DIGITIMES Asia: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

AMD deepens Taiwan supply chain ties with US$10B-plus push

Charlene Chen — Thu, 21 May 2026 19:09:12 GMT

AMD CEO Lisa Su arrived in Taiwan on May 20, 2026, on a private jet and largely followed the same itinerary as her April 2025 visit, including a meeting with TSMC, a technology forum and dinner with Taiwan supply chain partners, and an about one-hour summit forum. This time, AMD also made the rare announcement that it will invest more than US$10 billion in Taiwan's industrial ecosystem to accelerate AI infrastructure buildout.

US-Japan cooperation could protect Taiwan '99%', defense investors told at Silicon Valley summit

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:17:24 GMT

Taiwan's semiconductor industry and the military implications of a potential cross-strait conflict dominated the aerospace and defense track on the second day of the Plug and Play Silicon Valley May Summit, as investors and defense technology executives described a geopolitical environment that is fundamentally reshaping where capital flows and why.

Intel's foundry reset: 14A, 10A and tougher engineering rules

Levi Li — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:16:48 GMT

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is reshaping the chipmaker's engineering culture and foundry strategy, confirming that 14A remains on track while revealing that early development has begun on next-generation 10A and 7A nodes.

Far EasTone eyes 2027 Amazon Leo launch to strengthen Taiwan network resilience

Levi Li — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:16:18 GMT

Far EasTone has secured Taiwan distribution rights for Amazon Leo, Amazon's low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet service formerly known as Project Kuiper, positioning the telecom operator to add satellite connectivity as a backup layer for its mobile and fixed-line networks.

Lam Research launches PLP Center of Excellence, replacing wafers with panels

Emily Kuo — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:16:02 GMT

Advanced packaging designs are approaching the physical limitations of wafers as AI, HPC, and heterogeneous integration rapidly evolve. Subsequently, Panel Level Packaging (PLP) technology has drawn significant industry attention. Global semiconductor equipment manufacturer Lam Research announced the official establishment of its PLP Center of Excellence (CoE) in Salzburg, Austria, aimed at strengthening PLP process R&D capabilities and driving scalable manufacturing solutions to meet advanced packaging demands in the AI era.

Tech Forum 2026: AI agents drive Arm CPU demand surge; 2026 shipments expected to exceed 6 million units

Emily Kuo — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:15:11 GMT

On May 20, 2026, DIGITIMES held its Tech Forum, where senior analyst Jim Hsiao delivered a presentation, "AI server market outlook and trends amid the explosion of agent applications." In it, Hsiao explained that demand is rising sharply not only for x86 server CPUs from Intel and AMD, but also for Arm-based CPUs, which are expected to see explosive growth in 2026.

Nvidia characterizes LPX as niche silicon optimized for high-speed premium tokens

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:14:28 GMT

Nvidia has positioned its specialized LPX accelerator as a niche product designed specifically for low-latency, high-speed token generation rather than broad-market enterprise workloads. The hardware targets a narrow segment of service providers that operate premium, high-velocity token applications for select customer bases. While the architecture excels at rapid text decoding, its broader market adoption remains constrained by structural limitations in throughput and memory capacity.

Innovation at the edge: Semiconductor startup highlights from Plug and Play Silicon Valley May Summit 2026

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:13:52 GMT

At the recent Plug and Play Silicon Valley May Summit, the semiconductor and supply chain sessions highlighted a critical shift toward hardware-level security, energy efficiency for AI, and AI-driven quality engineering. Startups, including Enclave Semiconductor, Bedrock Semiconductor, and Lattice, presented solutions aimed at securing and optimizing the global electronics ecosystem.

Two-year-old Chinese robotics firm claims to supply nine of world's top ten tech giants

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:13:15 GMT

Wayne Wang, senior director of commercialization at Robot Era, used the 5th Mobis Mobility Day in Sunnyvale to present a two-year-old Chinese robotics company that has already supplied hardware to nine of the world's top ten technology companies — including Apple, Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft.

Tech Forum 2026: Starlink dominates LEO internet market as telecoms shift strategy

Elaine Chen — Thu, 21 May 2026 18:12:49 GMT

At DIGITIMES' Tech Forum 2026 this week, analysts said satellite-based internet services are rapidly emerging as one of the most fiercely contested frontiers in the global connectivity market, with SpaceX's Starlink at the center of the battle.

AMD CEO meets with TSMC CEO in Taiwan as it expands US chip output

Eifeh Strom — Thu, 21 May 2026 14:20:56 GMT

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su stated that the company plans to invest more than US$10 billion in Taiwan's industrial ecosystem to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The announcement was made during her visit to Taiwan, where she also disclosed the latest progress in collaborations with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), backend packaging and testing, substrate, and AI server supply chains.

