DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Elon Musk, Jensen Huang see China closing lithography gap by 2030

Yunnie Cheng — Sat, 3 Oct 2026 00:31:55 GMT

While ASML executives explore how to scale extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography output beyond 110 units by 2028, China is pursuing indigenous advanced lithography systems. ASML plans to produce at least 80 EUV tools in 2027 and is investigating a further capacity increase of approximately 30% in 2028 to satisfy massive global capital expenditure in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. However, the prospect of domestic Chinese tools raises long-term uncertainty over the lithography landscape.

Synopsys reshapes EDA, IP business models as AI shifts revenue from seats to customer output

Scarlett Yu — Sat, 3 Oct 2026 00:31:41 GMT

Synopsys is reshaping how it monetizes its two core businesses, electronic design automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP, as AI transforms engineering workflows. Announcements at the company's 2026 Investor Day in New York, including new partnerships with OpenAI and Amazon, point to revenue models increasingly tied to customer consumption, design outcomes, and eventual chip shipments rather than primarily to engineer seats or upfront licensing.

Interview: AI PCs reach 65% of Europe's notebook channel, but what brings buyers to the market?

DIGITIMES — Sat, 3 Oct 2026 00:31:14 GMT

The rapid iteration of AI-capable hardware, following an industry-wide push toward integrating AI-processing capabilities into PCs, is bringing renewed attention to what AI could offer as its presence extends further into the notebook market. But beneath the expanding promise of these machines lies a less straightforward question: what is actually compelling buyers to bring them into their businesses and homes?

Biren readies BR20X, sharpening China's AI GPU challenge to Nvidia

DIGITIMES — Sat, 3 Oct 2026 00:31:01 GMT

Biren Technology is preparing its next-generation GPU for mass production, advancing a domestic AI accelerator roadmap built around broader low-precision support and locally available manufacturing.

Global annual AI server shipments, 2025-2026

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 10:10:30 GMT

Continued advances in top-tier LLM capabilities, coupled with the potential for business automation enabled by agentic AI, are prompting major North American cloud providers, Neo Clouds, and leading AI labs to accelerate AI data center buildouts in 2026.

Anthropic aims for mid-November IPO as it juggles relationship with Trump administration

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 10:01:12 GMT

Anthropic is reportedly eyeing an IPO as early as mid-November that could become the biggest IPO to date. The AI startup's run-up to the listing coincides with a shaky relationship with the US government, calls from its CEO Dario Amodei for more industry regulations, and nationwide public concerns about AI safety.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab S12 taps MediaTek Dimensity 9500 as 2nm successor arrives

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 09:58:27 GMT

MediaTek announced on September 30 that its flagship Dimensity 9500 chip powers Samsung's new Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S12+ tablets. The deal continues a long-running partnership between the two companies across Samsung's Galaxy Tab line.

LG Energy Solution and GM bet LMR can bridge the gap between LFP cost and high-nickel range

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 09:35:00 GMT

For years, automakers have grappled with an underlying paradox stemming from persistent EV raw-material pressures, as supply chains worldwide have been constrained by a familiar battery-chemistry trade-off: cost-effectiveness versus high-performance density.

Bull's France factory doubles capacity to capture growing orders as EU pushes AI sovereignty

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 09:03:45 GMT

Supercomputer maker Bull will double its production capacity using an expanded factory that reopened on October 1. The French creator of Europe's fastest supercomputers described unprecedented orders as the continent seeks to catch up to the US and China in AI infrastructure.

Climax Technology stays cautious on 2H26 as memory costs rise

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 09:01:24 GMT

Climax Technology said elevated memory prices are pressuring its gross margin in the second half of 2026, while longer customer validation cycles for substitute memory parts are also dampening its outlook. The wireless communications company said its overall second-half outlook remains conservative.

Meta to add Naver Map navigation to AI glasses in South Korea

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:54:10 GMT

Meta will link Naver Map's walking-navigation feature to its Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta AI glasses in 2026, as it moves to strengthen its presence in South Korea before rival AI glasses from Google and Samsung Electronics arrive. According to South Korean media outlets Seoul Economic Daily and ETNews, the deal would make Naver the first South Korean company to partner with Meta in the AI glasses category.

iPhone 18 Pro lifts Apple to 33% China share

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:48:45 GMT

Apple's iPhone 18 Pro series lifted first-week sales in China by 12% year over year, giving the soft smartphone market a much-needed boost and pushing Apple to the top of weekly sales with a 33% market share. The strong start underscores the brand loyalty that premium customers continue to show toward Apple's flagship phones, even amid market volatility.

