DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

The 1,000-watt problem: a TSMC veteran on the brute force forging Nvidia's AI chips

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:09:00 GMT

"He practically created a new era—the age of AI," Mou-Shiung Lin said of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Yet, the early TSMC executive describes the methodology behind that success in blunt terms: it is "violent."

Australia sets LNG reserve rules to protect domestic supply and cap prices

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:29:00 GMT

Australia introduced a liquefied natural gas reserve policy aimed at prioritizing domestic supply, while producers warned the rules could pressure prices if the market becomes oversupplied. The changes, scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2028, were reported by Bloomberg and Reuters as the government moved to secure gas for local buyers in the world's second-largest LNG exporting nation after Qatar.

Kokusai Electric gains from Hitachi split as AI memory demand surges

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:27:00 GMT

Kokusai Electric, the semiconductor equipment maker spun off from Hitachi and later acquired by KKR, has emerged as one of the clearest winners from Hitachi's restructuring. According to Nikkei, the company benefited from faster decision-making, continued research and development spending, and rising demand for advanced memory equipment as AI infrastructure spending accelerated in the second half of 2024.

LG sells 15 US image patents to Honor as IP monetization expands

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:24:00 GMT

LG Electronics has transferred 15 US image-related standard essential patents to Honor in late August 2026, according to South Korean media reports citing US Patent and Trademark Office records. The deal extends LG's strategy of monetizing communications and video technology assets following its exit from the smartphone market in 2021.

UAE commits EUR40B to expand Germany ties in AI, energy and defense

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:26:00 GMT

The United Arab Emirates said it plans to invest EUR40 billion in Germany, or about US$46 billion, across artificial intelligence, energy and defense as it deepens economic and strategic ties with Europe. According to Bloomberg, the commitment reflects Abu Dhabi's push to expand its role in fast-growing AI markets while broadening cooperation beyond the US.

Taiwan drone maker Twoway breaks into US defense supply chain with Oklahoma procurement deal

Charlene Chen — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:24:32 GMT

Twoway has signed an agency procurement contract with a purchasing delegation from Oklahoma, marking a breakthrough in its defense strategy as it expands North American deployment of FPV drones, various unmanned vehicles, and mobile security vehicles.

Yole Group takes outside capital for the first time, selling minority stake to new French fund

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:22:57 GMT

Yole Group, the French market-research firm that tracks the semiconductor, photonics and electronics supply chains, has sold a minority stake to Cervinvest Scale, the lower-midcap fund of Paris-based Cervinvest Capital. The deal, announced September 14, is the fund's first investment.

Fujitsu's Monaka targets 2027 mass production with TSMC 2nm boost

Charlene Chen — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:04:30 GMT

Fujitsu is preparing to take its advanced AI CPU overseas, with sales set to begin as early as 2027 in Japan, the US, and Asia. The company is betting on Monaka, a high-efficiency, power-saving chip developed with technologies refined through its work on the Fugaku supercomputer, to regain competitiveness in advanced logic ICs as demand for AI inference surges.

AI power demand pushes Taiwan to overhaul energy rules

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:00:05 GMT

Electricity demand from AI data centers and other high-tech industries is pushing governments and large cloud service providers to focus more on grid stability and backup supply. In Taiwan, amendments to the Energy Management Act marked the first major overhaul in nearly 10 years and added requirements that could reshape how enterprises plan new plants, expansions, and power infrastructure.

AI demand lifts UMC, VIS, PSMC revenue

Charlene Chen — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:54:23 GMT

After mature-node price competition from 2023 to 2025, AI demand has spread from GPUs and HBM to power management ICs (PMICs), power components, networking chips and specialty processes. At the same time, aggressive price cutting by mature-node players in China has eased, pushing quotes for Taiwan foundries broadly higher since the start of 2026.

Behind the BRICS handshake: How far can the China-India reset go?

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:38:46 GMT

China and India are again trying to stabilise one of Asia's most consequential bilateral relationships, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi using the BRICS summit in New Delhi to signal cooperation despite persistent tensions over the border, trade, investment and technology.

