DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Jensen and Musk both think aging GPUs are worth more than the books show

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:35:06 GMT

Speaking at GTC Berlin and on SpaceX's third-quarter 2026 earnings call, respectively, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla CEO Elon Musk reached a rare consensus on a pivotal topic: GPUs are no longer rapidly depreciating consumables. Instead, their effective operational lifespans far exceed initial market expectations.

Tesla sees Cybercab becoming a new growth bet amid declining auto revenue

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:29:00 GMT

Tesla's automotive business weakened in the third quarter of 2026 as lower average vehicle prices and battery shortages pressured revenue and profit, while the company accelerated investment in artificial intelligence and its autonomous vehicle strategy. Total revenue was flat, automotive revenue fell 3% year-over-year to US$20.56 billion, and net income declined 4% to US$1.7 billion.

Australia's AI build-out hits the grid: how a delayed power line wiped out AUD3 billion

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:25:00 GMT

Australia's push to become an AI infrastructure hub for the Asia-Pacific is running into constraints that capital alone cannot solve: the last mile of grid connection, and the consent of the communities that power lines run through. That shift became clear this month when NextDC, one of the country's largest data center operators, cut its fiscal 2027 revenue forecast and reduced capital spending after a power connection delay at its Melbourne M3 facility, a project that already had a hyperscale customer under contract.

Chinese EVs push imported models ahead of South Korean vehicles

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:04:53 GMT

Imported electric vehicles captured more than half of South Korea's new electric passenger-car registrations during the first nine months of 2026, marking the first time the share of domestically made models fell below that threshold. About 258,000 new electric passenger cars were registered from January through September, with imported vehicles accounting for 51.3%, or approximately 132,000 units, according to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association cited by Money Today and Seoul Economic Daily.

Pat Gelsinger warns AI compute efficiency must jump 10,000x amid power, memory, and fab constraints

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:01:32 GMT

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Playground Global has returned to Taiwan alongside a cohort of portfolio companies specializing in memory, power management, optical communications, and advanced packaging to showcase joint technical breakthroughs and commercial strategies. The firm is also hosting an executive dinner with Foxconn Chairman Young Liu, highlighting their deep-seated partnership and ongoing commitment to Taiwan's technology ecosystem.

Nvidia DSX POD challenges traditional AI data center construction

Lily Hess — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:59:00 GMT

At its GTC conference in Berlin, Nvidia discussed the RTX Spark notebook, various implementations and partnerships involving physical AI, AI agents, and CUDA-X, as well as the DSX POD and European sovereign AI. Following its recently announced additional US$2 billion investment, Nvidia has committed nearly US$10 billion to Europe's technology ecosystem. The company said that building Europe's AI economy will require the region not only to consume AI, but also to produce it.

Infineon and ASMedia team up on end-to-end USB 20Gbps setup for AI cameras

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:58:26 GMT

Infineon Technologies and ASMedia have announced a partnership to speed up the adoption of 20Gbps USB, driven by demand from machine-learning cameras and other physical AI devices that need to move large amounts of data quickly.

JIMTOF 2026 draws 94 Taiwan machine tool exhibitors

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 07:56:00 GMT

One of the world's three major machine tool shows, Japan's International Machine Tool Fair (JIMTOF 2026), opened this week, with 94 Taiwan companies exhibiting. The exhibitors are showcasing precision machining, key components and smart automation while deepening manufacturing supply-chain cooperation between Taiwan and Japan.

Anthropic IPO filing shows the US govt is trying to be frontier AI's customer and gatekeeper

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 07:20:00 GMT

Anthropic's IPO filing does more than outline the economics of a rapidly scaling AI company. Its risk disclosures show frontier AI developers becoming increasingly exposed to governments that act not only as regulators, but also as customers, procurement authorities, export-control gatekeepers and national-security actors.

AI spending surges, Microsoft opens exit door to 60,000 employees

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:54:49 GMT

Microsoft launched a time-limited Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) for approximately 60,000 employees in the US, Canada, the UK and India, as the software and cloud provider reshapes its workforce around rising investment in artificial intelligence. The offer applies to eligible employees in participating teams at Level 70 and below and covers about one-quarter of Microsoft's global workforce of approximately 223,000 employees as of the end of June 2026.

SoftBank eyes US$50B Malaysia AI data-center expansion

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:51:46 GMT

SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has selected investment sites in Malaysia and plans to invest US$50 billion in technology, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. Following investments in the US and Europe, the group is expanding its AI infrastructure strategy into Asia.

