DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

Broadcom-Toppan venture opens Singapore's first high-end FC-BGA substrate plant

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:43:41 GMT

Advanced Substrate Technologies (AST), a joint venture between Japan's Toppan Holdings and Broadcom, officially opened a manufacturing facility in Singapore on September 29, 2026, the first in the country capable of producing high-end flip chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrates. The approximately 95,000-square-meter plant in the Jurong Lake District is the Toppan Group's first such facility outside Japan and is targeting the start of high-value manufacturing by late 2026, the companies said.

OpenAI leans on cheaper models and always-on agents at DevDay as flagship upgrade is shelved

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:42:40 GMT

OpenAI used its DevDay 2026 conference to compete on price and autonomy rather than raw capability, launching a midrange model priced at one-fifth of its flagship and a family of always-on agents a day after abandoning its planned flagship upgrade. The shift moves its rivalry with Anthropic, Meta and Google toward cost per task and agent platforms at a time when safety lapses are constraining how fast frontier models can ship.

Trump opts for voluntary AI audits over new rules after White House summit with tech chiefs

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:41:59 GMT

US President Donald Trump has responded to mounting alarm over rogue AI agents with a voluntary industry pledge, two executive orders, and a new name for the technology rather than new regulation, signaling that Washington intends to leave frontier-AI safety largely in companies' hands at least until after the November 3 midterm elections.

Memory shortage pushes TV semiconductors above panel costs

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:41:15 GMT

A global memory shortage linked to rising AI infrastructure spending has upended TV manufacturing economics, with semiconductor costs now overtaking display panels in some models. The shift, reported by ET News, could squeeze profitability at major TV makers including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

Qualcomm sees smart glasses leading AI wearables boom; AI pins, pendants follow

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:40:58 GMT

Among personal AI devices beyond smartphones, smart glasses remain the fastest-growing category, according to Ziad Asghar, senior vice president and general manager of XR, wearables, and personal AI at Qualcomm. Speaking during a media Q&A at Snapdragon Summit 2026, Asghar noted that while smart glasses are drawing intense market focus and a steady stream of new product launches, AI pins and pendants are emerging right behind them to cater to users who prefer not to wear eyewear.

Acer turns 50 and marks it with a musical produced by its founder

Willis Ke — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:38:56 GMT

Acer marked its 50th anniversary on September 28, 2026, with the premiere of Smile for Half a Century, a commemorative musical that traces the company's journey from a small startup to a global technology brand while looking ahead to its next chapter.

Commentary: Garmin returns to OLED, putting Micro LED on notice

Lily Hess — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:38:43 GMT

Garmin's decision to offer OLED options but no Micro LED version in its new flagship smartwatches, the fenix 9 and fenix 9 Pro, has revived debate over whether the emerging display technology is ready for sustained commercial competition. The shift comes about a year after Garmin launched the world's first Micro LED smartwatch, the fenix 8 Pro Micro LED in September 2025.

GlobalFoundries Singapore capacity utilization tops 90% as silicon photonics expansion hits equipment lead-time bottleneck

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:38:31 GMT

GlobalFoundries (GF) is expanding its Singapore footprint following its acquisition of local silicon photonics foundry Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF), integrating 200mm and 300mm silicon photonics technologies while transferring its existing US 300mm capabilities to Singapore.

From EVs to AI humanoid robots: Tesla leans on Chinese manufacturing once again

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:38:12 GMT

Energy, AI robotics, and autonomous vehicle maker Tesla is reportedly replicating its electric vehicle (EV) playbook by turning to Chinese manufacturing to support the supply chain ramp-up for its Optimus humanoid robot. In addition to conducting factory audits at three auto parts manufacturers in East China, a Tesla delegation also inspected related suppliers in cities such as Hangzhou and Shanghai.

Micro LED smartwatches set back as costs remain a fatal hurdle

Lily Hess — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:37:58 GMT

Micro LED has reached mass production in several end-market applications in recent years, but it is still facing intense competition from OLED. Garmin's new fenix 9 smartwatch has returned to an OLED panel, instead of using Micro LED display technology.

Neocloud lifts OEM buying as ODM-direct share slips below 80% in 2026

Charlene Chen — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:37:46 GMT

Taiwan-based server original design manufacturers (ODMs) have long been key partners for cloud service providers (CSPs) through the ODM-direct model, but the model's share is declining as neocloud customers ramp up AI demand. DIGITIMES Intelligence expects the ODM-direct share of contract manufacturing to fall to 79.1% in 2026, dropping below 80% for the first time.

AI boom strains PCB supply chain as materials, equipment shortages persist into 2027

Scarlett Yu — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:37:35 GMT

Rapid growth in AI server and high-speed networking demand since the second half of 2025 has tightened supply across printed circuit boards (PCBs), integrated circuit (IC) substrates, and critical materials.