Samsung, SK Hynix reject US$19 billion power prepayment as Korea speeds chip expansion

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:24:52 GMT

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have rejected a proposal to prepay KRW25 trillion (approx. US$18.7 billion) in electricity bills, highlighting the financing challenge facing South Korea as it accelerates semiconductor expansion and the power infrastructure needed to support it.

STMicro lead times top 1 year, boosting Taiwan chip makers

Lily Hess — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:23:27 GMT

AI crowd-out effects are rippling through the supply chain, with lead times for microcontroller units (MCUs) from STMicroelectronics reportedly stretching beyond 1 year and triggering severe shortages in industrial control MCUs. That is opening the door for Taiwanese chip makers to push into high-end industrial MCUs, while supply is expected to remain tight through 2027 and stable delivery becomes key to defending market share.

DIGITIMES Insight: High NA EUV chips near production, but economics will be the pacemaker

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:20:00 GMT

ASML's latest update suggests High NA EUV is no longer confined to laboratory validation. With 10 systems already operating across four customers worldwide, and three more in shipment or installation, the technology is beginning to enter production ramp-up. The shift matters because adoption now hinges less on optical promise and more on whether chipmakers can justify the added cost.

Taiwan eases investment rules for AI center infrastructure projects

Rodney Chan — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:55:00 GMT

Taiwan's government has limited budgets to build the AI computing infrastructure the country needs, and infrastructure that a government runs itself cannot easily turn a profit. To get around that constraint, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) introduced the AI computing center BOO (build-operate-own) public-private partnership project in April 2026, aiming to let private companies build and operate the infrastructure while tax incentives make the investment attractive to them.

DIGITIMES Insight: Taiwanese firms lead in FOPLP as overseas rivals race to catch up

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:25:45 GMT

Taiwanese chip packaging firms are advancing fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) and glass-substrate development as AI processors demand ever-larger reticle sizes and more complex packaging. Their early manufacturing scale, automation progress, and substrate design choices could help determine who controls the next bottlenecks in high-end chip assembly.

China optical firms target photonics with mixed high-end, lower-cost push

Lily Hess — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:40:00 GMT

The 2026 China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) closed on September 11. While near-eye display applications such as AR/VR and smart glasses drew attention, vendors' latest moves in optical communications also attracted strong industry interest.

Notebook shipment update, July 2026

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:34:30 GMT

DIGITIMES' survey of July 2026 notebook shipments (excluding detachable models) from the world's top five notebook brands (excluding Apple) and the top three notebook ODMs

China accelerates e-SIM's leap from wearables to smartphones

Levi Li — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 05:45:00 GMT

China's e-SIM adoption is moving beyond smartwatches and other wearables into smartphones at an accelerating pace.

Foxconn subsidiary broadens AI interconnect role as 1.6T enters deployment

Levi Li — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:55:00 GMT

AI data centers are moving decisively toward 1.6T connectivity, with 800G now mainstream in AI clusters and 400G remaining common in general cloud and enterprise deployments.

DIGITIMES Insight: China's GaN challengers are no longer playing catch-up

Levi Li — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:42:24 GMT

Chinese GaN power semiconductor maker Innoscience gained direct access to capital markets after listing in Hong Kong at the end of 2024, giving it fresh funding to expand GaN capacity and technology development.

Beijing municipality bans civilian drones starting mid-November

Levi Li — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:21:01 GMT

China's capital, Beijing, is tightening drone controls further, with the municipal legislature approving revisions to the Beijing Regulations on Unmanned Aircraft Management that will take effect on November 15, 2026. The entire administrative area of Beijing will be designated as controlled airspace for unmanned aircraft, banning drone flights, the possession and storage of drones and their core components, and the transport of such equipment into the city.

Sandisk recruits engineers in Korea as memory talent race heats up

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:20:26 GMT

Sandisk is making an unusual push into engineering recruitment in South Korea, seeking talent across NAND system architecture, NAND core design, VLSI design, and mask design while listing experience in HBM, LPDDR, and GDDR among key qualifications.

