DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

AI accelerator shipments are set to turn advanced packaging into the next battleground: Counterpoint

DIGITIMES — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:42:45 GMT

AI accelerator shipments are expected to reshape semiconductor demand worldwide, with implications for cloud operators, memory suppliers, and device makers in every major market. Counterpoint expects more than 130 million GPUs and AI ASICs to shift toward advanced-packaged on-compute memory over the next five years, as the industry braces for nearly US$2 trillion in compute revenue and an intensifying battle over packaging capacity.

Taiwan's 'invisible champions' in chip materials are about to become visible, says GlobalWafers' Doris Hsu

Joseph Chen — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:42:25 GMT

Advanced process technology and new device architectures are reshaping the semiconductor supply chain — and the pressure is shifting from the fab to the materials that feed it.

AI compute race heads toward space as MediaTek executive says 1 million H100s will be mid-tier by 2030

Scarlett Yu — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:41:50 GMT

Speaking at DIGITIMES' "AI on Chips: Semiconductor Industry Outlook Forum," MediaTek senior director Bor-Sung Liang said AI development is shifting from individual large language models (LLMs) toward collaborative teams of AI agents with different roles and capabilities. He also revisited the seven-layer AI architecture he previously proposed, contrasting it with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's five-layer "cake."

AMRA expands robot testing standard to cover legged systems

DIGITIMES — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:41:27 GMT

The Autonomous Mobile Robot Alliance (AMRA), formed by Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute and industry, academia, and research partners, has released a new standard that adds legged robots to its testing framework. The update aims to speed commercialization and deployment of autonomous mobile robots by giving manufacturers and buyers a unified way to assess performance across real-world environments.

India roundup: India's chip push moves beyond fabs as yield, supply chains and new technology become the next test

DIGITIMES — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:40:36 GMT

India's semiconductor strategy is entering a more demanding phase, shifting from attracting fabs and assembly plants toward building the capabilities needed to sustain them. From wafer yields and labor rules to materials, equipment, rare earth magnets and emerging technologies, the country is expanding its ambitions as it seeks a deeper role in the global chip supply chain.

AI chip boom lifts South Korean semiconductor materials makers' profits in 2Q26

Scarlett Yu — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:40:11 GMT

The AI semiconductor investment boom is increasingly spilling over into the materials supply chain. South Korea's major semiconductor materials suppliers broadly improved profitability in the second quarter of 2026, as stronger demand for advanced materials drove sharp operating profit growth. With customers expected to expand capacity from 2027 onward, the sector could see another wave of revenue growth.

Xiaomi unveils second-generation humanoid robot at Beijing conference

DIGITIMES — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:39:47 GMT

Xiaomi unveiled its second-generation humanoid robot at the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing, where the machine made its first public appearance and performed gestures for attendees. The demonstration highlighted the company's latest push into humanoid robotics, with the robot able to follow live commands and recognize scenes through a large model.

Taiwan lifts 2027 tech budget, studies new TTA site in BSTP

DIGITIMES — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:39:29 GMT

Taiwan's Executive Yuan approved a larger 2027 technology budget of NT$229.2 billion (approx. US$7.2 billion), an increase of NT$25.9 billion from 2026, as the government also raised funding for the Ten Major AI Infrastructure Projects to NT$40.6 billion. The move came as Premier Cho said Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) needs more space and asked the National Science and Technology Council to study a new TTA location in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (BSTP).

Samsung DX hits first quarterly loss on chip inflation

Charlene Chen — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:39:08 GMT

Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience (DX) division posted its first-ever quarterly operating loss in the second quarter of 2026, hit by chip inflation. Despite the worsening profitability, DX chief Tae-Moon Roh is responding with a strategy centered on expanding market share.

Agentic AI opens new era for humanoid robots, shipments to jump fourfold by 2030

Lily Hess — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:38:39 GMT

Humanoid robots have entered a clear new phase since agentic AI emerged in 2025, with DIGITIMES analyst Zouhao Shen saying the category is now moving toward a three-tier hardware architecture of the brain, cerebellum, and peripheral nerves. He said the shift is reshaping the market and setting the stage for rapid growth through 2030.

Galbot's fast rise marks new wave in China's humanoid robot race

Joseph Chen — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:38:13 GMT

Beyond established players such as Unitree Robotics, AgiBot and UBTech Robotics, a new wave of challengers is emerging quickly in China's humanoid robot sector. Among them is Galbot, which, despite being only three years old, closed a CNY2.5 billion (approx. US$350 million) funding round in March 2026 that lifted its post-money valuation above CNY20 billion. It is also the only embodied AI company that investor CATL has backed twice, and has vaulted into the first tier of China's humanoid robot makers.

