DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Europe and US IDM grid-to-core push challenges Taiwan power modules

Jingyue Hsiao — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 01:54:30 GMT

Data-center power systems are entering a new phase as operators move toward 800V HVDC and denser DC-DC architectures, raising demand for high-voltage, low-loss, and high-frequency power devices. The shift is pushing suppliers toward integrated control, protection, and module solutions, while Taiwan manufacturers weigh how quickly they can adapt.

Taiwan hardware strength meets open-source gap

Jingyue Hsiao — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 01:24:21 GMT

Taiwan's hardware strength gives it a firm place in the global technology supply chain, but industry leaders say its next opportunity lies in open source. Jonathan Bryce, executive director of cloud and infrastructure at the Linux Foundation, said the most effective way for Taiwan to gain greater influence is for local developers to contribute code and help guide projects.

STMicro sees AI sales accelerating as factory transfers hold key to margin recovery

DIGITIMES — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 01:17:20 GMT

STMicroelectronics expects rapidly expanding AI infrastructure sales and stronger automotive demand to support growth into 2027, but its largest gross-margin gains will depend on customer approvals allowing older factories to close, CFO Lorenzo Grandi said at Citi's Global TMT Conference on September 9.

Google plans EUR13 billion Finland investment to expand data centers, clean energy

DIGITIMES — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 01:08:17 GMT

Google said it will invest EUR13 billion (US$15.11 billion) in Finland over the next two years, underscoring how data center growth, clean power, and local skills investment are becoming increasingly intertwined for global technology users, businesses, and energy markets. The company said the expansion will support its core services and deepen its long-running presence in the country.

Analog Devices agrees to buy Alif Semiconductor to expand edge AI push

DIGITIMES — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 01:04:54 GMT

Analog Devices has agreed to acquire Alif Semiconductor in a US$1.35 billion all-cash deal, a move that could broaden access to faster, more energy-efficient edge AI systems for industrial, defense, health, and consumer applications worldwide. The deal underscores a shift toward local, real-time computing beyond data centers.

Himax launches eDP TDDI for smart cockpit displays

DIGITIMES — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:23 GMT

Himax Technologies this week announced an industry-leading automotive touch and display driver integration chip (TDDI) that supports a high-speed eDP interface, combining eDP, touch sensing and display driving on a single chip to meet new-generation smart cockpit demand for large, high-resolution, high-quality displays and real-time touch.

Yageo's August revenue hits record on AI demand

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:59:42 GMT

Yageo posted year-over-year and month-over-month revenue growth in August, extending its streak of record monthly highs to a sixth straight month. The passive components maker said strong AI-related demand and resilient demand in Asia helped offset holiday effects in Europe and the US.

How AI and global expansion are reshaping semiconductor recruitment to production, tech integration

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:59:03 GMT

Driven by sustained artificial intelligence (AI) demand, global semiconductor capacity expansion is accelerating. According to the 2026 Semiconductor Industry Talent Report released by 104 Job Bank, monthly job openings in Taiwan's semiconductor sector reached 47,000 in 2026, a year-over-year surge exceeding 20%.

Arm launches second-generation CSS, targets China's AI smartphone market with C2 CPU

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:58:07 GMT

Arm unveiled its second-generation mobile Compute Subsystem (CSS), Arm CSS for Mobile 2, at its annual Arm Everywhere China event in Shanghai on September 8, further integrating AI computing capabilities across the CPU, GPU, and system interconnect while strengthening its presence in the Chinese market.

Global PMX sees semiconductor parts shipments strengthen

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:56:23 GMT

Global PMX, a major maker of automotive power and safety components, said August consolidated revenue rose to NT$802 million (approx. US$25.4 million), up 33.50% year on year and extending the company's growth momentum from July. The company said order visibility for semiconductor products now stretches through 2027, as AI server liquid-cooling parts and high-end semiconductor components ramp up.

AI server ODMs face widening component mismatches, with shortages reaching 15–20%

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:55:44 GMT

Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform is entering its production ramp, and although server ODM shipments are still expected to ramp further, server ODMs delivered strong operating results in August. Industry sources said demand remains robust for both the H-series and GB-series products.

SuperAlloy advances semiconductor aluminum certification

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:55:09 GMT

SuperAlloy Industrial, a global automotive wheel supplier, reported August consolidated revenue of NT$550 million (approx. US$17.4 million), up 2.46% from a year earlier, and NT$5.052 billion for January–August 2026, up 6.34% year on year. The company said the stronger sales base, along with progress in semiconductor material qualification, is setting up a second growth curve beyond its core auto business.