Inside China's 3D DRAM push: from lab to fab, and the road ahead

Charlene Chen — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:37:20 GMT

China's push into 3D DRAM is moving from early-stage research into wafer processes and equipment, with efforts spanning the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS), the Beijing Superstring Memory Research Institute (SAMT), CXMT, and equipment maker NAURA Technology Group. The coordinated advance highlights both the momentum behind 3D DRAM and the technical hurdles still blocking mass production.

Apple iPhone Duo revives UDC battle as Samsung weighs trade-offs

Charlene Chen — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:37:05 GMT

Apple has launched its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, adopting under-display camera (UDC) technology long used by Samsung Electronics. The move puts all-screen design back at the center of foldable-phone competition and could pressure Samsung to reconsider its technology roadmap.

Dat Bike challenges VinFast with simpler EV scooter strategy

Charlene Chen — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:36:51 GMT

Vietnamese electric scooter brand Dat Bike has launched its family-oriented ERA model with a starting price of VND29.9 million (US$1,151.22), pairing it with a self-developed "integrated charger" that builds the charger directly into the vehicle's power system. The launch comes as Vietnam's electric two-wheeler market accelerates and Dat Bike sets its sights on market leader VinFast.

Exclusive: Advantech Korea eyes smart surgery, nursing AI PoCs

Yunnie Cheng — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:32:56 GMT

While Advantech's healthcare business in South Korea remains predominantly hardware-focused—spanning ultrasound computing platforms and medical display partnerships—Charlie Chung, Managing Director of Advantech Korea, identifies smart operating rooms (ORs) and smart nursing care as pivotal growth drivers for healthcare AI. Looking forward, Chung aims to initiate proof-of-concept (PoC) collaborations with local South Korean hospitals and medical device makers.

Meta reaches agreements with Firmus on securing AI compute in Southeast Asia

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:32:40 GMT

Meta reached several agreements to source AI compute capacity from Firmus, an Australian neocloud, which will lease GPU compute capacity at its AI factories in Southeast Asia. The deal is said to support Meta's AI expansion across the Asia-Pacific region, while Firmus notches another order from a major customer in the run-up to a potential public listing.

Rare earths loom over US-China trade truce

DIGITIMES — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:32:24 GMT

The US-China trade truce was extended after last week's Trump-Xi summit, but China's dominance of rare-earth supply chains remains a key pressure point as Washington tries to stabilize economic ties while reducing its dependence on Chinese critical minerals.

Amazon buys NT$1.59 billion stake in one of its Taiwanese AI server suppliers

Joseph Chen — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:01:23 GMT

Amazon will take an equity stake in Gold Circuit Electronics (GCE), a Taiwanese maker of printed circuit boards (PCBs) for AI servers and network switches. GCE's board approved the pricing of a NT$1.589 billion private share placement on September 29, with Amazon as the buyer. According to industry observers, it is rare for a major cloud provider to invest directly in a Taiwanese PCB maker. The deal turns a customer-supplier relationship into one where the customer also owns part of the company.

Mercedes-Benz and ProLogium expand solid-state battery testing partnership

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:33:49 GMT

ProLogium Technology said it has signed a joint testing agreement with Mercedes-Benz, giving the automaker priority access to evaluate the battery maker's latest Gen4 cells. The companies said the work will build on nearly a decade of collaboration focused on next-generation mobility battery technology.

Anthropic's US$2 trillion IPO bet comes with 80 pages of warnings

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:29:33 GMT

Confidential details of Anthropic's initial public offering (IPO) prospectus, reviewed by Reuters, reveal an enterprise operating at an unprecedented scale and making a historic wager that artificial intelligence will transform the global economy far more profoundly than industrialization, electricity, or the internet. To capture that future, the startup is targeting a public valuation of more than US$2 trillion.

CXMT to spend US$5.2 billion on R&D and testing as DRAM supply stays tight

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:25:56 GMT

China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) plans to invest CNY34.9 billion (approx. US$5.2 billion) in technology R&D and additional back-end DRAM testing capacity, stepping up investment as tight memory supply and stronger pricing give the company more room to expand.

SoftBank subsidiary Saimemory taps Shinko to bring ZAM closer to commercialization

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:00:46 GMT

Saimemory, a SoftBank subsidiary, has brought Shinko Electric Industries into its effort to commercialize Z-Angle Memory (ZAM), adding packaging-substrate, high-density integration and manufacturing expertise to a next-generation memory project that already includes Intel and Japan's RIKEN.

