South Korea's presidential office said it will establish a 50 trillion won fund to invest in promising semiconductor materials, components and equipment.

SpaceX said it will partner with Tesla on an initial $16.8 bln investment to build a Terafab chip facility in Texas. Posts and a blogger’s read of Terafab materials suggest the plant may adopt free-electron laser (FEL) technology as a lithography light source to challenge ASML’s LPP EUV; Musk replied with FEL FTW and the facility layout reportedly supports that reading. FEL proponents cite higher power, coherence, tunable wavelength and potentially better energy efficiency, and in theory it could push lithography wavelengths from 13.5nm toward ~6nm or shorter. Commercialisation hurdles remain significant: large accelerator systems, capital cost and production stability are the main obstacles.

IRNA: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei said at a press briefing that Iran and Oman have not yet discussed fee details for a proposed new Strait of Hormuz shipping route and discussions are ongoing. He said the parties have agreed on route proposals but technical issues remain on a joint statement and are under negotiation. While fee details have not been settled, a mechanism will be set up to ensure safe navigation and to arrange environmental protection, maritime-service cooperation and anti-crime measures, and maritime services are expected to be compensated.