DIGITIMES Asia: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Chicony Power's full product line to ramp in 2Q26; satellite communications power revenue set to double

Jingyue Hsiao — Wed, 6 May 2026 02:00:00 GMT

Chicony Power's first-quarter performance signals supply-chain resilience and potential upside for global notebook, server, and satellite power markets, as the company forecasts second-quarter revenue growth driven by inventory pull-ins, rising average selling prices, and expanding satellite and AI power-supply businesses serving international customers.

GlobalFoundries sees optical and SiGe momentum drive strategic leap into high-value chip markets

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:58:30 GMT

GlobalFoundries used its first-quarter 2026 earnings call to spotlight advances in silicon photonics (SiPh), co-packaged optics (CPO), and silicon-germanium (SiGe) development while reporting improved margins and steady revenue. CEO Tim Breen and CFO Sam Franklin framed the quarter as evidence of a strategic shift toward higher-value technology corridors and broader technology services.

Largan Industrial Optics and Apollo Power to supply renewable electricity to semiconductor suppliers

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:57:58 GMT

Largan Industrial Optics and Apollo Power announced a green power cooperation agreement on May 5 to supply renewable electricity to global high-tech manufacturing, aiming to support the semiconductor industry's low-carbon transition and meet tighter ESG requirements across international supply chains. The deal is expected to deliver more than 10 million kWh of renewable electricity per year and will initially target upstream and downstream semiconductor suppliers, the firms said.

Hengs Technology shifts to recurring revenue as O&M business matures in 2026

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:54:33 GMT

Hengs Technology, a Taiwan solar system integrator and operator, said its operations and maintenance business would enter a harvest phase in 2026, supporting another year of strong revenue growth. The company said it remained focused on project development and solar and energy storage engineering, procurement, and construction, which accounted for 95.75% of total revenue, and that expanding O&M contracts will transform its revenue mix toward recurring cash flow.

Weblink posts record first-quarter revenue as business PC refresh fuels 70% hardware surge

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:49:46 GMT

Weblink International Inc. reported record consolidated revenue of NT$7.78 billion (US$247 million) for the first quarter of 2026, up 19.8% year on year, and net profit after tax of NT$104 million, rising 26.9%, executives said. The firm attributed the results to a business PC refresh cycle, inventory stocking ahead of demand, and stronger pricing in memory components.

Acer E-Enabling reports record first-quarter revenue as cloud AI projects surge

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:47:31 GMT

Acer E-Enabling Service Business reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of NT$2.96 billion (US$93.9 million), up nearly 15% year on year, and net profit after tax of NT$199 million, delivering earnings per share of NT$4.8 and record revenue and profit for the period. The firm said cloud AI project services expanded rapidly, with project volume increasing nearly 40% year on year as many engagements moved from proof-of-concept into production.

Analysis: The US$2.5 billion smuggling case hanging over Supermicro's US$40 billion year

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:46:17 GMT

Supermicro CEO Charles Liang used the opening of his fiscal third quarter of 2026 earnings call to address a topic unrelated to revenue or margins: the DOJ indictment of former employees for allegedly smuggling AI servers equipped with Nvidia GPUs to China through Southeast Asian transshipment networks.

Tata Electronics targets US$30B semiconductor buildout to anchor India’s manufacturing push

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:45:00 GMT

Tata Electronics is rapidly emerging as one of India's most ambitious bets in the global semiconductor and electronics industry, with a long-term goal of building a US$30 billion business anchored in chip manufacturing, advanced packaging, and electronics services.

Seetel secures JC-STAR dual certification to enter Japan energy storage market

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:44:17 GMT

Taiwan startup Seetel New Energy announced on May 5 that its self-developed energy management and battery management systems have passed Japan Cyber STAR certification from the Information-technology Promotion Agency, a body under Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, positioning the firm for early entry into the Japanese energy storage market. The company said it is the first and only Taiwan-based energy storage systems provider to obtain the dual certification, a credential that will be required for distributed energy resources connecting to Japan's grid beginning in April 2027.

Germany now forecast to miss 2030 BEV target as ICE cars remain dominant

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:41:27 GMT

Germany's rollout of battery electric vehicles (BEV) fell far short of earlier aims, with new forecasts indicating the country will not reach the coalition government's 15 million BEV stock target by 2030, executives and research firms said.

iPhone 17 topples charts as memory costs threaten midrange Android momentum

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:39:07 GMT

Apple and Samsung led the global smartphone market in the first quarter of 2026 as premium demand helped them buck broader shipment declines, industry data showed. According to Counterpoint, the iPhone 17 was the world's best-selling smartphone in the first quarter, while Samsung's Galaxy A series placed five models in the top 10, leaving the two vendors with nine of the top 10 spots.

