Germany’s Infineon Technologies has started production at the first phase of its new fab in Kulim, Malaysia, which it expects to become the largest and most competitive 200-millimeter silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor production facility in the world.

Known as Kulim 3, the new fab follows the opening of Kulim 1 in 2006 and Kulim 2 in 2016, reinforcing Infineon’s long-term commitment to semiconductor manufacturing in Malaysia. SiC power devices are key to the production of more efficient electric vehicles.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Chief Minister of the northern state of Kedah, where the fab is located, joined Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck for the official August 8 launch ceremony.

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Ambassadors to Japan from the other G7 nations – the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France and Italy – refused to attend Friday’s (August 9) peace ceremony in Nagasaki because the Israeli ambassador had not been invited. The only other countries not invited were Russia and Belarus. According to the US Embassy in Tokyo, Ambassador to […]

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The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) has designed a new type of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment that could significantly reduce the cost to produce 7nm and smaller semiconductors, and thus revolutionize the chip manufacturing supply chain. According to reports, the EUV equipment’s optical system is greatly simplified while power consumption is reduced […]

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In 2015, the Chinese government announced the strategic industrial development policy known as Made in China 2025. Of the ten key industries targeted, new energy vehicles (NEVs) have arguably achieved the greatest success, changing the dynamics of the global auto industry and thoroughly alarming US and European governments.

They have also attracted the attention of US scientist and Pattern Computer CEO Mark Anderson, who sees an unprecedented challenge to Western supremacy in the technologies that support China’s hyper-competitive electric vehicle (EV) industry. Pattern Computer is a machine learning and AI company headquartered in the state of Washington.

In an essay entitled “THE RACE FOR AUTONOMOUS AI: The Key to Global Technical and Economic Dominance,” which appeared in the July 7 edition of his Strategic News Service Global Report on Technology and the Economy, Anderson identified the EV as an enabler for critically important technologies.

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While investors reassess their exposure to Nvidia and TSMC in light of Donald Trump’s remarks about Taiwan, Canadian AI chip, software and hardware design company Tenstorrent stands out as a competitive alternative to TSMC, one that works with IC foundries in South Korea and Japan. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published on July 16, […]

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The sixth World Artificial Intelligence Conference held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center from July 4-7 was a demonstration of China’s position as a fast follower creating a large, diverse and multinational alternative to a US-centered AI industry.

More than 500 companies working on large language models, machine learning, the use of AI in smartphones, PCs and wearables, healthcare and other AI-enabled services, industrial AI, intelligent robots and autonomous vehicles participated in the event and showed off their products in the exhibition hall.

Most were Chinese but Amazon Web Services, Dell, GE, GM, Google, Microsoft, Tesla and Qualcomm also attracted crowds of visitors.

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Chinese social media platforms have shut down radical nationalist posts promoting hatred of Japan after a stabbing attack on June 24 that injured a Japanese mother and child at a school bus stop in Suzhou, west of Shanghai, according to media reports. A female bus attendant who tried to protect the Japanese nationals was killed […]

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Huawei and ZTE are cranking up and rolling out 5G-Advanced network services, expanding the Chinese telecom giants’ global lead in mobile communications. The new technologies were on display at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) exhibition staged in Shanghai from June 26-28.

Compared with conventional 5G telecommunications, 5G-Advanced (abbreviated as 5G-A and also known as 5.5G), “represents a 10-fold improvement in performance across the board… as well as significant reductions in overall network power consumption,” according to Counterpoint, a technology market research organization.

In addition to much faster uplink and downlink speeds, 5G-A offers superior positioning and timing, industry analysts say.

