DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Nvidia's Hugging Face terms pay out its chip rivals and reserve US$1 billion to keep the staff

DIGITIMES — Fri, 4 Sep 2026 00:14:02 GMT

The mechanics of Nvidia's US$12.93 billion purchase of Hugging Face say as much about the deal's purpose as the strategic case does: a tenth of the consideration is set aside to stop the team from walking, part of the payout goes to Intel and AMD, and the whole transaction is framed against an open-weight model market in which the fastest-moving suppliers are Chinese.

Nvidia buys the front door to open AI with a US$12.93 billion Hugging Face deal

DIGITIMES — Fri, 4 Sep 2026 00:06:37 GMT

Nvidia's agreement to acquire Hugging Face for US$12.93 billion pushes the world's dominant AI chip supplier past silicon and into the layer where developers actually pick their models — a position that gives it early sight of demand shifts, a structural hedge against customers designing their own accelerators, and a neutrality problem it has already had to answer for in writing.

D-Wave, quantum computing's oldest company, is now building a second kind of machine

DIGITIMES — Fri, 4 Sep 2026 00:01:03 GMT

D-Wave has spent 26 years building one type of quantum computer. This week it told a Taipei audience why it started building another.

K-Safety Expo 2026: South Korea's safety AI moves from watching danger to acting on it

DIGITIMES — Fri, 4 Sep 2026 00:00:19 GMT

At first glance, many of the technologies spread across the K-Safety Expo 2026 show floor in Busan looked familiar: CCTV cameras, industrial sensors, warning lights and control panels. But after moving from booth to booth on September 2, a more consequential shift became clear. South Korea's emerging safety systems are increasingly being built not simply to record what went wrong, but to recognize risk early enough to intervene.

K-Safety Expo 2026: Inside Korea's push to make safety smarter, faster, more predictive

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:59:48 GMT

K-Safety Expo 2026 opened at BEXCO Exhibition Center 1 in Busan on September 2. An hour-long opening ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. brought together South Korean government officials, international organization representatives and industry participants to mark the start of the three-day safety-industry exhibition. The 12th edition is jointly hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Busan Metropolitan City.

India PC shipments rise as channel buying lifts second quarter sales

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:59:20 GMT

India's PC market grew steadily in the second quarter of 2026, but the gain appears to reflect stocking by retailers, businesses, and distributors as much as end-user demand. The trend signals how supply pressures and pricing changes can reshape device markets far beyond India.

China's GPU makers found scale as profit came from elsewhere

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:58:14 GMT

China's domestic GPU industry crossed a commercial threshold in the first half of 2026, but the interim filings of its six listed players show that revenue growth and earnings power have not yet converged. Three of the six reported positive attributable net profit. Only one of those earned it primarily by selling chips. For an industry whose customers are now committing capital on multi-year horizons, that distinction matters more than the headline growth rates.

Taiwan's tech council allocates NT$3.76 billion for quantum host

Rodney Chan — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:57:15 GMT

Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has budgeted NT$3.76 billion (US$116.58 million) for a quantum computer system project, while the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) will spend NT$14.6 billion with support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on a 2027 technology program that includes building a key quantum computing technology verification platform.

ESA backs European rocket startups to diversify launch supply

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:56:38 GMT

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced on August 27 that it had signed the first contracts under its European Launcher Challenge, signing agreements with European space startups Rocket Factory Augsburg, Isar Aerospace, and PLD Space.

Acer wowed IFA with AI, gaming hardware

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:55:51 GMT

As Acer marks its 50th anniversary in 2026, Chairman and CEO Jason Chen said at the company's next@acer global press event during IFA in Berlin, Germany, that the PC maker's four future growth drivers are PCs, smart healthcare, smart living, and sustainability. He said the roadmap underscores Acer's stature as an international brand and its continued ambition.

China speed hits brakes as regulators tighten safety rules

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:55:28 GMT

The global auto industry is being jolted by "China speed," as Chinese regulators move to slow an extreme race to launch vehicles that has crossed quality and safety red lines. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and other watchdogs have launched special enforcement actions and tightened rules to prevent carmakers from sacrificing safety in the rush for speed.

ENE Technology eyes 4Q26 drone scale-up with satellite link

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:54:59 GMT

Microcontroller maker ENE Technology is pushing into the drone market by integrating resources from other group companies and selling complete drone systems. The company expects volume shipments in the fourth quarter of 2026 and is currently focusing on commercial and industrial markets.

