Glossary

Advanced driver-assistance system

Vehicle technology that uses sensors and software to assist functions such as braking, lane control, parking or collision warning.

Advanced Micro Devices

A US semiconductor company designing processors, graphics chips and AI accelerators.

Agentic AI

AI designed to pursue a goal through a sequence of actions, often using tools or other software with limited human intervention.

AI Bill of Materials

A version-tracked inventory of every model, dataset, fine-tune, wrapper, API and library, with provenance and licence status; the AI extension of an SBOM.

AI deployer

Under the EU AI Act, a person or organisation using an AI system under its authority, outside purely personal activity.

AI inference

The stage at which a trained AI model uses new input to produce a prediction, classification or generated response.

AI provider

Under the EU AI Act, the party that develops an AI system or model and places it on the market or puts it into service under its name.

Ajinomoto build-up film

A specialised insulating material used to build fine circuit layers in advanced semiconductor package substrates.

Amazon Web Services

Amazon’s cloud-computing division, providing hosted computing, storage, databases and AI services.

Application-specific integrated circuit

A chip designed for a particular task or product rather than general-purpose computing.

Artificial intelligence

Computer systems designed to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as recognising patterns, generating language or making predictions.

ASML

A Dutch semiconductor-equipment company and the sole commercial supplier of extreme-ultraviolet lithography systems.

Automated test equipment

Hardware and software used to test semiconductor devices automatically during development or high-volume manufacturing.

Bill of materials

The structured list of components, materials and quantities required to manufacture a product.

Bureau of Industry and Security

The US Commerce Department bureau that administers export controls affecting dual-use and advanced technologies.

Central processing unit

The general-purpose processor that executes instructions and coordinates the main operations of a computer.

Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate

TSMC’s advanced packaging technology for combining processor dies and high-bandwidth memory in one package.

CHIPS and Science Act

A United States law funding domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research and related technology programmes.

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847

The EU’s horizontal cybersecurity law (Reg (EU) 2024/2847) for products with digital elements — secure-by-design, vulnerability handling and a software bill of materials. Reporting from 11 Sept 2026; fully applicable 11 Dec 2027.

Data Free Flow with Trust

The EU–Japan principle that trusted data should move across borders without forced localisation, rather than being trapped by data-localisation rules.

Data protection impact assessment

A structured assessment used to identify and reduce privacy risks before processing likely to create a high risk to people.

Deep ultraviolet lithography

A chipmaking process using deep-ultraviolet light to print circuit patterns onto silicon wafers.

Digital Markets Act

European Union rules imposing specific fairness and openness duties on the largest designated digital gatekeepers.

Digital Services Act

European Union rules governing online intermediaries and platforms, including content, transparency and risk-management duties.

Digital sovereignty

The ability of a state or region to control critical digital infrastructure, data, standards and technology dependencies.

Dynamic random-access memory

Volatile working memory used by computers and other devices; it must be continuously refreshed to retain data.

Electronic design automation

Specialist software used to design, simulate and verify semiconductor chips and electronic systems.

Electronics manufacturing services provider

A company that manufactures, assembles, tests or manages supply chains for electronic products designed by another business.

Error-correcting code memory

Computer memory that detects and corrects certain data errors, improving reliability in servers and critical systems.

EU Data Act

European Union law governing access to and use of data generated by connected products and related services.

European AI Office

The European Commission body supporting implementation and enforcement of the EU AI Act, particularly its rules for general-purpose AI.

European Chips Act

The European Union framework intended to strengthen semiconductor research, manufacturing capacity and crisis coordination.

European Commission

The European Union institution that proposes legislation, implements policy and manages the EU budget.

European Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Cloud Services

A proposed European certification scheme intended to assess the cyber security of cloud services.

European Data Protection Board

The independent European body that promotes consistent application of EU data-protection rules across national authorities.

European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

The joint venture led by TSMC to build and operate a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany.

European Union Artificial Intelligence Act

The European Union law that regulates AI according to risk and sets duties for providers, deployers and other actors.

