DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Vanguard says Taoyuan fab fire did not disrupt production

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:52:29 GMT

Vanguard International Semiconductor said a fire broke out late on August 27 on the roof of its Wafer Fab 3 in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, but the incident caused no major impact on production line operations. The company said it activated emergency procedures immediately and evacuated employees from the plant.

Lam Research breaks ground on Oregon lab expansion for AI chip development

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:51:28 GMT

Lam Research has begun work on a new Oregon research lab as part of a more than US$3 billion global investment aimed at speeding development of advanced AI chips. The expansion could affect semiconductor supply chains, innovation timelines, and manufacturing capacity for companies and consumers worldwide as demand for faster, more efficient computing rises.

Anthropic opens research preview of hardware standard for AI agents

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:51:18 GMT

A new hardware standard could make it easier for AI agents to operate laboratory and factory equipment across borders and industries. Anthropic says its Model Hardware Standard aims to speed device integration, improve safety, and support around-the-clock automated experiments for researchers, engineers, and manufacturers worldwide.

Renesas opens physical AI and robotics lab in Beijing

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:51:11 GMT

Renesas Electronics has opened a physical AI and robotics lab in Beijing, a move that could speed the development of safer, smarter machines for factories, logistics, and homes worldwide. The facility is designed to help customers test, validate, and co-develop robotic systems as physical AI shifts from concept to real-world deployment.

Google moves AI safety team into global affairs in DeepMind overhaul

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:45:00 GMT

Google is shifting a roughly 90-person artificial intelligence responsibility team out of DeepMind and into its global affairs organization as part of a wider reorganization in early September. The move, which brings the group closer to companywide lobbying and public policy, has prompted internal concerns that it could reduce the team's independence and its ability to identify risks and cybersecurity threats in new models.

Workday says Taiwan and Hong Kong firms lag in AI workflow integration

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:30:00 GMT

Enterprise AI tools are spreading quickly across Taiwan and Hong Kong, but a new Workday study found that many employees are still losing time to disconnected systems, repeated data checks and manual information transfers. The report, based on 6,100 professionals globally, including 200 respondents in Taiwan and Hong Kong, showed that a quarter of local workers still spend seven hours or more each week moving information and verifying data.

Marvell raises its outlook twice in two quarters as custom silicon, scale-up optics broaden

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:14:05 GMT

Marvell Technology used its second-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call on August 27 to lift its revenue outlook for a second consecutive quarter, and the composition of the raise says more about the AI infrastructure cycle than the headline number does. Management now expects fiscal 2027 revenue of roughly US$12 billion, up from approximately US$11.5 billion a quarter ago, and fiscal 2028 revenue of approximately US$18 billion, up US$1.5 billion from the US$16.5 billion guided three months earlier. Growth is accelerating off a larger base: fiscal 2028 is now guided at about 50% growth, up from roughly 45% previously.

Kioxia, Sandisk plan more than US$31 billion in Japan investments

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:10:42 GMT

A major chipmaking investment in Japan could ripple through global supply chains as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure accelerates. Kioxia and Sandisk say the spending will expand flash memory output, support stable supply, and reinforce a long-running US-Japan partnership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

SK Hynix breaks ground on US$4 billion Indiana plant that will package, not make, HBM

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:00:07 GMT

SK hynix broke ground on August 27 on a US$4 billion advanced packaging plant in Purdue Research Park, its first US high-bandwidth memory (HBM) site.

Marvell revenue climbs 37% to a record US$2.74 billion on data center demand

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:34:41 GMT

Marvell Technology's second quarter of fiscal 2027 was the point at which its data center business stopped being the growth engine attached to a diversified infrastructure chipmaker and became substantially the whole company. Revenue for the three months ended August 1, 2026, reached a record US$2.74 billion, up 37% from a year earlier, with the data center end market contributing US$2.17 billion, or 79% of the total, against 74% a year ago. Everything else - the carrier, enterprise networking, consumer, and automotive businesses grouped as communications and other - grew 10% and shrank as a share of the company.

Honor Robot Phone enters mass production, making robotics central to its premium AI strategy

Levi Li — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:32:03 GMT

More than a year after Honor first debated the idea internally, its Robot Phone has moved from a contentious concept to a mass-produced commercial product. But the significance of the device extends beyond creating a smartphone with an unconventional form factor.

