DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Gelsinger calls HBM 'lousy', SK Hynix says it's not memory's final answer

Lily Hess — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:53:33 GMT

High-bandwidth memory (HBM), a core component in AI semiconductors, has drawn fresh scrutiny after former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger called it "lousy" at a recent AI summit in Paris. SK Hynix, the market leader in this type of memory, also said it is not the final answer to AI memory bottlenecks, underscoring the industry's push to find a next-generation memory architecture beyond HBM.

Asia Vital Components sees stronger AI server demand and faster liquid cooling adoption

Jingyue Hsiao — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:53:01 GMT

Asia Vital Components expects global AI server demand to strengthen in the second half, with liquid cooling adoption becoming more common — a shift carrying implications for data center operators and suppliers worldwide. The company sees higher shipments of ASIC chips and Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform driving growth, and estimates that liquid-cooling penetration in AI servers will reach 50% by 2027.

Taiwan Gold Card approvals for finance professionals top 1,000

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:52:41 GMT

Taiwan has approved more than 1,000 Employment Gold Cards for finance professionals as the government broadens its push to attract overseas talent and develop Taiwan into an Asian asset-management center.

Research Insight: Unitree IPO reveals humanoid robot commercialization still in early innings

Scarlett Yu — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:50:18 GMT

Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics has drawn significant market attention with its IPO. Based on DIGITIMES' review of the company's three-hour IPO roadshow and Q&A session on August 7, chairman Xingxing Wang and the management team provided further details on humanoid robot commercialization, embodied intelligence, and its supply chain strategy.

J&V Energy lifts 1H revenue on storage and green power trading

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:49:45 GMT

J&V Energy Technology said its first-half 2026 results were lifted by growing energy storage projects and green power trading, with consolidated revenue reaching NT$3.498 billion (US$108.74 million). The Taiwan-based renewable energy group said gross profit rose 67% year over year to NT$570 million, while operating profit increased 195% to NT$109 million.

Lotes sees tight supply, says demand remains intact

Lily Hess — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:48:58 GMT

Connector maker Lotes is deepening its server business, with its server quick disconnect (QD) line set to enter mass production in July, and expansion is expected to accelerate at the same time. A new-generation server platform is expected to begin small-volume shipments in the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by a larger-scale ramp-up in early 2027, making both key growth drivers to watch in the coming quarters.

Century Group pivots beyond offshore wind with four-pronged energy strategy

Scarlett Yu — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:48:29 GMT

Century Iron and Steel Industrial (CIS) and Century Wind Power (CWP) held a joint investor conference on August 13. Driven by a significant increase in the revenue contribution from offshore wind foundation engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects beginning in 2026, CWP said it expects revenue to reach new highs in both 2026 and 2027, with profit in 2026 also poised to set a record.

Tripod posts record second-quarter margins on strong server and memory demand

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:45:32 GMT

Tripod Technology said revenue and profit both hit record highs in the second quarter of 2026, driven by strong shipments of server and memory products and the continued effect of price increases implemented to pass on higher raw material costs. The PCB maker said gross margin rose above 30% for the first time as demand held up across its key business lines.

MicroIP sees second-half revenue lift as board approves cash raise

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:45:18 GMT

MICROIP, which focuses on AI software design services and ASIC design services, said its first-half 2026 financial report showed continued investment in core technologies and key IP. The company also disclosed that its board approved a cash capital increase to support working capital and ongoing development as more projects move into production and delivery.

Taiwan offshore wind lifts marine engineering and ocean industry output

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:43:52 GMT

Taiwan's ocean-related industries generated NT$1.5108 trillion in 2024, according to reports presented to the Cabinet on the 13th by the National Science and Technology Council and the Ocean Affairs Council. The latest figures showed how offshore wind and marine engineering helped drive growth in the country's blue economy.

Taiwan approves NT$8 billion ocean tech program for security and industry

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:41:19 GMT

Taiwan's government approved a four-year ocean technology and industry development program for 2027-2030 and will seek more than NT$8 billion in funding. The plan was designed to strengthen maritime security, expand scientific research, and improve industrial competitiveness as Taipei responds to growing pressure in its surrounding waters.

Interview: Acrab CEO Ken Phua on building agentic AI silicon in Singapore

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:58:00 GMT

Ken Phua, former Arm China co-CEO, spent 25 years abroad building someone else's business model. He came home to Singapore to build his own.

Acer COO Jerry Kao resigns; Chairman Jason Chen to fill role

Joseph(C) Chen — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:58:23 GMT

Acer announced a major management change on August 14, saying chief operating officer Jerry Kao has resigned with immediate effect. Chairman and CEO Jason Chen will take on the duties on an interim basis.

Research insight: Delta, Lite-on raise capex to 9% of revenue in AI data center power race

Levi Li — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:46:45 GMT

The speed of AI data center deployment is raising the bar for power and cooling suppliers. Chipmakers such as Nvidia and AMD are refreshing platforms annually, with each generation bringing sharp increases in power density and thermal requirements. Suppliers that cannot match that pace in R&D or capacity deployment risk missing the next design cycle.