Export controls

Legal restrictions on transferring specified goods, software, technology or services to particular destinations, organisations or users.

Extreme ultraviolet lithography

A chipmaking process using very short-wavelength light to print extremely small circuit patterns onto silicon wafers.

German Federal Office for Information Security

Germany’s federal cyber-security authority, responsible for standards, guidance and protection of government information systems.

Food and Drug Administration

The United States regulator responsible for the safety and effectiveness of medicines, medical devices and certain other products.

Foundation model

A model trained on broad data that can be adapted to many downstream tasks rather than one narrowly defined use.

Gaia-X

A European initiative developing common rules and technical frameworks for trusted, interoperable data and cloud ecosystems.

General Data Protection Regulation

The European data-protection framework governing how organisations collect, use, store and share personal data.

General-purpose AI

Under the EU AI Act, an AI model capable of competently performing a wide range of distinct tasks and integrating into varied systems or applications.

Graphics processing unit

A processor designed for highly parallel calculations, now widely used for graphics, scientific computing and AI workloads.

High-bandwidth memory

Vertically stacked memory designed to move large volumes of data quickly between memory and high-performance processors.

Hyperscaler

A company operating computing infrastructure at enormous scale, typically providing global cloud platforms and data-centre capacity.

Intellectual property

Legal rights protecting inventions, creative works, designs, brands and confidential commercial knowledge.

International Energy Agency

An intergovernmental organisation providing energy data, policy analysis and advice to member countries and partners.

Internet of Things

A network of physical devices that collect, exchange or act on data through embedded sensors, software and connectivity.

Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre

A Belgium-based research and innovation centre specialising in semiconductor and digital technologies.

Kubernetes

An open-source system for deploying, scaling and managing applications packaged in containers.

Liquefied natural gas

Natural gas cooled into a liquid so it can be stored and transported by ship where pipelines are unavailable.

Multi-layer ceramic capacitor

A small passive electronic component used to store and regulate electrical charge in phones, vehicles and industrial equipment.

NAND flash memory

Non-volatile semiconductor memory that retains data without power and is widely used in solid-state storage.

National Cyber Security Centre

The United Kingdom’s national technical authority for cyber security and part of GCHQ.

National Cybersecurity Agency of France

France’s national authority for cyber security and the protection of critical government and national information systems.

Notified body

An independent organisation designated by a state to assess whether specified products or systems meet applicable legal requirements.

Nvidia

A US chip designer whose graphics processors and accelerator platforms are widely used to train and run AI models.

Open-weight model

An AI model whose trained parameters are available for others to download, run or modify, subject to its licence.

OpenStack

Open-source software for building and operating private or public cloud-computing infrastructure.

Original equipment manufacturer

A company that makes a finished product or component sold under its own or another company’s brand.

Personally identifiable information

Information that can identify a person directly or when combined with other available information.

Printed circuit board

A board that mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components through conductive tracks and layers.

Schrems II

The 2020 EU court judgment that invalidated Privacy Shield and tightened scrutiny of personal-data transfers outside Europe.

Semiconductor fabrication plant

A factory where semiconductor devices are manufactured on silicon wafers through repeated deposition, patterning and etching steps.

Semiconductor foundry

A company or facility that manufactures chips designed by other businesses rather than selling only its own chip designs.

Small and medium-sized enterprise

An organisation below defined staff and financial thresholds; the precise legal thresholds vary by jurisdiction.

Stock-keeping unit

A unique inventory identifier for a particular product, model or configuration.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

A Taiwan-headquartered contract chip manufacturer and the leading producer of the world’s most advanced logic semiconductors.

Tensor processing unit

Google’s specialised processor family designed to accelerate machine-learning calculations.

Through-silicon via

A vertical electrical connection passing through a silicon die, used to join stacked chips or memory layers.

TRUMPF

A German industrial-technology company that supplies the high-powered laser systems used to generate light in ASML’s EUV machines.

ZEISS Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology

The ZEISS division that supplies the precision optical systems used inside advanced semiconductor lithography machines.