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Thursday 31 July 2025
Samsung-Tesla AI chip deal: a potential four-way win for all?
Samsung's major AI chip contract with Tesla has sparked heated discussions, with Elon Musk pledging to personally step in to help Samsung improve production efficiency while hinting at an even higher contract value.
Wednesday 30 July 2025
From substrate to system: A deep dive into Nvidia's CoWoP packaging shift
As artificial intelligence and high-performance computing enter a phase of explosive growth, the limitations of traditional chip manufacturing and the slowing of Moore's Law have pushed the semiconductor industry toward a new frontier: advanced packaging technologies. Increasingly, performance gains are no longer coming from silicon alone, but from how chips are assembled and connected.
Wednesday 30 July 2025
Yageo expects modest 3Q25 growth amid FX losses
Taiwanese passive component giant Yageo held its earnings call on July 29, 2025, revealing that its second-quarter revenue growth exceeded expectations. It benefited from strong end-market demand and a surge of urgent orders during the tariff grace period. However, continued New Taiwan Dollar appreciation against the US Dollar placed pressure on overall profit margins. For the third quarter of 2025, Yageo CEO David Wang expects revenue to grow at a low single-digit rate, with gross margin and profitability continuing to trend slightly upward.
Tuesday 29 July 2025
TI tempers outlook as leadframe makers seek new markets
US-based semiconductor giant Texas Instruments (TI) recently released its financial report for the second quarter of 2025. Although quarterly revenue increased by 16% year-over-year, TI—often regarded as a bellwether for the semiconductor industry—adopted a conservative and pessimistic tone when issuing its revenue forecast for the upcoming quarter. This has raised concerns amid ongoing global tariff and trade conflicts, which may continue to hamper the sales recovery that remains in its early stages.
Tuesday 29 July 2025
Phison warns of BT substrate shortages, partial supply constraints expected from August 2025
As raw materials for IC substrates face shortages, the supply of BT substrates continues to tighten. This has led to material shortages in flash and SSD packaging ICs. Phison CEO Khein-Seng Pua stated that partial shortages may occur as early as mid to late August 2025. Additionally, upstream memory manufacturers are shifting production lines toward higher-margin DRAM products, resulting in NAND flash output falling short of expectations. NAND flash supply-demand imbalances are expected to become more severe in 2026.
Tuesday 29 July 2025
China's PCB industry hit hard by continued bankruptcy wave
China's PCB upstream and downstream supply chain has seen massive expansion supported by government policies in recent years. However, the subsequent industry downturn has led to overcapacity, forcing manufacturers to cut prices to win orders, thus triggering a wave of intense internal competition.
Monday 28 July 2025
Eternal Materials 2Q25 operating profit up 18.6%, but FX losses weigh on earnings
Eternal Materials reported stable shipments across its three core business segments in June, with consolidated revenue totaling NT$3.297 billion (approx. US$110 million), down 1.9% from May. Gross margin remained consistent with the previous month, but lower revenue pushed up the expense ratio, resulting in an operating profit of NT$137 million (approx. US$4.66 million), a 2.81% month-over-month decline.
Thursday 24 July 2025
AI server boom runs into fiberglass bottleneck
As the four major cloud service providers (CSPs) actively invest in self-developed application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), market forecasts predict a rapid increase in shipments in 2025. However, the integrated circuit substrate supply chain has indicated concerns over potential upstream material shortages following reports that Japan's leading fiberglass cloth manufacturer Nittobo is facing high-end production capacity constraints. This could potentially hinder future server shipments.
Wednesday 23 July 2025
Dixon Technologies holds back on bare PCB manufacturing despite new govt incentives
Dixon Technologies has decided to pause plans to enter bare PCB manufacturing, citing limited financial upside despite government incentives. During its fiscal first-quarter 2025 earnings call, the company stated that it will instead focus on PCB assembly and high-growth segments, such as industrial and automotive, aligning with its long-term strategic priorities.
Tuesday 22 July 2025
US copper tariffs send prices soaring, but AI server demand boosts Taiwan's CCL makers
As the US prepares to impose steep tariffs on imported copper, global copper prices have rebounded, raising concerns about rising costs across copper-intensive industries. Among the most vulnerable is the copper-clad laminate (CCL) industry, a foundational pillar of printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, where higher raw material prices could compress margins and trigger price hikes downstream.
Tuesday 22 July 2025
Taiwan's passive component market poised for growth amid AI and auto boom
Taiwan's passive component industry is positioned for growth driven by AI adoption across cloud servers, AI PCs, and smartphones, alongside rising automotive electrification. Industry analysts forecast the sector's output value will reach NT$257.1 billion (US$8.78 billion) in 2025, representing a 6.3% increase from the previous year.
Tuesday 22 July 2025
Yageo advances Shibaura acquisition talks, factory visits next in cross-border deal
Yageo, Taiwan's leading passive component manufacturer, said its third meeting with Japan's Shibaura Electronics concluded successfully in Taipei, marking a key step in Yageo's ongoing tender offer for the NTC thermistor specialist.
Tuesday 22 July 2025
HBM equipment race intensifies as newcomers battle for market entry
Competition in bonding equipment for the high bandwidth memory (HBM) market is intensifying, especially for the new generation of hybrid bonding (HB) technology. Following the current market leader, Hanmi Semiconductor, several Korean firms have also made their competition debut. However, it is very challenging for new players to gain a foothold in this sector.
Monday 21 July 2025
Taiwan Mask Corporation changes major shareholder following subsidiary bankruptcy
Taiwan Mask Corporation (TMC), the world's fourth-largest independent photomask maker, has undergone a change in its largest corporate shareholder, as Softstar Entertainment acquired a portion of TMC through its subsidiary.
Monday 21 July 2025
Fujifilm increases back-end process materials investment to drive growth
Fujifilm announced its plan to strengthen its business in materials for semiconductor back-end processes at a semiconductor materials business briefing held in Tokyo on July 15, 2025. The company aims to capture market share driven by rapidly expanding demand for AI servers, which will boost the semiconductor back-end process materials market.
Saturday 19 July 2025
Automotive market headwinds offset by AI servers; Eikei sees US liquid cooling board orders surge in 3Q25
Eikei chairman Shih-Lin Liu stated that the impact of tariffs and exchange rates has temporarily eased, with customer orders gradually stabilizing. Looking ahead to the second half of 2025, following small-scale deliveries of US-based AI server cooling distribution unit (CDU) boards starting from the second quarter, the company expects a stable surge in orders in the third quarter, potentially driving an operational split of 40% in the first half and 60% in the second half of the year.
Saturday 19 July 2025
Forward Science's AI-powered vacuum systems win major orders from PSMC, Macronix
Taiwan's Forward Science Corp. (Forwardtek), a leading vacuum pump supplier, has launched its new V-pro smart vacuum pump and EcoNanoPur energy-saving system — an integrated platform that combines AI diagnostics, predictive maintenance, carbon tracking, and ESG-centric features for semiconductor manufacturing.
Friday 18 July 2025
Ichia posts 40% profit surge, Kulim plant set to launch in 4Q25
Ichia Technologies, consistently receiving strong demand in consumer and automotive products, reported a consolidated revenue of NT$2.8 billion (approx. US$95.4 million) in the second quarter of 2025. This is an 18% increase from the prior year, along with a 20% gross margin. Their net profit after tax was NT$208 million (approx. US$7.1 million), a record quarterly profit for the company.
Thursday 17 July 2025
Advanced packaging boom propels ASE, KYEC through shifting semiconductor landscape

