United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has partnered with startup HyperLight to mass-produce thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) chiplets, aiming to improve data transmission speeds in artificial intelligence computing clusters and data centers.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) is expected to supply ABF substrates for Tesla's next-generation artificial intelligence chips that Samsung Electronics plans to manufacture at its Taylor, Texas foundry, according to Chosun Biz and other Korean media reports.
Semiconductor testing firm Ardentec is optimistic about its future operations, driven by sustained strong orders in communication applications. The company expects a resilient first quarter of 2026 with utilization rates around 70%. Meanwhile, new AI ASIC wafer test capacity at its Longtan plant will gradually come online in the second half of 2026, serving as a key growth driver for the full year.
Asia Optical reported robust growth in 2025, with net revenue reaching NT$26.446 billion (US$831.1 million), up 15% year-over-year, and operating profit increasing 28%. Despite a fourth-quarter gross margin decline due to exchange rates, inventory adjustments, and material cost changes, the company maintained solid cash flow and zero debt while investing over NT$1 billion in production equipment for future expansion.
Reports indicate AMD CEO Lisa Su will visit South Korea in the coming days to discuss cooperation with Samsung Electronics and Naver. Some observers view the trip as an effort to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the AI market by strengthening AMD's partnerships with South Korean companies.
IBM and Lam Research have announced a five-year collaboration to develop materials, manufacturing processes, and High-NA EUV lithography technologies for sub-1nm logic scaling. The agreement expands a long-standing partnership aimed at establishing viable manufacturing paths for future logic chips.
Given the global chip war and US-China rivalry, ASE Technology Holding COO Tien Wu says that in an era where AI is driving transformation in the technology industry, the new bottleneck in hardware is now in Taiwan's hands. Taiwan should use this as leverage rather than as a tool to monopolize the semiconductor industry, allowing it to pursue mutually beneficial coexistence with supply chain partners and customers while maintaining a leading position in the global AI race.
The global semiconductor industry is set to hit US$1 trillion ahead of schedule. ASE Technology Holding COO Dr. Tien Wu revealed that the latest forecast from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) indicates the industry's output, originally expected to reach US$1 trillion in 2029, could achieve the milestone as early as 2026, three to four years earlier than previously projected.
At Embedded World 2026, MediaTek unveiled the Genio Pro series, its flagship IoT platform built on TSMC's 3nm process, and said the market now requires both power-efficient mid-to-low-end chips and high-performance devices for complex real-world computations.
China's largest contract chipmaker, SMIC, says orders for mature-node memory and BCD processes are running at full capacity, pushing prices higher as AI demand tightens supply across the semiconductor industry.
The US-Iran military clash has raised concerns about oil supply disruptions and economic fallout. Still, hopes of a quick de-escalation have helped oil prices retreat and capital markets refocus on AI development. US President Donald Trump predicted the conflict would ease by the end of March, shifting market sentiment.
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