DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

'I tell myself every day it'll ease': Phison CEO sees years of memory shortage

Joseph Chen — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:09:51 GMT

Phison Electronics CEO Pua Khein-Seng says he tells himself every day that the memory shortage will ease tomorrow. In reality, he says, AI-driven demand has opened a gap between memory supply and demand that could take many years to close.

Gold Circuit turns Amazon into a shareholder for Trainium servers

Lily Hess — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:06:28 GMT

Gold Circuit Electronics (GCE) plans to bring in Amazon as a strategic investor through a private placement expected to raise NT$1.59 billion (US$49.88 million), lifting the two companies from a simple supply-chain relationship to a strategic partnership backed by equity. The deal would also turn a GCE customer into a shareholder of the printed circuit board (PCB) maker, while Amazon invests again in Taiwan's server supply chain after joining Alchip Technologies' private placement in 2024.

Apple A20 Pro ditches PoP memory packaging for WMCM

Lily Hess — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:13:40 GMT

Apple's A20 Pro chip has dropped traditional package-on-package (PoP) packaging in favor of Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module (WMCM), with memory and processor dies laid out side by side to potentially improve packaging yield and thermal performance, according to a teardown analysis by TechInsights. The findings come as Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Apple's A20 Pro draw comparisons around 2-nanometer chip manufacturing and memory packaging.

Taiwan backs TSMC's US push but insists core R&D stays home

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:04:47 GMT

Taiwan's semiconductor industry, which originated in the Hsinchu Science Park and later expanded to the Central and Southern Taiwan Science Parks, now encompasses manufacturing bases across three continents, Premier Jung-Tai Cho said in a policy report to Taiwan's legislature, the Legislative Yuan, as its 11th term convened for its sixth session. Beyond high-tech giants, hidden champions within Taiwan's traditional industries are also taking center stage internationally.

ASE Technology buys Singapore factory for AI chip testing expansion

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:03:17 GMT

ASE Technology Holding's Singapore unit has approved the purchase of a factory in Yishun Industrial Park from Dutch LED maker Lumileds Singapore for about US$68.44 million, or about NT$2.152 billion. The site is intended to support future capacity expansion.

Netlist challenges Micron, Nvidia, Broadcom, Google over alleged HBM patent use

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:42:54 GMT

Netlist has begun legal proceedings against Micron and downstream customers Nvidia, Broadcom, and Google to stop them from allegedly using the company's patented high-bandwidth memory (HBM) technology without authorization. The case arrives as AI applications are driving soaring demand for next-generation memory chips, and it is brought forward by a company with a track record of winning patent verdicts against memory makers.

Taiwan identifies electricity supply as national strength, with plans to expand gas and green energy

Rodney Chan — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:35:00 GMT

As power infrastructure is now widely regarded as the foundation of a nation's strength, Taiwan is accelerating investment in gas-fired generation, green energy and energy storage. Premier Cho Jung-tai has outlined a medium- to long-term electricity plan, which will extend Taiwan's offshore wind expansion timetable to 2039.

DIGITIMES Insight: AI is emerging as the new growth anchor in the mobile communications industry

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:20:00 GMT

South Korea's leading telecommunications operator, SK Telecom (SKT), recently established SK Hyper and SK Horizon in quick succession. The moves mark a pivotal shift for telecommunications AI, signaling a transition from internal operational optimization toward full-scale infrastructure monetization.

Leisure vehicles become Eurocharm's largest segment with capacity expanding in Vietnam, North America

Willis Ke — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:20:00 GMT

Taiwan's Eurocharm Holdings, an OEM automotive and motorcycle parts maker, said at an earnings call on September 29 that leisure vehicles had become its largest product segment, as it expands production capacity in Vietnam and North America to meet rising customer demand. The company reported strong year-over-year growth in revenue and profit for the first half of 2026.

China auto market cools as Taiwan suppliers brace for 2H26 inventory cuts

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:00:06 GMT

China's auto market is under pressure from high oil prices and shrinking subsidies, weakening domestic sales even as exports keep growing. Taiwanese supply-chain companies are responding by adjusting their product mix.

