DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Tesla doubles down on custom AI chips as Musk claims AI5 can beat NVIDIA on efficiency and cost

Scarlett Yu — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:25 GMT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently said the company's upcoming AI5 inference chip could deliver two to three times the performance per watt of Nvidia products when deployed in autonomous vehicles and Optimus humanoid robots, potentially at just around 10% of the cost.

Research Insight: US humanoid supply chains pivot away from China as Taiwan moves from parts to actuator modules

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:58 GMT

As the humanoid robot supply chain moves closer to mass-production readiness, Taiwan's precision manufacturing sector is gaining new opportunities to enter the US market, according to DIGITIMES observations.

SpaceX's $100 billion Louisiana Starbase turns orbital ambitions into launch-infrastructure race

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:09 GMT

The pinnacle of Elon Musk's far-reaching ambitions in orbital compute has come into better view following another major SpaceX announcement to turn the space giant's expanding plans for Starlink V3 and Starmind into a grand Starbase at the heart of Louisiana.

Beijing's AI4Chip plan puts AI to work on EDA, fabs, advanced packaging

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:58:35 GMT

Beijing is extending artificial intelligence deeper into semiconductor production, targeting chip design, wafer fabrication, packaging, testing, equipment, and materials under what local authorities describe as China's first dedicated "AI4Chip" policy.

AI glass substrate race shifts toward reliability and mass production

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:58:19 GMT

The competition to develop glass substrates for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor packaging is intensifying, with Japanese and South Korean manufacturers pursuing different approaches to solve the reliability challenges created by increasingly large and complex packages.

Chinese GPUs head to space as MetaX payload begins in-orbit AI computing tests

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:58:17 GMT

Chinese GPU vendors are beginning to extend their applications beyond terrestrial computing and into space. The recently launched Yunjian Muxi satellite (Jitianxing A-04) carries an intelligent computing payload powered by a domestically developed MetaX GPU, marking an effort to validate Chinese AI chips under real-world space conditions.

WRC 2026 signals a new humanoid robot race as competition shifts from bodies to embodied AI models

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:57:55 GMT

The 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC 2026) has concluded in Beijing. While the commercial prospects of humanoid robots remain a subject of debate, they once again took center stage at the event. With China continuing to lead the world in humanoid robot shipments, more than 100 robotics-related companies showcased new technologies and unveiled their latest products, making the event not only a magnet for capital but also a window into where the industry is heading.

Nvidia's binding constraint moves from demand to cost, and it has now put a number on both

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:29:26 GMT

For the first time in this cycle, Nvidia has told investors where its gross margin will bottom out and how far short of demand its supply will fall - two admissions that shift the question from whether the AI buildout continues to who absorbs its rising input costs. Management guided gross margin down from 75.0% to a trough of 71-72% by the fourth quarter, directly blamed memory pricing, and capped fiscal 2028 revenue growth at about 70% against demand it put at nearer 100%. Neither disclosure is a demand warning. Both say the company is now managing a shortage rather than a market.

Nvidia's second quarter shows demand intact and the cash cycle stretching

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:28:53 GMT

Growth has stopped being the interesting question at Nvidia. Revenue for the quarter ended July 26, 2026 was US$96.2 billion, up 106% from a year earlier, and Data Center accounted for US$89.0 billion of it, up 117%. Gross margin held at 75.0% even as the Vera Rubin platform moved into volume—unusual, because a new rack-scale architecture normally costs a quarter or two of margin while yields settle. On the operating line, the quarter was close to flawless.

Nvidia says AI labs it is helping to finance will be about a quarter of next year's business

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:28:19 GMT

Nvidia has put a figure on its exposure to the AI labs it helps fund. On its second-quarter earnings call, chief financial officer Colette Kress said the company expects "demand from the AI labs for which we expect to leverage our balance sheet to contribute toward roughly a quarter of our business next year." That single sentence reframes the financing question. The issue is no longer whether Nvidia supports its customers' balance sheets, but that a quarter of forecast revenue now depends on structures the company itself has arranged.

Nvidia's answer to custom silicon is the half of the market that will never build any

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:27:56 GMT

The sharpest question on Nvidia's second-quarter call came a Bank of America analyst, who noted that OpenAI and Anthropic - both major beneficiaries of Nvidia's ecosystem investment - are designing their own chips, and that OpenAI had, days earlier, claimed its Jalapeno part outperforms Blackwell.

