DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Phison posts record September revenue as AI tops half of sales

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:30:11 GMT

Phison Electronics reported record September consolidated revenue of NT$30.639 billion (US$959 million), up 8% from August and 370% from a year earlier. The Taiwanese storage chipmaker said AI-related applications accounted for more than 50% of total revenue, underscoring how demand is expanding across storage, computing, networking and AI infrastructure.

Trump awards science medal to Elon Musk, Jensen Huang

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:29:33 GMT

US President Donald Trump will award the National Medal of Science to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and several other tech leaders, with major figures from the industry set to gather again on October 8, local time. The honors highlight Trump's push to spotlight technology executives as his administration emphasizes US innovation leadership.

Huawei faces price reset as memory costs surge

Lily Hess — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:29:23 GMT

Huawei consumer business group chairman Richard Yu said surging memory component costs have added more than US$200 to the hardware cost of each Huawei smartphone, putting fresh pressure on handset pricing as the broader memory market climbs rapidly.

Zhen Ding posts record September sales on mobile demand and AI applications

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:29:03 GMT

Zhen Ding Technology said September 2026 consolidated revenue reached NT$26.358 billion (US$825.13 million), up 36.13% year over year and 27.54% from August, setting a monthly record. The PCB maker said the result reflected strong orders from mobile communications products as well as continued growth in its server, optical module and IC substrate businesses.

TPCA Show 2026 to spotlight AI computing, Unimicron chair keynote

Lily Hess — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:27:51 GMT

As explosive AI computing demand drives hardware architecture change, Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) is set to open its annual flagship event, with the 21st International Microsystems, Packaging, Assembly and Circuits Technology Conference (IMPACT-IAAC 2026) kicking off on October 19, followed by the 27th TPCA Show 2026 from October 20 to 22.

Unified memory lifts AI PC ambitions as Chinese open models gain local-inference ground

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:27:32 GMT

The hardware boundary separating cloud-scale AI from local inference is becoming increasingly porous as PC vendors expand memory capacity and software platforms make larger open-weight models easier to run directly on devices.

Semco moves glass substrates to package-level testing

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:27:18 GMT

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) has reportedly completed initial reliability testing of its 100mm glass substrates and moved to package-level verification using customer chips, marking progress toward commercializing next-generation packaging technology as AI accelerators grow larger and more complex. The development comes as the company expands its existing semiconductor substrate business while facing uncertainty over the commercialization timeline for glass substrates.

JNTC bets US$259 million on glass substrates ahead of 2028 ramp

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:27:06 GMT

South Korea's JNTC plans to invest KRW347 billion (approx. US$259 million) in glass substrate manufacturing as it reports a sharp reduction in copper-filling time for thick glass cores, potentially easing a major bottleneck in advanced semiconductor packaging. The investment comes as the company advances customer evaluations, although meaningful mass-production revenue is not expected until 2028.

US plans for 'Autowarcom' deepen military's focus on autonomous weapons

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:26:50 GMT

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans for the creation of a combatant command focused on autonomous warfare and drones. Its planned establishment indicates the turn within the US military toward low-cost and AI-powered systems, which have been pushed to the frontier of defense strategies following ongoing wars in Ukraine and Iran.

SK Hynix sends memory chips into orbit for testing

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:26:32 GMT

SK Hynix's dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and Universal Flash Storage (UFS) products have reached orbit aboard a South Korean satellite that successfully established communication with the ground following the country's fifth Nuri rocket launch. The mission opens the way for in-orbit reliability testing as the memory maker explores potential opportunities in the space electronics market. No in-orbit test results for SK Hynix's memory products have been announced.

Advanced packaging leads Malaysia's push up the chip value chain as AI reshapes demand, says Yole analyst

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:26:21 GMT

Malaysia is moving from traditional semiconductor back-end manufacturing toward higher value-added work, with advanced packaging set to drive growth over the next two to three years, according to Nur Hilwani, Technology & Market Analyst, Semiconductor Equipment at France-based Yole Group. Talent, IP ownership and supply-chain gaps remain hurdles.

China's GW satellite network clears dual-polar test, signaling broader push toward sovereign LEO communications

DIGITIMES — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:26:09 GMT

China's state-backed Guowang (GW) low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite network has completed its first communications test during the country's 16th Arctic expedition, enabling a live video call linking vessels in the Arctic with Qinling Station in Antarctica with reported latency under one second.

AI headphones expose audio market's missing platform

Charlene Chen — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:25:51 GMT

As artificial intelligence (AI) moves into headphones, a problem often hidden by hardware specs is becoming clearer: the audio market has a huge installed base, but lacks a common platform to connect different brands, chips, software, and services. Bragi CEO Nikolaj Hviid said AI audio is still searching for its own interface, but that interface already exists in the ears of hundreds of millions of users.

