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Sunday 8 February 2026

AMD's investment in photonics and modular architecture signals shift in AI infrastructure development

AMD is positioning itself to address the future needs of artificial intelligence (AI) computing through advances in chip design and system architecture, particularly by integrating photonics technology and modular rack-scale platforms. CTO Mark Papermaster, speaking in a recent interview, highlighted how AMD's evolving engineering strategies will shape AI hardware capabilities and scalability over the next several years.

Sunday 8 February 2026

Record Japan blizzard threatens AI chip supply chains

A record-breaking blizzard driven by extreme weather has battered Japan's northern Aomori Prefecture, dumping snow at more than two and a half times the historical average. The storm has claimed lives, paralyzed local commerce, and raised fresh concerns about the resilience of global technology supply chains.

Sunday 8 February 2026

GlobalFoundries reinvent wafer services by integrating IP to meet evolving market demands

The traditional wafer foundry model is transforming as leading foundries increasingly incorporate intellectual property (IP) into mature technology nodes to address economic pressures and shifting customer needs. Nearly four decades after TSMC founder Morris Chang separated chip design from wafer manufacturing, foundries are evolving from mere silicon suppliers into broader infrastructure providers offering extended platform support.

Friday 6 February 2026

AMD flags 2H26 turning point as MI450 shipments stay on track

AMD's next-generation MI450 AI accelerator remains on schedule for launch and volume production in the second half of 2026, with CEO Lisa Su signaling confidence that supply capacity will not constrain deliveries as the company steps up its push in high-end AI chips.

Friday 6 February 2026

India's 2026–27 budget signals systemic overhaul for manufacturing, semiconductors, and digital investment

India's Union Budget for fiscal year 2026–27, unveiled on February 1, 2026, emphasizes manufacturing, semiconductors, and AI-linked infrastructure as central pillars of economic growth. The measures aim to strengthen supply chains, reduce import dependence, and institutionalize compliance frameworks for both domestic and foreign investors.

Friday 6 February 2026

ASE expects advanced packaging and testing revenue to double in 2026

OSAT leader ASE Technology Holding is optimistic that its growth momentum will extend through 2026 and beyond, benefiting from the short supply of advanced packaging and testing capacity. COO Tien Wu said order visibility has improved over the past three months, prompting the company to further raise its 2026 advanced packaging and testing revenue target to US$3.2 billion. This would represent a doubling from US$1.6 billion in 2025, and is more than 20% higher than the previous forecast of US$2.6 billion. Of the total, 75% is expected to come from advanced packaging, with the remaining 25% contributed by advanced testing.

Friday 6 February 2026

CSPs turn to custom silicon to break Nvidia dependence

The global boom in generative artificial intelligence is driving an insatiable demand for computing power. This is pushing the world's largest cloud service providers to rethink a long-standing dependence on Nvidia's AI GPUs.

Friday 6 February 2026

Qualcomm, MediaTek strike cautious tone as smartphone market pressures mount

Qualcomm and MediaTek struck a similar cautionary tone on the smartphone market outlook during their latest earnings calls, pointing to mounting pressure from memory shortages and rising component costs. Pressure is already being felt across the supply chain, with these factors expected to place substantial strain on smartphone brand customers, particularly Chinese brands.

Friday 6 February 2026

Google doubles AI capex, turning TPU ASIC orders into high-stakes supplier race

Google's latest earnings showed not only solid operating momentum but also an unprecedented surge in capital spending, with capex set to more than double from US$91.45 billion in 2025 to US$175-185 billion in 2026, driven largely by accelerated investment in AI servers and large-scale TPU deployment.

Friday 6 February 2026

Cerebras raises US$1 billion, valuation nearly triples in 6 months

AI chip startup Cerebras Systems has secured a US$1 billion funding round, boosting its valuation to US$23 billion. According to Reuters and Bloomberg, the latest financing was led by Tiger Global, with participation from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Benchmark, Fidelity Management & Research, Coatue, and 1789 Capital—the venture fund of Donald Trump Jr.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Arm pushes compute subsystems as chip design complexity grows

Arm Holdings executives highlighted a growing focus on integrated compute subsystems during the company's latest earnings call, as rising chip design complexity reshapes customer requirements across multiple end markets.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Memory shortage weighs on Qualcomm, Arm as smartphone chip sales slow

Arm Holdings reported fiscal third-quarter revenue growth of 26% from a year earlier, supported by gains in licensing and royalties, while memory supply constraints in the smartphone market continued to weigh on expectations for mobile-related royalty income.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Alphabet's US$185 billion hardware mandate: Breaking the AI supply bottleneck

Alphabet has signaled a transformative shift in its industrial strategy, unveiling a massive, sustained hardware build-out designed to break a persistent supply-side bottleneck.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Texas Instruments to reshore Silicon Labs production in US$7.5 billion wireless play

Texas Instruments (TI) has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire chip designer Silicon Laboratories for approximately US$7.5 billion, marking the largest deal for TI since its US$6.5 billion purchase of National Semiconductor in 2011. The acquisition underscores TI's strategy to strengthen its presence in wireless connectivity chips for industrial, consumer, and smart-device applications.

