become a major customer with Samsung getting in early

4/ Why it matters for Rebellions:

Rebellions, formed from its 2024 merger with Sapeon, is positioning itself as South Korea's answer to Nvidia. .

Samsung is a major tech company wiht a chip manufacturing business. This gives Rebellions more firepower.

2/ More details:

- Rebellions is testing its second generation chip called Rebel, which is designed for AI inferencing workloads
- Samsung will manufacture this on its 4 nanometer process
- Rebel will be launched later this year

There is global demand for manufacturing capacity. And Elon Musk says these Tesla chips will be manufactured in Samsung's Texas, U.S. facility. That's politically great news for the U.S. which has been pushing for leading edge chip making to happen on American soil

Samsung will manufacture Tesla's chips using 2-nanometer (nm) process technology - this is basically the very latest manufacturing tech. It's a big deal for Samsung to prove it can handle such a contract with the hope other big names will follow

In semiconductor manufacturing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) holds a huge market share. Samsung is a very distant 2nd. Samsung for years has been trying to boost its own chipmaking business known as foundry. But these huge contracts have been rare

4) The Trump administration prepared to rescind what’s known as the “AI diffusion rule,” effectively stopping a set of artificial intelligence chip controls from taking effect later this month www.cnbc.com/2025/05/07/t...

3) Arm shares are tanking on weak guidance. This is a company that could be impacted by tariffs in a big way due to end customers: www.cnbc.com/2025/05/07/a...

2) Apple exec Eddy Cue says AI will replace search engines. This highlights some long-term challenges for Google
www.cnbc.com/2025/05/07/a...

CHINA: True tariff rate = 54%

- 80% of all Apple products assembled in China
- 90% of iPhones assembled in China
- 55% of Apple’s Mac products and 80% of iPads

INDIA: 26% tariff

- 10-15% of iPhone production

VIETNAM: 46% tariff

- 20% of iPad production
- 90% of Apple’s wearable production