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(Reuters) -Electronic Arts' "Battlefield 6" has hit all-time highs for franchise sales during the first three days of its launch, selling over seven million copies, the video game publisher said on Thursday. EA was betting on the latest "Battlefield" title to restore the franchise's reputation and loosen the dominance of "Call of Duty," published by Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard, in the first-person shooter genre. "Battlefield 6" was launched on October 10, weeks after EA agreed to a $55 billion sale to a Saudi-backed investor group in a deal fueled by its prized gaming portfolio. The game had over 172 million matches played online and accumulated over 15 million hours watched on streaming services over the three-day weekend, EA said in a statement. It recorded the highest number of concurrent players ever for "Battlefield." "Battlefield 6's" Season 1 will be released on October 28. Seasonal content will be rolled out regularly, with the next two phases of the season arriving later this year. EA's other shooter games such as "Apex Legends," "Titanfall" and "Star Wars Battlefront" have lost steam, forcing it to rely on one of its best-known franchises to attract consumers who are sticking with proven titles amid tariff-led economic worries. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

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By Rachel More BERLIN (Reuters) -European carmakers could face significant disruption to manufacturing without a swift resolution to a trade and intellectual property dispute over chipmaker Nexperia between China and the Dutch government, an industry association warned on Thursday. The dispute could cause further strain on Europe's automotive sector, whose carmakers and suppliers are already battling tariffs, foreign competition and weak demand. It also thrusts Nexperia into a trade war between the world's two biggest economies, with U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheting up pressure on tech as China curbs rare earth exports. SPOTLIGHT ON CHINESE OWNER WINGTECH ACEA, the European Union's auto association, said it was "deeply concerned by potential significant disruption to European vehicle manufacturing if the interruption of Nexperia chips supplies cannot be immediately resolved". Carmakers and their suppliers received notice from Nexperia last week that it could no longer guarantee delivery of its chips, the ACEA said in a statement. "Without these chips, European automotive suppliers cannot build the parts and components needed to supply vehicle manufacturers and this therefore threatens production stoppages," the statement said. "We hope to get all challenges resolved soon to the best of everyone's interests," a Nexperia spokesperson said. He said the company could not comment further beyond a statement on Tuesday that said it is engaging with Chinese authorities to obtain an exemption from restrictions. The Dutch government announced on Sunday that it had as of September 30 taken control of Chinese-owned computer chipmaker Nexperia, citing worries about the possible transfer of technology to Nexperia's Chinese parent company, Wingtech. Court documents showed the Dutch government's move came after months of rising U.S. pressure on the company. Nexperia was at risk of being impacted by a new U.S. rule that extends export control restrictions to companies at least 50% owned by one or more entities on the U.S. entity list. Washington put Wingtech, which has 100% ownership of Nexperia, on the U.S. list in late December. The Chinese commerce ministry issued on October 4 an export control notice prohibiting Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting specific finished components and sub-assemblies manufactured in China, according to a statement Nexperia published on Tuesday. Nexperia chips are not technically sophisticated but are needed in large volumes. Its biggest manufacturing site is in Hamburg, Germany, but most of its chips are packaged and assembled into larger products in China. AUTOMAKERS, SUPPLIERS WORK TO IDENTIFY RISKS Volkswagen and BMW are among the carmakers whose supplier networks include Nexperia, with Bosch among the German auto suppliers who use its chips. Volkswagen and BMW both said production had not yet been impacted by the issues but that they were working to identify potential supply risks. "We are monitoring the current situation closely and are also in contact with the manufacturer Nexperia, which is one of our suppliers for electronic components," a Bosch spokesperson said. Mercedes-Benz said it was monitoring the situation and in touch with relevant stakeholders, without giving further details. A spokesperson declined to say whether Nexperia was part of the company's supplier network. "Stellantis is closely monitoring the situation and collaborating with Nexperia and other suppliers to assess potential impacts and develop mitigation measures," a spokesperson for the carmaker said. China's commerce ministry, responding to a question on Nexperia, said on Thursday that it opposed interference in the internal affairs of enterprises through administrative means, and that it would take the necessary measures to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. (Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Che Pan in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Matthias Williams, Mark Potter and Ed Osmond)

