DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Acer defends Europe's biggest PC market with top-two gaming rank in Germany

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:48:32 GMT

Acer says gaming and AI products are supporting its business in Germany and Austria, two markets that often reflect broader European PC demand. The company expects steadier conditions in the second half, while replacement cycles, higher prices, and Windows 10 support changes could shape global consumer buying trends.

China, Japan dominate over 90% of OLEDoS market, threatening South Korea's panel leadership in the AI era

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:48:15 GMT

South Korean display makers, long dominant in the global smartphone OLED market, remain hesitant to commit to mass production of OLED-on-silicon (OLEDoS) displays, an essential component for personal AI platforms such as smart glasses and extended reality (XR) headsets. As Chinese and Japanese rivals aggressively expand capacity and secure customer wins, industry observers warn that South Korea risks losing its foothold in next-generation displays in the AI era.

China Steel expands recycled steel into EV motor market amid growing low-carbon demand

Eifeh Strom — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:42:34 GMT

Taiwan's largest steelmaker China Steel (CSC) is actively expanding its high-recycled-content steel products, as the global automotive industry accelerates its transition toward net-zero emissions and electrification, boosting demand for low-carbon materials worldwide. The move allows the company to move beyond general industrial applications into automotive sheet metal, electric vehicle (EV) motors, high-strength fasteners, and vehicle body structures.

Qualcomm launches dual Snapdragon flagship platforms for Xiaomi, Honor

Charlene Chen — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:37:07 GMT

Qualcomm unveiled two flagship mobile platforms, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, at Snapdragon Summit 2026 in Maui, Hawaii this week, marking the company's first split of its premium Snapdragon lineup into two Elite tiers. Xiaomi, Honor, and Motorola appeared on stage as early partners, with the Xiaomi 18 Pro series and Honor Magic9 series expected to be the first devices and to launch in September.

Nexperia China turns 12-inch wafers into the backbone of its chip supply-chain reset

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:35:39 GMT

Nexperia China is accelerating production on its domestic 12-inch wafer platform as it rebuilds a locally controlled semiconductor supply chain spanning design, wafer production, packaging, and testing.

Sharp reportedly to develop universal satellite antenna for multi-network connectivity

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:28:07 GMT

Sharp is developing a compact satellite communications antenna capable of connecting to multiple satellite networks, aiming to commercialize terminals around 2030 for applications including defense, autonomous driving, and remote operation of construction machinery, according to Nikkei Asia.

Meta's Muse gains users as human support raises privacy questions

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:17:25 GMT

Meta's new personal AI agent, Muse, is drawing strong early consumer interest while a test involving human contractors highlights the challenges of making autonomous AI reliable and safe.

CME Group's GPU futures debut stalls as CFTC flags concerns

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:10:24 GMT

As artificial intelligence transitions into a primary driver of global economic growth, computing power is shifting from a basic cloud utility to an emerging financial asset class. However, Wall Street's first major attempt to turn AI chip rental rates into tradable futures contracts has run into regulatory delays.

Episil says AI demand marks structural shift in semiconductor epitaxy

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 03:55:11 GMT

Episil Precision said AI-related demand is reshaping semiconductor epitaxy for the long term, with effects reaching global power and optical supply chains. The Taiwan-based maker is expanding in silicon, GaN, SiC, and GeSi to serve AI servers, optical communications, and mature-node power components worldwide.

SK hynix's venture arm moves beyond memory into optical interconnect and system software

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 03:50:22 GMT

SK hynix has launched a corporate venture capital (CVC) brand, SK hynix Ventures, and widened its investment scope beyond semiconductors and emerging technology to include AI computing, data centers, system software and optical interconnect — areas that sit beside and above its own products rather than inside them.

Li Auto opens Mach chips, SiC modules to external customers

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 03:24:45 GMT

Li Auto's move to open its in-house technologies to outside customers marks a broader shift in the electric vehicle maker's strategy, turning years of internal research into a possible new revenue stream. The company is now seeking external buyers for its Mach intelligent-driving chip, silicon carbide (SiC) power modules, and range-extender system, according to Chinese media reports.

Qualcomm's agentic AI era begins with smartphones and new HBC architecture

Levi Li — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 03:23:44 GMT

Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon made agentic AI the sole theme of his keynote at Snapdragon Summit 2026 in Maui, Hawaii.

India's Dixon looks beyond smartphones to crack global EMS top 10

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 02:40:25 GMT

Dixon Technologies is expanding into components, IT hardware, and new manufacturing categories as it seeks a place among the world's 10 largest electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies within five years, making diversification central to its next growth phase.

Commentary: Zhengfei Ren rumors expose a deeper chill across China's tech sector

Levi Li — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 02:31:28 GMT

Online rumors that Huawei founder Zhengfei Ren and his family had disappeared from public view have reignited concern over the fate of Chinese technology executives. Ren's younger daughter, Annabel Yao, appeared at a Beijing press conference on September 14, but China's new exit-and-entry rules took effect the next day, drawing fresh attention to executives who have fled, vanished, or faced restrictions.

