DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

China's power battery sector maintains strong growth momentum as global market presence expands

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 03:54:05 GMT

China's power battery industry has reported robust growth through the first seven months of 2026, driven by rising demand across both electric vehicles and stationary energy storage applications. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China (MIIT), cumulative sales of power batteries reached 790.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) between January and July, representing a 37.1% year-over-year increase.

Exclusive: Taipower's new green power sandbox could ease TSMC's surplus electricity problem

Scarlett Yu — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 03:35:05 GMT

As global net-zero efforts accelerate, major technology companies are setting increasingly ambitious renewable energy targets. TSMC has pledged to reach RE60 by 2030 and RE100 by 2040.

Xiaomi warns of more India price hikes as AI squeezes the phone from both sides

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 03:33:08 GMT

The same AI boom that is filling handsets with new features is draining the memory supply that makes cheap phones possible—and in India, the world's second-largest smartphone market, buyers are paying for both. Xiaomi India's leadership told HT Tech that prices will keep climbing through the second half of 2026 as the global chip shortage persists, even as the company doubles down on AI features it says should be felt rather than seen.

Analysis: Under tariff threats, Taiwan chipmakers hedge beyond US

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 03:06:27 GMT

Taiwanese companies are only at the start of a broader overseas investment cycle, as Washington signals possible new semiconductor tariffs and Taipei moves to deepen industrial links with Europe, Japan, and ASEAN. Officials say the island's chipmakers are responding to pressure from the US, while also broadening their global strategy to reduce risk and strengthen supply chains.

SK Hynix 1c DRAM production share to reach 34% by year-end ahead of HBM4E

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 02:59:46 GMT

SK Hynix is accelerating its shift to sixth-generation 10nm-class 1c DRAM, with the process expected to account for roughly 34% of its DRAM production by the fourth quarter as the company prepares for HBM4E and seeks greater cost efficiency.

Naura 3D DRAM etching breakthrough could give CXMT a new path beyond EUV

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 02:52:26 GMT

China's Naura Technology has demonstrated a selective etching process for 64-layer 3D DRAM structures, potentially giving domestic memory makers another route to raise transistor density while access to advanced EUV lithography remains restricted.

India's TCS unit secures land in Hyderabad for planned 1GW AI data center campus

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 02:40:59 GMT

HyperVault, a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) subsidiary, has secured 264 acres in Hyderabad to build a large AI data center campus capable of reaching 1GW of capacity. The project could strengthen India's role in global artificial intelligence infrastructure, while influencing jobs, energy demand, and digital supply chains worldwide.

JM-Applied sees gas equipment demand surge on AI expansion, order book exceeds NT$3 billion

Eifeh Strom — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 02:22:09 GMT

JM-Applied, a Taiwanese semiconductor gas equipment manufacturer and supply chain member for Micron and TSMC, said on September 4 that revenue in the first half of 2026 exceeded NT$600 million (approx. US$18.98 million), up more than 50% year-over-year. Growth was driven by the continued demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), which is driving global semiconductor expansion and boosting demand for gas supply systems and equipment at wafer fabs.

India says it cannot build electronics without China and has started easing the rules to prove it

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 02:00:42 GMT

India is selling its semiconductor build-out abroad as a hedge against an over-concentrated supply chain. The officials running it are unusually candid that the hedge cannot be built without the country it hedges against. Asked at a media briefing in Taipei on 4 September how New Delhi views the role of Chinese companies in India's chip and electronics supply chain, S. Krishnan, secretary of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, opened with a line that would be politically awkward in most capitals: "We need to be realistic."

Anthropic IPO set to put AI governance under public-market scrutiny

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 01:57:53 GMT

Anthropic is moving toward a potential blockbuster stock-market debut this fall, but the company's unusual governance structure could become an important issue for investors alongside its growth prospects.

Huawei Kirin 2026 challenges 3D chip heat limits with Tau Scaling Law

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 01:45:34 GMT

Huawei is using measured data from its upcoming Kirin 2026 processor to challenge a key concern around vertically stacked logic: that higher transistor density inevitably brings more heat.

Chicony Power's August revenue dips as AI server and satellite demand strengthens

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 01:39:18 GMT

Chicony Power Technology Co. said its August revenue slipped as a memory shortage hit demand for notebook power supplies. Still, stronger orders for AI server and satellite communications power signaled broader growth opportunities for global technology supply chains and future data center investment.

Foxconn revenue climbs on AI server demand, outlook improves

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 01:32:44 GMT

Foxconn said August sales rose sharply from a year earlier as demand for AI servers and related hardware continued to lift its cloud and networking business. The latest update suggests the global electronics supply chain remains supported, even as investors closely watch shifts in trade, policy, and consumer demand.

