Manufacturing & Industrial Technology

HUNTERSVILLE – October 27, 2026 -- PlayPower and BCI Burke terminated their merger agreement, abandoning a deal announced on February 13, 2026, one week after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and certain states sued to block it.

The FTC and the states filed the lawsuit on October 19, 2026. They sought a permanent injunction against the acquisition.

PlayPower says litigation costs outweigh the deal's value

PlayPower CEO Bryan Yeazel said the time and expense of protracted litigation are better spent on the two companies' separate businesses. He said PlayPower believes the combination would have protected American jobs and benefited families, workers and communities. He added that the company was confident it would have prevailed in court.

DENVER – October 27, 2026 -- Export Finance Australia (EFA) and the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) have conditionally approved up to A$180 million (US$126 million) for Energy Fuels' Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project in Victoria, Australia. The commitment is part of a proposed A$200 million senior project finance debt facility for Phase 1 construction. Energy Fuels now targets a final investment decision (FID) by the end of 2026.

Government lenders cover A$180 million of the A$200 million debt package

The facility comprises up to A$70 million from EFA and up to A$110 million from NRFC. Commercial lenders are expected to provide the remaining A$20 million. The EFA and NRFC tranches carry a 10-year tenor from financial close, with interest priced at BBSY plus a margin.

Lod – October 27, 2026 -- Massivit 3D Printing Technologies (TASE: MSVT) signed 15 purchase orders worth $3 million for its newly launched Massivit 3000 large-format printer, all received during the drupa printing exhibition in Germany from May 28 to June 7. The company will deliver the printers by the end of 2024.

Massivit 3000 launch opens advertising and marketing buyers at drupa

The Massivit 3000 is the latest model in the company's Gel Dispensing Printing line, built for high-speed production of large parts at what Massivit calls a competitive penetration price. Target applications include point-of-purchase displays, window displays and billboards.

Brazil – October 27, 2026 -- Brazilian flat glass maker Vivix expects to cut furnace energy consumption by 3%-5%, extend furnace lifespan by one year and shorten its data collection and analytics cycle by 80%, based on a pilot of an executable digital twin (xDT) built with Siemens, Snowflake and NVIDIA.

Vivix targets blind spots in 1,550°C-1,600°C float-glass furnaces

The furnace is one of the most critical and hardest-to-observe assets in float-glass production. At operating temperatures of roughly 1,550°C to 1,600°C, teams have limited direct visibility into how combustion gases, molten glass and refractory walls interact. Vivix supplies glass and mirrors to the construction and furniture markets.

Finland – October 26, 2026 -- SemiQon, a 2023 spinout from Finland's VTT research institute, has shipped its first 4-qubit silicon spin-qubit chips to research collaborators after completing several fab runs. CEO and co-founder Himadri Majumdar says buyers should judge quantum processors on fidelity at scale and other system-level metrics, not on small-device fidelity alone.

Majumdar says 98% fidelity can be offset by qubit volume

Majumdar argues that some players over-optimize fidelity on small qubit counts. In his view, a sufficiently large number of physical qubits makes six nines of fidelity unnecessary. He puts the industry's physical-to-logical qubit ratio at about 100 to 1, down from 1,000 to 1, while some players promise 12 to 1.

Malta, New York – October 26, 2026 -- The U.S. Department of Defense has partnered with GLOBALFOUNDRIES to secure a supply of semiconductors manufactured at Fab 8 in Malta, New York, a facility the chipmaker has reportedly backed with more than $13 billion in investment.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES holds ITAR and EAR compliance at its most advanced fab

In May 2020, GLOBALFOUNDRIES announced export control security measures bringing it into compliance with both the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The source describes it as the most advanced ITAR foundry in the United States. The certification allows the company to manufacture chips for sensitive military and aerospace applications.

New York – October 26, 2026 -- GlobalFoundries (GF) has committed $16 billion to expand manufacturing and advanced packaging in New York and Vermont, and has designated its Vermont site as the core hub for gallium nitride (GaN) technology development. The October 26, 2026 announcement is backed by Apple, SpaceX, AMD, Qualcomm, NXP and General Motors.

The plan also covers silicon photonics for data centers and FDX processes for edge AI. One month after the announcement, TSMC confirmed it will exit the GaN foundry business by 2027, which leaves a gap in the market for a domestic alternative.

Global – October 26, 2026 -- ARM is set to debut its first in-house chip by summer, moving beyond its traditional role as an IP provider into chip design, while Intel's strategy as an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) faces questions after CEO Pat Gelsinger departed in December 2024.

ARM and Intel shifts reshape a value chain split into eight segments

The semiconductor value chain spans IP design, electronic design automation (EDA), fabless design, foundries and outsourced assembly and test (OSAT), IDMs, chemical and wafer suppliers, equipment makers, and the manufacturers that integrate chips into end products. No single country or company controls every stage. Emerging players backed by substantial government funding are working to close the technology gap, and startups are investing in specialized areas that could disrupt the industry's traditional dynamics.

Lod – October 25, 2026 -- Massivit 3D Printing Technologies (TASE: MSVT) will print live on its Massivit 10000-G throughout the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, September 9-14, with the company claiming its Cast In Motion technology speeds up mold production by 80%.

Massivit shows automated tooling at Booth 432425

The 10000-G will demonstrate high-speed automation for custom manufacturing and industrial tooling. Visitors can see direct printing of complex molds, mandrels, master tools, jigs and fixtures. Large printed parts and molds for the automotive, marine, consumer goods and sporting goods industries will also be on display.

Massivit says Cast In Motion produces true isotropic molds and eliminates the material waste of conventional tooling. The 10000 series is used for composite materials tooling, Reaction Injection Molding (RIM) and Thermoforming.

Burlington – October 25, 2026 -- GlobalFoundries (GF) has qualified RFGaN1, its first RF GaN-on-silicon technology for volume production on 200mm wafers. It has also qualified SLATE, a wafer-bonding technology that cuts RF die area by up to 45% with no loss in RF performance.

RFGaN1 runs at 12 to 28V across 1 to 15 GHz

The platform uses depletion-mode devices and targets sustained high output power and efficiency in satellite communications, cellular infrastructure and defense. Dan Denninghoff, Senior Director of RF GaN Product Line, said GaN has so far been a niche, high-budget option. GF argues that 200mm silicon manufacturing gives customers the cost structure and volume to build a supply chain around it instead of treating each design as a one-off.