LG Innotek wins Zoox camera module order for robotaxi production

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:31:46 GMT

LG Innotek said it will mass produce and supply automotive camera modules for Zoox, Amazon's autonomous vehicle unit. The deal marks the Korean component maker's first mass production win for a robotaxi camera module and extends a partnership that began during Zoox's early development phase.

Samsung absorbs memory costs to chase smartphone crown

Lily Hess — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:31:14 GMT

Global smartphone shipments are set to shrink sharply in 2026 as soaring memory and core component prices hit the market, but Samsung Electronics is moving in the opposite direction. Rather than passing costs fully on to consumers like some rivals, Samsung plans to keep shipment volume steady through the Galaxy S26, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy A series, and could even retake the No. 1 spot in global smartphone shipments.

Taiwan's next biotech prescription: AI drug discovery, smart devices and biomedical chips

Scarlett Yu — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:30:43 GMT

Taiwan is charting a new direction for its biomedical industry, drawing on its strengths in semiconductors, AI hardware, precision manufacturing and healthcare. AI-powered drug discovery, smart medical devices and biomedical chips are emerging as priority areas.

IntelliEPI says Japan substrate outage hit 2Q26 revenue

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:29:51 GMT

IntelliEPI said on August 27 that revenue in the second quarter of 2026 was pressured after a Japanese substrate supplier shut down for nearly three weeks during the Golden Week holiday, reducing InP substrate availability and limiting indium phosphide production. The compound semiconductor epitaxy maker said demand for InP products tied to high-speed optical communications in AI data centers remained strong, and that substrate supply, not market demand, was the main short-term constraint.

Global LCD TV shipments above 70 inches rise as large-screen prices fall

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:29:30 GMT

Global shipments of LCD TVs larger than 70 inches have climbed sharply over the past four years, with models above 98 inches rising 12-fold, according to a Nikkei report citing Counterpoint Research. The shift reflects a broader move by manufacturers toward larger, higher-margin sets as the LCD market matures.

China rises to No. 2 in global CMOS image sensors, overtaking Korea with 21% share

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:29:12 GMT

China's CMOS image sensor industry is gaining ground beyond smartphones, with robotics emerging as one of the latest areas where domestic suppliers are linking sensor technology with higher-level perception systems.

China's humanoid boom hits its next bottleneck: making robots measurable, interoperable and safe

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:27:34 GMT

Capital interest in China has become unusually concentrated on robotics following a state-backed commitment to redirect sizable portions of tech-related incentives from a perfectly mature EV market toward the robotics sector. Since the policy took effect, robot-oriented technologies have surged, with embodied intelligence emerging as one of the most prominent areas of development.

China reshapes helium supply chain as semiconductor demand rises and import risks persist

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:27:13 GMT

China is accelerating efforts to secure helium supplies as semiconductor manufacturing, commercial space launches, and medical imaging lift demand for a resource the country still imports heavily.

China's industrial reboot: AI, chips, robotics and 6G define next five years

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:26:55 GMT

China is setting out a five-year industrial strategy centred on artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, 6G, robotics and advanced manufacturing, seeking to strengthen the country's manufacturing base while turning emerging technologies into new growth engines.

Wah Lee targets 2Q27 ODM phase as robotics push moves beyond components

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:26:37 GMT

Wah Lee Industrial is targeting the second quarter of 2027 to move its Physical AI push into an ODM development phase, signaling an effort to capture more value beyond supplying materials, components and conventional automation systems.

US targets Singapore's Apex Logistics in widening probe into illicit Nvidia chip smuggling to China

DIGITIMES — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:26:20 GMT

Efforts to curb the illicit trade of advanced AI hardware to China have intensified following a series of indictments and probes targeting the supply chain.

Regulators fast-track lithium battery M&As as China shifts from capacity expansion to consolidation

Willis Ke — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:25:57 GMT

China's lithium battery industry is shifting from an era of aggressive capacity expansion toward consolidation, as regulators rapidly clear deals aimed at revitalizing existing assets and closing gaps across the supply chain. The unconditional approval of six recent transactions involving batteries, energy storage, and new-energy materials — including one cleared in just 10 days — signals that Beijing sees mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as an increasingly important tool for restructuring an industry squeezed by overcapacity and price wars.