Weekly news roundup: AI memory race heats up, Taiwan manufacturing rebounds, Nexperia rift deepens

DIGITIMES — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 00:57:28 GMT

AI infrastructure and semiconductor supply chains led reader interest this week, from Taiwan's manufacturing recovery and Nexperia's legal battle to Sandisk's HBF, Micron's HBM expansion, and Marvell's silicon photonics roadmap. Samsung also refreshed its smartphone lineup with the Galaxy S26 FE. Below are the most-read DIGITIMES stories from the week of August 31-September 06, 2026.

Eaton expands AI data center stack from grid to chip

Willis Ke — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:44:38 GMT

As AI data centers scale rapidly, Eaton is expanding beyond traditional power management into modular power deployment, next-generation DC conversion and liquid cooling, positioning itself to address infrastructure requirements from the electrical grid to AI chips.

Wah Lee sees faster growth in 2027 as supply stays tight

Sherri Wang — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:44:20 GMT

Wah Lee Industrial expects growth to accelerate in 2027 as advanced packaging capacity comes online and foundries continue building overseas fabs, while tight supplies of semiconductor materials and manufacturing equipment are likely to keep pricing elevated.

Every Chinese CPU maker grew in 1H26 but only one grew on processors

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:43:50 GMT

Revenue rose at every Chinese chip company examined in the first half of 2026 amid the domestic-substitution push, but the interim filings show three quite different businesses hiding under one label. One has reached real scale and is now funding its expansion from the balance sheet rather than from operations. One is repairing its margins on a genuinely homegrown instruction set at a fraction of the scale. And the cohort's most spectacular profit number is not a processor story at all.

Orphans of the liquid cooling age: xMEMS targets data center 'hot spots,' eyes 2027 smartphone and smartglasses cooling ports

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:43:24 GMT

As the world's most powerful enterprise data centers undergo a massive migration to liquid cooling to support high-power artificial intelligence processors, a Silicon Valley chipmaker is warning of a growing class of "thermal orphans"—localized, low-power components that are left out in the cold.

China's JCET seeks US$968M for AI-driven packaging expansion

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:42:48 GMT

JCET Group is preparing a CNY6.5 billion (approx. US$968 million) private share placement to expand advanced packaging and testing capacity across high-performance computing (HPC), power modules, wafer-level packaging and memory, sharpening its exposure to AI infrastructure and China's domestic semiconductor supply chain.

Dark fab cybersecurity: Why autonomous manufacturing needs zero trust

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:42:35 GMT

AI-driven automation is reshaping the cybersecurity requirements of semiconductor manufacturing, with zero-trust architecture, trusted data, and interoperable standards becoming increasingly important as fabs move toward more autonomous operations.

Exclusive: DIGITIMES' top 3 at K-Safety Expo 2026 shows where intelligent safety is heading — act 'before' disaster strikes

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:42:00 GMT

The most consequential safety technologies are often judged by what happens after something goes wrong: how fast an alarm sounds, how quickly rescuers arrive, or how effectively protective equipment limits injury.

No foundry price relief before 2027 as utilisation nears 90%

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:41:36 GMT

AI demand is driving a broader repricing cycle across the foundry industry in 2026. Tightness that began at leading-edge nodes is spreading into mature and specialty processes, lifting wafer prices, utilisation and downstream chip costs.

SiliconAuto pushes AI chiplets as automotive SoC ties tighten

Lily Hess — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:40:40 GMT

Taiwanese automotive microcontroller (MCU) maker SiliconAuto showcased its products at SEMICON Taiwan 2026, with CEO Gene Liu saying the company is now spotlighting AI chiplet architecture for automotive and industrial edge AI as carmakers seek more flexible chip designs.

Taiwan-Netherlands silicon photonics team targets 1.6T DR8 in 2026, 3.2T optical links next

Levi Li — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:40:22 GMT

AI data center demand is accelerating the shift to faster optical interconnects, putting transmission speed, power efficiency, and packaging integration at the center of next-generation optical communications. Taiwan's Ligitek Electronics and Liverage Technology are working with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and Dutch photonic chip packaging specialist Phix on a cross-border silicon photonics program targeting phased milestones of 1.6T DR8 by the end of 2026 and 3.2T product development by the end of 2027.

Pegatron, Deloitte Taiwan team up to speed smart manufacturing

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:39:57 GMT

Pegatron announced on September 3 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Deloitte Taiwan, combining Pegatron's self-developed enterprise AI digital twin platform with Deloitte's consulting expertise in AI strategy, governance, and implementation to offer corporate clients a one-stop AI solution from planning to deployment.