EOI lays out three growth engines, eyes AI optical communications

Charlene Chen — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:55:00 GMT

Excellence Optoelectronics (EOI) is banking on stronger orders from its top five customers and new-car launches to drive a recovery in 2026, as the automotive optics and Mini LED module maker expands in Mexico, adds non-headlamp automotive electronics, and pushes into AI optical communications with a sample target in early 2027.

Chief Telecom, Google Cloud launch backup services to bolster cable resilience

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:34:48 GMT

Chief Telecom said on September 30 that it is working with Google Cloud to combine international submarine cable resources and deploy Cross-Site Interconnect (CSI) technology. The partnership is aimed at launching diversified cross-border submarine cable services to strengthen digital resilience as cable disruptions have increased worldwide and drawn attention to Taiwan's critical infrastructure.

SK Hynix resumes DDR4, DDR5 packaging orders with Winpac

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:33:30 GMT

SK Hynix has resumed outsourcing DRAM packaging to South Korean outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) provider Winpac, reviving a supplier relationship that ended in 2023 as the memory maker increases the volume of flip-chip packaging handled by external partners.

China's battery race enters post-scale era: Beijing shifts focus to solid-state and quality

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:24:24 GMT

One of the most pronounced factors behind China's ferocious rise in the global technology landscape has been its unparalleled strength in the EV sector, where fierce competition over power batteries and high-end battery materials has cemented the country's longstanding dominance in battery manufacturing.

Interview: iFLYTEK Medical sees clinical integration as key to healthcare AI expansion in South Korea

Levi Li — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:20:00 GMT

Xunfei Healthcare (iFLYTEK Medical), the healthcare AI arm of China's iFlytek, is using its Spark Medical Large Model to support diagnosis and medical record generation while tackling challenges including clinical workflow integration, differences in care settings, and model hallucinations. It also hopes to bring its experience from China to South Korea through local partnerships.

AI boom draws display makers into semiconductors with glass core substrates and Micro LED

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:20:00 GMT

AI is driving the semiconductor industry into a new growth cycle while creating opportunities for display companies traditionally centered on panels to move into semiconductors. These companies are extending their reach into emerging areas such as advanced packaging and optical communications, seeking to leverage core technologies such as glass substrates and Micro LED.

Samsung SDI targets AI data centers with cylindrical LFP batteries and fire-propagation safeguards

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:18:36 GMT

Samsung SDI is accelerating its push into the artificial intelligence (AI) data center battery market, unveiling, for the first time, a cylindrical lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery featuring its proprietary structural design at Data Centre World Asia (DCWA) 2026 in Singapore on September 29.

Murata begins mass production of world's smallest three-terminal MLCCs

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:17:28 GMT

Murata Manufacturing has started mass production of its LLD series, a new class of ultra-compact capacitors that could help device makers worldwide fit more power management into smaller electronics. The move underscores how component miniaturization is shaping smartphones, wearables, and other connected devices used by consumers across global markets.

Acer targets new niches in mature device markets with education tablets, e-paper displays

Levi Li — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:15:50 GMT

Acer's recent launches of tablets and e-paper displays have raised a broader question: how can the company carve out growth in mature markets already dominated by established brands? Acer sees education as a key opening for tablets, arguing that younger users are increasingly part of a "touch generation."

ByteDance makes up a fifth of China's AI data center capacity amid growing buildout

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:14:54 GMT

ByteDance occupies around a fifth of data center capacity in China, according to a recent report. This makes the company the largest customer for rented compute in the country at a time when its major AI developers are racing to accelerate infrastructure buildouts and pushing against capacity limits.

Tatung pivots to AI infrastructure integration

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:58:35 GMT

Amid continued debate over AI, demand for computing power keeps climbing. Tatung Co. on September 30 unveiled its AI infrastructure solution, "TTG AIDC CUBE," at a launch event titled "Power Ready for AI," aiming to bring computing capacity online within 180 days.

Tatung targets 180-day AI data center deployment

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:54:18 GMT

To showcase its competitiveness in AI infrastructure, Tatung Group on September 30 held the "Power Ready for AI" forum and unveiled a modular AI data center (AIDC) built around the "CUBE AI Data Center" concept. The TTG AIDC CUBE integrates power, cooling, monitoring, and compute into standardized modules, underscoring Tatung's push into a fast-growing market driven by high-density GPUs, rapid deployment, and power demand.