Einride builds its next autonomous truck on Nvidia Hyperion as the gap between fleet, driverless fleet stays wide

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 02:10:10 GMT

Nvidia's effort to make its autonomous-vehicle stack the default foundation for heavy freight gained a partner with paying customers on September 21, while Einride gained the compute platform it needs to expand autonomous operations across its electric freight network — a transition the Swedish company must fund through a period of heavy cash burn and a going-concern warning.

MediaTek, Qualcomm target Googlebook with Arm push

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 02:03:45 GMT

Preorders have officially opened for "Googlebook," Google's new laptop category purpose-built for Gemini Intelligence. IC design powerhouses Qualcomm and MediaTek announced their entry into the Googlebook supply chain on the same day. Coming amidst a busy launch season for new chipsets, the simultaneous moves highlight an escalating rivalry between the two design giants.

US energy storage faces a costly China battery exit

Levi Li — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:52:23 GMT

The US is accelerating its shift toward domestic battery manufacturing as the energy storage market expands, but the market's current growth still depends heavily on low-cost Chinese cells.

Trump rejects global AI controls, urges US to press ahead with "superintelligence"

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:44:47 GMT

US President Donald Trump used his September 22 address to the United Nations General Assembly to reject international efforts to control artificial intelligence, argue that the US must maintain its lead over China, and urge officials to call the technology "superintelligence." The remarks sharpen a policy divide over whether rapid development can be reconciled with safeguards—and whether Washington and Beijing can cooperate on risks even as they compete.

China rare earth giant builds moat Western rivals struggle to cross

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:33:54 GMT

Rare earths have become a key bargaining chip for China in its contest with the US. As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to visit Washington, rare earths are at the center of the trade agenda, and China is weighing whether to expand export controls in the autumn.

US-based Swarmer bets up to US$224M on Ukrainian combat robot maker Ratel

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:30:00 GMT

Autonomous software company Swarmer, based in Austin, Texas, has agreed to acquire Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) maker Ratel Robotics in a deal worth up to US$224 million. The acquisition aims to combine frontline battlefield experience with AI coordination software to build a platform that can integrate both ground and air unmanned systems.

Taiwan's August export orders top US$100 billion as overseas production edges up

Eifeh Strom — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:27:54 GMT

Taiwan's export orders topped US$100 billion in August 2026, reaching US$102.96 billion, up US$5.02 billion from the previous month, according to statistics released by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on September 22. Export orders for September are forecast to be between US$106 billion and US$109.1 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 50.7% to 55.1%.

Apple delays 20th-anniversary iPhone display upgrades

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:25:00 GMT

Apple has reportedly pushed back plans to add new display technologies to the iPhone model expected in 2027, which marks the product line's 20th anniversary. According to ET News, the change affects panel makers that had already lined up equipment upgrades and investment for the upgrade cycle.

Acbel targets Europe's fast-charging market with new high-power DC modules

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:15:00 GMT

Demand for faster EV charging is rising as markets move from slow AC systems to DC fast charging and ultra-fast networks. The expansion in Poland points to wider global implications for drivers, fleets, and charging equipment makers, as countries race to build higher-capacity infrastructure that can support heavier traffic and larger batteries.

Malaysia reviews data centre benefits after 40-plus 2026 applications

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:11:09 GMT

Malaysia has received more than 40 applications to develop or expand data centres so far in 2026, underscoring the region's continued boom in data centre investment. But officials in Malaysia said the focus should go beyond the headline numbers to the value these projects deliver to local communities and to whether they meet environmental standards.

Taiwan courts Indian IIT chief in bid to boost chip talent ties

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:05:00 GMT

Taiwan is stepping up outreach to India's engineering sector as global competition for chip and artificial intelligence talent intensifies. The planned cooperation could affect supply chains, university links, and where skilled graduates build careers, with implications for chipmaking hubs in Asia and beyond.

CMC expects record 4Q revenue amid expanding model lineup

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:45:53 GMT

CMC expects fourth-quarter 2026 revenue to exceed the same period in 2025 and reach a new high, a signal that could matter beyond Taiwan as automakers worldwide seek growth despite soft demand. The company is also planning two domestically produced launches in 2027, while expanding into electric vehicles and robotics.

Anthropic and OpenAI both cut frontier model prices, ten days after calling for a slowdown

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:20:37 GMT

Anthropic and OpenAI, the two AI labs that spent early September telling the world that model capabilities are outrunning the safeguards around them, shipped new frontier models within hours of each other on September 22 — and both sold them primarily on price. The pairing is the clearest sign yet that competitive pressure, not the industry's own risk rhetoric, is still setting the release calendar.