MediaTek wins Google TPU deal on three key strengths

Charlene Chen — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:37:49 GMT

Taiwan's IC design industry is set to keep growing strongly in 2026, with revenue expected to rise 10%, driven mainly by companies involved in AI and AI ASIC projects such as MediaTek, Global Unichip Corporation (GUC), Alchip, Phison, and Silicon Motion, DIGITIMES analyst Jim Chien said.

Research Insight: ASIC shipments projected to overtake GPU by 2027 as AI reshapes memory

Lily Hess — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:37:11 GMT

ASIC and GPU shipments will reach a "golden cross" in 2027, with ASIC shipments expected to surpass GPU shipments for the first time at 15.3 million units, DIGITIMES Intelligence analyst Stella Weng said. She also said AI is driving a "qualitative change" in memory architecture inside AI servers.

CPO hurdles linger as 800G and 1.6T SiPh surge, says analyst

Lily Hess — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:36:41 GMT

Challenges around co-packaged optics (CPO) remain unresolved, but they have not slowed the rapid rise of 800G and 1.6T silicon photonics, DIGITIMES analyst Kiwi Hsu said on August 20 at a semiconductor industry forum in Taipei. He said demand for AI cluster interconnects continues to expand, driving exponential growth in the output value of optical communications.

AI memory windfall: Samsung to hand back up to US$79 billion in 2026

DIGITIMES — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:38:49 GMT

Samsung Electronics' board has approved a 2026 shareholder return plan estimated at KRW90 trillion to KRW110 trillion (approx. US$64-79 billion), which the company says is the largest ever by a Korean firm.

Automation Taipei 2026: If AI is advancing so fast, why is the factory floor still so hard to automate?

DIGITIMES — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:08:56 GMT

For all the extraordinary progress made by artificial intelligence, the physical world remains stubbornly difficult to automate.

Supermicro's internal probe clears senior management in export-control case

DIGITIMES — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:08:33 GMT

Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) said Thursday that an internal investigation run by its independent directors found no evidence that any current senior manager knew of an alleged scheme to divert export-controlled products — the conduct at the center of a March federal indictment of two Supermicro employees and a contractor.

America's launch boom runs into a capacity problem as White House targets 1,000 annual space launches

DIGITIMES — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:08:19 GMT

The US commercial space sector is entering a phase in which launching more rockets is no longer the only test of industrial scale. As flight cadence rises and multiple providers push toward higher throughput, the more difficult constraint is increasingly the infrastructure surrounding each mission.

Interview: Arbe Robotics on why radar is needed for autonomous driving and beyond

DIGITIMES — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:08:04 GMT

Autonomous driving technology is maturing, and a future in which cars entirely drive themselves is quickly approaching in the rearview mirror. Yet safety and trust remain crucial barriers to overcome before fully autonomous driving becomes a reality, and a key part of this is the "eyes" of the car.

Column: Lessons in supply chain resilience from China Huadian's power-compute coordination model

Willis Ke — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:07:40 GMT

As AI develops rapidly, data centers are driving equally rapid growth in electricity demand. The stability of future energy supplies will directly determine whether AI computing capacity can continue to expand.

Manz Asia says yield is key to glass core mass production

Charlene Chen — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 01:07:24 GMT

As AI chips continue to grow in size, the shift in advanced packaging from 300 mm wafers to square panels is becoming clearer, driving parallel development of new packaging technologies including FOPLP, CoPoS, and Glass Core. Manz Asia general manager Robert Lin said yield will determine whether Glass Core can move into mass production.

DS Technology shifts from custom automation to modular systems, eyes Brazil and Mexico

DIGITIMES — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:55:55 GMT

Taiwanese automation integrator DS Technology is shifting more of its highly customized robotic automation work toward standardized, modular systems as it seeks to make its technology easier to sell and deploy overseas, with prospective partners in Brazil and Mexico among its latest expansion targets.

China chip equipment maker Piotech posts 1,324% profit surge, advanced deposition scales up

DIGITIMES — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:45:00 GMT

Piotech Inc. reported a sharp rise in first-half 2026 earnings, helped by stronger demand for semiconductor deposition equipment, wider adoption of new process tools and improving economies of scale.

