DIGITIMES Asia: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Onsemi says China remains a strong market despite softer passenger vehicle volumes

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 01:12:09 GMT

Onsemi told investors during its first-quarter 2026 earnings call, held on May 4, that China remains a key growth market for its automotive power products, even as China's passenger vehicle market softened. The company reported that "Our China automotive revenue grew year-over-year in the first quarter, despite a decline in the China passenger vehicle market of 6% for the same period," framing the performance as evidence of rising semiconductor content and share gains within Chinese electric vehicle programs.

Onsemi sees AI data center and Treo driving revenue and margin recovery

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 01:11:31 GMT

During an earnings call on May 4, Onsemi portrayed its artificial intelligence data center business and new Treo platform as central to a recovery that began in the first quarter, saying improving order patterns and product ramps are translating into higher revenue, expanding gross margins, and stronger cash returns to shareholders.

Lattice Semiconductor strikes $1.65B deal for AMI as AI data center demand drives record growth

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 00:58:32 GMT

Lattice Semiconductor has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AMI, a leading provider of platform firmware and infrastructure manageability software, for $1.65 billion. The deal — structured as $1.0 billion in cash and roughly $650 million in Lattice stock — is expected to close in Q3 2026 and would effectively double Lattice's total serviceable addressable market to approximately $12 billion.

Onsemi signals early recovery as AI demand strengthens but profitability remains volatile

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 00:58:17 GMT

Onsemi reported a mixed but generally improving set of first-quarter 2026 results, signaling early signs of recovery in key end markets while highlighting ongoing volatility in profitability.

SignalPro positions itself as 'translator' to enter AI sensing sector, builds own AI data center as model refinery

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:53:24 GMT

Amid the rapid advancement of generative AI and the simultaneous rise of autonomous vehicles and robotics, industry competition is shifting away from pure computing power and hardware scaling toward deeper control of "perception capabilities" and "real-world data."

Analysis: How China’s HJT curb accelerates domestic consolidation and redefines solar competition

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:53:10 GMT

China is reportedly planning targeted export rules for heterojunction (HJT) solar equipment. The move has sparked broad industry debate in 2026, as energy transition and aerospace development grow increasingly intertwined. More than a trade measure, it reflects a cross-domain effort to protect technological sovereignty and keep core R&D value within China.

Samsung reportedly eyes SiC foundry reboot, targets 2028 mass production

Levi Li — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:47:28 GMT

Samsung Electronics is reportedly restarting its silicon carbide (SiC) wafer foundry business, aiming to tap into the fast-growing next-generation power semiconductor market, reinforce its market position, and improve utilization rates at its existing 8-inch foundry lines. Industry estimates suggest Samsung could enter mass production of SiC chips by 2028.

Malaysia becomes AI data center hub, attracts Chinese cloud giants and Nvidia AI chips

Levi Li — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:47:16 GMT

As power constraints and tighter policy controls in Singapore limit expansion, Malaysia is rapidly emerging as Southeast Asia's most important data center hub. A DIGITIMES research report finds that Chinese cloud service providers (CSPs), including ByteDance and Alibaba, are accelerating their shift southward, using Malaysia's unique supply chain pathways to deploy high-end AI computing power locally, including Nvidia's B200 systems.

'Puzzle-style M&A': Meet the construction firm building an AI ecosystem, one acquisition at a time

Lily Hess — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:47:06 GMT

As AI reshapes industries from healthcare to finance, companies far beyond Silicon Valley are racing to stake their claim — and some of the most ambitious bets are coming from unexpected corners. Sun Yad Construction, a Taiwan-based firm best known for real estate development, is one of them.

Analysis: CoWoS crunch and MediaTek's hire raise a bigger question — can Intel deliver?

Levi Li — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:46:51 GMT

The AI chip race is increasingly running into a different kind of limit — not compute, but packaging, as supply constraints around advanced technologies such as CoWoS begin to tighten.

SK Hynix weighs memory plant shift as HBM demand outlook changes

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:46:33 GMT

SK Hynix is considering a shift in its DRAM investment strategy at its new M15X memory production base in Cheongju, South Korea, from fifth-generation 10nm-class, or 1b, DRAM toward sixth-generation 10nm-class, or 1c, DRAM, as the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply chain prepares for its next technology transition, according to reports from ZDNet Korea and NewsPim.