Analysis: Foxconn's EV push moves beyond demo and toward scale

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:19:42 GMT

Foxconn Group's electric vehicle business is entering a new phase as it shifts from proving the concept to preparing for mass production and wider regional expansion. The change could reshape Taiwan's auto industry and strengthen Foxconn's case as a cross-border EV manufacturer with ambitions far beyond its home market.

Europe industrial controls rebound lifts Higgstec's 1H26 growth

Charlene Chen — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:19:27 GMT

Higgstec said its first half 2026 operating momentum recovered as inventory reduction in the European industrial controls market neared completion, client orders picked up again, and commercial products in Asia gradually ramped. The niche touchscreen panel maker has also launched mass production on an assembly line it spent more than a year building, extending its business from standalone touch panels to a "one-stop service" that integrates display modules and mechanical parts.

ASRock's center of gravity moves from motherboards to AI servers

Charlene Chen — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:17:56 GMT

ASRock's business focus is shifting toward AI as ASRock Rack expands server output and ASRock Industrial pushes into edge computing. Following ASRock Rack's listing, ASRock Industrial is also set to go public, as the group's transition from motherboards to AI servers and edge AI gradually takes shape.

Micron's Taiwan fab took 300,000 cubic meters of concrete. Its supplier sees more coming

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:15:18 GMT

Taiwanese concrete-maker Goldsun Building Materials said its Miaoli plant has benefited from rising construction demand tied to AI, semiconductor, and data center projects in Taiwan's Miaoli County. The company expects the government-backed Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli Silicon Valley plan to bring more factory work and support steady revenue growth.

Taiwan uses AI to close drone thermal imaging gap

Charlene Chen — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:14:55 GMT

As drones, smart vehicles, and autonomous platforms advance, the ability to accurately identify people, vehicles and heat sources in darkness and low-visibility conditions has become a key requirement for safe intelligent mobility. Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry (III) is using AI super-resolution algorithms with edge AI real-time computing to reduce blur and enhance detail in low-resolution thermal images, helping low-cost thermal imaging modules approach the performance of higher-resolution systems and potentially cut sensor costs by about 50%.

Taiwan finds way to turn waste LCD glass and road debris into high-value materials

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:14:40 GMT

Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is accelerating the commercial deployment of circular material technologies, shifting the focus of the circular economy from basic recycling to high-value upcycling. By targeting waste liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and asphalt pavement milling waste, ITRI has developed nano-porous glass (NaPoGlass) and 100% recycled asphalt concrete technologies, returning previously downcycled industrial waste to high-value supply chains.

Win Semiconductors expands optical communications capacity with DUV tools

Lily Hess — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:13:50 GMT

Optical communications capacity is in short supply as surging computing demand from AI data centers turns transmission into a bottleneck for AI infrastructure. The market is shifting toward combined optical-and-copper solutions, while optical communications rapidly advances toward 800G and 1.6T, prompting compound semiconductor foundry Win Semiconductors to expand its photodiode (PD) and laser diode (LD) capacity and co-develop 200G components with customers.

LG Display starts 720Hz gaming OLED mass production

Lily Hess — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:13:32 GMT

Aiming to meet demand for high-speed gaming displays, LG Display (LGD) said it has begun mass production of a 24.5-inch gaming OLED panel with a 720Hz refresh rate. The panel will debut in a new Asus monitor chosen as the official screen for the global esports event PGL CS2 Major Singapore 2026.

Seven Chinese AI companies hit US$10.7 billion ARR, but the harder race is paying for scale

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:13:19 GMT

China's leading AI developers are scaling revenue rapidly, but the gap with their US rivals remains substantial — and the cost of keeping pace is rising even faster. Rhodium Group estimates that seven major Chinese AI companies had combined annualized recurring revenue (ARR) of about US$10.7 billion, based on estimates dated between March and August 2026, roughly one-tenth of the more than US$100 billion attributed to OpenAI and Anthropic combined.

Ascend 950 clears higher security bar in China's latest chip assessment: who else qualified?

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:12:53 GMT

China has tightened the security and reliability framework around its domestic computing stack, with the latest official evaluation placing Huawei's Ascend 950 at Level II and Kunlunxin's M100 at Level I among AI training and inference chips. The same assessment also gave the highest Level III rating to several general-purpose CPUs, including Loongson and HiSilicon Kunpeng products, signalling that certification is becoming a more structured gatekeeper for China's locally developed compute infrastructure.

Lightmatter launches an optical module that cuts AI cluster fiber in half

DIGITIMES — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:12:34 GMT

US photonics company Lightmatter has launched an optical module that sends and receives data over a single strand of fiber. The company says this halves the cabling needed to connect GPUs in large AI clusters.

SiPearl delivers first homegrown server chips for Europe's exascale supercomputer

DIGITIMES — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 09:18:35 GMT

SiPearl, a fabless company backed by the European Union and France, has delivered the first Rhea1 CPU samples to Bull for integration into Europe's JUPITER supercomputer, moving the European-designed processor from bring-up and validation into customer system integration while benchmarking continues.