MediaTek 3Q26 revenue beats forecast, maintains peak-season momentum

Eifeh Strom — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 02:44:22 GMT

MediaTek reported its September and third-quarter 2026 revenue results, with September revenue of NT$55.40 billion (approx. US$1.74 billion), down 13.69% from the previous month and up 1.97% from a year earlier. Third-quarter revenue reached NT$168.06 billion, up 10.43% quarter over quarter and 18.27% year over year, beating the upper end of its revenue forecast by about 5.2% and allowing the company to deliver the performance typically expected during the traditional peak season.

GlobalFoundries wins US$2 billion TSMC interposer deal, closing a US packaging gap

DIGITIMES — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 02:43:17 GMT

GF said on October 8, 2026, that it has signed a multi-year, US$2 billion manufacturing agreement with TSMC to produce silicon interposers for TSMC's CoWoS ecosystem at its Malta, New York fab, which GF says will become the first US-based source of silicon interposers supporting advanced packaging.

Samsung HBM4E wins NVIDIA nod for AI accelerator push

DIGITIMES — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:46:25 GMT

Samsung Electronics' next-generation 12-layer HBM4E product, a type of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), has reportedly cleared customer quality validation from Nvidia and major hyperscale data center operators. If confirmed, the result would strengthen Samsung's bid to supply memory for next-gen AI accelerators, though order timing and mass production plans remain unclear.

Interview: How AI forecasting and energy scheduling are raising the bar for green power sellers

Kevin Wang — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:43:38 GMT

As the demand for green energy surges in parallel with order volumes and production capacity, scheduling for energy storage systems has become a critical technology to solve the problem of excess power for major tech firms, according to Kelsey Kuan, general manager of HD Renewable Energy subsidiary Star Trade. In an interview with DIGITIMES, Kuan also highlighted the rising technological barriers for electricity sellers, as the business now requires AI forecasting, transfer matching, energy storage, and integrated renewable-energy capabilities.

Applied Materials, Intel target AI chip bottlenecks with interconnect scaling and Foveros 3D

Levi Li — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:42:39 GMT

AI chip manufacturing demands are accelerating development of advanced logic and packaging technologies, prompting Applied Materials and Intel to expand their collaboration on next-generation transistors, interconnects, and advanced packaging.

Innodisk, Apacer post September 2026 revenue growth on AI demand

Charlene Chen — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:41:29 GMT

Memory module makers Innodisk and Apacer both reported year-over-year and month-over-month revenue growth for September 2026, supported by steady demand from industrial control, edge computing and AI smart connectivity applications. Their cumulative revenue for the first three quarters of the year also set strong growth records.

Ample revenue slips in September as passive component demand stays strong

DIGITIMES — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:40:13 GMT

Ample Electronic, a supplier of conductive paste materials for the passive components industry, reported September 2026 revenue of NT$304 million (approx. US$9.6 million), down 0.4% from August but up 76.3% from a year earlier. The company said strong demand for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and related parts continued to support results, while third-quarter 2026 revenue rose to NT$879 million, up 23.6% quarter-over-quarter and 82% year-over-year.

Advantech tops US$1 billion in third-quarter revenue as edge AI orders climb

DIGITIMES — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:39:50 GMT

Advantech reported on October 7 that third-quarter consolidated revenue reached NT$32.44 billion (approx. US$1.02 billion), a record high as demand for edge AI, semiconductor equipment, and robotics stayed strong. September consolidated revenue rose to NT$10.749 billion, up 73.14% year-over-year, while cumulative revenue for the first nine months of 2026 increased to NT$78.952 billion from NT$52.961 billion a year earlier.

WinWay tops NT$10 billion in revenue as AI demand lifts third-quarter results

DIGITIMES — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:39:27 GMT

Semiconductor test interface maker WinWay Technology said AI and high-performance computing (HPC) demand, along with production-efficiency gains on some lines, drove shipments higher in 2026. The company surpassed NT$10 billion (approx. US$314.7 million) in cumulative revenue in September, a milestone it originally expected to hit in 2027, and reported record third-quarter sales as the semiconductor supply chain continued to benefit from strong AI-related spending.

Formosa Smart Energy teams up with CXIT on AI data center push

Charlene Chen — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:39:02 GMT

Formosa Smart Energy (FSET) is moving into AI data centers and will partner with Chuang-Xi Information and Technology (CXIT) to build one at Formosa Plastics Group's Mailiao industrial park, targeting Taiwanese enterprise users and Japanese cloud service providers (CSPs) in the first phase. The companies also plan to set up a CSP joint venture to run AI data center operations and computing-power services.