Kioxia, SanDisk to unveil 3D flash architecture targeting 1,000-layer milestone

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 23:44:58 GMT

Kioxia and SanDisk are set to present a new 3D flash memory architecture aimed at extending NAND scaling beyond 1,000 stacked layers, as memory makers seek ways to overcome the physical and electrical limits of conventional layer increases.

ADT lands US AI chip deal using Samsung 4nm

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 10:06:20 GMT

ADTechnology said it has signed a KRW40 billion (US$27.1 million) turnkey contract with a US-based AI fabless company to develop and supply HPC SoC chiplets for AI data-center applications using Samsung Foundry's 4nm process.

Huawei targets US$12 billion in AI chip sales as China firms seek Nvidia alternatives

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 08:16:21 GMT

Huawei is set to capture the largest share of China's AI chip market this year, with revenue expected to rise at least 60% as Chinese technology companies accelerate orders for domestic alternatives to Nvidia, according to the Financial Times.

Win Semiconductors: GaAs and InP supply still meets production demand

Lily Hess — Mon, 4 May 2026 08:15:05 GMT

Rising raw material prices have pushed up gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate costs, squeezing a key material used in power amplifiers (PA). Win Semiconductors said that its scale gives it stronger bargaining power, but the company will renegotiate prices with customers if input costs swing sharply.

Exclusive: How China's disposable-car shift is pulling Taiwan's tech ecosystem in

Lily Hess — Mon, 4 May 2026 08:13:03 GMT

China's supply chain is laying the groundwork for a structural shift in car ownership and product lifecycles, as the concept of disposable cars takes shape amid rapid change in global automotive technology. The emerging framework combines hardware standardization, modular design, Tier 1 suppliers, and semiconductor companies, with Chinese automakers potentially using global channels to push the model overseas and reshape the operational logic of the auto industry.

Global server market, 1Q 2026: Agentic AI sparks general-purpose server revival

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 07:50:07 GMT

Agentic AI drives general server demand; global server shipments to top five million units in the second quarter of 2026.

Samsung strike exposes AI-era pay divide, raises HBM supply risks

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 07:29:12 GMT

A looming strike at Samsung Electronics is exposing deeper fractures than a typical labor dispute, with widening pay gaps, divisional tensions, and a controversial bonus structure converging into a broader test of how AI-era profits are distributed inside one of the world's most critical semiconductor suppliers.

DIGITIMES Chair: South Korea's 260,000 GPU plan relies heavily on Taiwanese production, highlights need for collaboration in AI era

Willis Ke — Mon, 4 May 2026 07:09:07 GMT

As global demand for AI infrastructure accelerates, the collaboration between Taiwan and South Korea—the core pillars of the global semiconductor supply chain—is critical to winning the new tech race. Colley Hwang, chairman of DIGITIMES and IC Broadcasting, said South Korea's plan to deploy 260,000 Nvidia GPUs remains heavily reliant on Taiwan's manufacturing capabilities.

Taiwanese Micro LED suppliers race to tap optical links for AI data centers

Sherri Wang — Mon, 4 May 2026 06:56:56 GMT

Micro LED is emerging as a potential contender in AI optical communications as the industry shift toward "optical replacing copper" gathers pace.

Cerebras eyes US$40 billion IPO in high-stakes AI chip challenge to Nvidia

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 05:58:56 GMT

Cerebras Systems is preparing to raise up to US$4 billion in an initial public offering, targeting a valuation of about US$40 billion, in what could become one of the largest AI chip listings to date.

Geopolitical turmoil adds US$20 million to Taiwan offshore wind project costs

Kevin Wang — Mon, 4 May 2026 05:48:56 GMT

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), one of the world's largest dedicated renewable energy fund managers and a major developer of offshore wind projects across Asia Pacific, says the US–Iran war has prompted governments worldwide to place greater emphasis on energy independence and supply chain resilience. Marina Hsu, CIP's Asia Pacific managing director, adds that demand for green energy from Taiwan's high-tech and ICT sectors continues to rise.

AI memory crunch squeezes 5G FWA market

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 4 May 2026 05:37:12 GMT

DIGITIMES' latest report says the global 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) customer premises equipment (CPE) market posted its first year-on-year shipment decline in the first quarter of 2026, with shipments of 2.835 million units, down 8.7%. The impact has likely passed its peak, however, as shipments are forecast to rebound to 3.24 million units in the second quarter of 2026, with the annual decline narrowing to 4%.