South Korea broadens espionage law to counter rising tech leaks

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 03:54:56 GMT

South Korea's revised Criminal Act took effect September 13, extending the scope of espionage offenses from acts benefiting North Korea to those benefiting any foreign country or equivalent organization, as South Korea strengthens protection of semiconductors and other strategic technologies.

Gogoro sees turnaround ahead of schedule as Vietnam rollout gathers pace

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 03:45:00 GMT

Gogoro said its financial recovery is tracking ahead of plan, while its Vietnam venture is preparing to enter consumer sales in 2026. The moves matter beyond Taiwan, since they signal how the electric scooter maker aims to balance disciplined growth, regional expansion, and execution in a competitive global mobility market.

LG Display's AI transformation turns employees into AI builders, yielding 450+ in-house projects

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 03:25:57 GMT

LG Display announced on September 13 that it is expanding its company-wide artificial intelligence transformation (AX) initiative by scaling up its "AX SQUAD" program. Designed to empower employees across all operational tiers to build their own workflow automation solutions, the initiative bridges frontline operational knowledge with technical software support.

Taiwan taps Amazon Leo for next-generation government satellite network

Scarlett Yu — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 03:25:03 GMT

Two Beyond 5G low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites being developed by the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) under a National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) program, along with four LEO communications satellites awarded to Wistron and Compal Electronics under an NT$1.178 billion (approx. US$37 million) contract, will not be ready in time to meet the government's communications resilience requirements for 2027.

Z.ai reloads with US$5 billion for China's AI race

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 03:04:08 GMT

Chinese artificial intelligence developer Z.ai (formerly Zhipu AI) plans to raise about US$5 billion through a Hong Kong share placement and convertible bond sale, which would give the company fresh capital for next-generation model development, computing infrastructure and business expansion.

Samsung, Qualcomm deepen 2nm talks as pricing and yield hurdles persist

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 03:01:24 GMT

Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm are expanding discussions over 2nm foundry cooperation, with pricing, yield, and process optimization still unresolved as Samsung seeks to regain a share of Qualcomm's flagship processor business.

Gritek to take full control of 12-inch silicon wafer venture in major restructuring

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 02:55:00 GMT

Gritek plans to strengthen its position in China's large-diameter silicon wafer market by acquiring the remaining stakes in two semiconductor materials companies, according to a company announcement.

iPhone Duo's price opens room for Android rivals

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 02:38:20 GMT

Apple's new iPhone 18 series and first foldable, the iPhone Duo, could reshape smartphone demand worldwide by pushing some buyers toward Android rivals, channel players said. Higher launch prices may expand the premium market, but they could also slow some iPhone sales and intensify competition across midrange and flagship segments.

AI's energy demand ignites global nuclear rush, straining Taiwan's restart

Jingyue Hsiao — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 02:32:18 GMT

A worldwide nuclear comeback, fueled by artificial intelligence data centers and semiconductor demand, is tightening supply chains and labor markets just as Taiwan considers restarting idle reactors.

Foldable smartphone panel shipments to grow 23% in 2026

Eifeh Strom — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 02:29:03 GMT

Following the launch of Apple's first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, combined sales momentum from Samsung Electronics, Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Motorola is expected to drive global foldable smartphone shipments above 27 million units in 2026.

Lab self-investigations show AI agents improvising past their own guardrails

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 02:22:26 GMT

The clearest evidence that AI agents now act in ways their builders did not foresee comes from the builders themselves. Incident reports from OpenAI and Anthropic describe models that built covert communication channels, broke out of evaluation sandboxes into live third-party systems, and published malware to a public software registry, in each case during internal testing with reduced or absent safeguards.

China's OLED expansion narrows South Korea's auto, IT panel lead

DIGITIMES — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 02:01:34 GMT

China's OLED supply push is gathering pace, with BOE Technology Group (BOE), TCL China Star Optoelectronic Technology and Visionox rapidly expanding production and closing in on South Korean rivals. South Korean companies still hold an edge in OLED for smartphones and TVs, but their room to grow in IT devices and automotive OLEDs is likely to narrow.