AI data centers drive cooling, power, modular infrastructure demand

Ysi Chen — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:46:53 GMT

As AI server computing density and server rack power consumption rise, data center construction must also take into account cooling, power distribution, energy management, and electromechanical infrastructure. In light of these trends, the 2026 Taiwan Industry Week trade show features a dedicated section for data centers, with Auras Technology, Walrus Pump, and Teco Electric and Machinery among the exhibitors, a sign that AI data center-related opportunities are expanding to other segments of the industrial supply chain.

Anthropic IPO filing exposes massive compute buildout spanning TPUs, GPUs, and dedicated data centers

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:33:19 GMT

Anthropic's IPO filing reveals an infrastructure strategy extending far beyond conventional cloud procurement, as the Claude developer locks in hundreds of billions of dollars of compute capacity across Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Broadcom, and a growing roster of GPU infrastructure providers.

PSMC capacity crunch holds back Jeju Semiconductor's growth

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:00:12 GMT

South Korean memory chip designer Jeju Semiconductor is struggling to secure enough wafer capacity from Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing (PSMC), limiting its sales growth as strong memory demand drives up prices and manufacturing costs.

Server CPU shipments to exceed 50 million units in 2027; AMD's server CPU revenue will surpass Intel

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 05:56:41 GMT

According to DIGITIMES, Agentic AI, AI server expansion, cloud service provider (CSP) in-house CPU ramp-up, and replacement demand for general-purpose servers will lift global server CPU shipments to 52.6 million units in 2027, up 45.7% year-over-year, wi

Broadcom, financial firms agree on US$63 billion funding for Anthropic chip purchases

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 05:56:04 GMT

Broadcom has reached a deal with several financial firms for them to finance the purchase of US$63 billion worth of its chips for Anthropic. The agreement highlights how the line between supplier and lender is becoming blurred among some chipmakers, as well as Wall Street's growing involvement in funding arrangements as AI infrastructure spending continues to expand.

Mitsubishi Materials scales thermistor capacity sixfold amid AI boom

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 04:30:19 GMT

Mitsubishi Materials will expand production of thermistors, temperature sensors used in optical communications equipment, as the spread of generative AI drives demand for optical transceivers. Its Thailand facility will gradually add equipment and raise monthly capacity to about 12 million units by November 2027, roughly six times its 2025 capacity.

AI demand squeezes automotive memory, pushing automakers to take control of chip supply

Lily Hess — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 04:20:00 GMT

Expanding investment in AI data centers is putting pressure on memory supply and demand across the automotive industry. As semiconductor companies prioritize high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and server products, automotive memory faces rising prices and tighter supplies, making automakers' direct procurement, long-term partnerships, and in-house chip design increasingly strategic.

China AI token debate highlights challenge of monetizing compute

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 04:17:12 GMT

More than half of China's AI token usage is reportedly concentrated in short dramas and video generation, but ByteDance's Doubao has disputed the figure, saying video-generation models account for only about 10% of overall computing resources. The conflicting estimates highlight the difficulty of assessing AI compute consumption and its commercial value.

The Anthropic IPO filing: 14-fold 1H26 revenue growth behind a US$80.75 billion paper loss

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 04:15:17 GMT

Anthropic's first public filing for its IPO has opened the books on one of the world's fastest-growing AI companies, revealing extraordinary revenue growth alongside a headline net loss that substantially overstates the deterioration in its underlying operations.

Kazakhstan positions AI infrastructure as a potential export industry after Nvidia CEO's visit

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 04:14:16 GMT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit to Kazakhstan highlighted plans to build an AI computing hub for Europe, with projects spanning GPU clusters, data centers, talent, and physical AI. The initiative depends on power infrastructure, foreign technology, and Kazakhstan's ambition to develop and export its own AI capabilities across Central Asia.

US designates helium as critical material amid Middle East supply shock

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 04:08:24 GMT

As military conflict in the Middle East cripples global energy infrastructure, the United States is emerging as the critical anchor for the world's high-tech manufacturing sector. Amid a historic supply crisis for helium, an indispensable element in the production of semiconductors and advanced electronics, as well as in medical imaging, the US Department of Energy has officially designated helium as a critical material under the Energy Act of 2020.

