DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

H3 launch ramp pushes Mitsubishi Electric toward a new era of parallel satellite production

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:54:44 GMT

The expansion of Mitsubishi Electric's satellite manufacturing business is converging with the higher launch cadence targeted for Japan's H3 program, developed jointly by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).

SpaceX-Cursor acquisition closes the loop between AI compute, models and applications

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:54:28 GMT

As the AI race increasingly evolves around who can secure the most compute, develop the strongest models and convert them into commercially viable applications, SpaceX has moved another step toward controlling all three layers under one expanding ecosystem.

MediaTek widens ASIC services as market share surges

Lily Hess — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:53:32 GMT

MediaTek has reportedly landed major orders for Google TPU products in recent years, even appearing to challenge Broadcom's position. At a recent earnings call, MediaTek also raised its 2027 ASIC market share target to 15% to 20%, and industry watchers largely credit that goal to the breadth of MediaTek's ASIC services.

Hybrids dominate Taiwan's auto market, as carmakers intensify push with new models

Kevin Wang — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:53:06 GMT

Sales of hybrid vehicles have surged in Taiwan due to range anxiety and still-inadequate charging infrastructure, and carmakers are leaning into this trend by stepping up efforts in this market segment.

ITH OLED, T-Con ramps position 3Q26 revenue to defy market headwinds

Yunnie Cheng — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:52:27 GMT

Driven by a recovery across smartphone, notebook, industrial control, and automotive applications, ITH Corporation, the parent company of Ili Technology (Ilitek), posted solid revenue results in the second quarter of 2026. However, its gross margin took a hit of about 8.1 percentage points after it recognized a one-time liability provision because wafer starts fell short of volumes reserved under an agreement with a supplier.

Column: Why model training needs distillation

Charlene Chen — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:52:09 GMT

Around 2019, a friend working at a large cloud services provider excitedly shared that his team had trained a CNN model for document text recognition with good results, but the computing cost was too high to deploy directly. They then used distillation to train a smaller model for service, and it turned out to be highly effective.

Tech blocs of the new Cold War: US pushes allies to pick a side

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:51:28 GMT

The intensifying US-China technology rivalry is moving beyond export controls and semiconductor restrictions. What comes next could matter more: the formation of competing international AI ecosystems.

AI server demand pushes high-end MLCC lead times toward 40 weeks

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:50:51 GMT

Multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) supply is increasingly diverging by product specification, with mainstream components remaining relatively stable while lead times for some high-capacitance, high-specification parts used in AI servers stretch toward 40 weeks.

Column: Strategic resilience in precious metal refining: insights from Qiankun Gold and Silver

Yunnie Cheng — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:50:32 GMT

Amid global supply chain restructuring and geopolitical rivalry, precious metals are no longer merely financial hedging tools but have become core assets supporting high-tech manufacturing and strategic material reserves.

SpaceX, NVIDIA push space AI from lunar exploration toward orbital data centers

Scarlett Yu — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:50:03 GMT

As SpaceX accelerates its push into space-based AI data centers and NVIDIA brings Jetson GPUs into lunar exploration missions, the race to build computing infrastructure beyond Earth is moving from proof-of-concept experiments toward actual deployment.

WeRide weighs expansion into Australia, Japan, South Korea, and SEA

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:49:22 GMT

Chinese autonomous driving company WeRide is considering expansion into Australia, South Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia as it steps up overseas growth. The move could widen access to driverless transport services for global users, while intensifying competition among Chinese self-driving firms seeking new markets beyond China.

European industrial suppliers gain from AI data center buildout

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:49:01 GMT

European makers of vacuum pumps, heat exchangers, and industrial gases are seeing new demand from the rapid buildout of AI factories, according to Bloomberg. The shift is giving investors fresh ways to gain exposure to artificial intelligence through industrial suppliers tied to semiconductor plants and data centers.

OpenAI revenue chief to exit as company advances IPO preparations

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:48:46 GMT

OpenAI said its revenue chief, Denise Dresser, will step down after less than a year in the role, adding another senior departure as the artificial intelligence company moves through IPO preparations. She said on LinkedIn that she was honored to support AI development and will stay briefly to help with the transition.

