The first quarter of 2026 has marked a decisive shift in how Taiwan's semiconductor equipment sector is valued. While February's accumulated revenue rankings continue to reflect the operational momentum of the early AI upcycle, capital market performance through March suggests that investors are no longer anchored to scale alone. Instead, valuation is increasingly driven by proximity to the most constrained segments of the AI supply chain — particularly advanced packaging and testing.
Europe is tightening its semiconductor research links with Taiwan's manufacturing engine, with French research institute CEA-Leti positioning itself as a primary gateway between the two ecosystems.
Elite Material (EMC), a leading Taiwanese copper-clad laminate (CCL) manufacturer, announced the completion of capacity expansions at its Huangshi and Zhongshan plants in China and its Penang plant in Malaysia in 2025. Over the next two years, the company will launch a new round of investments to simultaneously expand production in Taiwan, China, and Malaysia, targeting a global monthly capacity of 9.45 million sheets by the end of 2027.
AI and edge computing demand is accelerating, prompting industrial memory module maker Innodisk to project strong growth through 2026. Chairman and president Randy Chien said NAND Flash prices remain on an upward trajectory, while Google TurboQuant is not a new compression technology. Similar to the DeepSeek effect in 2025, optimization is expected to broaden applications and lift demand. Innodisk expects its edge AI business to grow multiple-fold in 2026.
Samsung Electronics is aiming to launch its 1nm semiconductor process by 2030 as part of a direct technological competition with rival TSMC. The move seeks to secure leadership in the next-generation semiconductor market.
Taiwan-based semiconductor testing interface provider MPI Corporation has reported that strong demand from the AI chip testing market has pushed probe card lead times to as long as six months, with visibility for some orders extending up to two years. Chairman Ko Chang-lin expects the company's operations to grow quarter by quarter in 2026, targeting double-digit annual revenue growth and a strong likelihood of reaching a new record high for the full year.
Flex said it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Electrical Power Products (EP2), a specialist in engineered-to-order electrical control and protection systems, as it expands its footprint in critical power infrastructure.
Airoha announced on March 30, 2026, that it has expanded the adoption of open-source systems in networking communications, becoming the world's first fiber broadband chip platform vendor to integrate three major open-source systems—OpenWrt, RDK-B, and prplOS—into its own network chips.
By late March, Taiwan's equity market is offering a more nuanced read of the AI infrastructure boom. While accumulated revenue and year-over-year growth through February continue to point to strong structural demand, recent share price movements suggest that the market has begun to recalibrate expectations. The result is a growing divergence between backward-looking financial data and forward-looking capital market signals.
South Korea has approved a KRW250 billion (approx. US$166 million) investment in local artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup Rebellions, as part of a government push to build a globally competitive AI chipmaker.
Huawei has recruited a leading scientist from a German research institute, raising concerns among the German government and academic circles. According to Nikkei Asia, Martin Schell, formerly director of Germany's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), announced his departure and moved to the UK in March to become research director at Huawei's Bragg Research Center.
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