Global memory shortages remain severe, with AI and cloud applications intensifying demand for scarce supply. Prices for both DRAM and NAND flash have risen sharply, while China's two flagship memory makers, CXMT and YMTC, are preparing to break from their long-standing division of the market.

Chinese EV maker Xpeng is planning to offer its technology to foreign automakers beyond Volkswagen, according to people familiar with the matter, as technology licensing emerges as a new revenue engine for the company.

South Korea and the US have hit an impasse in final-stage investment talks over commercial viability safeguards, with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung saying that some parts are hard to accept. The deadlock is raising concerns that the months-long negotiations over South Korea's investment plans in the US could collapse.

Leading Interconnect Semiconductor, a Zhen Ding Technology subsidiary, has broken ground on an AI advanced packaging substrate project in Bao'an, Shenzhen, with total investment expected to be at least CNY12 billion (approx. US$1.79 billion). The new site is designed to add four factories and expand the company's ability to develop, manufacture, and deliver high-end flip-chip ball grid array (FCBGA) products for AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and advanced packaging customers.

AI's shift from data centers into cars, robots, wearables, and connected devices is widening the market for fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI), while China is building a domestic supply chain spanning substrates, foundry capacity, and chip design.

Tower Semiconductor plans to make Japan its largest manufacturing base for optical communications semiconductors after expanding silicon photonics (SiPh), silicon germanium (SiGe), and advanced packaging capacity in the Hokuriku region, as demand from AI data centers accelerates.

China has introduced its first national standard for perovskite photovoltaics, a move that could improve how solar performance is measured and compared worldwide. The new rules are likely to support industry transparency, help investors assess progress more accurately, and speed commercialization by reducing inconsistencies in testing data across markets.

Acer Medical said Taiwan's and South Korea's long-standing health insurance and medical records could underpin a new wave of sovereign healthcare AI as the company moves beyond image recognition into generative AI and AI agents. The company highlighted uses in remote care, motion analysis, and preventive medicine at a Next AI event in Wonju, South Korea.

South Korea's DB HiTek is gaining pricing power as tightening 8-inch foundry supply, high utilization, and stronger demand for power-management chips improve conditions across mature-node manufacturing.

China's PC monitor market is entering a period of sharper structural divergence, with commercial demand offsetting part of a weakening consumer segment while rising component costs push manufacturers toward higher-value products.