DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

BenQ Materials expands Xpore circular textile push

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 08:57:39 GMT

BenQ Materials showcased its eco-friendly performance fabric brand Xpore at the Taipei Innovative Textile Application Show (TITAS) 2026, marking the brand's second appearance at the event. The company introduced three core green technologies, six product lines and the commercial rollout of Xpore e2cycle, its electronic-waste recycling process, as it seeks a larger role in the global green materials supply chain.

AMD to expand Taiwan supply chain investment as AI demand drives capacity needs

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 08:48:53 GMT

AMD CEO Lisa Su said the company plans to further increase investment in Taiwan's semiconductor supply chain as demand for CPUs, GPUs, and AI computing continues to outpace available capacity.

ITRI sees hardware, AI, sensing drive quadruped robot rollout

Lily Hess — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 08:27:00 GMT

As AI advances rapidly, the robotics industry is evolving from traditional automation equipment into a productivity tool for every industry, Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said. ITRI added that robots will gradually move into manufacturing, inspection, welding, warehousing, medical care, and even homes, and that hardware, AI, sensing, and virtual-physical integration will be key to turning robots from simply machines that can move into ones that can work.

Chinese LCD panel makers tighten supply to lift prices — Taiwan suppliers eye order shifts

Levi Li — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 08:23:56 GMT

Chinese panel makers moved to cut production during the National Day holiday after issuing their first price increase notices in September, combining pricing signals with supply controls to stabilize LCD TV panel prices and profitability.

South Korea keeps sovereign AI contest on track, adds KRW4.7T frontier program after hours of confusion

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 07:22:00 GMT

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said its Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project will run to completion as originally planned. The statement reversed, within hours, a vice minister's suggestion that the national-team AI competition would wind down as the government launches a new KRW4.7 trillion frontier AI program.

China's 15th five-year plan elevates PCB role in AI supply chains

Charlene Chen — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 07:12:11 GMT

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission have released the 15th Five-Year Plan for the development of the electronic information manufacturing industry, aiming to push revenue at large-scale enterprises above CNY30 trillion (US$4.5 trillion) by 2030 and foster world-class companies in semiconductors, advanced computing, consumer electronics, basic electronics, and energy electronics.

Samsung secures customer backing for US$5B substrate expansion

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 07:05:50 GMT

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is investing KRW6.78 trillion (approx. US$5 billion) to expand FCBGA capacity in South Korea and Vietnam. The projects are backed by customer funding and medium- to long-term volume commitments, as demand for high-performance package substrates pushes Korean production lines toward high utilization.

Taiwan bets on SiPh, CPO to tackle AI data center power bottlenecks

Willis Ke — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 07:02:39 GMT

Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has launched two research programs targeting silicon photonics (SiPh) and next-generation AI data center power systems, seeking to address energy and performance bottlenecks as high-speed computing shifts increasingly from copper to optical interconnects.

TSMC tops global FDI ranking as AI infrastructure redraws overseas investment

Levi Li — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 07:01:13 GMT

The direction of global corporate investment in physical assets is becoming clearer. According to the fDi Report 2026 and an analysis by Visual Capitalist, announced greenfield foreign direct investment by multinational companies exceeded US$1.3 trillion in 2025, up 2.2% from a year earlier.

Taiwan's NSTC seeks AI data center power tech to reduce grid impact of load spikes

Kevin Wang — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 06:20:00 GMT

Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has recently issued a call for proposals on "high-performance power conversion and system management technologies for next-generation AI data centers." The aim is to help AI-related industries discover and develop usable technologies that can reduce AI's impact on the power grid. The effort targets power consumption, the single biggest customer-side issue facing companies in AI chip design and manufacturing and AI server assembly.

Apple, Qualcomm renew patent deal, iPhone modem shift deepens

Lily Hess — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 06:03:00 GMT

Qualcomm announced on September 24 that it has renewed its global patent licensing agreement with Apple, with the new contract set to take effect on April 1, 2027. The terms and value of the deal were not disclosed, but Apple's long-running move toward in-house modem chips continues to draw close attention.

Drone share tops 10% as Calin Technology eyes LEO optics, auto growth

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 05:48:08 GMT

Optical lens maker Calin Technology is seeing its new business ventures bear fruit. Revenue from its drone camera module segment has surpassed 10% of total sales in 2026 and is targeting over 15%, making it the company's fastest-growing product line this year. Meanwhile, automotive lens revenue is projected to remain flat in 2026 before returning to growth in 2027, driven by a new design-in project with a US automaker.

