South Korea's Supreme Court has upheld a KRW18.664 billion (approx. US$13.9 million) fine against Broadcom for pressuring Samsung Electronics into a long-term smartphone component purchasing agreement by disrupting supplies, bringing the US chipmaker's legal challenge to an end.

South Korean company UTI, the second supplier of ultra-thin glass (UTG) cover glass for Apple’s first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, has begun shipments to Samsung Display (SDC), but mass production is running about one quarter behind schedule.

LG Energy Solution expects revenue to keep rising in the fourth quarter while profit dips. On its November 3 earnings call, it told analysts that its North American energy storage system (ESS) business is improving its profitability more slowly than the market expected. Executives also said tighter sourcing rules in the US and Europe are shaping how the battery maker buys materials, chooses customers, and plans its balance sheet.

Chinese commercial launch provider CAS Space launched its Kinetica-2 rocket at 8:15:25am on 3 November from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Experimental Zone, placing 18 Spacesail Constellation satellites into their designated orbit. It was the rocket's first deployment mission for the low-Earth-orbit network, also known as G60 Starlink.

A loophole in US export controls reportedly lets high-bandwidth memory (HBM) made by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix reach China's AI chip industry. The loophole shows how much Huawei's next-generation processors still depend on foreign memory, while China's domestic suppliers struggle to close the gap.

Apple's Greater China revenue rose 21% year-over-year to a record US$17.5 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, ended September, while full-year revenue increased 28%, driven by the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro series. The results underscore the flagship iPhone's continued competitiveness in China, while rising memory prices threaten to pressure profit margins and growth.

AI data centers are increasing demand for high-speed optical communications, making optoelectronics supply chains increasingly strategic. Marvell's announced acquisition of Lumentum highlights chipmakers' growing integration of optical technologies. Huawei has pursued its own supply-chain strategy through sustained equity investments by Hubble Technology.

DeepSeek plans to use Huawei's Ascend 950 chips as the core training hardware for its next-generation V5 model, potentially extending the companies' partnership from inference to full model training in 2027.

Dutch chipmaker Nexperia is seeking US$2 billion in damages from its Chinese owner Wingtech and three other defendants, alleging they established a competing supply chain in China that disrupted its business.

Screen Holdings is expanding production of semiconductor cleaning equipment with a JPY25 billion (US$157.53 million) site in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto, while raising its capex budget for the year ending March 2027 to JPY58 billion (US$367.33 million). The new facility is scheduled to begin operating in January 2028.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) has disclosed more than KRW5 trillion in long-term supply agreements (LTAs) this year after signing another AI server capacitor contract. The company expects such agreements to account for more than half of its multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) revenue in 2027.

South Korea should tie government support for new semiconductor fabs to commitments that benefit domestic chip designers, equipment makers, and packaging suppliers, a state-funded researcher proposed on November 2, a move that could influence chipmakers' sourcing decisions if adopted.

Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold 8 weekly sales in South Korea increased by more than 20% in the week after Apple launched its first foldable iPhone Duo, according to Seoul Economic Daily and Financial News. The increase followed the iPhone Duo's South Korean debut on October 23, 2026, as reported problems involving shipment delays and cracked internal displays created additional attention for Samsung's competing foldable device.

Samsung Electronics is considering a major overhaul of its TV lineup for 2027, replacing technology-based product names with three tiers modeled on its Galaxy smartphones as it looks to increase shipments and expand its services business, South Korea's ETNews reported.

Japan's Mitsui Kinzoku has announced its third capacity expansion plan since the start of fiscal 2026 for MicroThin, its ultrathin copper foil used in optical communications equipment. The company is accelerating production expansion to meet sustained growth in market demand.