The global 8-inch wafer foundry market has entered a price upcycle. Foundries, including SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor, along with major Taiwanese and South Korean mature-node players, have notified customers that 8-inch foundry prices are set to rise by around 5 to 10% starting in the first quarter of 2026, covering specialty processes such as BCD and high-voltage (HV) platforms

As generative AI and large language models scale rapidly, the computing race is shifting toward a quieter but decisive battleground: how data is stored, accessed, and utilized. According to Sina and Securities Times, Huawei has launched a global call for solutions through the sixth OlympusMons Awards, which opened on December 26, 2025. With a total prize pool of CNY3 million (US$426,000), the program seeks innovations aimed at overcoming storage and memory bottlenecks in the AI era

On the afternoon of December 26, 2025, Wingtech Technology convened its fifth extraordinary shareholders' meeting of 2025, sending a resolute signal: the company is prepared not only to regain full control of Nexperia but also to pursue as much as US$8 billion in international arbitration claims

Nvidia has reportedly asked memory suppliers to prepare for the delivery of 16-high high-bandwidth memory by the second half of 2026, according to industry sources cited by South Korean media, including ET News and eNews Today. The request sets an aggressive timeline for a product that has yet to be commercialized

China has eased listing requirements for private companies developing reusable commercial rockets, shifting regulatory scrutiny away from short-term financial performance and toward technological milestones, as Beijing steps up efforts to close the gap with the United States in launch capabilities and low-Earth-orbit satellites

As global AI compute demand pivots from large-scale model training toward application deployment, Zhonghao Xinying (Hangzhou) Technology founder and CEO Yang Gongyifan said in an interview with Chinastarmarket.cn that the company's second-generation self-developed chip has entered testing and is slated for market launch in 2026

Nvidia has accelerated its expansion into artificial intelligence inference by signing a non-exclusive licensing agreement with startup Groq. The deal gives Nvidia access to specialized chip technology while recruiting several key engineers. It signals a strategic pivot by the world's leading chipmaker toward real-time AI model processing

According to Nikkei, although electric vehicle (EV) demand has been below expectations, weighing heavily on Rohm Semiconductor's SiC power semiconductor equipment investments, the company has decided to expand applications into the AI server sector. Rohm's annual revenue from server-related fields is only around JPY10 billion (approx. US$64 million), but it has already started supplying new products in collaboration with Nvidia

These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of December 22 to December 29, 2025

Chinaese semiconductor supplier Guoxin Micro has moved to spin off its automotive controller chip business into a new company. It has brought in a CATL subsidiary as a strategic shareholder in a step aimed at strengthening funding capacity and positioning for rising demand from electric and intelligent vehicles

China has released draft rules to regulate human-like artificial intelligence interaction services, marking a significant step toward governing AI companions, virtual personas, and emotionally responsive systems as authorities seek to balance innovation with social stability and user protection

China has formally launched its National Venture Capital Guidance Fund, a move that signals a major policy push to reshape the country's early-stage investment landscape and strengthen long-term support for strategic technologies amid slowing private capital activity

South Korean PNT has secured its first mass-production order for battery copper foil in China, marking a strategic expansion beyond its core battery equipment business into materials and strengthening its foothold in the Chinese market

The global aerospace and satellite industry did not experience a single, earthshaking breakthrough in 2025. Instead, it advanced through a series of consequential developments—subtle in isolation, but collectively transformative. The year marked steady progress across multiple fronts. The race in low-Earth-orbit (LEO) communications intensified. Space militarization accelerated. Early experiments in orbital computing emerged. Together, these shifts pushed the industry toward a more crowded, contested, and commercially driven space economy

South Korea's drive to build a domestic artificial intelligence semiconductor industry is hitting a key constraint. Despite gains in power efficiency and pricing, industry executives say the lack of large-scale validation environments is slowing commercial adoption and limiting the ability of local chips to compete beyond pilot deployments