Nvidia caps its own growth at 70% because that is all the supply it can secure

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:27:14 GMT

Nvidia has guided a full year in advance for the first time, and the number it chose is not a demand forecast. Chief financial officer Colette Kress told the company's second-quarter earnings call that Nvidia expects to grow revenue by approximately 70% in fiscal 2028, then immediately qualified it: "This is a supply-constrained outlook." Customer forecasts, she said, "point to our growth doubling next year." The 30-point gap between what buyers want and what Nvidia has committed to ship is now the central fact about the company's next four quarters, and it is what the Vera Rubin, Groq, and Vera CPU ramps exist to close.

YMTC targets global NAND lead by 2027 as parent seeks US$5 billion IPO

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:53:01 GMT

Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) is aiming to become the world's largest NAND flash supplier by the end of 2027, setting an aggressive target as its parent prepares a nearly US$5 billion Shanghai listing to fund production upgrades and research.

Record mid-2026 growth for WUS Printed Circuit and China's pivot to ultra-high-layer PCBs

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:49:14 GMT

The global hardware supply chain is undergoing a structural transformation, driven by an unprecedented surge in artificial intelligence infrastructure investment. "This shift has brought unprecedented market opportunities to the industry," noted WUS Printed Circuit (Kunshan). The major supplier of high-end printed circuit boards (PCBs) reported explosive growth in its mid-2026 financial results.

TSMC packaging shift could boost AMD CoWoS share and trim Nvidia's allocation

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:43:26 GMT

Morgan Stanley said TSMC's advanced packaging allocation is expected to shift in 2027, as processor demand tied to agentic AI lifts AMD's CoWoS usage and reduces Nvidia's share. The report, cited by Wccftech, attributed the shift to TSMC's rising capacity amid expanding industry-wide demand.

Southeast Asia mobility shifts put GATE 2026 in focus

Charlene Chen — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:28:16 GMT

The 2026 Global Automotive and Technology Expo (GATE 2026) will take place August 26-28 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) in Kuala Lumpur, as Southeast Asia's auto market enters a new phase of slower overall growth but faster EV adoption.

Malaysia mobility sector embraces Chinese firms as investment catalyst

Charlene Chen — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:18:57 GMT

Malaysia's mobility industry is welcoming a larger role for Chinese automakers, with investment, technology exchange and supplier development emerging as key themes at GATE 2026. Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) chairman Aminar Rashid bin Salleh said the growing presence of Chinese car brands is adding new momentum to the country's mobility sector.

Silicon Optronics advances high-end BSI products as memory shortage splits CIS demand

Eifeh Strom — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:07:21 GMT

CMOS image sensor (CIS) manufacturer Silicon Optronics (SOI) president Bob Chen pointed out during an earnings call on August 25 that artificial intelligence (AI) demand has caused price hikes and shortages for memory since the fourth quarter of 2025. With market supply remaining tight and showing no signs of easing, this has led to a clear polarization in the security camera market. Going forward, the company will continue accelerating its development of higher-end back-side illumination (BSI) products to improve its overall product mix.

Bioteq lifts Yilan plant output as it shifts production and eyes 2027 growth

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:55:00 GMT

Bioteq is increasing output at its Yilan Science Park plant, a move that could affect supply chains across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. As the company shifts more products and upgrades equipment, it is aiming to improve efficiency, manage geopolitics, and support demand in developing markets.

Foxconn shifts China manufacturing from expansion to upgrade

Lily Hess — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:45:00 GMT

Foxconn is accelerating the geographic diversification of its global manufacturing capacity as AI server demand surges and supply-chain regionalization continues, with 2026 capex expected to rise more than 30% year on year. In China, however, the company is not mounting large-scale capacity expansion in step with the U.S., Mexico, India, and Vietnam. Instead, it is shifting investment toward equipment restructuring, precision manufacturing upgrades, and higher-end production capabilities at existing plants.

South Korea, US clash over reactor choice in US$350B nuclear deal

Joseph Chen — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:35:00 GMT

South Korea and the United States are at odds over which reactor design to build — and who runs the project — in the nuclear power component of Seoul's US investment package, according to industry sources cited by Korean outlet Edaily.

China's chip-tool makers are winning share and paying for it in margins

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:23:20 GMT

The first-half 2026 accounts now on file from China's listed semiconductor equipment makers describe an industry that has largely settled the question of whether domestic tools can be built and has moved on to a harder one: whether they can be built profitably. Nine of the ten grew revenue by between 13.9% and 49.1% year on year. Gross margins mostly did not follow, and the two largest reported profit jumps turn out, on inspection, to rest heavily on items unrelated to selling equipment.