China EV exports hit 22% in 1Q26, April surge highlights overseas growth shift

Levi Li — Wed, 6 May 2026 01:30:00 GMT

As the global electric vehicle market enters a phase of structural adjustment, China's new energy vehicle makers are increasingly relying on exports to sustain growth and expand their overseas footprint.

Lumentum sees explosive expansion as AI demand fuels record results

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:42:07 GMT

Lumentum reported record third-quarter fiscal 2026 results, with revenue rising to US$808 million, reflecting strong year-over-year growth driven by demand for optical components used in AI infrastructure, according to the company.

GlobalFoundries signals stronger second half despite mixed end-market demand

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:22:34 GMT

GlobalFoundries reported first-quarter results broadly in line with expectations, with management highlighting solid execution and profitability at the upper end of guidance ranges, according to company statements. Chief executive Tim Breen said the company made "significant traction in secular growth end markets," supported by differentiated technologies and customer-focused execution.

Transcend reports record April revenue as memory shortage drives prices higher

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:03:27 GMT

Transcend Information posted consolidated revenue of NT$7.449 billion (roughly $235 million USD) in April 2026, marking its strongest month on record—nearly six times higher than April 2025's NT$1.073 billion. Year-to-date revenue through April already exceeded the company's entire 2025 total of NT$17.13 billion.

TV panel prices stall as China cuts output to defend prices

Lily Hess — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:03:00 GMT

The LCD TV panel market has shifted sharply from aggressive stocking to defensive procurement as global sports-event demand fades, pre-stocking cycles for China's 618 shopping festival wind down, and end-market demand loses momentum. TV brands are now focusing on inventory control and buying only as needed, while Chinese panel makers are trimming production to support prices.

DeepSeek pulls multimodal paper after brief release, reveals new visual reasoning approach

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:02:23 GMT

DeepSeek briefly released, then removed, a multimodal research paper that offers rare insight into its evolving AI strategy, drawing attention across the developer community.

Supermicro posts US$10.2B in Q3 revenue, missing own guidance by US$2B as working capital swings drive US$6.6B cash outflow

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:02:11 GMT

Supermicro reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of US$10.24 billion, up 123% year-over-year but down 19% sequentially and well below both the company's own guidance of at least US$12.3 billion and the analyst consensus of US$12.33 billion. Management attributed the shortfall to customer data center readiness delays and industrywide supply constraints, saying it expects to capture the deferred revenue in the coming quarters.

From China to Arizona: How AI and TSMC are redrawing Taiwan's economic map

Willis Ke — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:02:00 GMT

Taiwan's decades-long tilt toward China is giving way to a sharper, US-focused strategy. Semiconductor expansion and surging demand for AI infrastructure are redrawing the island's trade flows — and its industrial ambitions.

SoftBank, Intel target HBM limits with 9-layer memory

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:01:26 GMT

SoftBank's memory unit SAIMEMORY is preparing to present a new 3D DRAM technology developed with Intel, as the AI hardware industry seeks ways to ease the power and heat constraints of high-bandwidth memory.

Foxconn revenue nears US$95B in first four months, AI server racks fuel 2Q26 outlook

Levi Li — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:01:10 GMT

Driven by sustained growth in AI server demand, Foxconn reported consolidated revenue of NT$832.1 billion (US$26 billion) for April 2026, marking a record high for the month.

AMD lifts outlook as AI demand fuels data center growth

DIGITIMES — Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:55 GMT

On May 5, AMD reported first-quarter 2026 results that exceeded expectations, supported by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, according to company data and media reports. Revenue reached US$10.25 billion, while net profit rose to US$1.38 billion, reflecting robust year-on-year growth across key metrics.

Southeast Asia's fab deficit threatens a chip boom shutout

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 23:15:30 GMT

Global semiconductor sales are projected to reach US$1 trillion this year and could double to US$2 trillion by 2035, driven by rapid growth in AI data centers. But the boom is also shining new light on Southeast Asia's limited front-end manufacturing base, as SEMI urges the region to add more fabs to reduce chip supply-chain concentration in China and Taiwan.

Samsung board chairman warns strike could disrupt chip output

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 23:15:20 GMT

Samsung Electronics' labor dispute is widening beyond a fight over bonuses, after board chairman Shin Je-yoon made a rare appeal for management and unionized workers to resolve the standoff through dialogue as a planned strike threatens to disrupt chip production, customer trust, and South Korea's broader economy.

