Global Semiconductor Industry Updates

1. Elon Musk announced that Grok 3, the third-generation AI model developed by his AI company xAI, will be officially released at 12:00 PM Beijing time on February 18.

2. SK Hynix has banned the use of Chinese EDA software.

3. Lam Research will invest 100 billion rupees in the Indian state of Karnataka.

4. Tokyo Electron will build a new production facility in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, for manufacturing semiconductor equipment such as plasma etching tools.

5. The top 10 manufacturing companies in South Korea will increase their investments by 7% year-on-year, reaching 119 trillion won in 2025.

6. Apple will partner with Alibaba to introduce AI features on the Chinese version of the iPhone by mid-2025.

China Semiconductor Industry Updates

1. Jingxu Semiconductor’s high-frequency filter chip project, with a total investment of 1.68 billion yuan, will be put into operation in July.

2. Tongfu Microelectronics has acquired a 26% stake in Kinglong Technology from Jingyuan Electronics for 1.378 billion yuan.

3. Slkor (www.slkoric.com) Kinghelm's overseas business division encourages new salespeople to independently develop overseas end customers. Liu Yang achieved a strong start, and Song Shiqiang immediately issued bonuses.

4. Xiangdi has secured hundreds of millions in funding, resolving its bankruptcy crisis.

5. A major breakthrough in China’s fourth-generation semiconductors: Professor Liu Bingbing's team from Jilin University, in collaboration with Professor Zhu Shengcai’s team from Sun Yat-sen University, has successfully synthesized high-quality hexagonal diamond blocks for the first time.

6. According to statistics from the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center of the Taiwan Institute of Industrial Technology, Taiwan's semiconductor industry is expected to surpass a production value of 50 trillion yuan for the first time in 2024.