China fusion consortium targets 25T superconducting magnet prototype by 2030

Levi Li — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:22:49 GMT

China's nuclear fusion supply chain is stepping up work on high-temperature superconducting magnet technology. At the 2026 Fusion Energy Conference on August 25, China Fusion Energy Co. (CFEC) joined Shanghai Superconductor, Eastern Superconducting, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Group, Chaomagnet New Energy, Energy Singularity Energy Technology, Hangzhou Oxygen Plant Group, and Shanghai Yixi Tech to form a Yangtze River Delta innovation consortium focused on China Circulation No. 4 and the development and engineering of high-temperature superconducting high-field tokamak magnets.

Hot Chips 2026: Nvidia pushes deeper into server CPUs with Vera

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:18:33 GMT

Nvidia used Hot Chips 2026 to disclose more details about Vera, its next-generation data-center CPU, as the company pushes deeper into the standalone server processor market long dominated by Intel and AMD.

Driving the future: Malaysia's strategic automotive evolution at GATE 2026

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:12:56 GMT

The Global Automotive and Technology Expo 2026 (GATE 2026) officially opened on August 26, spotlighting efforts to deepen Malaysia's local supply chain, accelerate technology adoption and position the country as ASEAN's leading automotive and smart mobility hub. Cooperation between China, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries drew particular attention at the event.

Huawei and HP sign multiyear global patent deal covering Wi-Fi tech

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 07:43:57 GMT

Huawei Technologies and HP Inc. have signed a multiyear global patent cross-licensing agreement that includes a license for HP to use certain Huawei Wi-Fi patents, the Chinese technology company said Wednesday.

GATE 2026 opens with Sino-ASEAN auto cooperation in focus

Charlene Chen — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 07:41:47 GMT

China chip equipment maker Naura posts 25% revenue growth, but R&D and margins squeeze profit

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:55:34 GMT

Naura Technology Group posted faster revenue growth than profit in the first half of 2026, with stronger semiconductor equipment sales offset by heavier R&D spending, higher sales costs and weaker gross margins.

India's AI buildout accelerates as Vera Rubin demand meets data center expansion

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:54:46 GMT

India's AI infrastructure push is gaining pace, with implications that extend far beyond the country's borders. According to Bloomberg, AM Intelligence has ordered 9,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin systems as global demand for advanced computing continues to strain supply, underscoring how power, data centers, and chip access are becoming strategic priorities worldwide.

Hot Chips 2026: Samsung advances LPDDR5X-PIM as HBM costs mount

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:49:46 GMT

At Hot Chips 2026, Samsung Electronics moved processing-in-memory (PIM) closer to practical deployment, presenting what it described as the industry's first LPDDR-based PIM device for AI inference alongside working silicon, performance data and a design intended to minimize changes to existing memory systems.

Deloitte Taiwan sees slow physical AI adoption despite high expectations

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:16:00 GMT

Deloitte Taiwan said global companies are rushing to discuss physical AI, but only a small share have embedded it into day-to-day operations, highlighting a widening gap between ambition and deployment. For readers worldwide, the finding signals that industrial AI's next phase may advance unevenly, shaped by costs, talent, safety, and integration.

LGES weighs US drone battery push against brand risk

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:09:53 GMT

LG Energy Solution (LGES) is weighing whether to expand into the US defense supply chain as the EV market remains sluggish and the company broadens into energy storage systems (ESS). The possible move has drawn attention because LG Group has long stayed away from defense businesses since its split with LIG Group.

Data center leader leaves OpenAI, latest in wave of high-level departures

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 05:55:29 GMT

A key figure responsible for OpenAI's data center plans left the company last week, the latest in a string of departures just as it invests heavily in its AI infrastructure build-out and prepares for an IPO next year. This also illustrates the challenges the industry faces in retaining talent, even among top companies offering large pay packages.

Cook's parting shot: Apple takes AI compute out of data centers

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 05:09:07 GMT

Apple took pre-orders on August 25 for a new Mac mini and Mac Studio. Both will ship on September 22. Prices of the Mac mini start at US$899 with the M6 chip, or $1,699 with the M5 Pro. Mac Studio starts at $2,499 with M5 Max and $5,499 with M5 Ultra. The 512GB memory version comes in late October.

Growth in low-Earth-orbit satellite communications accelerates; further boosts demand for GaN components

DIGITIMES — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 04:56:13 GMT

DIGITIMES has observed that since SpaceX began using reusable rockets for launch missions, its payload capacity has continued to rise.