Samsung Electro-Mechanics disclosed on July 23 that it signed a KRW295.12 billion (US$200 million) supply contract with a major global company for multilayer ceramic capacitors used in artificial intelligence servers and data center systems.

Washington is opening a new front in its technology contest with China, moving beyond chips and artificial intelligence models to target humanoid robots and other autonomous systems over national security and data privacy concerns.

Rapidus is expanding the semiconductor development and production network around its Chitose, Hokkaido foundry, adding chip analysis and advanced packaging capabilities alongside a front-end pilot line for 2nm logic chips.

Surging AI server demand is reshaping supply and demand across the global memory market. With DRAM prices rising sharply over the past year, the resulting cost pressure is beginning to spill into the automotive industry.

China's 12-inch silicon wafer maker Xi'an Eswin Material Technology said monthly output and sales of its 12-inch electronic-grade silicon wafers have both exceeded 1 million units, marking a further increase in its mass-production scale.

Realme has stopped producing smartphones for China and will launch no new models there, ending its domestic expansion as parent company Oppo consolidates overlapping brands and redirects resources overseas.

China's AI infrastructure build-out is rapidly lifting demand for domestic accelerators, giving Huawei, Alibaba's T-Head Semiconductor, Cambricon and Hygon a larger role in a market once dominated by Nvidia.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's whirlwind visit to Japan in mid-July extended well beyond product announcements and public appearances. Alongside a joint event with gaming giant Sega Corporation, Huang used the trip to promote what he has repeatedly described as Nvidia's next major AI frontier—physical AI—sparking renewed discussion across Japan's industrial sector about the country's role in the emerging technology.

AI-driven memory demand is raising smartphone and PC costs, weakening mass-market sales and widening the gap between premium brands and manufacturers reliant on lower-priced devices.

Mitsubishi Electric is seeking an agreement with Toshiba and ROHM by September on combining semiconductor operations centered on power devices, as the three Japanese suppliers negotiate product scope and corporate control while seeking government support.

Samsung Electronics has created a robotics business unit reporting directly to its chief executive, bringing strategy, technology development, data collection and factory deployment into a more integrated structure as the company moves humanoid robots closer to commercialization.