Under Foundry 2.0, the semiconductor value chain is moving back into strategic focus.

When Joni Mitchell recorded Big Yellow Taxi, singing “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,” she was reiterating the proverbial warning that we often appreciate things properly only after losing them. It’s an observation that transcends context and can be applied even in today’s electronics industry. For decades, Western companies have outsourced significant parts of their value chain to achieve cost-down and to focus on core competencies in pursuit of efficiency. Today’s geopolitical tensions are drawing attention to the loss of sovereignty that results from exporting control of critical processes like packaging and testing as part of the semiconductor value chain.

AI investment shows no signs of slowing, prompting concern about what happens when it eventually does.

Victor Huang has described ChatGPT’s arrival as AI’s “iPhone moment,” when the technology’s potential to change the way we live became clear to all. Indeed, the publication of large language models (LLMs) is arguably the most powerful innovation we have seen so far, enabling widespread user engagement spanning personal and professional purposes. Resulting from this, acceptance has snowballed and more and more of us have come to trust and rely on AI assistants. In turn, mainstream use has driven further improvements, as successive updates have delivered more humanlike interactions and additional capabilities.

The switch to renewables is about energy security and climate change.

While climate change is obviously the big-picture issue in the global drive to decarbonize, energy security is an important aspect that is shaping governments’ policies worldwide. From either perspective – strategic or environmental – Europe and the US are far behind China in the race to adopt renewables. China reported installing 198GW of solar capacity between January and May. Effectively, that’s the equivalent of adding 100 panels every second!

Growth in the consumer sector is a reason for us to celebrate and a signal for us to change.

The consumer sector is arguably the most powerful aspect of today’s immense electronics industry, influencing our quality of life and our perception of it. The standards of functionality, appearance and quality are far above the norms of just a few years ago, and many of us own far more of these luxuriant items than previous generations could have dreamed.