Tech Forum 2026: Taiwan must design space, not just build it

Elaine Chen — Thu, 21 May 2026 08:46:31 GMT

At DIGITIMES' Tech Forum 2026 this week, Taiwan's top space official delivered a blunt assessment of the island's growing role in the global space economy: Taiwan has become an increasingly important supplier to the American space industry, but it still lacks control over the systems that define the sector's highest-value opportunities.

xFusion drives CNY58.2 billion revenue as China backs domestic AI supply chain

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 08:46:18 GMT

Chinese server maker xFusion reached a revenue of CNY58.2 billion (approx. US$8.6 billion) for the year 2025. The figure indicates the company's rising profits as it benefits from China's push for a domestic AI supply chain and the benefits for companies breaking into the country's high-end server market.

Anthropic estimates show US$559 million operating profit on US$10.9 billion quarter

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 08:40:53 GMT

Anthropic has unlocked an era of explosive commercial growth, hitting a milestone with its first-ever profitable quarter. According to The Wall Street Journal, Anthropic expects its revenue to surge by 130% to hit US$10.9 billion for the quarter ending in June, up from the US$4.8 billion in revenue generated during the first quarter of 2026. This trajectory is projected to yield an inaugural quarterly operating profit of approximately US$559 million.

Commentary: Trump's Taiwan chip claim tests TSMC's silence

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 08:30:00 GMT

US President Donald Trump, after recently concluding a visit to China, again publicly accused Taiwan of having "stolen our chip industry." This was not the first time he had made such a claim. From the 2024 campaign period to a Fox News interview in May 2026, before his departure after visiting China, Trump has repeatedly argued that the business originally belonged to Intel and that, had the US government understood how to impose tariffs for protection, Taiwan would never have had a role in the chip industry.

Taiwan 5G FWA CPE industry, 1Q 2026: Rebounding shipments and AI-driven supply crunch

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 08:14:39 GMT

Memory shortage drives up ASP; Global 5G FWA CPE shipments projected to decline 4% YoY in 2Q26; ASP, conversely, supports production value resilience

Nvidia's China hopes dim as Beijing doubles down on domestic AI chips

Lily Hess — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:59:57 GMT

Nvidia's H200 was a major focus after the Trump-Xi meeting, but hopes for sales into China have faded after US President Donald Trump's latest remarks. Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping is firmly committed to developing domestic AI chips, leaving little room for common ground on the issue.

AMD commits over US$10 billion to Taiwan ecosystem to expand AI packaging and infrastructure capacity

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:59:51 GMT

AMD said on May 21 that it plans to invest more than US$10 billion across Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem to deepen strategic partnerships and expand advanced packaging capacity for next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The initiative aims to strengthen manufacturing capabilities, accelerate the deployment of AI systems, and support the growing demand for high-performance computing hardware.

How Nvidia plans to sell Vera CPUs: Four deployment models explained

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:53:51 GMT

Nvidia has unveiled a strategic expansion of its silicon portfolio, detailing a four-pronged commercial approach for its new Vera central processing unit. The chipmaker expects the processor to generate US$20 billion in standalone revenue, signaling a significant evolution in its hardware distribution strategy and a broader play for infrastructure dominance in the emerging agentic artificial intelligence market.

Nvidia targets long-term ACIE dominance as enterprise AI eclipses hyperscalers

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:48:34 GMT

Nvidia has detailed a significant structural shift in its data center revenue reporting, introducing a new market segmentation that separates traditional hyperscale cloud providers from a rapidly expanding sector named ACIE, which stands for artificial intelligence clouds, industrial, and enterprise. While hyperscale platforms currently lead initial deployment, management projects that the ACIE segment will eventually outgrow them, owing to the massive scale of the global corporate economy.

Taiwan moves to restore drone procurement funding after legislature cuts defense budget

Willis Ke — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:31:44 GMT

Taiwanese President Ching-te Lai warned that sweeping cuts to drone procurement funding by the Legislative Yuan could weaken the island's defense readiness and undermine stability across the Taiwan Strait, as the government moves to restore funding through new budget proposals and supplemental allocations.

GigaDevice sees niche DRAM and NAND prices rising through 2026

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:27:49 GMT

GigaDevice said tight supply and rising prices across DRAM, NOR Flash, and SLC NAND Flash continued to fuel strong first-quarter 2026 earnings growth, supported by recovering demand from AI, server, and industrial applications.

Taiwan's export engine stalls in April as global orders pull back

Kevin Wang — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:18:28 GMT

Taiwan's export orders fell 4.0% in April compared to March levels, with orders from the US, China, Europe, Japan, and the ASEAN region all declining. According to data released on May 20 by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) for April 2026, six of the seven major export categories saw month-on-month declines, including electronics and ICT products. However, the Ministry expects overall May orders to rebound from April, based on feedback from export-oriented manufacturers.

OpenAI moves up IPO timeline to get ahead of Anthropic

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 07:06:26 GMT

OpenAI is preparing to file for an initial public offering (IPO) in the coming weeks, a move that could sharpen its competitive edge in the AI race. While company executives had previously targeted a listing in the fourth quarter of this year or later, the accelerated filing is expected to substantially advance the offering's schedule. According to The Wall Street Journal, the initial paperwork could be submitted to regulators as early as Friday.

