After five years of struggling with double construction timelines and billion-dollar regulatory hurdles, TSMC has quietly transformed its Arizona operations into a profit engine, and suppliers are reaping the benefits. Taiwan's fab equipment and materials giants now have order visibility stretching beyond 2030.
AI chip startup Cerebras Systems is reportedly in talks to raise US$1 billion in a new financing round, aiming for a valuation of up to US$22 billion, according to Bloomberg. The company plans to continue pursuing its initial public offering (IPO) as part of a broader strategy to expand its AI computing hardware and cloud services.
Market research firm Yole Group has forecasted a 43% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) sector, with co-packaged optics (CPO) module output value growing by 137% annually to reach US$8.1 billion by 2033. Against this backdrop, Taiwan's government has indicated its support for this emerging industry, with efforts underway to advance research, development, and mass production.
Hermes Testing Solutions Inc. (HTSI), a provider of semiconductor wafer testing solutions, said demand for flexible and highly customized testing equipment is increasing as advanced process nodes continue to shrink and packaging architectures become more complex.
Surging artificial intelligence (AI) workloads have triggered a global shortage of HBM, tightening DRAM and NAND supply and pushing prices sharply higher. US PC maker HP is now evaluating memory procurement from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to relieve mounting supply pressure.
Trusval Technology reported record-high revenues for December, the fourth quarter, and full-year 2025. December 2025 revenue reached NT$560 million (US$17.75 million), down 12% from November but up 82% year over year. Cumulative revenue for the fourth quarter totaled NT$1.68 billion, up 1% compared with the third quarter and 59% year over year. Full-year 2025 revenue surpassed NT$6.34 billion, marking a 75% year-over-year increase.
TSMC announced plans in 2020 to establish an advanced wafer fab in the US, marking a major shift toward significant US investments. Initially seen as a political necessity, TSMC's US expansion has evolved over five years into a long-term commitment exceeding US$165 billion, supporting American manufacturing ambitions.
The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has shifted its license review policy for exports of certain advanced computing chips to China and Macau from a "presumption of denial" to a case-by-case review, provided exporters meet new certification and testing requirements.
An internal structural photo of Nvidia's Quantum-X Photonics silicon photonics (SiPh) switch revealed that its solid-state drive (SSD) controller chip was branded with the iconic Realtek crab logo. Although it usually keeps a low profile and does not comment on specific partners, this is an indication that Realtek has officially entered the market. Taiwanese IC design companies are expanding into the cloud AI domain through memory-related technologies, driving upgrades throughout the industry.
Ping Ho Environmental Technology said it will move beyond its core wastewater treatment business and invest in recycling waste sulfuric acid from the semiconductor industry into raw materials for green building products. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2026. The company will also continue to cautiously evaluate new development or partnership opportunities in recycling and reuse to expand its circular economy business.
China has imposed export controls on selected Japanese dual-use goods, including rare earths, and launched an anti-dumping investigation into Japanese dichlorosilane, further straining bilateral ties. Against this backdrop, Beijing's latest comments on localizing key semiconductor materials have attracted industry attention.
More coverage
