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Thursday 21 May 2026
US targets Hua Hong's 7nm nodes while China targets South Korean partners to evade sanctions

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has reportedly issued "is-informed" letters to several major wafer fab equipment (WFE) manufacturers, ordering an immediate halt to tool shipments destined for Hua Hong Semiconductor, China's second-largest foundry. The restrictions specifically target two facilities within the Hua Hong Group, including its subsidiary Huali Microelectronics, which US officials believe are being positioned to scale China's most sophisticated logic nodes

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Friday 22 May 2026
Memory shortage reaches smartphone OLED market as shipments fall 12%

A global memory shortage is spreading into the smartphone OLED market, cutting handset production and adding pressure on display makers and their component suppliers, according to ETNews and UBI Research

Friday 22 May 2026
China telcos launch token billing, AI inference goes mass-market
China's three major telecom operators introduced token-based billing plans in May as they packaged large-model inference resources into standardized products for consumers, developers, and enterprises, signaling a shift toward mass-market AI compute services. China Telecom rolled out a nationwide group-level token package on May 17 with tiered plans for individual and household users, developers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and ecosystem partners; its lowest-priced individual plan costs CNY9.9 (US$1.46) per month for access to 10 million tokens
Friday 22 May 2026
Analysis: Samsung deal prevents walkout but deepens internal rifts over compensation
Samsung Electronics and its union signed a provisional agreement late at night, about an hour before a scheduled May 21 strike, averting an industry estimate of more than KRW100 trillion (approx. US$66.8 billion) in supply chain disruption. The deal eases an immediate labor crisis but leaves unresolved structural conflicts and rising personnel costs
Friday 22 May 2026
South Korea aims for 50% domestic defense semiconductor supply by 2029
South Korea announced a national plan to raise domestic production of defense semiconductors to 50% by 2029, targeting heavy reliance on US and Taiwan supply chains to bolster national security. The initiative, unveiled at the 2026 Advanced Strategic Semiconductor Innovation Conference, covers research and development, manufacturing, ecosystem building and workforce training and follows the recent passage of the Defense Semiconductor Act by the National Assembly on May 7, 2026
Friday 22 May 2026
BOE, Corning target glass substrates for AI chip packaging

BOE Technology, China's leading display panel maker, is expanding its push into new businesses beyond panels. The company said on the evening of May 20 that it had signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with US glass materials supplier Corning to cooperate in glass-based packaging substrates, foldable glass, perovskite glass substrates and optical interconnects

Friday 22 May 2026
AI agents reshape enterprise computing, Lisa Su and Kai-Fu Lee say
At AMD AI DevDay 2026 in Shanghai, AMD CEO Lisa Su and 01.AI founder Kai-Fu Lee outlined what could become the next major shift in artificial intelligence: the transition from generative AI chatbots to autonomous AI agent systems. Their discussion focused on AI agents, multi-agent collaboration, open-source ecosystems and next-generation AI computing infrastructure, signalling a broader industry shift from "question-and-answer" AI towards systems capable of independently executing enterprise goals
Thursday 21 May 2026
xFusion drives CNY58.2 billion revenue as China backs domestic AI supply chain
Chinese server maker xFusion reached a revenue of CNY58.2 billion (approx. US$8.6 billion) for the year 2025. The figure indicates the company's rising profits as it benefits from China's push for a domestic AI supply chain and the benefits for companies breaking into the country's high-end server market
Thursday 21 May 2026
GigaDevice sees niche DRAM and NAND prices rising through 2026
GigaDevice said tight supply and rising prices across DRAM, NOR Flash, and SLC NAND Flash continued to fuel strong first-quarter 2026 earnings growth, supported by recovering demand from AI, server, and industrial applications
Thursday 21 May 2026
SK Hynix reportedly shifts Cheongju mask fab toward HBM yield push
SK Hynix is reportedly moving to reshape part of its Cheongju campus around wafer testing, a shift that underscores how high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is putting new pressure on the back end of the chipmaking process
Thursday 21 May 2026
China uses iron-fist policies to expel inefficient TOPCon capacity from solar supply chain
China's top-down policies are creating a tech elimination battle in its solar supply chain. Because of severe oversupply in the mainstream N-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology, combined with intensifying internal competition and price-cutting wars, the overall solar industry is on a downfall. For TOPCon companies suffering long-term losses and struggling to survive, the Chinese government has directly ordered local governments to "prohibit bailouts," therefore accelerating industry reshuffling and the elimination of inefficient production capacity
Thursday 21 May 2026
Commentary: China builds its memory twin engines; IPO push for YMTC, CXMT intensifies

China's memory chip industry is entering a critical capital markets phase, with YMTC formally launching IPO counselling and CXMT resuming its STAR Market listing review after updating its prospectus. The parallel moves mark an accelerated push by China's two leading memory chipmakers to secure long-term funding and expand their role in the global semiconductor industry

Thursday 21 May 2026
Nvidia excludes China from its outlook while citing analyst estimates of US$1 trillion in hyperscaler capex by 2027
Nvidia continues to exclude Chinese data center compute revenue from its outlook, with CFO Colette Kress citing uncertainty around whether H200 imports will be allowed into the country despite recent US export license approvals
Thursday 21 May 2026
South Korea bets on KIST, LG to catch up in humanoid robots
South Korea has launched a five-year public-private project to build a domestic AI humanoid robot platform, bringing together KIST, LG affiliates, universities, and a hospital as the country looks to narrow the gap with the US and China in next-generation robotics
Thursday 21 May 2026
Moonshot AI abandons offshore structure to pursue landmark Hong Kong IPO

Moonshot AI, the Beijing-based generative AI unicorn behind the widely popular Kimi chatbot, has informed its shareholders that it intends to dismantle its offshore corporate framework to clear a regulatory path for an initial public offering (IPO), likely in Hong Kong

Thursday 21 May 2026
SMIC, Hua Hong form materials supply platform to cut China chip chain reliance on US

China's semiconductor self-sufficiency drive has taken another step forward, with SMIC and Hua Hong Group jointly establishing Shanghai Electronic Materials International Supply Chain, in what market observers view as more than a conventional materials procurement platform