Thursday 5 February 2026

MediaTek projects strong growth in cloud ASIC market, aims for US$1 billion revenue by 2026

At its February 4 earnings call, MediaTek outlined a robust outlook for its application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) business, with CEO Rick Tsai Lixing projecting the cloud ASIC market to reach US$70 billion by 2028. The company aims for a 10–15% market share and expects ASIC revenue to constitute around 20% of total sales by 2025.

Thursday 5 February 2026

MediaTek charts data center ASIC expansion even as smartphone sales slow

MediaTek held its earnings briefing with investor focus centered on application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and the smartphone market outlook. CEO Rick Tsai said the company's data center ASIC business is expected to surpass US$1 billion in 2026 and reach several billion US dollars in 2027, with projects extending into 2028. Over the longer term, ASICs are projected to contribute around 20% of total revenue.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Arm faces investor scrutiny as licensing miss collides with smartphone cost pressures

Arm Holdings shares fell approximately 8% in extended trading on February 4 after the chip IP provider reported the third-quarter fiscal 2026 licensing revenue that trailed analyst expectations. The shortfall overshadowed record royalty results and an improved revenue outlook.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Infineon's Ams Osram sensor acquisition signals shift toward higher-value systems and AI-linked growth

Infineon's planned purchase of Ams Osram's non-optical sensor portfolio underscores a strategic move to deepen its systems capability, rebalance exposure away from cyclical automotive pressure, and reinforce long-term growth tied to artificial intelligence, industrial automation, and medical applications.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Infineon's fiscal 1Q26 resilience highlights AI-driven growth amid cyclical pressures

Infineon's first quarter of fiscal year 2026 showed that strong demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) can cushion cyclical weakness in other markets, reinforcing the company's medium-term growth narrative while also bringing higher investment needs and cash flow pressure into focus.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Infineon pivots capacity to AI power as automotive recovery drags

Infineon's decision to accelerate investment to expand AI power capacity is set to lift fiscal 2026 capital spending and intensify fab loading management, even as the company maintains a cautious view of a gradual, uneven recovery in automotive and industrial demand.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Renesas reportedly to sell timing unit to SiTime in US$3 billion deal

According to Bloomberg and Nikkei, citing respective sources, Renesas Electronics is set to divest its clocks and timing device business to US chip design company SiTime for around US$3 billion, in a move aimed at sharpening its focus on microcontrollers for automotive and industrial applications. The potential sale comes amid slowing demand for automotive semiconductors and rising interest in high-speed data center components.

Thursday 5 February 2026

MediaTek beats revenue forecast as 2025 sales near US$20b record

MediaTek posted fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of NT$150.2 billion (US$4.75 billion), marking a 5.7% quarter-on-quarter increase and an 8.8% rise from a year earlier. Gross margin slipped to 46.1%, down 0.4pp sequentially and 2.4pp year on year. Operating profit came in at NT$21.85 billion, down 1.5% from the previous quarter but up 2% year on year, while operating margin fell to 14.5%, declining 1.1pp quarter on quarter and 1pp from a year earlier.

Thursday 5 February 2026

Taiwan companies navigate supply chain gaps as India emerges as key manufacturing market

The US move to lower reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18% is reshaping Taiwan manufacturers' India strategies, creating fresh opportunities in localization and import substitution while highlighting persistent risks tied to supply chain gaps, currency volatility, and execution challenges for Taiwanese IC and electronics suppliers.

Wednesday 4 February 2026

TI and NXP report strong results as AI data center power management boosts semiconductor packaging demand

Texas Instruments (TI), Infineon Technologies AG, STMicroelectronics, and NXP Semiconductors are expanding their manufacturing footprint in Malaysia as global customers accelerate efforts to diversify production away from China. The shift is being reinforced by rising electricity consumption from AI data centers, which is driving demand for high-voltage, high-power power management components used in servers and related infrastructure.

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Jensen Huang clarifies collaboration with OpenAI on track, confirms participation in new funding round

Recent reports suggested a stall in investment between Nvidia and OpenAI, but Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has confirmed that their collaboration remains on track. Huang stated in a CNBC interview that Nvidia will participate in OpenAI's latest funding round and is interested in joining the company's planned initial public offering (IPO).

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