Apple has opened testing of its China-specific Apple Intelligence service with the iOS 27.3 developer beta released on November 4, integrating Alibaba's Qwen model into Siri. The full version is expected in December, as Apple works to close the gap in its generative AI offerings in China.
A slower US build-out of AI infrastructure after the Democratic Party's midterm sweep could cost China more economically than it gains strategically, Bloomberg Economics said, because the hardware export boom propping up China's growth this year rests on US data center construction.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are expanding their high-value NAND flash portfolios to meet growing demand for high-performance, high-capacity enterprise solid-state drives (eSSDs). The proliferation of AI agents and long-context services is increasing the need for key-value (KV) caching, prompting both companies to develop next-generation SSDs and tiered memory technologies to reuse AI computation results more efficiently.
Revenue from conventional DDR and LPDDR memory grew faster than that from high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in the third quarter of 2026, as global DRAM revenue surged 369% year over year to nearly US$200 billion, according to Counterpoint Research.
China's second-largest contract chipmaker, Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor, is expanding into silicon photonics and power management chips to capitalise on AI infrastructure demand, following record third-quarter 2026 revenue and a 147.1% surge in profit.
Samsung Electronics' TV business faces the prospect of prolonged losses as Chinese panel makers, including BOE Technology Group (BOE) and TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (TCL CSOT), raise LCD prices, while Samsung grows increasingly dependent on China and lacks suitable alternative suppliers.
Naver is preparing to launch its Nvidia-backed AI factory business after securing an infrastructure agreement with Brookfield worth up to US$9 billion. With OpenAI and Anthropic seen as potential customers for AI computing services in South Korea, the company now faces the challenge of securing contracts that can support its expansion and cover rising operating costs.
AMD has signed an agreement with South Korean companies FuriosaAI and MangoBoost to build a heterogeneous AI computing cluster in Seoul by spring 2027, while separately discussing potential cooperation with DEEPX on low-power AI chips for robotics and industrial applications.
The Democrats' sweeping victory in the November 2026 US midterm elections, securing control of both chambers of Congress, has prompted South Korean industries to reassess the implications for investment, trade, and technology policy. With South Korea and Taiwan both heavily dependent on semiconductors, AI, and electronics, Washington's policy direction carries significant consequences for their technology sectors.
China's National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Phase III (Big Fund III) is shifting its focus from targeted semiconductor investments to large-scale manufacturing and industry consolidation, with a CNY900 million (approx. US$134 million) capital injection into Silan Microelectronics' 12-inch analog chip project highlighting its latest priorities.
Samsung Display (SDC) is facing a shortage of automotive OLED panels supplied to Chinese EV maker Li Auto, prompting Li Auto to temporarily ship some new Mega vehicles with LCD panels. Strong vehicle sales have driven demand for high-specification displays beyond expectations, potentially giving SDC's automotive OLED business fresh momentum.
AI data centers are accelerating demand for high-speed optical communications, extending competition in the optical transceiver market beyond chips and module manufacturing to critical upstream materials. Indium phosphide (InP), a key substrate for high-speed optical lasers and optoelectronic devices, is increasingly sought after as 800G and 1.6T transceivers gain traction. With capacity expansion requiring time and product qualification presenting technical hurdles, securing InP wafer supplies has become a strategic priority for optical communications companies.
South Korean AI software developer Moreh says AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs running its inference software delivered more than twice the throughput of Nvidia B200 GPUs in company tests, as South Korea moves ahead with plans to build AI infrastructure combining AMD processors with locally developed chips.
South Korean cloud services provider Naver Cloud now runs AMD EPYC processors in about 35,000 servers and plans to deploy 144-core fifth-generation EPYC chips in its public cloud services in the second half of 2026. The company turned to AMD after high prices for Intel's higher-core-count processors slowed its server expansion.
Global memory supply constraints are creating opportunities for Chinese DRAM maker CXMT to expand its market share. As major international manufacturers prioritise high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM, the tightening supply of mainstream DRAM is allowing CXMT to capitalise on domestic demand and capacity expansion.
Mitsui Chemicals is planning to acquire semiconductor materials maker JSR from state-backed Japan Investment (JIC) in a deal potentially worth more than JPY1.3 trillion (US$8.2 billion), which would rank as the largest acquisition in Japan's chemicals sector, according to reports by Nikkei Asia and Reuters on November 4, 2026.
