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Feb 10
US plans chip tariff breaks for tech giants tied to TSMC's US expansion
The Trump administration is preparing to spare major US technology companies from a new round of semiconductor tariffs as they expand data center capacity to support the artificial intelligence boom, according to the Financial Times. The plan would grant tariff carve-outs to US hyperscalers, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, with relief tied to the scale of TSMC's US investment commitments and projected production capacity. TSMC is the world's largest contract chipmaker.
Taiwan's Executive Yuan announced on February 10, 2026, that the government will fully embrace advanced new nuclear technologies worldwide, including small modular reactors (SMRs). This marks a significant shift in its longstanding non-nuclear policy amid rising challenges from climate change, energy security, and surging AI-driven electricity demand.
South Korean IC designers face year-long packaging delays
Feb 11, 11:56
Surging demand for artificial intelligence servers and high-performance computing (HPC) has tightened capacity across the semiconductor supply chain. For many small South Korean communications IC designers relying on mature process technologies, the bottleneck has shifted from wafer fabrication to packaging and testing.
China's largest contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) reported a resilient fourth quarter and record full-year results for 2025, supported by accelerating domestic chip localization and sustained demand for mature-node capacity.
Taiwan has launched construction of a new 12-inch semiconductor pilot production platform at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), aiming to strengthen the island's advanced R&D capabilities while lowering development and verification barriers for startups and small-to-medium IC design firms.
Qun Ge, global senior vice president and chairman and president of Synopsys China, is set to depart. The move appears routine. But it points to deeper structural shifts in the global EDA industry's China market.
The expansion of computing power driven by generative AI has repositioned memory as a critical resource, with data centers and AI servers redefining its value and leaving industrial PC (IPC) manufacturers facing rising costs and worsening lead-time challenges as 2026 begins.

Samsung Electronics has set February 25, 2026, for its next Galaxy Unpacked event, returning to San Francisco to unveil what it describes as a "new phase" in mobile computing.

On February 10, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) reported record 2025 revenues, but quarterly gross margins fell to 19.2%. The decline, driven by heavy depreciation costs and shifting smartphone supply chain dynamics, underscores the financial pressure of aggressive capacity expansion despite sustained high utilization across manufacturing facilities.
Intel's 14A process node has become a focal point for the semiconductor industry, with market observers viewing it as a critical test of the company's manufacturing resurgence strategy. The advanced node has attracted significant attention amid speculation that major customers like Apple and Nvidia could adopt it for high-volume production. However, recent developments suggest these optimistic timelines may need recalibration.

Taiwanese semiconductor materials distributor Topco Scientific (TSC) reported record revenue for January 2026, buoyed by robust demand from artificial intelligence-driven advanced chip production. The company said January revenue reached NT$6 billion (approx. US$190 million), an 8.25% increase from the same month a year earlier. The figure marks the highest January performance in the company's history and ranks as the third-highest monthly revenue on record.

Amazon is deepening its partnership with STMicroelectronics, expanding a multiyear, multibillion-dollar collaboration aimed at developing specialized chips for data center infrastructure, as cloud computing giants race to improve performance and energy efficiency amid surging demand.