SK Hynix is looking beyond its position as a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), using venture investments to gain a greater say in how next-generation AI infrastructure is designed.

SK Hynix is reassessing how to finance the US manufacturing expansion of its NAND flash subsidiary Solidigm after shelving a potential initial public offering (IPO), as the South Korean memory maker prepares for higher capital spending in 2027 while committing approximately KRW100 trillion to shareholder returns this year.

Micron Technology is heading to South Korea to recruit engineers for its Taiwan operations, with interviews scheduled in Seoul in late November, as a bonus dispute at its Taoyuan plant remains unresolved. The company and the Taoyuan union held a second round of negotiations on October 27 without reaching an agreement, and a third round has been tentatively set for November 6. At the same time, Micron is advancing a global compensation overhaul, reflecting how profit sharing and competition for technical talent have become a focus for the industry as AI memory demand expands.

Major package substrate makers, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco), are concentrating capital spending on large, high-layer-count ABF substrates, while capacity expansion for BT substrates used in memory packaging remains limited. With BT substrate supply tightening and demand for low-power SOCAMM memory modules rising, South Korea's Simmtech could benefit from its business in both memory package substrates and module PCBs.

Chinese AI chipmaker Cambricon Technologies reported a 131.49% increase in net profit attributable to shareholders for the first nine months of 2026, while revenue more than doubled. Third-quarter net profit rose nearly 150% from a year earlier.

South Korean memory module substrate maker TLB has begun developing substrates for SOCAMM3, a next-generation low-power memory module for AI servers, with two major memory customers at home and abroad, according to sources. The company expects SOCAMM3 to enter mass production in 2028 as it expands SOCAMM2 production and builds capacity to retain its position in the high-end memory module substrate market.

Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience (DX) division has established its first overseas research and development site for manufacturing technology in Suzhou, China, leveraging the city's robotics and automation ecosystem to develop technologies for Samsung's global factories.

FarEasTone Telecommunications signed a cooperation agreement with Direct-to-Device (D2D) satellite communications provider Elveo Mobile on October 27 to expand satellite-to-phone services in Taiwan. The partnership will integrate D2D capabilities with FarEasTone's existing terrestrial mobile network, supporting broader coverage, stronger communications resilience, and a future integrated space-and-ground network.

China's CXMT has reportedly declined Apple's inquiry about purchasing DRAM, prioritizing supply to domestic customers instead. As global memory supplies tighten and prices rise, the Chinese memory maker's capacity allocation and companies' efforts to secure supply have drawn attention.

Imported electric vehicles captured more than half of South Korea's new electric passenger-car registrations during the first nine months of 2026, marking the first time the share of domestically made models fell below that threshold. About 258,000 new electric passenger cars were registered from January through September, with imported vehicles accounting for 51.3%, or approximately 132,000 units, according to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association cited by Money Today and Seoul Economic Daily.

Anthropic's IPO filing does more than outline the economics of a rapidly scaling AI company. Its risk disclosures show frontier AI developers becoming increasingly exposed to governments that act not only as regulators, but also as customers, procurement authorities, export-control gatekeepers and national-security actors.

SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has selected investment sites in Malaysia and plans to invest US$50 billion in technology, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. Following investments in the US and Europe, the group is expanding its AI infrastructure strategy into Asia.

South Korean memory chip designer Jeju Semiconductor is struggling to secure enough wafer capacity from Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing (PSMC), limiting its sales growth as strong memory demand drives up prices and manufacturing costs.

Mitsubishi Materials will expand production of thermistors, temperature sensors used in optical communications equipment, as the spread of generative AI drives demand for optical transceivers. Its Thailand facility will gradually add equipment and raise monthly capacity to about 12 million units by November 2027, roughly six times its 2025 capacity.

More than half of China's AI token usage is reportedly concentrated in short dramas and video generation, but ByteDance's Doubao has disputed the figure, saying video-generation models account for only about 10% of overall computing resources. The conflicting estimates highlight the difficulty of assessing AI compute consumption and its commercial value.