Silicon photonics boom could push InP supply-demand gap above 70%, triggering race for strategic optical resources

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:54:24 GMT

As AI drives the transition toward high-speed transmission technologies such as 800G and 1.6T, silicon photonics has become increasingly mainstream in high-speed optical communications, attracting investment from major industry players.

Taiwan IC design firms seek government subsidies for advanced chip development

Rodney Chan — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:52:17 GMT

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) will hold a joint ministerial meeting in September to discuss subsidy applications submitted by domestic IC design firms for advanced chip development. If the applications are approved, the local IC design sector will receive a boost in its bid to raise the share of IC design industry output value generated by advanced-process chips from 45% to 47%.

Flex's EPC Power deal points to a broader shift in AI infrastructure

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:51:48 GMT

Flex has recently agreed to buy US power conversion specialist EPC Power for US$4.4 billion, a move that highlights how competition in AI infrastructure is extending beyond servers and racks into grid-side power, cooling, and energy management. The acquisition is expected to deepen Flex's role as rising compute density pushes data centers toward higher-voltage architectures.

Confidence in Germany's auto repair sector slips, even as demand hits record high

Kevin Wang — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:50:53 GMT

The auto repair industry in Germany is facing a contradiction: confidence among industry players has been falling, even though the sector as a whole is seeing repair demand rising alongside average vehicle age, while workshop utilization is at a five-year high.

Hiwin supply deal with Semes points to deeper access in South Korea's memory equipment market

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:50:32 GMT

Hiwin Technologies has signed a supply contract with Semes, Samsung Electronics' semiconductor equipment arm, for a single-axis positioning stage being tested in hybrid bonding equipment, signaling a potential opening in South Korea's advanced packaging supply chain. The deal complements Hiwin's push to broaden its co-packaged optics (CPO) business and move into higher-value semiconductor equipment components.

Three open source foundations share one stage in Shanghai

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:49:26 GMT

As AI applications move from the lab to large-scale deployment, China's open source ecosystem is increasingly focused on how to connect once-siloed technology layers to improve computing costs and operating efficiency. The KubeCon + CloudNativeCon + OpenInfra Summit + PyTorch Conference China 2026 opened in Shanghai on September 6, marking the first joint appearance of CNCF, OpenInfra, and PyTorch have converged at a single event, with discussions centered on AI infrastructure, AI agent trends, and the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Taiwan virtual asset alliance builds next-gen financial infrastructure

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:49:02 GMT

As global digital finance accelerates, stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and digital assets are becoming core to the next generation of financial services. With Taiwan's Virtual Asset Services Act passing its third reading in the Legislative Yuan on June 30, 2026, and being promulgated on July 22, Taiwan's digital finance sector has entered a transition toward compliance implementation, opening market opportunities.

Taiwan courts international talent as special experts qualify for permanent residency in 1 year

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:48:39 GMT

Taiwan is stepping up efforts to attract and retain foreign talent as its population declines, with the government easing permanent residency rules and offering faster pathways for specialized professionals. The Executive Yuan said its latest policy report aims to improve the immigration environment and ease labor and talent shortages across industries.

Taiwan startup ecosystem index jumps as angel fund expands

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:47:59 GMT

StartupBlink, a globally recognized startup ecosystem research platform, has released its "2026 Global Startup Ecosystem Index," ranking Taiwan 20th out of 120 countries and recording the highest annual growth rate among the global top 20. The ranking comes as Taiwan has doubled the National Development Fund's Business Angel Investment Program from NT$5 billion to NT$10 billion.

Song Chuan rides 800V HVDC upgrade wave, posts record 2Q26 sales

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:47:40 GMT

Song Chuan Precision said on September 8 that its second-quarter 2026 revenue and gross margin hit record highs, as demand for AI server power supplies, energy storage, and EV charging all rose at the same time. The company also benefited from a richer product mix tilted toward higher-margin new-energy products, lifting second-quarter consolidated revenue and gross margin to record levels and swinging net profit back into the black from a year earlier.

Acer's PC, non-PC businesses drive 13-year revenue high

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:47:06 GMT

Acer posted NT$30.18 billion in revenue for August 2026, up 38.4% year-over-year, while cumulative revenue for the first eight months reached NT$214.811 billion, up 25.1%. Both August revenue and first-eight-month revenue hit their highest levels in 13 years, as the company's multi-engine business strategy continued to gain traction.