China National Day EV charging surges 49% as highway grid faces peak-load test

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 05:01:19 GMT

China's National Day holidays have driven a massive surge in long-distance electric vehicle (EV) travel. According to data from China's National Energy Administration cited by The Paper, the 62,700 monitored highway charging facilities across the country completed 2.97 million EV charging sessions from October 1 to 3, a 48.41% increase compared to the same period in 2025. Total electricity delivered reached 71.62 million kWh, up roughly 49.39% year-over-year.

Nittobo expands glass cloth output as AI chip demand strains global supply

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:47:47 GMT

Nittobo is expanding production of its T-Glass glass cloth as demand from AI chip makers tightens a critical part of the global semiconductor supply chain. The move matters beyond Japan because shortages of this insulating material could slow advanced chip production, raise costs, and affect technology markets worldwide.

How RobCo and the robotics unicorn wave are redefining industrial automation

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:40:39 GMT

Physical AI is shifting from a hardware niche into the next foundational computing platform, driving record investor capital into embodied intelligence systems.

Arcadyan September revenue hits record on mobile communications strength

Lily Hess — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:29:44 GMT

As the networking market enters its traditional peak season, customer demand is gradually recovering. Arcadyan Technology announced on October 5 its September revenue, which reached NT$5.06 billion (approx. US$159.3 million), up 7.0% month-over-month and 8.5% year-over-year. This marked a record high.

Skyworks closes Qorvo deal, forming US RF and analog powerhouse

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:28:10 GMT

Skyworks Solutions (Nasdaq: SWKS) has completed its combination with Qorvo, creating a US-based supplier of high-performance radio frequency (RF), power management, and analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. The company expects annual cost synergies of US$500 million or more, and says the deal will add to non-GAAP earnings per share right away.

Huawei's Kirin 9050 Pro reveals new logic folding chip design

Charlene Chen — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:26:08 GMT

Huawei's Kirin 9050 Pro has been fully broken down by Chinese and overseas researchers, giving the market a closer look at the company's "LogicFolding" approach. Analysis from Geekerwan and die-shot images posted by Kurnal Insights show that the flagship SoC in the Huawei Mate 90 Pro Max uses two vertically stacked dies rather than a traditional single-plane chip design.

Thunder Tiger's new drone tests signal broader defense market ambitions

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:22:36 GMT

Thunder Tiger's successful launch and takeoff tests of its new Iron Triangle PAPADELTA drone line highlight how global defense customers are shaping the next phase of unmanned systems. The company is using the platform to target longer-range missions, mobile deployment, and export opportunities across the US, Europe, and other markets.

3.2T optical upgrade triggers PCB redesign, shrinking supplier pool to 3

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:15:35 GMT

As AI computing clusters continue to expand, performance requirements for scale-out interconnects between racks are rising rapidly. This is pushing traditional pluggable optical transceivers from 800G to 1.6T and accelerating the transition toward future 3.2T products, a shift reshaping printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing from substrate materials to processing technologies.

Samsung steps up HBM cooling as TSMC expands CoWoS

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:15:08 GMT

Samsung Electronics is expanding its thermal-management efforts for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) beyond the memory stack as increasingly large chip packages raise heat-management challenges.

BizLink revenue rises on European site restart, Interplex integration

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 04:04:20 GMT

BizLink-KY said September revenue climbed as it ended summer shutdowns at its European facilities and consolidated Interplex Datacom's data communications business, underscoring how global supply chains and AI infrastructure demand are reshaping sales trends worldwide. The company said momentum should remain strong as data center orders expand and new products ramp up.

Solidigm expands Taiwan SSD production base to tap AI server supply chain

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 03:57:53 GMT

Solidigm, SK Hynix's NAND subsidiary, is expanding its Taiwan production base for data center solid-state drives (SSDs), underscoring the island's growing role in the global AI server supply chain. The move could affect global SSD supply, customer sourcing, and partnerships across the fast-growing data center market.

Jedec unveils new standard for silicon photonics reliability qualification and testing

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 03:52:28 GMT

Jedec released a new standard for silicon photonics (SiPh) testing and manufacturing controls to promote consistent reliability practices. The standard comes as SiPh experiences rapid growth due to its potential to replace copper interconnects amid AI infrastructure demand surges.

