DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Amazon Leo clears Taiwan's NCC review, with commercial launch pointed at 2027

Joseph Chen — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:21:37 GMT

FarEasTone Telecommunications has cleared four of the six regulatory steps required to bring Amazon Leo to Taiwan, but commercial service will not start until 2027 at the earliest, in line with Amazon's own timetable.

Power grids can't keep pace with AI data center boom in EU, US

Kevin Wang — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:20:07 GMT

According to supply chain players, most AI data center cost models used by analysts in both China and the West only count electricity consumption when estimating the cost of AI data centers or tokens, but do not take into account the cost of power generation, transmission, or grid infrastructure. As a result, actual AI data center build-out costs vary greatly by country and region, due to the vast differences in power mix, grid capacity, and energy policies.

Memory recovery, price hikes lift Niching IC substrate outlook, order visibility through 2H27

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:19:38 GMT

Semiconductor packaging and testing materials distributor Niching Industrial hosted an investor conference on September 17. chief financial officer Chih Fang Chiu stated that full-year 2026 revenue is projected to grow by 20% to 30%. Beyond the consolidation benefits of acquiring Ming Chun Yuan Micro Precise Technology in July 2026, growth momentum remains robust across heat spreaders, solid-state drive (SSD) enclosures, and IC substrates, alongside ongoing expansion in thermally conductive adhesives. The company aims to double total revenue within three years.

MediaTek, Vivo bring 30B MoE models on-device in next AI phone race

Levi Li — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:18:34 GMT

MediaTek's new Dimensity 9600 Pro puts agentic AI at the center of its flagship smartphone strategy, supporting on-device mixture-of-experts (MoE) models with up to 30 billion parameters. Vivo, among the first Chinese handset makers to adopt the platform, has followed with an expanded AI software stack spanning BlueLM, BlueLM Copilot, and a system-level BlueLM Harness.

Interview: Advanced packaging shifts toward system-level co-design for AI

Levi Li — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:18:19 GMT

Advanced packaging remains one of the semiconductor industry's hottest technology areas in 2026. In Taiwan, terms such as co-packaged optics (CPO), chiplets, and glass substrates are increasingly common as packaging moves deeper into system-level design.

Thailand plans to swap EV subsidies for import taxes to defend its production base

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:18:03 GMT

Thailand is preparing to abandon the subsidy-led policy that made it Southeast Asia's fastest-growing electric vehicle market, replacing it with a tax structure built to penalize carmakers that import rather than build. Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said the excise tax on fully imported EVs could rise to around 30%, from 10% today — the first time the government has attached a number to the levy.

Beyond Volkswagen, XPeng seeks to turn automotive R&D into a global tech enterprise

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:17:38 GMT

It has become increasingly evident that one of the factors undermining China's unparalleled competence in the global EV industry is manufacturing scale. But the continued development of proprietary technologies in the automotive sector has strengthened their differentiation within a highly competitive landscape.

Charts: Taiwan's memory makers are outgrowing TSMC by a factor of eight

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:17:13 GMT

Taiwan's chipmakers are having their best year in a decade, and the headline number belongs to TSMC. The more interesting one does not.

Ams OSRAM takes an automotive-qualified force sensor into robotic hands

Lily Hess — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:16:16 GMT

Ams OSRAM is pushing its optical force sensor line into robotic hands on the argument that incumbent piezoelectric solutions cannot hold a reading, and it is using automotive qualification as the entry credential.

CXL adds memory capacity, but HBM retains its bandwidth edge

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:15:48 GMT

Growing memory requirements are increasing interest in Compute Express Link (CXL) as a way to add capacity beyond locally attached memory. But engineers from OpenAI and Intel see limits to using the interconnect as a substitute for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) where bandwidth remains critical.

Ventec invests NT$1.5 billion in Kunshan expansion for AI, HDI orders

Eifeh Strom — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:15:29 GMT

Copper-clad laminate (CCL) manufacturer Ventec International Group has approved an expansion budget of NT$1.5 billion (approx. US$47.11 million) to lease and convert an idle factory in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China, as it moves to capture spillover demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-density interconnect (HDI) materials. The expansion budget is to be invested in three phases. Depending on future growth demand, the company will proceed with further capacity expansion investments in the second and third phases.