Apple's Ternus pushes management cuts, faster hardware

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:46:37 GMT

After succeeding Tim Cook as Apple's chief executive, John Ternus is considering a broad organizational overhaul aimed at strengthening an engineering-centered R&D system, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. He is also weighing less reliance on Apple's traditional spring and fall product cycles in favor of more flexible and frequent device launches throughout the year.

OpenAI fires 3 safety researchers for sharing confidential information

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:45:00 GMT

OpenAI fired three safety researchers after they shared confidential information with a third-party artificial intelligence safety group, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. The case has drawn attention because a person familiar with the matter said some of the material concerned OpenAI's infrastructure architecture.

Huawei hikes flagship prices up to US$200 as memory shortages hit smartphone margins

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:45:00 GMT

Soaring memory procurement costs are pushing smartphone makers to pass expenses on to consumers. As artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure expansion continues to squeeze global memory supplies, Huawei has officially raised device prices, citing an average US$200 increase in per-unit manufacturing costs. The move follows similar price hikes by Samsung Electronics across its flagship portfolio.

BMW to make 20% of senior management redundant with AI

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:44:43 GMT

BMW AG said at its capital markets day on September 30 that it plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help streamline one-fifth of management roles by mid-2027. As BMW pushes to boost organizational agility through more efficient use of AI, the cuts will later extend to frontline ranks.

Japanese firms cut China presence 22.4% as trade risks mount

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:40:12 GMT

Japanese companies sharply reduced their footprint in China over the past two years, with the number operating there falling 22.4% from 13,034 to 10,118 as of the end of June 2026, according to a survey released by Teikoku Databank on September 28, 2026. The total was the lowest since the data series began in 2010, and 29.7% below the 2012 peak of 14,394.

ficonTEC, Hermes Testing target CPO testing scale-up with INS-2 platform

Levi Li — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:34:00 GMT

ficonTEC, a maker of optoelectronic automation assembly and test equipment, has announced a strategic partnership with Hermes Testing Solutions Inc. (HTSI) to support Taiwan's rapidly expanding co-packaged optics (CPO) ecosystem. The collaboration will initially focus on the INS-2 test platform, advancing ficonTEC's double-sided wafer-level testing architecture — with electrical testing from above and optical testing from below — towards commercialisation and scaled deployment.

Stellantis to pause four French plants amid EV battery shortages

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:27:37 GMT

Stellantis said it will suspend operations at four auto assembly plants in France in October, citing shortages of long-range electric vehicle batteries and the need to control dealer inventories. The cuts come as the automaker adjusts output to match demand, with strong orders for EVs that use longer-range batteries continuing to outpace supply.

Hitachi and Fanuc launch Physical AI partnership for factory automation

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:26:14 GMT

Hitachi and Fanuc announced on September 30, 2026, that they have formed a strategic partnership on Physical AI, with internal testing beginning immediately and customer promotion planned for fiscal 2027. The Japanese industrial companies said they intend to apply the technology in manufacturing and other sectors, including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and nursing care.

Taiwan pledges to help TSMC expand domestic investment amid Singapore rumors

Charlene Chen — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:25:17 GMT

Rumors that TSMC is weighing a new semiconductor investment in Singapore have reignited concerns over its overseas expansion, while the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said on October 2, 2026, that the government will help the chipmaker expand investment in Taiwan.

Inside Volantis's photonic bid to break AI's memory wall after US$88 million raise

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:18:50 GMT

Semiconductor startup Volantis has raised US$88 million in Series A funding to develop an AI inference architecture that uses photonic interconnect technology to address memory bottlenecks in AI chips. The round, announced on October 1, 2026, and reported by Reuters, is aimed at breaking through the memory wall that has limited performance in current systems.

Amazon weighs US$8B chip sale-leaseback to support credit rating

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 08:08:02 GMT

Amazon is considering moving about US$8 billion worth of high-end Nvidia chips off its balance sheet through a sale-leaseback structure, according to the Financial Times and Reuters. The plan would shift thousands of Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips from data centers in Nevada and Virginia into an external special purpose vehicle, while Amazon would continue using the hardware under lease arrangements.

Nvidia weighs PTFE and HC for glass-free PCBs in Rubin Ultra

Levi Li — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 07:57:48 GMT

Nvidia is testing glass-free PCB material systems for its next-generation AI server platforms, evaluating polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and hydrocarbon (HC) resin formulations for possible use in the Rubin Ultra NVL576 Switch Tray, which is scheduled for mass production in the second half of 2027.