Broadcom reportedly eyes up to US$100B debt financing to expand AI chip push

DIGITIMES — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:20:00 GMT

Broadcom is in talks with asset managers to raise more than US$60 billion in debt financing, with the potential package reaching as much as US$100 billion, as the chipmaker moves to expand its role in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market, according to Bloomberg.

Vecow eyes robotics growth as North America, EMEA account for 65% of business

DIGITIMES — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:16:53 GMT

Taiwan industrial computer supplier Vecow is stepping up its push into robotics and edge AI, with North America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) together accounting for 65% of its business, Executive Vice President Joseph Huang said at Automation Taipei 2026 on August 21.

Ubtech expands humanoid push as Nvidia executives quietly visit WRC booth

Scarlett Yu — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:00:12 GMT

As the first publicly listed humanoid robot company, Ubtech Robotics is often referred to in China as the sector's "first humanoid robot stock." At the 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, the company found itself sharing the spotlight with recently listed Unitree Robotics, as both showcased their latest humanoid platforms.

Top 4 CSPs boost AI infrastructure; volume ramping of 800G switches fuels Accton's growth

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Major global cloud service providers (CSPs) continue to scale up investments in AI infrastructure. According to the latest DIGITIMES research report, combined capital expenditures from Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta are projected to reach a record high of US$745 billion in 2026.

Hiwin expands into CPO optical coupling process; 2H26 robotics revenue outlook brightens

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:55:00 GMT

Hiwin Technologies Chairman Eric Y. T. Chuo stated that the company has supplied samples of miniature ball screws and single-axis robots to co-packaged optics (CPO) vendors across Taiwan and China for validation. Meanwhile, the timeline for its dual-arm logistics robot, originally scheduled for small-batch shipment in 2026, has been adjusted due to customer requirement changes. Hiwin expects to submit revised samples for testing in November.

Cambricon advances sixth-gen AI silicon, broadens support for DeepSeek, Qwen and GLM

Levi Li — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:55:00 GMT

Cambricon Technologies chairman and president Chen Tian-shi said the company's sixth-generation AI processor and instruction set remain under development, with the next-generation platform targeting large-model training and inference while improving programmability, ease of use, performance, power efficiency and chip area.

Huawei, China power giant Huaneng explore AI compute-power coordination

Levi Li — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:50:00 GMT

China Huaneng Group said on August 20 that chairman Wen Shugang and president Zhong Guodong recently visited Huawei in Shenzhen, where they met Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei to discuss potential cooperation in artificial intelligence, computing power and "compute-power coordination."

SK Chairman warns of 2027 memory shortage, ties expansion to long-term orders

Charlene Chen — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:40:00 GMT

SK Group Chairman Tae-Won Chey said in a recent interview with CNBC that memory demand is surging explosively and that the most severe "memory shortage" will hit in 2027. He also apologized to the market for the pace of memory chip price increases, saying the rapid rise is fueling chip inflation across the industry.

Lee Jae-myung meets SK chief Chey Tae-won with US chip investment pressure in focus

DIGITIMES — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 06:32:37 GMT

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has begun a fresh round of talks with the country's leading business figures, starting with a private dinner with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, at a time when semiconductor investment, artificial intelligence and US demands for more local manufacturing are becoming increasingly intertwined.

Research Insight: Upstream memory giants eye threefold 2026 revenue as 2027 capacity eases price surge

Jingyue Hsiao — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 06:24:31 GMT

The global memory market is entering a sharp upcycle as cloud providers boost capital spending and demand for AI infrastructure lifts DRAM, NAND, and HBM prices. According to DIGITIMES, the three largest upstream memory chip makers are headed for a more than threefold jump in combined DRAM and NAND revenue in 2026, with supply constraints likely to keep pricing firm until new capacity arrives in 2027.

CoWoS boom lifts Taiwan semiconductor equipment makers, Bosch Rexroth targets 2027 volume growth

Levi Li — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 06:20:00 GMT

Bosch Rexroth, the industrial technology subsidiary of Bosch, showcased advanced semiconductor and smart manufacturing solutions at the 2026 Taipei International Industrial Automation Exhibition, held from August 19 to 22.

Taiwan automation shifts from hardware specs to AI platforms and open robot architectures

Willis Ke — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 05:45:00 GMT

Taiwan's automation industry is moving beyond the traditional race over robot-arm payload, servo precision, and sensor resolution. At the 2026 Automation Taipei and Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, held August 19-22 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, the industry's major players all put the spotlight on AI software-hardware integration platforms and open robot architectures as the technologies will determine the next phase of competition.