Jensen Huang, Lisa Su join Tsinghua University advisory board, putting AI chip leaders closer to Beijing

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:45:09 GMT

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su have joined the advisory board of Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management (SEM), putting two of the global AI chip industry's most prominent executives on the Beijing-based body.

NSIG chair exit brings leadership succession into focus

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:34:02 GMT

National Silicon Industry Group (NSIG) chairman Haitao Jiang has resigned from all positions at the company, prompting the Shanghai-listed semiconductor materials supplier to begin a leadership transition.

China's generative AI user base tops 700 million, driving adoption into manufacturing and humanoid robots

Levi Li — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:20:00 GMT

Generative AI adoption in China continues to expand. The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said in its 2026 Generative AI Application Development Report, released on September 29, that the country had more than 700 million generative AI users as of the first half of 2026, with a penetration rate exceeding 50%.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics' disclosed 2026 supply agreements total US$2.6 billion as server demand surges

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 05:50:54 GMT

Samsung Electro-Mechanics has signed another long-term supply agreement for server components, bringing the value of its disclosed supply agreements this year to about US$2.6 billion as demand for high-performance passive components continues to rise.

Column: Memory and logic collide as AI shifts the balance

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 05:42:24 GMT

As HBM approaches half the cost of a GPU-HBM CoWoS package, can memory still be viewed as merely a passive component of AI computing? The answer goes back to the "memory wall," a challenge that has shaped nearly half a century of semiconductor development.

Commentary: What risks does China's DRAM capacity face amid tightening market?

Charlene Chen — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:38:34 GMT

China's continued expansion of DRAM capacity has raised a key question for the global memory market: will supply and demand flip?

DeepSeek brings software tools to Huawei's Ascend 950 to take on Nvidia

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:38:32 GMT

DeepSeek is bringing more of the software used to develop its AI models to Huawei Technologies' Ascend 950 processors, deepening cooperation as Chinese technology companies seek to reduce reliance on Nvidia's hardware and CUDA software ecosystem.

Geely-NIO deal signals consolidation in China's fragmented EV battery-swapping market

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:26:32 GMT

A new partnership between Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and NIO in electric vehicle (EV) battery swapping is signaling potential consolidation in China's fragmented market. With multiple incompatible systems still competing for adoption, the deal could open a new path toward greater standardization and network integration.

US-China trade truce extension draws orders back to China, threatening Taiwanese booking volumes

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:20:07 GMT

Following US President Donald Trump's visit to China for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping from May 13 to 15, 2026, President Xi accepted an invitation to make a state visit to the United States from September 23 to 25, 2026. The bilateral meetings culminated in an agreement to extend the current trade truce, a development that could redirect orders for non-sensitive goods back to mainland China and weigh on order volumes for Taiwanese manufacturers.

VSMC bets on value over cost as Singapore fab builds next-generation R&D and IP capabilities

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:18:05 GMT

VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (VSMC), the joint venture between Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) and NXP Semiconductors, opened its 12-inch wafer fab in Tampines, Singapore, on September 28.

CXMT's US$5.2 billion buildout deepens China's push for domestic DRAM equipment

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:13:25 GMT

China's largest dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is accelerating a CNY34.9 billion (US$5.2 billion) expansion aimed at chipmaking equipment, in-house testing and tighter control of its memory supply chain.

Foxconn links motors, humanoids, smart factories into a vertically integrated robotics strategy

Levi Li — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:09:44 GMT

Foxconn has partnered with Chinese automotive design and engineering services provider IAT Automotive Technology to establish Beijing Futekang Intelligent Robot Technology, extending its push into embodied intelligence and robotics.

Magnesium prices fall below aluminum as EV makers look to cut weight

Sherri Wang — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:06:17 GMT

Automakers looking to cut the weight of electric vehicles (EVs) to extend driving range have another reason to consider magnesium alloys: magnesium ingots are now cheaper than aluminum ingots.