AM Intelligence expands India AI infrastructure push with 20,000 more Nvidia Rubin GPUs

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 03:36:14 GMT

AM Intelligence (AMI) is widening its AI infrastructure push in India and Malaysia, adding to a regional buildout that could matter well beyond Asia. The latest orders expand access to frontier computing for cloud providers and developers, while signaling a shift in global AI capacity toward new hubs outside North America.

Qualcomm takes Arm to trial again, with billions in royalties at stake

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 03:04:04 GMT

Qualcomm and Arm opened a five-day trial in US federal court in Delaware on October 5, with Qualcomm seeking to stop paying Arm royalties for up to five years, a remedy potentially worth billions of dollars. The dispute comes as Qualcomm pushes deeper into data centers, raising the stakes of a licensing relationship largely formed around the smartphone market.

Notebook downturn splits supply chain: ODMs lean on servers, component makers seek new growth

Scarlett Yu — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:56:09 GMT

Notebook shipments performed better than expected in the first half of 2026, but the market entered a sharp downturn beginning in September, in stark contrast to previous years, when the month typically marked the start of the peak season.

Electric scooter sales rise 33% in September but year-over-year slowdown persists

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:55:12 GMT

Taiwan's motorcycle market emerged from the seasonal lull in September 2026, with total registrations rising to 70,189, up 16.78% month-over-month. Electric scooter sales also rebounded, with 3,482 units sold in the month, up 32.9%.

September auto market beats expectations; Hotai sees stable Q4

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:48:59 GMT

Hotai Motor said Taiwan's auto market should remain stable in the fourth quarter, after September sales came in better than expected and the company kept its full-year 2026 forecast at 430,000 vehicles. The distributor also said sales of Toyota, Lexus, and Hino models will still target 165,000 units in 2026.

Taiwan unveils new 5-year quantum tech program to speed adoption

Rodney Chan — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:40:32 GMT

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has announced the details of its next five-year quantum research program as Taiwan prepares to wrap up its current NT$8 billion (US$252.14 million) National Quantum Team project by the end of 2026.

Samsung recasts India as global innovation base after three decades of manufacturing

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:34:53 GMT

Samsung Electronics says its India operations, which it set up in 1995, have evolved from a manufacturing base into a global innovation hub. The South Korean company is pitching the country as a source of technology for its worldwide business, rather than only as a market and production base.

Qualcomm says Huawei patent deal not tied to LogicFolding, rejects net-payer claims

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:34:32 GMT

Correction, Oct. 6, 2026: An earlier version of this story, citing Bloomberg, reported that Qualcomm had agreed to license patents related to Huawei's LogicFolding technology. Qualcomm said on Oct. 6 that assertions linking the agreement to LogicFolding are not accurate. The story has been revised throughout.

TSMC expansion pushes Da Yi Cheng Technology's orders over NT$10 billion, visibility through 2028

Eifeh Strom — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:21:07 GMT

Da Yi Cheng Technology (DYC) has rapidly expanded in recent years, benefiting from the global semiconductor capacity expansion wave, which has driven demand for second-phase electrical and mechanical installation work. The company is now applying its experience in the US, Japan, Germany, and Singapore.

Behind the US$4.2 trillion revenue gap in AI infrastructure

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:18:50 GMT

AI data center plans and computing demand are expanding far faster than physical infrastructure can be built, creating a widening gap between planned and actually deployed compute. A review tracking construction progress and satellite imagery shows that while US data center construction continues to accelerate, bottlenecks in chip supply, advanced packaging, power, transformers and permitting could become key constraints on AI compute deployment.

Sony to transfer 418 XR patents to Meta

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:03:35 GMT

Sony plans to transfer 418 extended reality (XR) patents to Meta, with 43 of those transfers already completed. Analysts say the move signals Sony's retrenchment from XR hardware, while giving Meta a stronger patent position as it pushes deeper into AI glasses.

Pentagon creates autonomous warfare command to speed AI arms buildup

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:01:45 GMT

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a new Autonomous Warfare Command (AWC) and is pushing a low-cost manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics-based combat model to accelerate the military's overhaul of drone, AI, and autonomous systems capabilities. The move signals a shift away from the US military's reliance on expensive, limited weapons platforms toward a large-scale autonomous warfare framework that balances quality and quantity.