How Plug and Play is bridging Taiwan's deep tech startups with Silicon Valley capital

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 23:15:04 GMT

For much of the past decade, Taiwan watched from the sidelines as global venture capital poured into software. The island's world-class manufacturers, semiconductor giants, and precision hardware suppliers were celebrated — but they weren't what investors were chasing. That window has now closed. Plug and Play, one of the world's largest startup accelerators, has decided the time is ripe for it to make a move into Taiwan.

E Ink to launch major e-paper zone at COMPUTEX with 40 partners

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 08:57:25 GMT

E Ink Holdings is making its COMPUTEX debut in 2026 with a 1,170 square-meter showcase featuring 40 ecosystem partners. The e-paper industry zone will demonstrate color e-paper and smart surface technology to global manufacturers and retailers.

Tesla AI5 dual sourcing may not mean equal weight for Samsung

Lily Hess — Tue, 5 May 2026 08:47:47 GMT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the company's in-house AI5 chip has completed design tape-out and entered a critical pre-production validation stage. The move has drawn renewed attention from supply chains in Taiwan and South Korea as Tesla builds a scalable computing infrastructure for vehicles, AI training systems, and humanoid robots.

SEMICON SEA 2026: Delta showcases AI-enabled smart manufacturing

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 07:00:02 GMT

Delta Electronics presented its latest AI-enabled smart manufacturing solutions at SEMICON Southeast Asia 2026, underscoring its efforts to advance efficiency, precision, and scalability in semiconductor packaging production amid intensifying industry demands.

South Korea eyes memory-led AI order against Nvidia

Lily Hess — Tue, 5 May 2026 06:58:41 GMT

As AI shifts from training to inference and from single-task use to multi-agent collaboration, South Korea's semiconductor industry is seeking to recast the market around memory rather than GPUs. South Korean academia and industry figures say the AI era will be defined by memory architectures, with the country aiming to build its own framework and challenge an order long dominated by Nvidia.

Ardentec's Longtan plant to start AI ASIC testing in 3Q26

Sherri Wang — Tue, 5 May 2026 06:53:11 GMT

Ardentec's Longtan plant is set to begin taking AI ASIC wafer-probing orders in the third quarter of 2026, as the semiconductor testing provider moves to capture spillover demand from foundry strategic partners.

European delegation meets Taiwan industry to bolster counter-drone cooperation

Jingyue Hsiao — Tue, 5 May 2026 06:52:40 GMT

A European delegation's closed-door talks with Taiwanese industry on counter-drone systems highlight accelerating global security implications as drone warfare evolves rapidly, informed by combat lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East; increased drone proliferation is driving urgent demand for multinational cooperation in technology, strategy, and logistics globally.

Google's TPU push hits Nvidia's neocloud grip

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 06:41:00 GMT

Google's effort to expand its tensor processing units (TPU) beyond its own cloud is meeting resistance from some of the AI infrastructure companies best positioned to distribute alternative chips, with executives from Nebius, Lambda, and CoreWeave saying they do not plan to adopt TPUs anytime soon, according to The Information.

AI and chips propel US back to top of Taiwan's trade chart

Kevin Wang — Tue, 5 May 2026 04:50:32 GMT

Trade between Taiwan and the US reached US$78.25 billion in the first quarter of 2026, driven primarily by advanced node chips and AI servers. This marks the first time in 25 years that the US has surpassed China and Hong Kong to retake its place as Taiwan's largest trading partner. Moreover, Minister of Economic Affairs Ming-hsin Kung has forecast 7% GDP growth for 2026, following 8.68% growth in 2025.

AMI capacity sold out through 2028 as CCL makers race for high-end tools

Sherri Wang — Tue, 5 May 2026 04:48:44 GMT

The PCB industry is entering a new phase of transformation in the AI era, as rising demand for high-frequency and high-speed applications accelerates upgrades in upstream copper-clad laminate (CCL) materials. Among the beneficiaries is impregnation equipment maker Asia Metal Industries (AMI).

TCL reportedly in talks to sell majority stake in India display plant

DIGITIMES — Tue, 5 May 2026 04:48:25 GMT

China's TCL Electronics is reportedly in advanced discussions to sell a majority stake in its Indian display manufacturing business. The move underscores accelerating localization pressure on foreign electronics firms in India and the ongoing restructuring of Chinese supply chain presence in the country.