Five weak links India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 must fix

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 06:44:59 GMT

India's first semiconductor mission brought fabs, OSAT units, and chip projects into the policy pipeline. Its second phase is being shaped around a harder question: whether India can fix the weak links that determine if those projects become a sustainable semiconductor ecosystem.

AI chip boom strains ABF substrate supply chain

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 06:26:32 GMT

AI is shifting the semiconductor supply chain's next bottleneck from wafer fabrication and HBM memory to ABF substrates — a lower-profile but critical packaging material used in high-end CPUs, GPUs, ASICs, and networking chips.

Demand surge for power semiconductors reshapes data-center power and cooling, pushing suppliers toward SiC and GaN

Jingyue Hsiao — Thu, 21 May 2026 06:18:09 GMT

Demand for power components is surging as AI servers adopt high-voltage direct current power delivery and advanced cooling technologies. This shift could increase component density and design complexity across the data center supply chain. Taiwanese power semiconductor makers are moving into cooling and power-management MOS technologies, as well as higher-spec upgrades.

Texas Instruments sues former exec over trade secret theft at GlobalFoundries

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 06:15:50 GMT

Bloomberg reports that Texas Instruments (TI) has sued former vice president Kannan Soundarapandian, alleging he joined GlobalFoundries without fully disclosing his new employer and may bring proprietary power semiconductor knowledge into competitive use. TI is seeking to block his role, arguing it could expose confidential process "recipes, roadmaps, and know-how," with broader implications for competition in power device manufacturing and advanced process development.

Tech Forum 2026: Taiwan suppliers could win a critical role in humanoid robot supply chains as commercialization accelerates

Jingyue Hsiao — Thu, 21 May 2026 06:03:05 GMT

AI-driven humanoid robots are entering a visible phase of commercialization. At the same time, software lags hardware, creating an opening for Taiwan component suppliers to target the joint module market through alliances, according to remarks at a DIGITIMES forum ahead of Computex 2026.

Yulon to fully back Foxtron production as N7, Bria and Carvia enter mass production

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 06:01:21 GMT

Yulon Motor said at an investor conference on May 20 that it will fully support Foxtron Vehicle Technologies' production capacity requirements, with the N7, Bria, and the latest Carvia models now being mass-produced at Yulon's Sanyi plant. The company disclosed first-quarter 2026 operating results and outlined a strategy covering vehicle manufacturing, energy services, asset monetization, and overseas expansion.

LG Innotek wins long-term substrate deals as Intel and cloud giants secure supply

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:57:31 GMT

LG Innotek has secured substrate supply terms with major technology customers that increasingly resemble long-term agreements used in the memory-chip sector, boosting the South Korean supplier's revenue visibility and reducing profit volatility, according to reports.Hankyung and Yonhap, citing a KB Securities report, said the proposed contracts include large upfront payments, binding multi-year supply commitments with penalty clauses, and equipment investment support from customers.

Auras Technology raises 2026 revenue outlook as AI-driven liquid cooling demand grows

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:53:34 GMT

Auras Technology said strong AI server demand will sustain growth in thermal management through 2028, driving the company to raise its full-year revenue growth forecast for 2026. Executives disclosed the supplier expects quarterly growth throughout 2026, lifted its revenue-growth target from 50% to 70%, and sees potential for higher gross margins as shipments expand.

Tokyo Electron Taiwan drops appeal after court fines unit and jails ex-engineer in TSMC trade secrets case

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:44:43 GMT

Tokyo Electron's Taiwan unit said on May 21 that it respected judicial proceedings and would not appeal following a ruling in a trade secrets case involving TSMC. The decision came after the Taiwan Intellectual Property and Commercial Court on April 27 convicted a former Tokyo Electron engineer for taking confidential TSMC materials and sentenced the individual to 10 years in prison, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.

OpenAI offers 1-3 year reserved AI capacity with discounts to attract enterprise contracts

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:43:12 GMT

OpenAI launched a Guaranteed Capacity program that lets enterprise customers reserve one to three years of AI computing resources in advance, aiming to provide a stable supply for products, AI agents, and workflows while giving both buyers and suppliers time to plan. The program opened with tiered discounts tied to commitment length and will remain available until the current allocation is sold out, with additional rounds planned in the future, a spokesperson announced.

Anthropic surpasses OpenAI in enterprise adoption amid rising compute and cost pressures

DIGITIMES — Thu, 21 May 2026 05:41:33 GMT

Anthropic overtook OpenAI in enterprise AI adoption in April 2026, according to spending data from Ramp, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and VentureBeat, as growing demand collided with compute bottlenecks and mounting cost pressures. Ramp's tracking of more than 50,000 US companies found that 34.4% of enterprise customers used Anthropic products in April 2026, versus OpenAI's 32.3%.