Chenbro Micom August revenue dips, core projects unchanged

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:46:45 GMT

Server chassis maker Chenbro Micom reported August 2026 revenue of NT$2.46 billion, up 41% year-over-year. Cumulative revenue for the first eight months reached NT$19.85 billion, up 51.7%, as AI-driven demand for data center infrastructure continued to climb.

Apple names 2nm node for the first time since 2024 — and raises prices on every iPhone it still sells

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:06:35 GMT

Apple used its 2026 iPhone launch to do two things it had avoided for years: name the process node in its flagship chip, and raise the price of phones already on sale. Both moves point to the same pressure. Memory is expensive, the packaging that binds memory to logic has become the hard part of building a phone chip, and Apple has stopped absorbing the cost.

Apple bets on new sensors and S11 chip to differentiate its 2026 watches

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 23:00:56 GMT

Behind the foldable, Apple used the same event to rebuild the sensing hardware in its wearables and to push active noise cancellation down to US$129. Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, and AirPods 5 in Cupertino on 9 September, and the two watches share the key upgrades: an all-new Health Sensing System and the S11 chip, which Apple calls its most powerful wearable silicon.

Apple's first foldable lands at US$1,999, and constraint is the panel

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 22:58:21 GMT

Apple has entered the foldable market at the top of it. iPhone Duo, announced in Cupertino on 9 September, starts at US$1,999 with 256GB and goes up to 2TB — above the US$1,899 Samsung charges for the wide-format Galaxy Z Fold8 — and is priced as a halo product rather than a volume one. The interesting question is not whether Apple can sell it. It is who gets to build it, and how few of them there are.

AI servers push Asus' August revenue up 51%

Joseph Chen — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 11:21:40 GMT

Asus reported consolidated revenue of NT$94.96 billion (US$3.02 billion) in August 2026, up 12.87% from July and 51.17% from a year earlier — the second-highest monthly figure in company history. Revenue for the first eight months reached NT$645.19 billion (US$20.5 billion), up 42.3% year over year. The company attributed the gain to AI server and PC demand, with motherboard orders also recovering.

OpenAI's deeper Samsung tie-up lands on a foundry that is running out of capacity

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 10:28:57 GMT

For Samsung Electronics' two loss-making logic businesses, OpenAI's declaration that it is jointly producing and researching next-generation chips with the Korean company matters less as a new logo on the customer list than as a sign of where Samsung's advanced wafers actually go.

AI computing power propels tech sector to US$30 trillion, putting servers at the core of 2027's supply chain

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 09:37:06 GMT

Taiwan's Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) expects servers and data center supply chains to become the primary growth drivers for major information and communications technology (ICT) products in 2027. Global server shipments are projected to increase 12.4% year-over-year to 18.6 million units, with AI server shipments rising 17.8% to 5.4 million units.

Samsung, LG secure roles as key suppliers for Apple's foldable iPhone

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 09:10:11 GMT

Apple's expected first foldable iPhone is set to channel a significant share of its component value to South Korean suppliers, with Samsung Display (SDC), LG Innotek, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco), Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix securing positions across displays, cameras, substrates, passive components, and memory.

Enterprise AI spending gives Taiwan's Systex a new growth wing

Levi Li — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 09:07:38 GMT

Systex reported consolidated revenue of NT$5.9 billion (approximately US$187 million) in August 2026, up 61.91% from NT$3.64 billion a year earlier. Revenue for the first eight months reached NT$38.01 billion, rising 39.65% from NT$27.22 billion in the same period of 2025. Both monthly and cumulative revenue hit record highs for their respective periods.

Huaqin signs Nanchang projects as robotics push widens

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 09:00:11 GMT

Huaqin Technology has signed two new projects in Nanchang High-tech Zone, expanding the smart-hardware ODM group's local manufacturing base into embodied-AI robotics and data collection, according to Hongguan News reporting on Sina Finance.

Cambricon wins PyTorch Foundation board seat in bid to strengthen China AI chip software ecosystem

Levi Li — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 08:35:00 GMT

Chinese AI chip developer Cambricon said on September 8 that it has formally joined the PyTorch Foundation as a platinum member, the organisation's highest membership tier, securing a seat on its governing board.

Jin Lian Cheng expands into semiconductor wafer fab UPS battery recycling

DIGITIMES — Wed, 9 Sep 2026 08:35:00 GMT

Jin Lian Cheng Resources completed an upgrade to its desulfurization production line as demand increased for lead-acid battery recycling tied to high-spec uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems used by semiconductor plants. The Taiwanese waste lead-acid battery processor said the upgrade restored normal operations while improving sulfur oxide treatment, real-time monitoring, and environmental management.