Qbic expands edge AI on Arm, lifts smart access control above 60%

Charlene Chen — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 07:45:05 GMT

Industrial computer (IPC) maker Qbic held its pre-IPO presentation for the over-the-counter market on October 1, 2026, highlighting a strategy that differs from that of most Taiwanese IPC peers by centering on the Arm architecture instead of x86. Qbic said smart access control is now its biggest revenue driver, accounting for about 60% of revenue in 2025, while smart retail and edge AI are the next expansion areas.

Life after Meta: Manus regains independence, debuting Manus 2.0 and 'Cue' AI agent

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 07:35:21 GMT

Following its return to independent operations, AI startup Manus unveiled two new products in late September 2026: Manus 2.0 and "Cue," a personal agentic AI application. The product rollouts mark the company's first major strategic moves after its planned acquisition by Meta fell through.

China turns to 3D packaging to push AI performance beyond front-end scaling limits

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 07:24:21 GMT

Chip-performance gains have long been driven by an industry-wide focus on shrinking transistor nodes and tightening integration. While major economies including the US and Taiwan have historically sat at the summit of semiconductor manufacturing excellence, China has spent years building its own capabilities amid increasingly restricted access to some leading-edge technologies.

Micron ramps up HBM capacity at Taiwan's four major sites

Lily Hess — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 06:45:00 GMT

Micron Technology's revenue and profit for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 both beat expectations, and the company expects capacity supply to be even tighter in 2027 and 2028 than in 2026. Donghui Lu, vice president of Micron's DRAM front-end manufacturing operations in Asia and chairman of Micron Taiwan, said AI is driving strong memory demand and the company is expanding across its four major manufacturing bases in Taoyuan, Taichung, Tongluo, and Tainan.

Nidec impairment loss far exceeds estimates as auditor withholds opinion

Lily Hess — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 06:34:00 GMT

Japanese motor and electronic components maker Nidec said on September 30 that its long-delayed consolidated financial report for fiscal year 2025 (from April 2025 to March 2026) showed losses from accounting irregularities of JPY632.1 billion (US$3.99 billion), far above earlier estimates. Uncertainty over the company's turnaround also deepened after auditors declined to issue an opinion.

LG Electronics, LS Electric target AI data center bottlenecks with US cooling capacity, 345kV power deals

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 05:58:11 GMT

South Korea's LG Electronics and LS Electric are expanding deeper into AI data center infrastructure, targeting two of the fastest-growing bottlenecks around high-density computing: cooling and power delivery. LG is adding chiller capacity in the US and South Korea, while LS Electric has secured a US$133.41 million contract to supply ultra-high-voltage transformers for a hyperscale AI data center project in North America.

Hiroca targets Tier 1 shift, global capacity overhaul

Kevin Wang — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 05:53:55 GMT

Auto components maker Hiroca posted a pre-tax loss of NT$146 million (US$4.57 million) in the first half of 2026, owing to weak demand in China's auto market and a number of one-time factors. However, during its earnings call on October 1, the company stressed that gross margin remained at a healthy 23–24%, and that most losses will be absorbed by the end of 2026, leaving no drag on earnings in 2027.

California tech exec arrested in US$300M Nvidia AI server smuggling case

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 05:47:51 GMT

US federal prosecutors on October 1 arrested a 38-year-old California man accused of violating US export controls by smuggling computer servers containing US$300 million worth of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China.

ASE stake, expansion open doors for Machvision

Lily Hess — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 05:33:00 GMT

AI servers and advanced packaging continue to drive demand for semiconductor manufacturing, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT), and equipment. Machvision said Advanced Semiconductor Engineering's (ASE's) expansion is helping make semiconductors and substrates its fastest-growing product lines.

AMD bets on AI demand by buying World Labs

Lily Hess — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 04:34:21 GMT

Under Lisa Su's 12-year tenure at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the company has gradually moved beyond its role as Intel's challenger in the CPU market. But in the accelerator market for training and running AI models, old rival Nvidia still holds the upper hand.

Tesla cuts AI5, AI6 memory specs to protect Optimus

DIGITIMES — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 04:21:34 GMT

Facing a prolonged memory supply crunch, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced steep cuts to the memory specifications of the company's AI5 and AI6 chips to secure enough memory for Optimus mass production. Musk said the downgrades will not affect the humanoid robot's performance.