South Korea telcos pass KRW1 trillion in first-half AI data center revenue

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:48:27 GMT

South Korea's three major telecom operators generated more than KRW1 trillion (approx. US$706 billion) in combined artificial intelligence data center revenue in the first half of 2026, as demand for AI computing lifted utilization across their facilities. The companies are now expanding capacity in stages, with carriers saying they want to secure customer demand before committing to larger investments.

High jet fuel costs could squeeze low-cost airlines for months

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:34:36 GMT

Jet fuel prices may remain elevated for months even if geopolitical tensions ease, the challenge stemming not only from crude supply but also from global refining capacity already operating near full utilization, leaving no room to increase output of refined products.

Ennoconn's US$8B backlog sets up stronger 2H26 on AI and Kontron gains

Levi Li — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:25:19 GMT

Ennoconn expects profitability to improve in the second half of 2026 as higher-margin software, AI systems and solution businesses gain weight and low-margin operations are phased out. The industrial PC supplier reported second-quarter revenue of NT$48.38 billion (approx. US$1.52 billion), while revenue for the first half of the year reached NT$85.49 billion.

Taiwan Mobile lifts 2026 profit outlook on AI data center push

Lily Hess — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:54:50 GMT

Taiwan Mobile has raised its full-year 2026 operating profit growth outlook to 7% to 9%, excluding the impact of its planned Systex acquisition, as AI applications continue to drive demand for data center computing power and spur the company's AI data center (AIDC) expansion.

SK keyfoundry expands 8-inch capacity as China demand strains supply

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:50:16 GMT

SK keyfoundry has approved KRW90 billion (approx. US$64 million) in capital spending to expand its 8-inch foundry capacity, a rare move for a company that has long prioritized maintaining existing production lines.

TSMC overseas fabs see profit flip in 1H26

Charlene Chen — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:06:05 GMT

Since 2020, when TSMC began its overseas manufacturing buildout, the company has tracked financial results at its foreign subsidiaries across the first half of 2025, full-year 2025, and the first half of 2026. The Arizona fab, long seen as difficult to make profitable, has expanded sharply, while Japan's JASM has turned from loss to profit, China operations have remained stable, and Germany's ESMC is still in the red as it remains under construction.

Lightmatter sets optical interconnect blueprint as AI hits copper wall

Charlene Chen — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:03:29 GMT

AI data centers are approaching a physical limit: as scale-up architectures stretch across multiple racks and SerDes speeds near 448G, copper's effective transmission distance is shrinking to just a few dozen centimeters, accelerating the industry's shift toward all-optical interconnect architectures.

Phison CEO sees years of NAND shortage, AI growth chance

Lily Hess — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 07:39:28 GMT

Phison Electronics CEO Pua Khein-Seng said the company is seizing a once-in-a-lifetime chance to transform into a high-growth business as AI agents drive massive demand, keeping NAND Flash supply tight for many years. He said 2027 capacity constraints will be even more severe than in 2026, leaving room for further price gains, though the pace of increases will gradually narrow.

Samsung's China sales overtake US; Nvidia not among top five customers

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 07:24:54 GMT

Samsung Electronics' sales to China and the US surged in the first half of 2026 as an AI-driven memory upcycle boosted its semiconductor business, while Nvidia did not rank among the company's five largest customers despite growing ties between the two companies in high-bandwidth memory (HBM).

Record orders, yet profits squeezed: Asia-Pacific electronics supply chain caught in cost crunch

Scarlett Yu — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 07:10:49 GMT

Global Electronics Association survey data show that demand across the global electronics manufacturing industry maintained steady expansion in the first half of 2026, with orders, shipments, and capacity utilization strengthening in most months. Capacity utilization, in particular, reached an all-time high since the survey began in June.

LG-Nvidia physical AI partnership speeds up as robotics chief reportedly heads to South Korea

Scarlett Yu — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 06:28:36 GMT

Less than a week after LG Group and Nvidia signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU), Madison Huang, Nvidia's senior director of product marketing for Omniverse and robotics, is reportedly preparing to visit South Korea and head directly to one of LG's key robotics R&D sites.

Giant warns rising bicycle parts costs will pressure margins

Rodney Chan — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 06:20:00 GMT

Giant said rising raw material prices and price hikes for components from Japanese supplier Shimano, starting from August 2026, will add cost pressure, prompting the bike maker to raise prices on new products to offset the impact. Even so, the company said short-term gross margins are unlikely to hold at prior levels.