Inpaq reshuffles management, appoints Joyin chair as new head

Charlene Chen — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:38:34 GMT

Inpaq, part of the PSA Group, said it will eliminate the chief executive officer (CEO) position effective immediately as it adjusts its organizational structure and management responsibilities. In a related personnel change, Joyin chair Jui-Tsung Chang will serve as general manager, while former CEO and president Eunice Chen will remain a company director.

Interview: Europe's enterprise networking market returns to growth as pandemic inventory hangover clears

DIGITIMES — Fri, 9 Oct 2026 01:38:10 GMT

The European enterprise networking market has cleared its multi-year inventory digestion period. According to CONTEXT, sell-through via European distribution channels is growing in the low double digits entering 2026 across core infrastructure categories, including switches and enterprise wireless access points. That contrasts with the "heavy double-digit declines" the channel saw during COVID-19, said CONTEXT principal analyst Aaron Smith.

Largan Precision posts over 10% revenue growth in the first nine months of 2026

DIGITIMES — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 08:32:04 GMT

Largan Precision reported September consolidated revenue of NT$2.672 billion (US$83.73 million), down 1.75% from August but up 0.54% from a year earlier, according to an Oct. 8 filing. The camera lens maker said cumulative revenue for the first nine months of 2026 reached NT$19.636 billion, an increase of 10.12% from NT$17.831 billion in the same period of 2025.

Lam Research launches South Korea chip fund after 15,000-chamber milestone

DIGITIMES — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 07:42:44 GMT

Lam Research is launching its first country-specific semiconductor venture fund in South Korea after shipping its 15,000th locally manufactured processing chamber, deepening its manufacturing and technology ties with one of the world's major chipmaking hubs.

SpaceX pursues US$40 billion Nvidia chip financing while Terafab charts path to AI compute independence

Scarlett Yu — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 07:37:58 GMT

SpaceX is reportedly seeking US$40 billion in financing to purchase Nvidia chips, a massive capital commitment driven by surging artificial intelligence (AI) computing demand. Viewed alongside Elon Musk's Terafab semiconductor manufacturing initiative, however, the move suggests a dual-track strategy: relying on Nvidia for near-term computing capacity while gradually reducing dependence on external suppliers over the longer term.

Ledlink hits record revenue as automotive optics and AI server components fuel growth

Scarlett Yu — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 07:17:07 GMT

LED lens manufacturer Ledlink Optics reported record monthly and quarterly revenue in September and the third quarter of 2026, respectively, driven by sustained demand for automotive optical lenses and steadily increasing shipments of precision structural components for AI servers.

Bloom Energy SOFC system to support AOI's Taiwan expansion

DIGITIMES — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 07:05:01 GMT

Taiwan-based energy solutions provider Leadray Energy has partnered with Bloom Energy to deploy a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) on-site power generation system at an expansion project operated by Applied Optoelectronics' (AOI) subsidiary in Taiwan.

LG to test five commercial components in space aboard South Korea's fifth Nuri launch

Scarlett Yu — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 06:58:50 GMT

LG Group is preparing to test five commercial components developed by LG Electronics, LG Innotek, and LG Energy Solution (LGES), including cameras and batteries, aboard a CubeSat carried as a secondary payload on South Korea's fifth Nuri rocket launch. The mission aims to assess whether commercially available components can operate reliably in space.

US and 14 nations issue statement on overcapacity, target semiconductors

DIGITIMES — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 06:54:36 GMT

The US and 14 other economies issued a joint statement after the G20 trade ministers' meeting in Milwaukee, pledging to work together on structural overcapacity and excess production in key industries. They singled out autos, EVs, batteries, chemicals, semiconductors and solar panels.

Google, Meta, and others commit nearly US$2 billion to open AI biology data

DIGITIMES — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 06:45:19 GMT

A new international funding push aims to build the data backbone for AI systems that could model biology, sharpen disease research, and speed drug discovery worldwide. The effort may help researchers in many countries access shared datasets, tools, and computing resources needed to predict how cells respond to disease and treatment.

Infineon completes acquisition of C2i to expand AI data center power capabilities

DIGITIMES — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 06:43:23 GMT

Infineon has finished acquiring India-based C2i Semiconductors, a maker of software-defined multiphase controllers and smart power stages used in AI data centers. The acquisition indicates the growing importance of power stability and efficiency as the number of energy-hungry AI processors rises.

AI PCs face memory squeeze as server demand takes priority

DIGITIMES — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 05:54:36 GMT

Microsoft's October 7 opening of pre-orders for Surface Laptop Ultra, featuring up to 128GB of unified memory, highlights a potential new source of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) demand as PC makers bring larger AI models and autonomous agents onto local devices. But the opportunity comes as PC shipments decline and memory manufacturers prioritize server customers, raising questions about whether high-capacity PCs can secure enough supply to become a meaningful growth market.