When Elon Musk took the stage on Saturday to unveil his plans to get into semiconductor production, he didn’t spare the superlatives.

The move represents a major strategic pivot for Arm, which since its founding in 1990 has largely avoided manufacturing chips, instead supplying intellectual property to semiconductor firms.

Elon Musk has unveiled plans to build a massive $25bn (£19bn) fabrication facility in Austin, Texas, to manufacture AI chips.

Tesla (TSLA) stock rose 3.5% after Elon Musk unveiled Terafab, a massive chip venture with SpaceX and xAI aimed at 2nm production at Giga Texas facility.

Control over semiconductor supply chains has also become a focal point of geopolitical tensions, particularly between the United States and China, with the West seeking to secure domestic production and reduce reliance on

Simon Woo, head of Korea research at BofA Global Research, maintains a positive outlook on the chip sector — especially South Korean memory chip makers — adding that the Middle East conflict is not expected to significantly disrupt semiconductor supply chains or production.

Broadcom warns TSMC capacity limits are creating AI chip bottlenecks through 2026. PCB lead times surge to 6 months as supply chain strains intensify.

Tesla's AI6 chip production on Samsung's 2nm process has been pushed back roughly 6 months, delaying mass production to Q4 2027 and creating ripple effects for other Samsung foundry customers.

The biggest workers' union at South Korea's Samsung Electronics has threatened to disrupt chip production as members vote on a plan to strike in May, its leader told Reuters. A strike at the world's largest maker of memory chips could ‌worsen bottlenecks in global supply of semiconductors stemming from robust demand for AI data center operations that has curbed supply to industries from cars ‌and computers to smartphones.

By Hyunjoo Jin PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, March 17 (Reuters) - The biggest workers' union at South Korea's Samsung Electronics has threatened to disrupt chip production as members vote on a plan to strike in May,