AI chip demand squeezes capacity, Data Image secures 1-year supply

Lily Hess — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:24:39 GMT

As strong AI demand continues to soak up semiconductor capacity, some ICs and passive components are seeing shortages and longer lead times. Qisda's display maker Data Image has stepped up policy-driven inventory buildup, with some industrial control products now carrying supply lead times of as long as one year and materials for the first and second quarters of 2027 already secured in advance.

HITCON expands Taiwan's cybersecurity focus from agentic AI to post-quantum cryptography

Kevin Wang — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:24:22 GMT

With the recent surge of generative AI in enterprise and consumer applications, AI has begun taking on new roles, moving from simply answering questions to autonomously planning tasks and deploying external tools to execute these tasks. Agentic AI was thus a prominent topic at the recent 2026 Hacks in Taiwan Conference (HITCON) organized by the Association of Hackers in Taiwan, with sessions focusing on cybersecurity risks resulting from AI agents' greater system privileges, data access, and use of external tools.

P-Duke Technology optimistic on 2H26 growth as demand surges across three niche markets

Eifeh Strom — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:23:56 GMT

P-Duke Technology, a manufacturer of specialized niche power supplies, said during its earnings call on August 26 that it remains optimistic about its outlook for second-half and full-year 2026.

Siemens Taiwan chief to lead European Chamber in Taiwan from September 2026

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:45:00 GMT

The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan said on August 27 that Siemens Taiwan president and chief executive Frank Grunert will become its chairperson on September 1, 2026. The decision was approved unanimously by the chamber's council and puts a senior Taiwan-based executive in charge of the group representing European business interests on the island.

Trump declares emergency over foreign grid equipment, likely eyeing Chinese power hardware

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:00:02 GMT

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 26 declaring a national emergency over the security of America's electrical grid. It restricts the purchase, import, and installation of certain foreign-made "bulk-power system" equipment on cybersecurity and national-security grounds.

HP revenue hits record as PC shipments fall on rising component costs

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:55:00 GMT

HP reported record revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, but PC shipments declined as higher average selling prices weighed on unit volume. The company said the same pattern is affecting other PC brands and expects it to become more visible in the second half of the year as component costs stay elevated.

MiniMax revenue surges 283% as enterprise adoption increases

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:40:41 GMT

Chinese AI startup MiniMax Group reported a 283.1% increase in revenue, rising from US$30.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025, to US$116.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026. This growth was primarily driven by the continued expansion of its global user base, surging demand for model inference, and the company's ability to translate model advancements into commercial products and services for global enterprises, developers, and individual users.

Rebellions targets 100-plus NPU racks as UK steps up chip spending

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:55:00 GMT

Rebellions is pursuing deployment of more than 100 NPU-based computing racks in the UK through a partnership with British AI infrastructure startup Callosum, giving the South Korean chipmaker a potential entry point into Europe's emerging sovereign computing market.

Driving measurable sustainability: CIDB Malaysia's blueprint for carbon accountability

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:40:45 GMT

At Sustainability Environment Asia Conference 2026, Suhaimi Mansor, deputy chief executive of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia, delivered a clear mandate for the nation's built environment: sustainability must transition from simple assessment to measurable, lifecycle-wide performance across buildings and infrastructure.

Japan bets on launch frequency as H3 moves from national program to commercial contender

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:40:26 GMT

The current aerospace landscape is increasingly marked by a push into satellite connectivity and space-based infrastructure, as SpaceX daringly edges deeper into the more intricate layers underpinning the construction of a proprietary space economy.

Samsung signals zHBF push as memory race moves beyond HBM

DIGITIMES — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:22:24 GMT

Samsung Electronics is signaling a push into high bandwidth flash (HBF), extending its next-generation memory ambitions beyond HBM as rivals move to establish a new NAND-based memory tier for AI inference.

Malaysia's charging shortfall opens the door for Chinese hardware players

Charlene Chen — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:20:00 GMT

Southeast Asia's EV market is expected to reach US$23.58 billion by 2031, with a 2026-2031 CAGR of 31.55%. But Malaysia's charging infrastructure is falling well behind government targets, creating an opening for Chinese hardware suppliers.