NTT Data bets on India to lift its AI business as data center race heats up

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 02:00:58 GMT

NTT Data expects India to contribute a larger share of its global artificial intelligence (AI) business than it does of its overall IT services business, as the Japanese company pushes ahead with a three-year investment program in the country focused on data centers.

Meta open-sources Muse Gadgets SDK for building AI devices

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:59:16 GMT

Meta has open-sourced the Muse Gadgets software development kit (SDK) and firmware code, allowing developers to build physical devices that interact with its AI assistant Muse and extend the service into more real-world settings.

Meta, Microsoft reportedly cut internal Claude use as AI costs rise

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:54:42 GMT

Meta and Microsoft are reducing employees' internal reliance on Anthropic's Claude as they push proprietary AI tools and seek greater control over rapidly rising AI costs, according to The Information. The shift comes even as both companies continue to use Anthropic models in products and cloud services.

HBM4 prices to nearly triple in 2027, memory makers see windfall margins spread

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:53:23 GMT

Memory supply and demand will tighten further in 2027. According to supply chain sources, South Korean memory makers have recently quoted aggressive long-term contract prices for sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4). While HBM4 prices are expected to sit at around US$500-US$550 in 2026, quotes for 2027 could surge to US$1,400-US$1,600—representing a massive 1.8x to 1.9x price increase.

Chicony Power sees satellite, server orders surge in 4Q26

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:48:43 GMT

Chicony Power Technology reported self-calculated consolidated revenue of NT$2.413 billion (approx. US$75.91 million) in September 2026, down 2.3% month-over-month, as memory shortages and cost pressure slowed notebook (NB) power customers' pull-in pace. The company said non-NB business remained solid and expects satellite communications power and server power momentum to strengthen, with satellite communications power orders likely to surge in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Can satellites share power?— Star Catcher puts an orbital grid to the test

Scarlett Yu — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:47:05 GMT

As in-orbit AI computing, Earth observation, and defense missions expand rapidly, satellites are demanding more power, turning energy supply into an emerging challenge for the growing space economy.

MIPS deepens RISC-V ties with China despite US-China tech tensions

Sherri Wang — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:45:10 GMT

Despite intense technology competition between the US and China, cooperation between the two sides on the open-standard RISC-V architecture continues to deepen, with US intellectual property provider MIPS expanding its work with Chinese industry.

Anthropic IPO filing flags legal risks over AI agents

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:44:39 GMT

Anthropic said in its IPO filing that as artificial intelligence (AI) systems gain greater autonomous capabilities, the risks rise as well, while current law still does not clearly define who is liable when AI agents go off the rails. The company warned that the legal exposure is significant and hard to predict as AI remains connected to enterprise systems for long periods and acts on data and tools independently.

OpenAI to watermark ChatGPT, Codex text in EU under AI Act

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:34:07 GMT

OpenAI will begin adding invisible, machine-readable watermarks to text generated by ChatGPT and Codex in the European Union (EU), as the company moves to comply with the EU AI Act's transparency requirements.

The death of the software seat: cheaper AI tokens turn enterprise computing into metered labor

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:30:38 GMT

The ferocious push toward artificial intelligence is gathering momentum amid growing industry demand for higher AI inference and increasingly compute-intensive models.

Nanya Technology, Winbond Electronics hit record highs for 10 consecutive months in September 2026

Eifeh Strom — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:30:02 GMT

Taiwan memory suppliers Nanya Technology and Winbond Electronics have set new monthly revenue records for 11 and 10 consecutive months, respectively, as their September 2026 consolidated revenues continued to grow.

MediaTek group spans Wi-Fi, 5G and PON to target AI-era network infrastructure

Scarlett Yu — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 01:21:00 GMT

MediaTek and subsidiary Airoha Technology will jointly showcase new technologies spanning Wi-Fi, 5G CPE, and passive optical networking (PON) at Network X 2026, scheduled for October 13–15 in Vienna, Austria.

Schneider Electric's deal to buy PTC is the next step in its software push

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:15:29 GMT

Schneider Electric has agreed to purchase software company PTC in a deal valuing its equity at around US$22.6 billion. The all-cash acquisition marks the French energy and tech company's latest move to expand into the software and AI market.