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Although another American serviceman has been charged with sexual assault in Okinawa, provoking outrage among the local population and putting the large and controversial US military presence on the island back in the headlines, fear of China appears to have combined with a phenomenon that may be termed “base fatigue” to mute popular anger. As […]

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“Digital deficit” has become a buzzword in Japan as the annual balance of payments deficit in digital services has more than doubled over the past five years to about ¥5.5 trillion ($34 billion) and imports of AI processors go through the roof. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft dominate the internet-based businesses, while Nvidia and […]

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Shifting attention away from US and EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and the exploits of Tesla’s Elon Musk at least for a moment, the Indian subsidiary of Hyundai Motor is preparing for an initial public offering on the stock market in Mumbai. Hyundai is the second most popular passenger car brand in India after […]

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Apple is the latest in a growing list of challengers to Nvidia, the world’s leading designer of artificial intelligence (AI) processors but China is the only nation that competes with the US in the technology. With market forces short-circuited by US-led technology bans and sanctions, China does so by necessity.

Apple’s share price jumped more than 7% to a new all-time high on June 11, following CEO Tim Cook’s presentation of the company’s AI strategy at its Worldwide Developers Conference the day before.

Nvidia’s share price was down 0.7% on June 11, reminding investors and others that while the company’s sales and profits will probably continue to grow, its extraordinarily high market share and stock market valuation are both likely to slip in the future.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s three-day visit to China signaled improved diplomatic relations, upgraded bilateral trade and investment ties, and a significant step toward Turkey’s accession to the anti-Western BRICS bloc. Fidan met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other senior Chinese government officials in Beijing from June 3-5. He later stopped in the Xinjiang […]

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Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has issued a digital transformation (DX) roadmap that aims for Japanese automakers to take 30% of the global market for self-driving software-defined vehicles (SDVs) by 2030. SDVs are cars whose functions update regularly via the internet, similar to computer programs and smartphone apps. In METI’s estimation, 30% […]

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The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, better known as Comac, plans to triple its production capacity to meet rising domestic demand for passenger jets, an expansion that coincides with ongoing troubles for American aviation giant Boeing’s planes.

The chances that Comac will overtake the maligned and mismanaged US plane maker in China’s booming aviation market are rising. But so too are the chances that the US might respond with new sanctions targeting Comac and other Chinese plane makers.

Comac plans to establish a second manufacturing site in Shanghai with an assembly line for its C919 narrow-body passenger jet and related logistics facilities, according to recent reports. The reported goal is to raise Comac’s annual production capacity from about 50 aircraft now to 150 later in the decade.

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Chinese military personnel are visiting their Japanese counterparts this week, raising hopes of more stable bilateral relations or at least greater familiarity to manage any future crises. What it probably won’t do, however, is make any fundamental change in their East Asia stand-off. On May 14, a delegation of 20 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) senior […]

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While Tesla lays off more than 10% of its workforce, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group plans to hire 80,000 new employees, increasing its headcount by about 30% over the next three years. The hiring sure is part of a 68 trillion won (US$50 billion) investment program aimed at establishing a leading position in electric and […]

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Apple has slipped to fifth place in China’s cellphone sales ranking, outsold by local rivals Huawei, OPPO, Honor and vivo.

Chinese cellphones are closing the performance gap with Apple’s iPhone while US government harassment of Chinese tech companies has made buying local a source of national pride for some.

Chinese authorities have also imposed local restrictions on Apple, including bans on using iPhones at certain state agencies and state-linked companies in at least eight provinces due to security concerns.

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Granted, Tesla’s share price has bounced on short covering and the return of perennial optimism after dropping by more than 40% since the beginning of the year. But the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition should serve as a reminder that rivals in growing numbers have caught up with the electric vehicle (EV) pioneer – and are […]

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Blocked from operating and expanding in China, leading American computing and software companies have shifted their focus to Japan, reinforcing a longstanding partnership that is accelerating the recovery of Japan’s technological competitiveness.

American tech giants Nvidia, Microsoft and Oracle have all recently announced new investments in data centers and related services in Japan. They have also invited Japan’s participation in AI and quantum computing development projects.

In March, the new ABCI-Q supercomputer built by Fujitsu at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) announced it will feature Nvidia’s CUDA-Q hybrid quantum-classical computing platform, equipped with more than 2,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) for accelerated computing.

(ABCI is an acronym for AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure; CUDA for Compute Unified Device Architecture.)

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