Experts say subsidies can't buy semiconductor competitiveness

Lily Hess — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:39:25 GMT

At a forum jointly hosted by DSET and SEMI during SEMICON Taiwan this year, Glenn D. Tiffert of the Hoover Institution, Kioxia Holdings board member Emiko Higashi, and NRC reporter Marc Hijink offered views on national semiconductor policy from the perspectives of the US policy community, corporate boardrooms, and Europe's industrial front line.

AI is driving force behind 'Moore's Law on steroids,' says Merck's Benjamin Hein

Kevin Wang — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:38:56 GMT

AI is driving a new wave of technological demand and changing how the semiconductor industry innovates, according to Benjamin Hein, member of the executive board and CEO of the Electronics Business Sector at Merck. As AI becomes an integral part of semiconductor innovation, future competitive advantages in the industry will depend less on any single process or material, but rather on the ability to combine materials, processes, packaging, metrology, and software into complete processes. In this sense, AI-driven growth in the semiconductor industry is like "Moore's Law on steroids," and collaboration will become the industry's next Moore's Law.

AI racks move toward MW scale as power, cooling converge

Lily Hess — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:38:33 GMT

As AI computing power surges, the energy consumption of AI servers has become a major bottleneck that must be solved. The issue is spreading from chips into power delivery systems as Nvidia's AI racks ramp up, rapidly pushing up the power draw of a single AI rack.

Machine builders flood SEMICON 2026 to grow local chip tools

Charlene Chen — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:38:07 GMT

Taiwan's machinery industry is pushing to turn its semiconductor advantage into a domestic equipment supply chain, as more than 100 member companies join SEMICON Taiwan 2026 and the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) calls for broader industry upgrading. The association voiced that appeal at a forum on September 3, saying Taiwan should leverage its semiconductor strength to lift traditional industries and continue nurturing a homegrown semiconductor equipment supply chain without relying on overseas sources.

India roundup: India expands chip ambitions with full Semicon 2.0 notification

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:37:39 GMT

India's technology sector is gaining momentum across semiconductors, connectivity, AI payments, PCs, tablets and refurbished smartphones, as policy support and local manufacturing attract investment. However, supply-chain diversification, margin pressure, cautious demand and VinFast's manufacturing pause highlight challenges facing India's broader technology ambitions.

Acer hedges memory price shock with local AI, diversification

Charlene Chen — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:37:11 GMT

Acer Chairman and CEO Jason Chen said Taiwan is not only a global hub for AI hardware manufacturing and technology, but also an important source of capital, as many firms issue bonds to raise funds. He said Acer has already issued bonds worth NT$20 billion (US$630.7 million), adding that "Taiwan's money" is not only benefiting the local market but is spreading around the world.

China NEV imports sink as local brands crowd out foreign cars

AI bot — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 23:36:42 GMT

China’s new energy vehicle import market continued to shrink in July, hitting its lowest level since 2026, as foreign automakers localize production and Chinese brands keep expanding their share. China imported just 125 battery electric vehicles in the month, equal to only four cars a day entering the market.

BenQ Materials targets CPO in semiconductor push

DIGITIMES — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 01:19:00 GMT

BenQ Materials Group has formally positioned semiconductor materials as a key future growth driver, using its existing coating, membrane, foaming, and adhesive technologies to move into wafer manufacturing, back-end packaging, and co-packaged optics (CPO). With chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) cleaning brush rollers and wafer dicing tape already shipping, the group views 2026 as a new starting point for its semiconductor business, with more visible growth expected from 2027.

Hiwin Mikrosystem targets SiPh inspection gear as capacity expands 20%, order visibility extends to 2Q27

Yunnie Cheng — Sun, 6 Sep 2026 01:16:00 GMT

Driven by the shift from copper to optical interconnects, silicon photonics (SiPh) and co-packaged optics (CPO) are moving rapidly toward mainstream adoption, fueling demand across the broader semiconductor equipment supply chain. Highlighting the trend at SEMICON Taiwan 2026, Hiwin Mikrosystem, in collaboration with the Hiwin Group, unveiled its next-generation precision positioning platform for SiPh inspection. Spurred by accelerating market adoption, order visibility for the platform now extends into the second quarter of 2027.

TEL sees AI-driven packaging, memory demand reshaping Taiwan strategy

Jingyue Hsiao — Sat, 5 Sep 2026 23:46:00 GMT

Tokyo Electron's Taiwan president said AI is pushing semiconductor demand into new areas, with advanced packaging, DRAM, high-bandwidth memory, and NAND flash all gaining momentum. He said Taiwan remains central to the industry's supply chain, and TEL plans to deepen local technology, service, and research ties.