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Monday 16 February 2026
Pentagon withdraws 1260H list adding Alibaba, BYD and Baidu, removing YMTC and CXMT

The Pentagon briefly published an updated list of Chinese companies alleged to have ties to the People’s Liberation Army, then withdrew it within an hour. The episode highlights Washington’s attempt to ease trade tensions with Beijing while maintaining pressure on technology and national security ahead of an expected April meeting between President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping

Monday 16 February 2026
Apple reportedly agrees to double NAND prices from Kioxia, shifts to quarterly contract pricing

Apple has reportedly agreed to double the unit price it pays for NAND flash from Japan's Kioxia starting in the January–March quarter, with supply contracts moving to quarterly price adjustments linked to market conditions

Sunday 15 February 2026
CXMT races to scale up as yield gaps and export curbs bite
CXMT, a leading Chinese DRAM maker, is expanding aggressively but faces significant production and regulatory hurdles, ChosunBiz reported, citing industry sources. Despite rising global memory demand, the company's wafer output has hit capacity limits, with yield issues and US export restrictions constraining further growth
Saturday 14 February 2026
ByteDance expands chip team to 1,000, advancing four major design lines
Chinese tech giant ByteDance is rapidly scaling its in-house chip development efforts, with its chip R&D team now exceeding 1,000 employees, signaling a strong push into AI hardware. According to a recent report by 36Kr, the company's investment in AI chip technology is accelerating quickly
Saturday 14 February 2026
China sets price guidelines to curb cutthroat EV competition
China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued a set of guidelines on February 12 aimed at regulating pricing throughout the automotive production process, as part of the government's efforts to curb destructive price slashing in the electric vehicle (EV) market
Saturday 14 February 2026
Nvidia deepens South Korea ties in smart factory push
Nvidia outlined its role in advancing two major manufacturing trends—AI Factory and Physical AI—at SEMICON Korea 2026, emphasizing that it views South Korea as an important strategic outpost for collaboration as the country accelerates AI-driven industrial transformation
Saturday 14 February 2026
HBM steals the show at SEMICON Korea despite Samsung, SK Hynix skipping the floor
Artificial intelligence-driven growth in the semiconductor industry has drawn increasing public attention. SEMICON Korea, organized by SEMI, continues to expand in scale. The 2026 exhibition featured 550 participating companies and more than 2,400 booths, with pre-registered attendance reaching 75,000
Friday 13 February 2026
Arm faces intensified competition in China as RISC-V rise reshapes AI and HPC chip markets
As China emerges as a major RISC-V hub shipping hundreds of billions of chips annually since 2024, Arm Holdings confronts heightened competition in a market where its architecture has powered over 300 billion chips across hundreds of licensees over 40 years. The trend is prompting Arm to accelerate efforts to secure its position in China's AI era
Friday 13 February 2026
Citi flags post-HBM shift as edge memory, HBF advance
A Citi analyst said the next phase of artificial intelligence (AI) memory demand will extend beyond high-bandwidth memory (HBM), pointing to emerging opportunities in physical AI devices and high-capacity flash architectures
Friday 13 February 2026
Analysis: China's AI models and chips align on day one

China's leading large model developers are accelerating flagship releases, while domestic AI chipmakers are responding almost simultaneously, announcing Day-0 adaptation and optimization as soon as new models are introduced

Friday 13 February 2026
Samsung's non-memory unit to turn profitable in 4Q26 as Exynos 2700 targets 50% share in Galaxy S27
Industry analysts indicate that Samsung Electronics' non-memory division is expected to return to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a full-year turnaround projected for 2027
Friday 13 February 2026
TSMC and memory makers boost capex to offset China export restrictions impact
TSMC raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to US$52-56 billion, driving strong demand in the global semiconductor supply chain amid AI growth. Memory giants SK Hynix, Micron, Nanya Technology, and Winbond also expanded capacity plans
Friday 13 February 2026
SK Hynix reportedly begins equipment orders for Cheongju HBM packaging line amid AI-driven capacity race
SK Hynix has started placing initial equipment orders to convert an idle Cheongju fab into a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) packaging and testing line, according to ET News, citing sources
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