Memory supply crunch pushes long-term contracts beyond the big three

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:55:15 GMT

The global memory supply shortage is intensifying, with long-term agreements (LTAs) rapidly expanding beyond the three major memory manufacturers—Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron Technology—to include Sandisk, Nanya Technology Corporation, and China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).

AI server tracker: Demand drives July revenue gains across Taiwan infrastructure suppliers

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:47:26 GMT

Data center infrastructure providers reported revenue gains across baseboard management controllers (BMCs), optical modules, power supply components, and thermal management products. Some companies, such as LandMark Optoelectronics and Auras Technology, reported year-over-year July revenue growth exceeding 100%.

AI infrastructure enters multi-architecture fabric competition; Optical-copper interconnects and supply-chain coordination determine system performance

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:38:02 GMT

AI infrastructure enters multi-architecture fabric competition; Optical-copper interconnects and supply-chain coordination determine system performance

SK hynix scouts US memory fab sites as customers seek local supply

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:12:43 GMT

SK hynix has spent more than a month studying potential locations in the US and other regions for a front-end memory fab, as American customers press the company to expand wafer production closer to home.

South Korea chip cluster could expand to nine fabs as SK plans new investment

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 08:22:27 GMT

South Korea's planned southwestern semiconductor cluster could eventually expand from four fabs to as many as nine as the government accelerates land, power, and infrastructure work around Gwangju, while local officials say SK Group is expected to unveil a major investment in eastern Jeonnam.

China AI chip demand lifts Hygon revenue 67%, Sugon profit 34% as domestic computing expands

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 07:55:00 GMT

Hygon Information posted a 66.5% increase in first-half 2026 revenue as accelerating artificial intelligence deployment and stronger demand for domestically developed computing chips lifted sales of its high-end processors.

Alibaba Cloud's 6-year evolution: five super data centers pivoting to AI compute

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 07:50:00 GMT

Alibaba Cloud's Lingjun Zhenwu M890 supernode has officially gone live, with its initial commercial deployment in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia—the same super data center launched six years ago. The site is now hosting next-generation AI supernode compute capabilities, bringing Alibaba Cloud's "Five Super Data Centers" back into the spotlight as the company positions itself for the AI era.

South Korea's memory-chip exports surge 277% as system chips slip

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 07:27:43 GMT

South Korea's semiconductor export boom was heavily concentrated in memory in July. Memory-chip export value surged 276.9% year over year, while system semiconductor exports slipped 0.7%, as server demand and higher memory prices created a sharp split between the two segments.

Alibaba Cloud races ahead with Ulanqab AI infrastructure

Yunnie Cheng — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:55:00 GMT

Since early 2026, AI upstarts such as DeepSeek have increasingly pivoted toward building or co-owning their own data centers. This reflects a broader shift across China's AI sector: moving away from asset-light models reliant on leasing server space to gaining deep control over computing infrastructure. AI firms are no longer merely buying GPUs; they are stockpiling strategic compute assets, with 10,000-to-100,000-card GPU clusters becoming the baseline requirement.

Global PMX sees semiconductor demand driving growth through 2027 as product mix shifts

Jingyue Hsiao — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:55:00 GMT

Global PMX said its semiconductor business is emerging as the main growth driver and is expected to continue expanding through 2027, while automotive sales remain steady and are expected to improve as the global auto market recovers. The company also said its workforce is still rising, reflecting stronger shipments from Vietnam and Zhejiang plants.

OCP APAC 2026: What if AI's next efficiency breakthrough is simply moving less?

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:55:00 GMT

For years, the logic of AI infrastructure has been straightforward: move more data, push more power, transmit more signals, remove more heat.

Insight: Intel raises US$20B, but its 14A ambitions may need twice as much

Levi Li — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:28:48 GMT

DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin, speaking on a recent podcast, used Intel's latest equity fundraising plan to examine who is benefiting most from the current surge in server CPU demand and how much more capital Intel may need to reach the 1.4nm generation.

Alibaba Cloud cuts AI data center build time to 100 days, triples global modular capacity

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:15:40 GMT

Alibaba Cloud has cut the delivery cycle for large AI data centers to 100 days with its CUBE 5.0 modular architecture, while lowering construction costs by more than 10% and increasing computing density as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates.

SanDisk lays out multiyear NAND roadmap and AI storage targets at investor day

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:12:00 GMT

SanDisk Corp used its August 13, 2026 investor day to detail a technology roadmap and a set of financial targets it says will carry the flash-memory maker through the end of the decade. The plans center on new multiyear supply contracts with data center customers and an accelerating NAND product cadence built around artificial intelligence inference workloads.

MPI posts record 2Q26 revenue, profit as probe card capacity stays fully loaded

Eifeh Strom — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:55:00 GMT

Taiwanese test interface provider MPI said that continued strong expansion demand from global artificial intelligence (AI) customers, along with its growing global market share in mid- to high-end test interfaces, drove both revenue and profit to record highs in the second quarter of 2026. The company added that probe card capacity remained fully utilized as demand outpaces supply.

