Welcome to new readers and welcome back to the rest of you. The world is a worrying place these days, so this week I’m sharing a set of quick updates. Who has time for long reads when you need to defend democracy and stop ICE? Enjoy 15 bite-sized nuggets of semiconductor news instead, then please get out there and fight fascism.
But before you do, it’s time to register for the Toxic Roots of the Silicon Forest: People, Power, and Pollution in the Semiconductor Industry, June 3-4 in Portland, Oregon. If you came to the Dark Side of the Chip in Phoenix last year, you have some idea how amazing this gathering is going to be, and if you missed it, here’s your chance.
The Toxic Roots conference will bring together workers, experts, environmental activists, and community leaders from across the world. Together, we will explore the legacy of the microchip industry, discuss its impact in our own backyard, and plant the seeds for a more equitable and sustainable future. Register today!
- Come to a Town Hall in Syracuse, NY to learn more about Micron’s facility in Clay and join the campaign to win community benefits. It’s tomorrow! Saturday, March 7th, from 3-5pm at the Southwest Community Center. Register here!
- They’re calling it RAMmageddon: such a massive worldwide shortage of memory chips that Apple just purchased chips from Samsung at double the usual price, leaving Samsung with so few chips that it had to buy chips from Micron to use in its own phones.
- The war with Iraq is driving a sell-off in semiconductor stocks. And conflict in the Middle East could disrupt the flow of materials that are key to chip production, like helium, much of which is produced in Qatar. Who knew?
- This guy made a clean-room in his backyard.
- A Samsung battery factory in Hungary has repeatedly and knowingly exposed workers to dangerous levels of carcinogenic chemicals. Government officials knew about this three years ago but allowed Samsung to keep operating. The company rotated workers around the factory to minimize detection.
- The state of California, once an environmental leader, now allows companies to build new chip factories without environmental review. In response, CCU steering committee member Lenny Siegel says, “eliminating environmental review for advanced manufacturing: what could go wrong?” His report starts at 40:30.
- TSMC might invest an additional $100 billion in its US facilities, sources say, for a total of $265 billion and 10 Arizona fabs.
- Want to see a cool video of the inside of chip fabs? Watch it here.
- Trump hasn’t reindustrialized the US. (Duh.)
- US Senators from both parties questioned Intel’s use of tools from ACM, a blacklisted Chinese firm.
- Other lawmakers grilled Trump’s nominee for NIST director. They want more transparency on CHIPS Act implementation, like why the Commerce Dept. canceled $7.4 billion in R&D investment.
- Micron just opened a chip assembly and testing facility in India, the country’s first ever semiconductor plant.
- Care for life, care for the chips: the future is re-used, recycled, and permacomputing.
- Semiconductor smugglers are selling AI chips illegally to China to avoid US export controls.
- Thanks to chips and data centers, Taiwan’s electricity demand will grow by more than 5 GW by 2030, enough to power 4 million homes.