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(Reuters) -The chair of the House Select Committee on China said Thursday that a licensing agreement for use of the TikTok algorithm as part of a deal by Chinese-based ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the short video app would raise "serious concerns." Representative John Moolenaar, a Republican, is waiting for briefing to get more details on the deal that White House officials said previously would include the new owners of TikTok's U.S. assets licensing the algorithm. "I think anytime you have (China) with leverage over the algorithm, I think that's a problem," Moolenaar said at a forum. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 25 declaring the plan to sell TikTok's U.S. operations to a consortium of U.S. and global investors meets the national security requirements set out in a 2024 law. (Reporting by David Shepardson and Alexandra Alper, Editing by Franklin Paul)

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By Wen-Yee Lee, Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard TAIPEI (Reuters) -TSMC, the world's biggest producer of advanced chips, raised its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday on a bullish outlook for spending on artificial intelligence, after posting a record profit that blew past market estimates. The strong results underscore the continued faith in AI, brushing off at least for now concerns about a bubble. U.S.-listed shares of the Taiwanese chipmaker were up 1.6% in pre-market trade in New York and boosted U.S. semiconductor stocks, including AI leader Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. TSMC said it expects robust artificial intelligence demand to continue, as it raised its 2025 revenue guidance to mid-30% growth in U.S. dollar terms from around 30%, and maintained its forecast for capital spending at up to $42 billion for 2025. "AI demand actually continues to be very strong – more strong than we thought three months ago," CEO C.C. Wei told an earnings call. "We are also happy to see a continuous strong outlook from our customers," he added. "In addition, we directly receive very strong signals from our customers requesting the capacity to support their business. Thus, our conviction in the AI megatrend is strengthening." There has been a flurry of mega deals between AI firms and chipmakers, notably by OpenAI with Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom, in the past month or so to build $1 trillion or more in data center capacity. That portends more demand for chips, which make up a significant portion of the cost of the data centers. Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom all rely on TSMC for chip production. The multi-billion dollar investment announcements have raised concerns about the formation of a bubble reminiscent of the dotcom boom and bust, with securities investors on guard for signals that demand is tailing off or that the massive spending is not paying off as anticipated. Recent company announcements indicate demand is resilient. The head of Australia's Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), which sold its Aligned Data Centers business in a deal worth $40 billion, said on Thursday the sale was not a sign the global data center boom had peaked, while ABB's big increase in orders in the United States during the third quarter was due to demand from areas like data centers being built for AI. PROFIT BEATS ESTIMATES Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, whose customers also include iPhone maker Apple, posted a 39.1% jump in third-quarter net profit and said it would be prudent in its business planning going into 2026. Benefiting from surging demand for advanced chips used in AI applications, TSMC said net profit for July-September climbed to T$452.3 billion ($14.76 billion). That was well ahead of a T$417.7 billion LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 20 analysts. SmartEstimates are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. "We are still very comfortable that the demand on leading-edge semiconductors is real. And as I continue to say that we look at all the demand and look at our capacity expansion, TSMC needs to work very hard to narrow the gap," Wei said, referring to supply and demand. U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies and threats to put tariffs on semiconductors have created uncertainty for the global chip industry and TSMC. Still, Wei said even if the China market was "not available" to the company because of U.S. restrictions, then "I still think the AI's growth will be very dramatic". TSMC announced plans for a $100 billion U.S. investment with Trump at the White House in March, on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the state of Arizona, one of which is up and running. On Wednesday, top semiconductor equipment maker ASML, for which TSMC is a major customer, said third-quarter bookings beat market forecasts but that it expected a significant fall in demand from China next year. Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it expected its biggest quarterly profit in over three years, also thanks to the AI boom. Taiwan-listed shares in TSMC have risen 38% this year, largely brushing off concerns about tariffs, and ahead of the 20% rise for the broader market. ($1 = 30.6450 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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