Anthropic reportedly in talks with Fractile to buy inference chips amid AI compute crunch

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 04:34:15 GMT

Anthropic has been in talks with Fractile, a London-based startup, to purchase its inference chips for running its AI models more efficiently, as inferential AI tasks have pushed up compute demands, according to The Information. Although Fractile's AI chips are not expected to be available until next year at the earliest, the deal could give the maker of Claude more leverage with suppliers as it seeks to expand AI capacity to meet soaring demand.

Meta acquires Assured Robot Intelligence to accelerate humanoid robotics push amid AI infrastructure shift

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 04:31:12 GMT

Meta Platforms has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI), a startup focused on AI models for humanoid robots, marking another step in the company's broader push into physical-world artificial intelligence (AI).

AI's 1.6T shift turns InP into optical supply chain bottleneck

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 04:22:04 GMT

The transition from 800G to 1.6T optical modules is no longer an upgrade cycle — it is a physics-driven inflection point.

Yageo's Pierre Chen says AI hardware boom is lifting passive component demand

Sherri Wang — Mon, 4 May 2026 04:02:43 GMT

Yageo chairman Pierre Chen said the rise of AI applications is driving stronger demand not only for advanced semiconductors and memory, but also for passive components, sensors, and power semiconductors.

Weekly News Roundup: Terafab already affecting wafer fab landscape; Intel launches multi-year reset

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 03:47:40 GMT

Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of April 27-May 4, 2026:

Samsung reshuffles TV leadership amid Chinese rivalry and service pivot

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 03:25:04 GMT

Samsung Electronics has replaced the head of its Visual Display (VD) business in a rare mid-cycle reshuffle, responding to weakening demand and intensifying global competition in the television market.

Apple's cash pivot: A new CEO and strategy for the AI arms race

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 03:23:38 GMT

In a landmark shift coinciding with its second quarter of fiscal 2026 results, Apple has announced that it will no longer maintain its formal "net cash neutral" target. This financial pivot comes as the company prepares for a significant leadership transition: John Ternus, the current hardware engineering chief, will succeed Tim Cook as CEO on September 1, 2026.

Samsung pulls ahead of SK Hynix as commodity DRAM prices surge

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 03:22:47 GMT

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are both riding a historic memory upcycle, but a profit gap of about KRW15 trillion (approx. US$10 billion) has opened between the two Korean chipmakers, driven largely by commodity DRAM rather than high-bandwidth memory (HBM), according to Sedaily.

Samsung foundry rebound gains steam as 4nm yield reportedly tops 80%

DIGITIMES — Mon, 4 May 2026 03:18:06 GMT

Samsung Electronics' foundry business is drawing renewed attention as its 4nm process reportedly reaches higher utilization, supported by HBM4 base-die demand and orders from global technology companies.

PlayNitride reports wider first-quarter loss and plans Singapore unit to boost global ties

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 4 May 2026 03:11:14 GMT

PlayNitride's sharp first-quarter loss and strategic Singapore expansion carry implications for international Micro LED supply chains and partnerships, signaling industry consolidation as the company relies on customer ramps, China deployments, and new collaborations in optical communications to drive recovery and future growth across wearables, automotive, and AR markets through 2027 and beyond.

Commentary: Intel names TSMC as key partner; insider drives its comeback

Levi Li — Mon, 4 May 2026 02:58:39 GMT

One year into his tenure, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan struck a markedly different tone on the company's outlook. At the first-quarter 2026 earnings call, he said the debate a year ago centred on whether Intel could survive. Today, the focus has shifted to how quickly it can expand capacity and scale its supply chain to meet surging demand.

Taiwan moves to close the gap on semiconductor equipment self-sufficiency

Rodney Chan — Mon, 4 May 2026 02:57:23 GMT

Taiwan's government is advancing its Five Trusted Industry Sectors program, which identifies semiconductors, AI, defense, security, and next-generation communications as the country's core growth drivers. The push for self-sufficiency in semiconductor materials and equipment has already generated NT$22 billion (US$696.92 million) in new output in 2025, with some of the machinery reportedly shipped to China.