Taiwan to expand industrial land for AI hardware boom

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:54:46 GMT

Taiwan's government says it will expand industrial land development to meet surging demand for AI infrastructure hardware, as global suppliers race to add capacity through 2027. Premier Jung-tai Cho said the government is already seeing strong demand from companies looking to build more plants in Taiwan, including semiconductor, packaging and testing, memory, substrate, and equipment makers, as well as foreign investors such as Nvidia and Micron Technology.

Nanya, ESMT hit record August revenue on higher contract prices

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:54:32 GMT

Memory chip makers continue to post sequential revenue gains, with Nanya Technology and Elite Semiconductor Microelectronics Technology (ESMT) both reporting record consolidated revenue for August 2026. Nanya's revenue rose 1.88% month-over-month, while ESMT's climbed 16.51%, as higher contract prices in the third quarter drove strong revenue growth.

Young Liu urges "Made with Taiwan" supply chain rethink

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:54:09 GMT

Foxconn chairman Young Liu on September 2 called on Taiwan's supply chain to shift from "Made in Taiwan" to "Made with Taiwan," saying the island should become a partner that exports technology and know-how across the global industrial chain. He made the remarks at the closing fireside chat of the SEMICON Taiwan 2026 Masters Forum, alongside MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) CEO Tien Wu, and Xinxing chairman C.C. Hsien.

Acer unveils IFA lineup with AI, slim notebooks, sustainability

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:53:50 GMT

Acer used its next@acer global press conference in Berlin during IFA to unveil a broad lineup of new products, highlighting its push into AI, sustainability, thin-and-light notebooks, e-paper, handheld gaming devices, electric scooters, and the Acer SFF RTX Spark desktop design powered by the NVIDIA RTX Spark superchip.

AUO speeds up asset sales as Singapore plant nears WD deal

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:53:37 GMT

AUO is accelerating its asset-light strategy, and its Singapore plant sale now appears headed to Western Digital's Singapore unit. On September 2, the company announced plans to sell the site to Western Digital Singapore for S$350 million (US$275.4 million) before tax, or about NT$8.753 billion, with the resulting disposal gain to be confirmed after the buyer secures the required local regulatory approvals.

Electroninks, Merck, Qualipoly build advanced packaging ecosystem

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 23:53:13 GMT

Electroninks, a global provider of metal-composite conductive inks and advanced semiconductor packaging materials, has formed a strategic partnership with Merck and Taiwan-based Qualipoly Chemical to offer advanced packaging customers a more complete, faster, and more efficient integrated service.

CHPT spans wafer to system-level testing

Charlene Chen — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 09:35:27 GMT

Chunghwa Precision Test Tech showcased a range of test interface solutions for AI chips and high-performance computing (HPC) at SEMICON Taiwan 2026, including AI probe cards, memory probe cards, high-pin-count probe cards, and a high-power burn-in board for AI ASICs.

SanDisk pushes HBF ecosystem as AI inference reshapes token economics

Yunnie Cheng — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 09:34:55 GMT

The rapid rise of AI inference, multimodal inputs, and AI agents is giving NAND flash a new strategic role.

Infineon sees AI data centers, physical AI as growth drivers

Jingyue Hsiao — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 09:15:00 GMT

Infineon said the rapid buildout of AI data centers and emerging Physical AI applications could reshape semiconductor demand worldwide. The shift signals higher infrastructure spending, faster power technology adoption, and new competition in robotics, vehicles, and industrial systems that may influence future chip markets and supply chains.

Exclusive: China 6-inch SiC substrate supply tightens, prices set to rise

Yunnie Cheng — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 08:33:32 GMT

China's 6-inch silicon carbide (SiC) substrate market is undergoing a structural supply-demand reversal. Driven by strengthening downstream demand and limited production restarts, supply has turned tight. In addition to refusing orders beyond existing contracts, suppliers are set to formally raise prices once current contracts are fulfilled.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and NEC form alliance to advance defense tech, AI sovereignty

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 07:35:00 GMT

Japanese industrial giants Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and NEC Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a strategic partnership in the defense sector. The alliance aims to fortify Japan's defense industrial base while bolstering national data and AI sovereignty amid shifting global security dynamics.