Compal takes Compal Broadband Networks private to fold networking into its edge AI stack

Joseph Chen — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:15:05 GMT

Compal Electronics is buying out the shares of its listed networking arm, Compal Broadband Networks (CBN), in a cash deal that will end CBN's public listing and give Compal full control of a router and gateway business it wants to pair with its edge AI hardware.

Solidigm weighs first US NAND fab, explores upstate New York

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 08:41:22 GMT

Solidigm, the US NAND flash subsidiary of SK Hynix, is considering building its first NAND manufacturing plant in the US, with upstate New York emerging as a leading candidate.

Analysis: China's 15th five-year plan spotlights diamond for AI chip thermal management

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 08:15:00 GMT

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have highlighted ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor materials, including gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) and synthetic diamond, in their draft development plan for the electronic information manufacturing sector.

Winbond cements server NOR lead with Infineon deal

Lily Hess — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 08:08:25 GMT

Winbond Electronics is expanding its NOR Flash footprint and has agreed to pay US$1.12 billion in cash to acquire Infineon's NOR Flash and F-RAM businesses, a move that will lift it to the top of the automotive NOR market while strengthening its position in AI data center and server NOR supply.

Corning to raise display glass substrate prices 15% from 4Q26

Lily Hess — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 07:45:00 GMT

Corning, the US glass substrate supplier, will raise prices for its yen-denominated display glass substrate products by 15% or more worldwide starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to industry sources. The company confirmed the move amid persistent cost pressure across the electronics supply chain.

CXMT eyes NAND amid global shortage, taking aim at YMTC

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 07:10:43 GMT

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is preparing to expand beyond DRAM into NAND flash, a move that would push China's leading DRAM supplier closer to the core market of domestic rival Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) as enterprise storage becomes a bigger part of the memory growth story.

Doosan commits KRW968 billion to CCL expansion as demand strains capacity

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:43:25 GMT

Doosan is investing KRW968.4 billion (approx. US$701 million) to expand high-end copper-clad laminate (CCL) production in South Korea and China, its largest-ever investment in the business, as growing demand for AI accelerators, network switches and optical modules pushes key production lines beyond full utilization.

China's AI data center token costs hinge on access to advanced GPUs

Charlene Chen — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 06:31:00 GMT

China's AI data centers are confronting a severe chip access bottleneck, with the cost of producing tokens shaped less by model design than by geopolitics, according to a recent Caijing analysis. The report said restricted access to high-end GPUs has become the most critical cost burden in China's AI era.

China's memory push gains ground across LPDDR6, advanced NAND, with HBM still the test

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 05:56:22 GMT

AI is reshaping the global memory industry, tightening supply while creating an opening for China's domestic suppliers. With Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron prioritizing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and high-end server memory, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) are gaining ground in conventional DRAM, mobile memory, and NAND Flash.

CoreWeave launches US$3 billion bond sale amid growing revenue, debt

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 05:44:42 GMT

CoreWeave launched a debt sale worth US$3 billion in convertible bonds, which would allow buyers to turn their bonds into shares. The neocloud, which has sharply ramped up its infrastructure spending over the past year, has secured a growing customer base but faces concerns over financial sustainability amid intense competition and fears of an AI slowdown.

High-end GPUs may be slowing China's AI compute expansion

Charlene Chen — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:29:35 GMT

China's wide gap in token costs stems largely from domestic companies' difficulty in accessing Nvidia high-end GPUs, forcing them to squeeze more value from each token to recoup costs. But supply-chain sources say the scale of China and US AI compute investment may actually be roughly comparable, despite US hyperscalers' far larger 2025 capex.

LGES, Samsung SDI reportedly booked out for two years as US restrictions and China slowdown reshape ESS market

Scarlett Yu — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:27:31 GMT

As energy storage system (ESS) battery orders continue to accumulate at South Korean manufacturers, expectations are growing that market conditions could improve further. The outlook follows the US government's declaration of a national emergency over electric grid security, signaling a move to restrict Chinese-made batteries, while China has begun curbing new battery capacity expansion.