Ennostar's optical push could add new growth engine for 2027 and onward

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 04:06:29 GMT

Ennostar Holdings is expanding into optical communications as Micro LED and Micro VCSEL products move into customer sample-validation stages. The company expects the business to enter substantive growth in 2027, supported by potential demand for short-distance transmission, active optical cables, and emerging co-packaged optics architectures as industry bandwidth requirements continue rising.

AMD, Nvidia target substrate capacity amid 4x expansion constraints

Charlene Chen — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:58:38 GMT

AMD and Nvidia have separately invested in supply-chain capacity expansion, making substrates, packaging, and testing key priorities as AI demand diversifies. The moves show that chipmakers are extending competition beyond performance and architecture design to control over critical manufacturing resources.

Fujifilm expands South Korean capacity to meet AI chip demand

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:56:00 GMT

Fujifilm Electronic Materials is expanding its advanced semiconductor materials footprint in South Korea by increasing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist capacity in Pyeongtaek and expanding chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry production in Cheonan. The investments will deepen local support for customers including Samsung Electronics as AI and advanced-process demand grows.

FANUC raises forecast as AI, automation demand drives record revenue

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:55:00 GMT

Japanese robot maker FANUC raised its fiscal year 2026 revenue forecast on October 23 as demand for AI and automation strengthened, putting sales on track to surpass JPY1 trillion for the first time. The company also expects operating profit and net profit to reach record highs.

Charts: Why German automakers are becoming marginalized in US BEV market

Rodney Chan — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:50:00 GMT

German automakers maintained overall sales in the US during the third quarter, but that momentum came mainly from gasoline-powered vehicles. In the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi face three challenges: falling sales, a shrinking BEV market and diverging brand performance.

Nvidia says GPUs last 8 years, unlocking AI financing

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:47:40 GMT

After the GTC Berlin conference, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Silicon Valley technology investor Gavin Baker spoke with Yahoo Finance for about half an hour. Huang confirmed Nvidia GPUs can remain in service for up to eight years and said their high residual value could help unlock financing for AI infrastructure.

Malaysia conditionally approves first rare-earth export under new rules

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:36:25 GMT

Malaysia has approved its first export of unprocessed rare earths under a new regulatory framework, with the shipment intended for research and development, although officials did not identify the recipient.

Meta launches US$35 billion equity raise, funds US$60 billion at-the-market program for AI build-out

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT

Meta Platforms has launched approximately US$35 billion of concurrent underwritten public offerings and plans an approximately US$60 billion at-the-market (ATM) program, as it funds capex it expects to reach US$135 billion to US$145 billion in 2026. The company said the equity raises complement operating cash flow, investment-grade debt, and strategic partnerships, and will further diversify its funding sources.

Applied Materials to raise Besi stake to 20% as hybrid-bonding orders surge

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:27:49 GMT

Applied Materials plans to increase its stake in Dutch semiconductor equipment maker BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) to approximately 20% from 9%, deepening its involvement in advanced chip packaging as demand for hybrid-bonding equipment accelerates.

Nvidia's Berlin keynote highlights AI scaling challenges in Europe

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:24:09 GMT

Nvidia opened GTC 2026 in Berlin on October 21 with a keynote highlighting AI infrastructure, security architecture, and Physical AI, while a Greenpeace protest briefly interrupted proceedings. A robot demonstration also exposed limits in motion control, instruction comprehension, and execution stability as Europe weighs innovation, energy demand, regulation, and competitiveness.

Samsung, SK Hynix eye 2Q27 shipments of 8-layer HBM4 to Nvidia

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:06:24 GMT

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are targeting the second quarter of 2027 to begin volume shipments of eight-layer HBM4 memory to Nvidia, ZDNet Korea reported on October 26, as the AI chipmaker reassesses its memory strategy for next-generation Rubin Ultra accelerators.

AWS, Google challenge CUDA as AMD, Intel cut AI switch costs

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 02:53:47 GMT

AWS has launched the open-source TorchNeuron tool, allowing developers to port PyTorch artificial intelligence (AI) applications to its custom Trainium chips without rewriting code. Google has followed with TorchTPU, while AMD and Intel are integrating AI software optimizations as chipmakers challenge Nvidia's market advantage built on the CUDA ecosystem.

Inside SKT’s push to turn SK Hynix’s fabs into an AI business

DIGITIMES — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 02:51:28 GMT

South Korean telecommunications provider SK Telecom (SKT) has reportedly established Hy-TF, a task force dedicated to AI collaboration with SK Hynix, to upgrade its digital-twin and data-platform businesses and develop new B2B services.