Even as Taiwan's semiconductor tariff policies remain unresolved and the New Taiwan dollar continues to appreciate, major chip packaging and testing firms are showing surprising resilience. Strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) chips—driven by the global boom in artificial intelligence (AI)—is helping Taiwan's outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) giants maintain steady growth into the second half of 2025.

Thursday 17 July 2025
Adata surges on memory boom, eyes AI and Biotech for next growth wave
Taiwanese memory module maker Adata Technology reported after-tax profit of NT$462 million (US$15 million) in June 2025, marking a dramatic turnaround from a loss in the same month last year. The figure is nearly on par with the company's first-quarter earnings of NT$526 million, signaling continued momentum in 2025.
Thursday 17 July 2025
What killed China's rising 5G chip hopeful? The untold collapse of Jian Wen Lu Semiconductor

Founded in 2016 by former Tokyo Seimitsu (Accretech) engineer Sheng Jinghao, Jian Wen Lu (Zhejiang) Semiconductor was once considered a standout contender in China's push for 5G RF chip independence. Its mission: to bypass foreign patent restrictions and develop high-frequency filters, long viewed as a chokepoint in RF front-end design.

Wednesday 16 July 2025
Yageo again extends Shibaura tender deadline ahead of crucial Taiwan talks
Yageo has extended the deadline for its tender offer to acquire Japan's Shibaura Electronics for a fifth time, citing ongoing regulatory review under Japan's Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act. The Taiwan-based passive components giant now expects to complete the share acquisition by August 1, 2025, according to a company statement released on July 15.
Wednesday 16 July 2025
Samsung, S&S Tech advance EUV mask localization to reduce reliance on Japan's Hoya
Samsung Electronics is accelerating efforts to localize the production of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) blank masks in South Korea through a collaboration with domestic partner S&S Tech. The goal is to pass final quality certification by the second half of 2025, marking a critical milestone in South Korea's push for greater self-sufficiency in next-generation semiconductor materials.
Wednesday 16 July 2025
Taiwan's PCB supply chain gains momentum as AI & ASIC server shipments surge
AI server GB200 has begun volume shipments, and cloud service providers (CSPs) are ramping up demand for servers equipped with their own ASICs. Despite reciprocal tariffs and New Taiwan Dollar exchange rate losses, server suppliers including Unimicron, Gold Circuit Electronics (GCE), Hi-tec, and Tripod have reported revenue growth in the second quarter of 2025.
Wednesday 16 July 2025
Lee Jae-yong’s global sprint: Samsung chair courts partnerships in US, China, and Japan

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong returned to South Korea on July 14 following a whirlwind trip to the exclusive Sun Valley Conference in Idaho, marking his fourth publicly disclosed overseas trip of 2025. With each of his international visits increasingly tied to strategic business talks and next-generation growth sectors, industry watchers are closely tracking what may emerge from his latest excursion.