CONNECT WITH US
Tuesday 29 September 2026
AI server MLCC prices rise as Chinese suppliers gain ground in generic parts
Multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) prices for AI servers have continued to climb, while prices for general-purpose components used in consumer appliances have dropped sharply. The split in the market has opened more room for Chinese suppliers in midrange and general-purpose categories as major manufacturers shift capacity toward higher-value products.
LATEST STORIES
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Samsung reshuffles DRAM roadmap, prioritizing B1b hybrid bonding for D0a, HBM5
Samsung Electronics is reshaping its next-generation dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) roadmap, elevating its B1b wafer-to-wafer (W2W) hybrid bonding technology from a project-specific development to the core technology behind D0a, its first sub-10nm DRAM generation. Industry observers believe Samsung's push to commercialize B1b DRAM earlier could also benefit its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products, including HBM5.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
RoboTechnik completes Hong Kong listing to fund ficonTEC expansion in silicon photonics
RoboTechnik completed a Hong Kong listing on September 29 and began trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to its German photonics automation subsidiary ficonTEC. The new capital will be used for further investment in ficonTEC, which is expanding its role in silicon photonics and optical interconnect manufacturing for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
South Korea AI compute squeeze hits researchers and startups
South Korea's AI sector is facing a growing GPU shortage as research institutes and small companies struggle to secure enough compute for model training and deployment. As government support ends, research teams are finding it harder to continue training, while startups are being squeezed by rising rental costs and long-term contract demands from suppliers.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Chips make up nearly half of South Korea's September exports; China, Hong Kong account for 52% of them
Semiconductors made up nearly half of South Korea's exports in the first 20 days of September, while China and Hong Kong combined accounted for more than half of the country's chip shipments in August, underscoring the growing concentration of the latest export surge by both product and destination.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
South Korea looks beyond high-nickel NCM in battery push
South Korea is broadening its battery strategy beyond high-nickel NCM, stepping up investment in sodium-ion, all-solid-state and lower-cost technologies after acknowledging that its focus on high-performance batteries left it exposed to China's rapid expansion in the affordable LFP market.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Trump-Xi state dinner puts tech titans at the head table, spotlighting Taiwan's quiet supply chain clout

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrived at the White House on the evening of September 24 US time to attend a state dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

Tuesday 29 September 2026
LG AI Research expands sovereign AI push into Kazakhstan, Middle East
LG AI Research is moving into Kazakhstan and the Middle East to capture demand for sovereign AI in emerging markets. The South Korea-based unit is using its model development and commercialization experience to pursue overseas deals as US and Chinese firms continue to dominate the global AI market.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Apple's foldable iPhone Duo faces low yields ahead of October launch
Apple's first foldable handset, the iPhone Duo, is nearing launch in October, but reports from China said production remains constrained by low yields in final assembly, panels, and hinges. Jiemian News reported that, as of September 17, Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, had an assembly yield just above 60%, more than a month before sales were set to begin.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Posco Future M lands KRW1.1 trillion LFP cathode deal with SK On
Posco Future M signed a large lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials supply contract with SK On for 2027 to 2029, in a deal worth about KRW1.1 trillion (US$810 million). The agreement expands the South Korean materials maker's role in battery supply for energy storage systems (ESS) and electric vehicles.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
DeepSeek paper says AI agents are learning reward hacking during training
DeepSeek founder Wen-Feng Liang's latest paper says AI agents are already learning to exploit system loopholes and bypass intended problem-solving methods during training, underscoring a new challenge for model development: how to stop models from taking shortcuts.
Monday 28 September 2026
South Korea's HBM-linked exports surge as Taiwan, Malaysia emerge as high-value destinations

South Korea's exports of the customs category that carries high-bandwidth memory (HBM) are no longer a two-destination story. Unit-value data show that the chips going to Taiwan and Malaysia are worth several times more per kilogram than those shipped to Hong Kong, China, or Vietnam. That points to a two-tier trade, with premium stacked memory heading to advanced packaging lines and cheaper multichip parts going to transit hubs and lower-unit-value destinations.

Monday 28 September 2026
China's Micro Han Xin code takes aim at Data Matrix in semiconductor traceability

China is trying to carve out a foothold in semiconductor supply-chain standards with Micro Han Xin, a miniaturized version of its home-grown barcode designed for chips and other components too small for conventional labels.

Monday 28 September 2026
Beyond ASML: China rethinks EUV race with light-source strategy
China is trying to broaden the definition of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) race. Rather than focusing only on building a domestic equivalent to ASML's lithography platform, Chinese researchers are exploring alternative EUV light sources that could improve energy efficiency, support semiconductor metrology and eventually provide new options for advanced lithography.
Sunday 27 September 2026
Beijing escalates domestic chip drive with Broadcom audits

China is intensifying its push to replace foreign technology across critical computing infrastructure, targeting high-speed networking hardware alongside foreign AI accelerators.

Sunday 27 September 2026
South Korea's 300mm research gap: Daejeon pitches an open fab as a US$1.46 billion fix
Daejeon is seeking to build a roughly KRW2 trillion (approx. US$1.46 billion) national semiconductor research hub centered on an open 300mm manufacturing and demonstration fab, aiming to fill a gap between South Korea's research infrastructure and its large commercial chipmaking base.