China's Vertilite commits US$741M to InP laser chips for AI optical interconnects

Levi Li — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 06:09:23 GMT

Chinese optical chipmaker Jiangsu Vertilite Semiconductor Technology is investing CNY5 billion (approx. US$741 million) in a new communications chip and device R&D and manufacturing base in Changzhou, expanding beyond VCSELs into high-end indium phosphide, or InP, laser chips for AI optical interconnects.

Nvidia closing in on US$100B credit guarantee deal for OpenAI's Ohio data center

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 06:09:22 GMT

Nvidia is approaching an agreement to provide credit guarantees of around US$100 billion for OpenAI's 10GW data center in Ohio, among the largest AI infrastructure projects ever, according to The Information. This is a significant reduction from earlier plans by Nvidia to guarantee US$250 billion for the project, although it would remain by far Nvidia's largest such commitment.

AMD eyes Taalas: will the system ditch HBM, advanced packaging, and 3D stacking?

Yunnie Cheng — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 05:55:00 GMT

The AI compute landscape was jolted in February 2026 by Taalas, a Canadian startup founded by former AMD and NVIDIA architect Ljubisa Bajic. Emerging with an unconventional "Model-Based" chip architecture, which bypasses software to hardwire model structures, parameters, and weights directly into silicon, Taalas emerged from stealth after raising over US$219 million in cumulative funding. Less than six months later, in early August, AMD agreed to acquire Taalas to bolster its strategic position in AI inference.

LG, Nvidia step up humanoid push with robot data factory

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 04:50:00 GMT

Nvidia's Madison Huang is set to visit LG Electronics' Yangjae R&D campus in Seoul on August 18 to inspect the company's robot data factory and hold closed-door talks with senior LG executives on robotics cooperation, according to Yonhap and Chosun Biz.

China battery makers rework costs as lithium prices fall and taxes rise

Willis Ke — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 04:32:19 GMT

China's lithium battery industry is entering a new phase of cost restructuring as falling lithium carbonate prices, uncertain supply conditions and higher taxes squeeze manufacturers' margins, according to Chinese media reports.

Taiwan extends graduate stays to 2 years to ease talent shortages

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 04:18:55 GMT

Taiwan has begun allowing overseas Chinese and foreign graduates with associate degrees or higher to extend their residence for up to two years, a change that has already driven a sharp rise in applications. The policy took effect in January 2026 and is intended to help address the island's talent shortage while making it easier for employers to hire recent graduates.

India draws 20 bids for rare earth magnet manufacturing scheme

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 04:07:55 GMT

India's Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has received 20 bids from domestic and global companies under its scheme to promote manufacturing of sintered rare earth permanent magnets (REPM), a step toward building a local supply chain for a material India currently imports almost entirely from China, according to DD News and the New Indian Express.

TSMC and Micron boom drives Taiwan 'fab five's 1H26 profits

Charlene Chen — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 04:00:22 GMT

TSMC, Micron, ASE, and SPIL continue to expand their advanced-node and OSAT investments, driving stronger first-half 2026 results for Taiwan's fab engineering players — including UIS, MIC, L&K Engineering, YKE and Acter. Together, these five companies, which design and build the specialized facilities and infrastructure that chipmakers rely on, make up what the industry calls the "fab five." With expanding reach into the US, ASEAN and Singapore, the "fab five" have maintained high order backlogs.

Samsung weighs Giheung R&D line for 2nm HBM foundry capacity

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 03:59:38 GMT

Samsung Electronics is reportedly considering repurposing the second line at its next-generation semiconductor R&D complex in Giheung into a foundry send-fab, a shift that would add advanced-node capacity as demand for AI memory strains leading-edge capacity.

Nokia axes 1,600 jobs and Hangzhou R&D center in deepening China telecom retreat

DIGITIMES — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 03:59:05 GMT

Nokia is accelerating its retreat from China, closing its Hangzhou R&D center and cutting about 1,600 jobs as shrinking market access, geopolitical friction and a broader global restructuring reshape the Finnish telecom equipment maker's footprint in the world's largest 5G market.