DIGITIMES Asia news

Monday 14 July 2025

Unigroup's US$14 billion comeback: post-restructuring push spans chips, global reach, IPOs

On July 11, 2025, Tsinghua Unigroup marked three years since its strategic overhaul with a strong performance report highlighting its resurgence in China's high-tech sector. Over the period, the group generated more than CNY100 billion (approx. US$14 billion) in annual revenue for three straight years, filed over 30,000 patents (up 25%), and won the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award twice

Monday 14 July 2025

Kioxia, YMTC jump ahead with wafer-bonded NAND in volume production

Kioxia and YMTC are pioneering the use of wafer bonding technologies— CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) and Xtacking, respectively — for next-generation NAND flash memory production. This strategic shift moves the industry beyond the traditional race to increase memory cell layer counts, focusing instead on architectural advances that improve performance, power efficiency, and scalability

Monday 14 July 2025

SK On partners with L&F to build North American LFP battery supply chain

SK On signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with South Korean battery cathode materials company L&F to promote its lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery business targeting the North American energy storage system (ESS) market

Monday 14 July 2025

Weekly news roundup: China’s semiconductor setback, MediaTek gains on Qualcomm, and ongoing US-China chip tensions

Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from July 7 to July 13, 2025. This week's top three highlights include China’s semiconductor ambitions facing setbacks as Jiangsu Advanced Memory Semiconductor cancels its restructuring amid investment delays. Meanwhile, MediaTek gains ground on Qualcomm in China’s premium smartphone market, signaling a notable industry shift. The US-China semiconductor standoff shows signs of tactical maneuvering, with both sides testing political and economic limits

Monday 14 July 2025

South Korea advances self-driving commuter bus with risk prediction model

South Korea's autonomous driving technology has entered the proof-of-concept stage. Their PanTa-G self-driving bus operates in Pangyo and has so far served over 55,000 passengers and accumulated over 52,000km of travel. Moving forward, South Korea plans to focus its research more on driving risk prediction and safety management, aiming to build a data-based intelligent traffic safety network

Monday 14 July 2025

Huawei’s HiSilicon debuts low-power Cat.1 chip to boost IoT reach

On July 10, 2024, Huawei's chip subsidiary HiSilicon launched its first Cat.1 IoT communication chip — the Hi2131 — officially entering the fast-growing cellular IoT market, which sees annual shipments exceeding 200 million units. Based on 4G LTE, Cat.1 offers a cost-effective, power-efficient, and widely deployable solution for mid-to-low-speed data scenarios, including shared mobility, smart security, wearables, and mobile payment devices

Monday 14 July 2025

Hyundai sets 2028 goal for AI-integrated software-defined vehicles

Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker, has announced plans to release its first production vehicle equipped with end-to-end (E2E) autonomous driving technology by 2027. The company also aims to launch a fully integrated software-defined vehicle (SDV), powered by artificial intelligence and cloud-based services, by 2028

Sunday 13 July 2025

China plots desert AI hub with 115,000 Nvidia chips, skirting US export bans

China plans to build at least 39 data centers in the desert regions of Xinjiang and Qinghai, outfitted with over 115,000 Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs. These advanced chips have been under a US export ban since 2022, prompting concerns that they are being smuggled into the country, an issue now drawing heightened scrutiny from US officials

Saturday 12 July 2025

Japan's OSAT firms unite to cut costs and reclaim industry ground

Japan's outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) industry, long composed of small, regional firms with limited resources, is making a rare push for collective strength. In April 2025, about 30 companies joined forces to launch the Japan OSAT Federation (J-OSAT)—the country's first official industry group aimed at reviving its struggling backend chip manufacturing segment

Saturday 12 July 2025

Google brings Gemini AI to Wear OS, boosting Samsung's new smartwatch and foldables

Google is bringing its Gemini artificial intelligence model to smartwatches running Wear OS, marking a significant expansion beyond smartphones and tablets. Announced this week, the rollout will introduce a new generation of AI-powered features across wearables from major partners including Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and OnePlus

Saturday 12 July 2025

Hyundai weighs 3rd EV factory in Europe to bypass tariffs, build local edge

Hyundai Motor is considering the construction of a third electric vehicle (EV) plant in Europe as part of its broader strategy to capitalize on the region's EV recovery and offset potential risks from rising US trade barriers. The automaker sees Europe as both a strategic growth market and a manufacturing base to navigate tariff-related headwinds through localized production

Friday 11 July 2025

Samsung bets big on 2nm chips as foundry unit faces make-or-break moment

Samsung Electronics is placing a high-stakes bet on its 2nm chip manufacturing technology, as its foundry division works to reverse mounting losses and compete more effectively with global leader TSMC

Friday 11 July 2025

China lifts rare earth concentrate prices by 14% for 3Q25, escalating supply chain tensions

China Northern Rare Earth and Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union — two of China's top rare earth producers — announced a price hike for third-quarter 2025 rare earth concentrates to CNY19,109 (approx. US$2,665) per ton, excluding tax. The new rate reflects a 14.14% increase compared with the same period in 2024

Friday 11 July 2025

Korean carmakers prepare for Trump tariff-led price surge

Japanese and South Korean automakers are beginning to pass rising trade costs onto American consumers as hopes for a swift resolution to tariff negotiations with the US continue to fade

Friday 11 July 2025

IBM's business in China remains strong and commits to continued growth for next 40 years

As the US-China trade war intensifies, American businesses in China become increasingly uncomfortable. IBM announced massive layoffs in China and closed its Beijing R&D center, a major indicator that American companies are withdrawing. Despite that, IBM Asia Pacific general manager Hans Dekkers recently stated in an interview with DIGITIMES that IBM's footprint in China has actually grown in both staffing and business. He firmly stated that IBM has been in China for forty years and will continue to be there for the next forty years to come

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