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Tuesday 21 July 2026
Ishihara Sangyo doubles high-purity titanium dioxide capacity on AI server demand

Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha plans to double production capacity for high-purity titanium dioxide used to make dielectric materials for multilayer ceramic capacitors, as rising AI server power requirements increase demand for the components.

Tuesday 21 July 2026
China's magnet exports hit record highs even as it turns the export tap into a political lever
China's exports of rare-earth permanent magnets reached record levels in the first half of 2026, yet the same customs data reveal a market increasingly shaped less by demand than by Beijing's discretion — flowing freely to most of the world, throttled to the US, and, since January, newly restricted to Japan.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
Power and water constraints cast doubt on South Korea's Honam memory cluster, experts say
South Korea's plan to develop a semiconductor cluster in the Honam region (Jeolla Province) is facing mounting scrutiny over whether the area can support the enormous energy and infrastructure requirements of advanced memory manufacturing.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron pull back on in-house CXL controller plans

Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology are reportedly scaling back or shelving plans to commercialize internally developed Compute Express Link (CXL) controller chips, shifting more controller work to specialist fabless suppliers while continuing to develop CXL-based memory products.

Tuesday 21 July 2026
China's Z.ai reportedly powers up 1GW data center built entirely on domestic chips

Chinese AI developer Z.ai has completed a giant data center running exclusively on domestically made chips, a milestone in Beijing's drive to replace restricted Nvidia silicon for future AI development.

Tuesday 21 July 2026
DDR5 module spot prices hit record highs as China-made dies narrow price gap
The pace of memory contract price increases has begun to slow in the second half of 2026, but DDR5 spot prices continue to climb as AI and server applications absorb available supply, according to industry sources.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
WAIC 2026 elevates the 'token factory' — why is China chasing cheap tokens over bigger models?

At the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, held July 17-20 across "three districts and four venues" with more than 1,100 exhibitors, one phrase recurred across vendor booths and keynotes: the "token factory".

Tuesday 21 July 2026
CMTX develops 590mm single-crystal silicon ground ring for chip etching

South Korean semiconductor materials and parts supplier CMTX has developed a roughly 590mm single-crystal silicon ground ring for chip-etching equipment and plans to begin customer validation as it scales production of the 600mm-class ingots used to make oversized chamber components.

Tuesday 21 July 2026
Li Auto reportedly forms new Shanghai chip company to expand in-house semiconductor ambitions
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto has established a new subsidiary focused on IC chip design, underscoring its long-term strategy of developing core AI technologies in-house.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
China's AI supernode race seeks systems edge through optics, packaging, and cloud scale

China's AI hardware race is shifting from individual accelerators to supernodes, optical interconnects, advanced packaging and cloud-scale systems.

Tuesday 21 July 2026
China's solar slump deepens, raising warning signs for energy storage and electric vehicles
China's solar industry is still trapped in a painful shakeout after three straight years of losses across much of the supply chain, according to first-half reports from leading companies. Persistent overcapacity, weak downstream demand, and rising overseas barriers have left the sector under pressure, while investors are watching for signs that similar problems could spread to energy storage and new energy vehicles.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
Memory shortage could turn into a glut by 2028 as chipmakers expand

A powerful rally in memory-chip stocks has stalled as investors reconsider whether record spending on AI data centers could eventually push the DRAM market back into oversupply.

Tuesday 21 July 2026
LGES accelerates sodium-ion battery plans while CATL secures early ESS lead
LG Energy Solution plans to establish a sodium-ion battery mother line at its Ochang Energy Plant in South Korea in 2026, seeking to narrow CATL's early commercial lead in energy storage systems.
Tuesday 21 July 2026
Samsung, SK Hynix prioritize DDR5 as margins near HBM levels

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are reportedly allocating additional or flexible DRAM production capacity to server DDR5 and other conventional memory products while maintaining high-bandwidth memory (HBM) volumes already committed to customers.

Tuesday 21 July 2026
Befar begins production of 6N hydrogen fluoride gas for chipmaking

Befar Group has begun producing semiconductor-grade hydrogen fluoride gas with a claimed purity of 6N, or 99.9999%, expanding the Chinese chemical supplier's presence in materials used for chip etching and chamber cleaning.