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Thursday 13 August 2026
Tencent starts paying for AI in cash, core business is covering the bill
Tencent Holdings used its second quarter to show what an AI build-out costs a company that can afford one. Capex reached CNY52.8 billion (US$7.81 billion), up 176% from a year earlier, and free cash flow turned negative for the quarter after large prepayments for computing capacity.
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Friday 14 August 2026
US report puts China-linked tariff evasion through Asia under the spotlight

A new US government-linked report says American tariff revenue is being drained by tens of billions of dollars a year through illegal transshipment, with exporters routing China-origin goods through more than 40 third countries — many of them in Asia — to dodge higher US duties. The report, titled "The Great Transshipment Scam," traces the practice to Chinese exporters' response to the Section 301 tariffs imposed in 2018 and estimates current annual illegal transshipment flows at US$40 billion to US$303 billion, depending on methodology.

Friday 14 August 2026
SK Hynix looks beyond memory with new global growth team
SK Hynix has set up a dedicated team to search for growth opportunities beyond its core memory business and has put a senior group executive in charge, a move aimed at turning the company's lead in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) into a wider role in AI infrastructure.
Friday 14 August 2026
DeepSeek raises API prices sharply as V4 Pro targets agentic AI market
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has officially launched its V4 Pro model with significantly enhanced agent capabilities, while sharply increasing API prices as it seeks to expand beyond its reputation for low-cost AI.
Friday 14 August 2026
SMIC plans to single out AI chip revenue as demand outpaces its current reporting categories
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is considering disclosing revenue from artificial intelligence (AI)-related "peripheral chips" as a standalone line item, possibly from the third quarter of 2026 or later, executives said on the company's second-quarter earnings call.
Friday 14 August 2026
Alibaba Cloud launches Zhenwu M890 supernode for commercial use
Alibaba Cloud has begun commercial service for its Zhenwu M890 supernode in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, giving global customers an early look at how AI infrastructure is shifting toward larger, faster, and more tightly connected systems. The launch could influence future cloud costs, model access, and enterprise AI deployment well beyond China.
Friday 14 August 2026
China PCB makers pour billions into AI server, HPC, optical markets
Chinese printed circuit board (PCB) makers are stepping up investment in higher-value markets including AI servers, high-performance computing (HPC) and optical communications. Following similar expansion in semiconductors and display panels, Chinese companies are rapidly adding PCB capacity as they seek to catch up with South Korean suppliers that have established an early presence in the high-end substrate market.
Friday 14 August 2026
SMIC's pricing power arrives as AI pushes mature-node work into China
China's largest contract chipmaker has spent most of the past two years increasing volume without much to show for it in terms of margins. The June quarter broke that pattern. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) reported revenue of US$3.01 billion for the three months ended June 30, 2026, up 20.0% sequentially and 36.1% from a year earlier, and gross margin of 25.3% against 20.1% in the March quarter. The margin, not the revenue line, is the news: it is the first quarter in this cycle in which SMIC has been able to convert a full order book into price.
Friday 14 August 2026
Samsung chip design embraces AI, but loss of control and hallucinations remain a problem
The AI wave is sweeping through the chip industry, but hallucinations, loss of control, and cybersecurity risks remain unresolved even as efficiency leaps. Youngsik Kim, head of the Design Technology (DT) team at Samsung Electronics' System LSI division, has pointed out that software has already leveraged AI to cut headcount and generate significant gains, but hardware has yet to see clear benefits.
Friday 14 August 2026
Kioxia eyes customer trials for PCIe Gen6 optical SSD

Kioxia is developing a PCIe Gen6 optical SSD and hopes to work with customers on its next prototype, as the Japanese memory maker tackles cost and reliability hurdles that still stand between the technology and mass production.

Friday 14 August 2026
Rapidus targets 8-reticle interposers by 2030
Rapidus expects interposers for high-performance chips to reach eight-reticle scale by around 2030, as larger chiplets and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) push advanced packages toward sizes that are increasingly inefficient to manufacture on conventional 300mm wafers.
Friday 14 August 2026
Samsung and SK hynix push AI deeper into fabs as semiconductor manufacturing enters autonomous era
As the world enters an AI-powered era where the persistent need for more complex architectures is driven by rising demands for higher computing performance, one bottleneck confronting the semiconductor industry lies not only in technological advancement itself, but also in the capacity to deploy standardized manufacturing processes at greater scale and speed.
Friday 14 August 2026
China's video AI dominance paves the way for world model boom

Chinese AI video-generation models are taking the world by storm. This competitive edge is not only disrupting Hollywood, but could also extend into the realm of "world models."

Friday 14 August 2026
Korea's CNT pellicle race heats up as aweXome Ray pushes toward EUV commercialization
As South Korea's major memory manufacturers race to secure next-generation lithography technologies for increasingly advanced process nodes, the approaching High-NA EUV era is adding urgency to the development of pellicles capable of handling higher optical and thermal requirements.
Thursday 13 August 2026
China AI chip market nears 90% domestic share in 2026—Huawei on course to eclipse Nvidia

China's high-end AI chip market could become almost entirely domestic in 2026, with local solutions expected to take nearly 90% of sales and leave Nvidia, AMD and other overseas suppliers with about 10%.

Thursday 13 August 2026
South Korea plans new sovereign wealth fund to back AI, robots, supply chains
South Korea plans to establish a strategic investment account with at least 20 trillion won in assets within the Korea Investment Corporation in 2027 as it moves to strengthen its position in global advanced technology competition. According to Bloomberg, the fund will focus on artificial intelligence, robotics, and critical supply chains, while also extending to energy, batteries, power grid infrastructure, nuclear power, and quantum technology.