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Thursday 12 February 2026
SMIC warns AI pull-forward is rewriting chip cycle, lifts mature-node pricing
The global foundry industry is undergoing a structural shift, and it is emerging first in mature process nodes once widely considered oversupplied. SMIC stated on February 11 that its performance in the first quarter of 2025 defied seasonality. Utilization held steady from the prior quarter, and pricing for mature nodes has begun to stabilize
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Friday 13 February 2026
Naura rises to No. 5 in global semiconductor equipment rankings

China's semiconductor equipment makers are advancing rapidly even as the global chip supply chain undergoes restructuring and geopolitical decoupling

Friday 13 February 2026
Volkswagen leads way as EU replaces China BEV tariffs with minimum price commitment
As the European Union-China trade dispute over battery electric vehicles (BEVs) drags on, the EU is on track to replace punitive tariffs of up to 35% with a "minimum price commitment" mechanism starting in January 2026. Volkswagen Group has become the first automaker to formally engage with the new approach, applying the pricing scheme to its Cupra Tavascan model produced in Anhui, China—an early indication of how European manufacturers may adapt to the EU's evolving trade defense strategy
Friday 13 February 2026
SEMICON Korea: Samsung pushes hybrid bonding HBM, SK Hynix bets on platform AI
SEMICON Korea 2026, held in Seoul from February 11–13, brought senior executives from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to outline their AI-era memory R&D strategies. Samsung focused on cross-domain semiconductor integration to address bandwidth and energy-efficiency limits, while SK Hynix detailed a platform-based and AI-driven approach to compress development cycles
Friday 13 February 2026
Lenovo leans on premium AI PCs and phones as memory costs squeeze hardware margins
Lenovo said surging memory prices are likely to weigh on global PC and smartphone unit demand in 2026, prompting the company to double down on diversified sourcing, premium product mix and dynamic pricing to protect margins, even as AI becomes its fastest-growing revenue engine
Friday 13 February 2026
Samsung said to gain 8nm orders in Europe as 2nm plan advances

Samsung Electronics is said to be expanding its 8nm foundry customer base into Europe following earlier contract wins in the US and Japan

Friday 13 February 2026
The Hangzhou AI dark horse that took over accounting workflows
Generative AI is crossing a critical threshold, shifting from an assistive tool to a system capable of directly assuming work. Early in 2026, this shift became visible almost simultaneously in Silicon Valley and Hangzhou. In the US, Anthropic enabled executable plug-ins for Claude, turning large language models into task-orchestrating AI agents and jolting the software industry. In China, a Hangzhou-based AI startup triggered a parallel shift by pushing AI directly into corporate accounting and displacing manual bookkeeping workflows
Friday 13 February 2026
Kioxia forecasts up to 77% operating profit surge on AI-driven NAND price rally
Driven by expanding memory demand from AI servers and rising average selling prices, Japan-based NAND flash and SSD maker Kioxia expects solid growth in fiscal year 2025 (April 2025-March 2026), supported by momentum in the final quarter (January-March 2026)
Friday 13 February 2026
Apple and Samsung solidify their lead as only brands with over 1 billion active users

Chinese smartphone vendors continue to expand global shipments, supported by competitive pricing, sustained research investment, and overseas growth

Thursday 12 February 2026
China's Lenovo profit drops 21% even as revenue climbs 18%, flags memory shortage pressure
Lenovo Group reported a 21% decline in third-quarter profit but exceeded analyst expectations as strong revenue growth, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) demand, helped offset margin pressures. The company also warned of mounting pressure on PC shipments due to a worsening memory-chip shortage
Thursday 12 February 2026
Z.ai unveils GLM-5, advances AI agents and China chip compatibility

Ahead of the Lunar New Year, Chinese AI startup Z.ai (formerly Zhipu AI) released its open-source model GLM-5, highlighting AI agent capabilities and coding performance. The company said the user experience is "approaching Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5.

Thursday 12 February 2026
China dominates 90% of South Korea's EV fast-charger modules

South Korea is moving to domestically produce key components for electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers, as Chinese-made power modules account for more than 90% of those installed in the country, according to a Hankyung report

Thursday 12 February 2026
Samsung's premium TV discounts reflect pressure from China's expanding mini LED push
Samsung Electronics' pricing for premium televisions is drawing scrutiny in South Korea as significant gaps emerge between official online prices and aggressive in-store promotional bundles, reflecting mounting competitive pressure from Chinese brands
Wednesday 11 February 2026
Rapidus aims for 2nm ramp in FY2027 with fourfold capacity boost
Rapidus is expected to begin full-scale production in fiscal 2028. Mass production of 2nm-class chips is scheduled to commence in the second half of fiscal 2027, according to Kyoto News. The company's business plan, submitted to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, outlines a strategy to enter volume production in late fiscal 2027. The plan calls for expanding output approximately fourfold within the first year of operation
Wednesday 11 February 2026
ByteDance reportedly in talks with Samsung on chip development amid US Nvidia curbs

China's ByteDance is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) chip and is in talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture it, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, as the TikTok parent seeks to secure a supply of advanced processors

Wednesday 11 February 2026
Netherlands' China-hawk cabinet signals tighter grip on chip tech
Europe's technology security posture toward China is tightening. The Netherlands is emerging as an early indicator. A new Dutch cabinet dominated by China hawks signals tighter export controls, stricter investment screening, and deeper coordination with US and allied technology-security frameworks. The shift carries potential spillover effects across semiconductor supply chains and EU industrial policy