The US Department of Commerce has withdrawn a previously proposed plan to restrict imports of Chinese-made drones, a move that some observers view as a goodwill signal ahead of an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping

Delta Electronics India is set to significantly expand its manufacturing footprint in India, reflecting the company's confidence in the country's growing semiconductor and electronics ecosystem and its alignment with the government's 'Make in India' initiative. The move builds on Delta's longstanding presence in India, where the company has invested in R&D, industrial automation, and smart manufacturing solutions over the past decade

Reliance Industries, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, unveiled plans for a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform under its Jio brand on January 11, designed to allow users to access AI services in their own language. The announcement, made at the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference in Rajkot, underscores Reliance's push to scale AI infrastructure and applications nationwide

Maxscend Microelectronics is heading for its first annual loss since going public, marking a sharp reversal for one of China's leading RF chipmakers as it struggles with a costly business transition, intensifying competition, and mounting legal pressure from Japan's Murata Manufacturing

Hanmi Semiconductor has drawn industry attention in recent years for its thermal compression bonding equipment used in high-bandwidth memory production. As low-earth-orbit satellite deployments expand and the industry moves toward 6G, the company's electromagnetic interference shielding equipment is also gaining importance

Samsung Electronics has reportedly filed a series of new trademarks related to high bandwidth memory as it advances preparations for its sixth-generation HBM4 products

Electronics manufacturing services major Foxconn and India's HCL Group have formally named their semiconductor joint venture India Chip Private Limited, according to a regulatory filing made on January 14, marking a key step in operationalising their collaboration in India's chip ecosystem, according to PTI and the Economic Times

China has tightened export controls on rare earths and other dual-use materials bound for Japan, prompting Tokyo to formalise a rare-earth stockpiling policy and work with G7 partners to accelerate efforts to reduce supply-chain dependence on China

WUS Printed Circuit (Kunshan) Co. plans to invest up to US$300 million in a high-density optical-electrical printed circuit board (PCB) project aimed at supporting next-generation packaging and interconnect requirements for AI servers, high-performance computing (HPC), and advanced networking systems

Reports that Reliance Industries has paused plans to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells have reignited debate over India's clean-energy ambitions, highlighting technology bottlenecks even as the conglomerate insists its net-zero strategy and investment roadmap remain firmly on track

China's push to localize its semiconductor equipment supply chain has reached an unexpected milestone. Domestic tools accounted for 35% of chipmaking equipment used in 2025, up from 25% a year earlier and well above the government's original 30% target. Data from Jiemian News, SCMP, and Cacnews show localization has risen from just 7% in 2020, a nearly 400% increase in five years. In key process steps such as etching and thin-film deposition, Chinese tools now exceed 40% adoption

EV manufacturer Ola Electric has rolled out Ola Shakti, a residential battery energy storage system (BESS), from its gigafactory in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, marking the company's formal entry into India's residential energy storage market and an expansion beyond its core automotive business, according to ANI, PV Magazine, and the Economic Times

SK Hynix has announced plans to invest KRW19 trillion (US$13.02 billion) to construct a new advanced packaging facility, P&T7, in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. The move aims to meet growing demand for AI memory and bolster the company's semiconductor capabilities, particularly in high bandwidth memory (HBM)

Samsung Electronics is set to introduce South Korea-made mask blanks into its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process starting as early as the second quarter of 2026. According to ET News and The Elec, Samsung is in the final evaluation stages of its EUV mask blanks with local supplier S&S Tech and is expected to be completed by January 2026, or by February at the latest. This is the first time Samsung will use domestically produced mask blanks in its EUV process