Google Gemini 4 Argon sparks internal doubts

Charlene Chen — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:14:10 GMT

Google's new flagship AI model, Gemini 4 Argon, has drawn strong results in multiple benchmark tests, but some employees still say its coding performance is not stable enough. According to Bloomberg, opinion inside Google is split, with some staff saying the model falls short in front-end development and that rivals from Anthropic and OpenAI are advancing faster.

LB Semicon expands power chip capacity as Qualcomm production ramps up

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:13:50 GMT

South Korean outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) provider LB Semicon is expanding power semiconductor backend capacity at its Gumi plant as it steps up efforts to reduce its reliance on display driver integrated circuits (DDIs) and a highly concentrated customer base, backed by new business from Qualcomm and Renesas and KRW30 billion (approx. US$22.3 million) in planned equipment investment.

DeepSeek closes in on US rivals despite chip curbs

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:12:56 GMT

China's leading AI models have narrowed their performance gap with US rivals to a record low, while DeepSeek's latest advances in memory efficiency and its deepening work with Huawei suggest Chinese developers are finding ways to improve model performance despite tighter access to advanced US chips.

Samsung ramps Exynos 2700 wafer production as second-gen 2nm rollout advances

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:12:38 GMT

Samsung Electronics has reportedly begun front-end wafer mass production of its next-generation Exynos 2700 mobile application processor, with production volume planned at more than 10% above that of the Exynos 2600 as the company prepares to expand use of its in-house chips across the Galaxy S27 lineup.

China's glass substrate ramp-up outpaces South Korea with WG Tech targeting 1M sqm

Charlene Chen — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:12:14 GMT

China's WG Tech has reportedly begun the second phase of investment in its through-glass via (TGV) glass substrate production line, with total future capacity projected to reach 1 million square meters a year. Analysts say Chinese makers have moved ahead of South Korean rivals by building production lines first, then accelerating product output and customer validation, giving China an early lead in glass substrate commercialization.

LinkCom eyes 4Q26 rebound on smart meter, wireless charging demand

DIGITIMES — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:11:32 GMT

Magnetic components maker LinkCom Manufacturing posted September consolidated revenue of NT$44.18 million (approx. US$1.39 million), up 32.53% from a month earlier and down 10.24% from a year earlier. Cumulative consolidated revenue for the first three quarters reached NT$411 million, a 10.21% decline from the same period in 2025.

Column: How semiconductors' evolution foretells the rise of AI data centers

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:10:30 GMT

Semiconductors and AI data centers share a striking number of similarities.

Analysis: China automakers' US entry paths remain open

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:09:28 GMT

The recent summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded without progress on automotive issues—namely, whether Chinese automakers might enter the US market or build manufacturing plants on American soil. While the prospect had previously sparked anxiety among American, European, and Japanese carmakers, the topic yielded no tangible breakthrough during the talks.

Kawasaki teams with Noetra on fully autonomous humanoid robot

Lily Hess — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:09:06 GMT

Kawasaki Heavy Industries plans to launch an AI-powered fully autonomous humanoid robot as early as 2030, using a physical AI platform under development by Japan's Noetra. Nikkei reported that Noetra is backed by 44 Japanese companies, including SoftBank and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Marvell sees custom chips as a must for CSPs

Charlene Chen — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:08:33 GMT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said Marvell's optical technology could help make it the next trillion-dollar company, and Marvell took a step toward that goal on September 17 by expanding its partnership with GlobalFoundries (GF). The deal came as the AI computing race shifted from a simple chip contest into a system-level battle spanning interconnects, memory, and networking.

Winbond, Phison bonuses signal fiercer memory talent war

Charlene Chen — Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:08:07 GMT

Memory chip profitability has surged as core operations improve sharply, with some Winbond employees reportedly receiving NT$500,000 to NT$1 million (US$15,733.41–31,466.83) in cash bonuses, helping reverse the company's recent loss-making image. The move underscores growing confidence in the memory outlook and a widening talent battle in Taiwan's tech sector.

Samsung opens Boston quantum design lab to expand US research push

DIGITIMES — Mon, 5 Oct 2026 12:45:00 GMT

Samsung Electronics has set up a Quantum Design Lab in the Boston area of Massachusetts and started hiring for it, marking a new phase in the company's push into quantum computing. The effort places the South Korean tech giant closer to US research hubs and signals a broader attempt to connect semiconductor expertise with quantum development.