semiconductor_manufacturing

Sydney – October 25, 2026 -- Diraq, a University of New South Wales (UNSW) spin-out that builds quantum computers from modified standard transistors, expects chips with thousands of qubits as early as 2028 and universal fault-tolerant machines in the 2030s, according to founder and CEO Andrew Dzurak.

Diraq adds $15M Series A-2 extension to $20M initial round

Diraq raised a $20M Series A in 2022, led by Allectus Capital. This spring it announced a Series A-2 extension led by Quantonation, which brought in an additional $15M. The company spun out of UNSW in May 2022 and opened a company lab on the university campus a few weeks ago, keeping it close to ongoing research.

Tokyo – October 21, 2026 -- A four-company consortium led by NTT Innovative Devices has been selected for a NEDO-backed project to build mass-production technologies for optical chiplets, with a target of more than a tenfold gain in manufacturing productivity over current R&D-stage processes.

Four manufacturers join the NEDO-selected consortium

The members are NTT Innovative Devices, Japan Semiconductor Corporation, Furukawa Electric and Shinko Electric Industries. NTT, Inc. participates as an advisor. The project falls under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization's program for enhanced post-5G information and communication infrastructure, specifically its development of manufacturing technologies for advanced semiconductors. Japan Semiconductor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation.

San Francisco – October 14, 2026 -- Global 300mm front-end fab equipment spending will reach $149 billion in 2026, up 31% year-over-year, and climb to $227 billion by 2029, according to the latest SEMI 300mm Fab Outlook. SEMI projects investment will keep growing at double-digit rates through the forecast period.

SEMI projects 20 new 300mm fabs or lines will start construction worldwide in 2026

Excluding pure R&D fabs, SEMI expects 18 more construction starts in 2027. In the United States, three fabs or lines are projected to begin construction in 2026 and four in 2027.

SEMI also projects 13 new 300mm fabs or lines worldwide will begin operations or ship first silicon in 2026, rising to 23 in 2027.

Austin, Texas – – September 14, 2026 -- La Luce Cristallina has launched a 0.5-micrometer silicon-based quantum paraelectric strontium titanate on insulator (QP-STOI) wafer platform, giving researchers and national laboratories a new tool for building next-generation cryogenic and quantum devices.