Compal lifts profit on AI PCs and servers as component costs rise

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:33:32 GMT

Compal Electronics said second-quarter 2026 revenue and profit increased as AI PCs and server demand offset higher memory and other component costs. The Taiwanese electronics maker said the PC industry is moving into a gross margin readjustment phase, and it plans to defend margins while pushing for higher absolute gross profit as AI server scale-up becomes more important in 2027.

Chinese analog chipmaker Novosense returns to profit on AI server, auto demand

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:33:07 GMT

Suzhou Novosense Microelectronics expects to return to profitability in the first half of 2026, with revenue rising nearly 67% as demand for AI computing infrastructure, automotive electronics, server power supplies, and renewable energy systems lifts semiconductor shipments.

AMD reportedly to issue up to US$5B in bonds amid tech debt sale wave

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is launching up to US$5 billion in debt offerings, part of a wave of tech companies reaching for capital markets to fund investments in AI-driven technologies. The move comes as the company is competing with both Intel and Nvidia to capture enormous opportunities from data center development and agentic AI.

VinSpace signs SpaceX launch deal for first satellites in 2027

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 04:50:00 GMT

Vietnamese aerospace startup VinSpace has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch its first satellites in 2027. Bloomberg reported that the payloads will fly on a SpaceX Transporter mission, a rideshare service that carries multiple customers on a single launch.

Samsung weighs moving legacy memory backend work to Vietnam to free up capacity for HBM

DIGITIMES — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 04:25:47 GMT

Samsung Electronics may move part of the general-purpose DRAM and NAND packaging and testing now handled at its Cheonan and Onyang sites in South Korea to Vietnam, potentially freeing domestic backend capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), according to DealSite.

Eternal Precision Mechanics accelerates advanced packaging push with wafer lamination

Charlene Chen — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 04:22:44 GMT

Eternal Precision Mechanics (EPM), a small but fast-growing subsidiary of Eternal Materials, is accelerating its shift from IC substrates into advanced packaging equipment. The company said it is now developing equipment for chip-in-package, glass substrates, and organic interposers, while also moving from panel lamination into wafer lamination, primarily targeting "Taiwan's largest semiconductor manufacturer."

DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Gelsinger calls HBM 'lousy', SK Hynix says it's not memory's final answer

Asia Vital Components sees stronger AI server demand and faster liquid cooling adoption

Taiwan Gold Card approvals for finance professionals top 1,000

Research Insight: Unitree IPO reveals humanoid robot commercialization still in early innings

J&amp;V Energy lifts 1H revenue on storage and green power trading

Lotes sees tight supply, says demand remains intact

Century Group pivots beyond offshore wind with four-pronged energy strategy

Tripod posts record second-quarter margins on strong server and memory demand

MicroIP sees second-half revenue lift as board approves cash raise

Taiwan offshore wind lifts marine engineering and ocean industry output

Taiwan approves NT$8 billion ocean tech program for security and industry

Interview: Acrab CEO Ken Phua on building agentic AI silicon in Singapore

Acer COO Jerry Kao resigns; Chairman Jason Chen to fill role

Research insight: Delta, Lite-on raise capex to 9% of revenue in AI data center power race

Memory supply crunch pushes long-term contracts beyond the big three

AI server tracker: Demand drives July revenue gains across Taiwan infrastructure suppliers

AI infrastructure enters multi-architecture fabric competition; Optical-copper interconnects and supply-chain coordination determine system performance

SK hynix scouts US memory fab sites as customers seek local supply

South Korea chip cluster could expand to nine fabs as SK plans new investment

China AI chip demand lifts Hygon revenue 67%, Sugon profit 34% as domestic computing expands

Alibaba Cloud's 6-year evolution: five super data centers pivoting to AI compute

South Korea's memory-chip exports surge 277% as system chips slip

Alibaba Cloud races ahead with Ulanqab AI infrastructure

Global PMX sees semiconductor demand driving growth through 2027 as product mix shifts

OCP APAC 2026: What if AI's next efficiency breakthrough is simply moving less?

Insight: Intel raises US$20B, but its 14A ambitions may need twice as much

Alibaba Cloud cuts AI data center build time to 100 days, triples global modular capacity

SanDisk lays out multiyear NAND roadmap and AI storage targets at investor day

MPI posts record 2Q26 revenue, profit as probe card capacity stays fully loaded

Compal lifts profit on AI PCs and servers as component costs rise

Chinese analog chipmaker Novosense returns to profit on AI server, auto demand

AMD reportedly to issue up to US$5B in bonds amid tech debt sale wave

VinSpace signs SpaceX launch deal for first satellites in 2027

Samsung weighs moving legacy memory backend work to Vietnam to free up capacity for HBM

Eternal Precision Mechanics accelerates advanced packaging push with wafer lamination

J&V Energy lifts 1H revenue on storage and green power trading