Turing Drive highlights overseas expansion, extends invitation to global automakers

Kevin Wang — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 07:25:00 GMT

Taiwanese autonomous driving startup Turing Drive marked its eighth anniversary on August 31, with CEO David Shen highlighting at the event the company's efforts in advancing self-developed technologies and overseas expansion starting with Japan.

China chip tool makers expand beyond import substitution at CSEAC 2026

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 07:15:00 GMT

China's semiconductor equipment industry is moving beyond replacing imported tools at mature nodes, with CSEAC 2026 highlighting deeper advances in etching, thin-film deposition, cleaning, metrology, advanced packaging and core components.

KEPCO seeks US$18 billion from Samsung, SK Hynix to fund Korea's power grid

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 07:04:40 GMT

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) has proposed that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix prepay as much as KRW25 trillion (approx. US$18 billion) in electricity bills as South Korea looks for new ways to finance the power infrastructure required for its rapidly expanding semiconductor clusters.

Fei-Fei Li's World Labs unveils Atlas world model for 3D AI and robotics

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 06:28:16 GMT

World Labs, the startup founded by Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li, has unveiled Atlas, a multimodal world model designed to generate, reconstruct, and simulate three-dimensional environments from text, images, and video. The launch marks a shift from conventional generative AI toward systems that reason about geometry, camera position, depth, and spatial relationships.

Niching validates 500-ton press for large heat spreaders

Jingyue Hsiao — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 06:20:57 GMT

Niching Industrial is expanding its heat-spreader capacity as AI and high-performance computing demand pushes up orders across the global semiconductor supply chain. The company said larger stamping equipment, tighter plating control, and future liquid-cooling technologies are being developed to support chips that generate more heat in data centers worldwide.

Semiconductor sustainability shifts to cost control as fab resource demand surges

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 06:15:57 GMT

Sustainability is not just good for communities and the environment but also good for business. This is the message from a sustainability summit that took place at SEMICON Taiwan this week, with water management and equipment providers seeking to link water recycling, tool upgrades, and efficiency-improving automation to measurable cost savings.

Broadcom says CPO fits scale-out better than scale-up

Lily Hess — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 04:43:05 GMT

Broadcom Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Core Switching Group Asad Khamisy said at the Semicon Taiwan 2026 master forum that co-packaged optics (CPO) is not necessarily the best answer for scale-up networking, arguing that scale-out applications offer higher value and can cut power consumption by about 70% compared with pluggable optical modules.

Microsoft unveils two-segment reporting structure, standalone Azure financials

DIGITIMES — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 04:13:10 GMT

Microsoft has unveiled its consolidation of its operating segments from three down to two: Agents and Infra alongside Devices and Consumer. The tech giant also announced plans to disclose standalone quarterly revenue for its Azure cloud unit.

CXMT expands global hiring to Japan for DDR5, LPDDR technology upgrade

Levi Li — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 03:55:00 GMT

Chinese DRAM maker CXMT has launched its 2027 global recruitment campaign, opening roles across circuit design, R&D, mass-production technology, manufacturing operations, information technology and artificial intelligence. Positions are based in Hefei, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and overseas markets including Japan.

Taiwan LED packaging provider Ligitek pivots to silicon photonics; 1.6T modules eye 2H27 revenue

Levi Li — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 03:43:46 GMT

Ligitek is accelerating its move from LED packaging into silicon photonics (SiPh) and high-speed optical communications, with 1.6T product samples already tested and volume-production equipment due from late 2026 through the first quarter of 2027. Chairman I-hsin Tung said recent optical throughput tests exceeded industry benchmarks, with revenue contribution expected in the second half of 2027.

Zeiss deepens Taiwan bet as advanced chip packaging raises the stakes for inspection tools

Jingyue Hsiao — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 03:21:57 GMT

Zeiss is expanding its Taiwan presence as artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates demand for smaller chips, vertical stacking, and 2.5D and 3D heterogeneous integration. The shift is increasing the need for metrology, inspection, and failure analysis, and Zeiss is planning a semiconductor innovation center in northern Taiwan to support validation and application development.

Huawei, Xiaomi to launch new foldable smartphones ahead of Apple

Eifeh Strom — Thu, 3 Sep 2026 03:11:57 GMT

Samsung Electronics launched its new Galaxy Z series foldable smartphones, including its first wide-folding model, kicking off this year's foldable smartphone battle. With attention on the upcoming release of Apple's debut foldable smartphone, the market reported on September 2 that Xiaomi and Huawei will unveil new foldables on September 7, ahead of Apple.