In global semiconductor race, Singapore bets on critical, mature technologies

Kevin Wang — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:57:39 GMT

Amid the ongoing restructuring of the global semiconductor supply chain, Singapore is focusing on advanced packaging, heterogeneous integration, silicon photonics, and optical interconnects, aiming to leverage nearly six decades' worth of manufacturing and supply chain expertise. In contrast with industry players in Taiwan, South Korea, and the US, who have continued to pour resources into 2nm and 1.4nm advanced processes, Singapore's semiconductor firms see no need to replicate Taiwan's foundry model. Instead, they aim to harness Singapore's existing strengths in mature and specialty processes, assembly and testing, equipment, materials, and multinational R&D clusters to secure their foothold in the supply chain for next-gen semiconductors.

Samsung reshuffles DRAM roadmap, prioritizing B1b hybrid bonding for D0a, HBM5

Scarlett Yu — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:19:54 GMT

Samsung Electronics is reshaping its next-generation dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) roadmap, elevating its B1b wafer-to-wafer (W2W) hybrid bonding technology from a project-specific development to the core technology behind D0a, its first sub-10nm DRAM generation. Industry observers believe Samsung's push to commercialize B1b DRAM earlier could also benefit its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products, including HBM5.

AIDC sees NT$30 billion military maintenance boost, eyes drones

Lily Hess — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:12:18 GMT

As the last Brave Eagle advanced trainer rolls off the line in September 2026, Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) says its military business is not ending with the trainer's development and mass production program. Instead, a new phase is just beginning, with maintenance and spare-parts supply contracts for the Indigenous Defense Fighter and Brave Eagle expected to generate more than NT$30 billion (US$941.3 million) in value.

RoboTechnik completes Hong Kong listing to fund ficonTEC expansion in silicon photonics

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:38:58 GMT

RoboTechnik completed a Hong Kong listing on September 29 and began trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to its German photonics automation subsidiary ficonTEC. The new capital will be used for further investment in ficonTEC, which is expanding its role in silicon photonics and optical interconnect manufacturing for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.

Foxtron writes a new chapter in Taiwan auto history

Charlene Chen — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:00:50 GMT

Taiwan's auto market has faced plenty of challenges in recent years, from broader industry headwinds to continued scrutiny of domestic car production. Against that backdrop, Foxconn-backed Foxtron is emerging as a fast-growing contender, delivering solid results in both domestic sales and local manufacturing while opening the door to exports and setting up a historic milestone for Taiwan's auto industry.

Taiwan breaks ground on aerospace and drone hub, targeting 2028 completion

Scarlett Yu — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:58:39 GMT

Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) broke ground on the Minxiong Aerospace and Drone Industrial Park on September 28, aiming to provide critical testing and validation capabilities for the country's growing drone industry.

Cerebras to power Gimlet's push for faster AI inference

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:49:43 GMT

Cerebras Systems is expanding its push into AI inference infrastructure through a collaboration with Gimlet Labs, as demand grows for computing systems capable of delivering faster responses from increasingly complex AI models.

Column: Why Micron's US$250M venture fund is about more than HBM margins—Taiwan has a stake in it

Lily Hess — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:40:00 GMT

Micron unveiled the Micron Ventures Paradigm Fund, a US$250 million venture vehicle, in mid-August 2026, as the memory maker pairs more than US$25 billion in fiscal 2026 capex with a pledge to invest more than US$250 billion in the US by 2035. The fund is designed to give Micron an early look at technology shifts, position it for next-generation AI architectures, and strengthen its strategy to reduce memory-cycle volatility.

South Korea AI compute squeeze hits researchers and startups

Yunnie Cheng — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:33:00 GMT

South Korea's AI sector is facing a growing GPU shortage as research institutes and small companies struggle to secure enough compute for model training and deployment. As government support ends, research teams are finding it harder to continue training, while startups are being squeezed by rising rental costs and long-term contract demands from suppliers.

AI boom sends China and Taiwan's PCB makers racing to HK for capital

Charlene Chen — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:59:25 GMT

Global investment in AI infrastructure is expanding rapidly, driving specification upgrades across the supply chain, from AI servers to high-speed optical modules, and pushing printed circuit boards (PCBs) into a more critical role in compute upgrades. As technical complexity and product prices rise together, PCBs are quickly redefining their value in the electronics supply chain.

Samsung Foundry nears 60% 2nm yield, shifts focus to power efficiency to win customers

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:51:11 GMT

Samsung Electronics' foundry business has reportedly raised yield on its 2-nanometer (2nm) SF2 process to nearly 60% and is now shifting engineering work toward power efficiency and other maturity checks. The effort is part of a broader push to win larger customers for its advanced manufacturing business.

MicroIP unveils AI drone and edge systems at Taiwan Expo USA

DIGITIMES — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:48:30 GMT

MicroIP Technology showcased its AI drone vertical mission system at the 2026 Taiwan Expo USA in Dallas, drawing attention from organizers and US stakeholders. The company said the event highlighted Taiwan's push into higher-value edge computing systems beyond chips and servers, and that its products also attracted leading customers in Europe and the US.