Chip equipment makers face waits of up to 40 months for critical parts

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 03:56:42 GMT

The semiconductor industry's capacity crunch is moving deeper into the equipment supply chain, with shortages of specialized components stretching delivery times as chipmakers accelerate fab investment.

Samsung deepens Euclyd ties as startup reportedly reaches test-chip stage

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 03:45:41 GMT

Samsung Electronics is deepening its relationship with Dutch chip startup Euclyd after the company reportedly reached the test-chip stage at Samsung Foundry, adding a manufacturing dimension to Samsung's recent investment in the two-year-old company.

King Charles tests AI's safety consensus as Nvidia keeps its foot on the accelerator

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 03:41:15 GMT

King Charles III has stepped into the intensifying debate over artificial intelligence, urging executives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic to keep AI under human control and ensure the technology serves people and the planet.

CPO raises PCB downgrade concerns but switches stick with M8 CCL

Sherri Wang — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 03:07:36 GMT

As the industry shifts toward greater use of optical interconnects and less reliance on copper, market speculation has emerged that wider adoption of co-packaged optics (CPO) could reduce high-speed transmission requirements for AI server motherboard printed circuit boards (PCBs).

iPhone 18 Pro sellouts across Taiwan as foldable Duo looms

Rodney Chan — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 03:05:31 GMT

Apple's iPhone 18 Pro series will go on sale on September 18, and Taiwan's major e-commerce platforms and telecom carriers have released preorder results ahead of launch. Data show that demand for premium iPhone models remains strong, with most channels selling out quickly and reservation volumes rising one to two times from the same period in 2025.

ByteDance's second AI-agent phone drops forced automation for permission — yet app wall still up

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 02:50:40 GMT

The question facing China's "AI agent phone" category is no longer whether a model can drive a smartphone. It is whether the apps will let it. Judging by the first mass-produced device to try it, the answer is mostly not yet.

Mobile SoC battle for 2026 centers on NPUs

Lily Hess — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 02:31:35 GMT

More technical details on 2026 mobile systems on a chip (SoCs) from major vendors are emerging, and the biggest changes in chips such as Apple's A20 Pro and MediaTek's Dimensity 9600 Pro are clearly concentrated in the neural processing unit (NPU). Qualcomm also published a technical article on NPU development on September 10, saying its next-generation NPU will expand shared memory capacity to improve access efficiency and speed for model data, helping mobile AI maintain fast response times.

Micron: AI memory crunch rewrites the market with long-term deals and custom designs

Levi Li — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 02:24:38 GMT

As the AI boom spreads from data centers to edge devices and robotics, Micron Technology executives are warning that memory has become a core bottleneck determining the upper limits of AI performance. With new capacity taking years to build and manufacturing processes growing increasingly complex, meaningful new memory supply may not begin arriving until 2028.

ByteDance builds strong supply chain force to master emerging hardware ecosystems beyond core demand

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 02:01:08 GMT

The Chinese smart glasses sector is rapidly consolidating around the principle that "subtraction is king." Rather than rushing unproven hardware to market, ByteDance is adopting a deliberate, supply-chain-first strategy.

GlobalFoundries, Marvell expand SiGe capacity deal for AI optical connectivity

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 01:56:11 GMT

GlobalFoundries (GF) and Marvell Technology have expanded a multi-year agreement to increase production capacity for silicon germanium (SiGe) technology at GF's facility in Burlington, Vermont, as demand grows for optical connectivity used in AI and cloud data centers.

NCSIST showcases military tech at Taiwan Innotech Expo 2026

Eifeh Strom — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 01:50:00 GMT

As countries worldwide accelerate efforts to develop homegrown defense technology capabilities, Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) showcased three key technologies at the Taiwan Innotech Expo 2026 (TIE), aimed at moving defense research from the laboratory to the battlefield and advancing dual-use applications.

Foldable smartphone panel shipments fall 13% in 1H26 as market shifts to in-fold designs

DIGITIMES — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 01:45:00 GMT

Global foldable smartphone panel shipments declined 13% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, with the contraction concentrated in clamshell products, according to Counterpoint Research's Quarterly Foldable Display Shipment and Technology Report.