Samsung Electronics' plan to build two new semiconductor fabs in Gwangju is turning South Korea's southwest chip push into a test of whether the country can deliver enough power, water and permits to support a second major production base outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

Samsung Electronics has unveiled new research on a three-dimensional transistor architecture that it says could help extend logic chip scaling beyond the limits of today's semiconductor designs, as the industry searches for ways to improve performance after decades of shrinking transistor dimensions.

Taiwan plans to launch an emissions trading system (ETS) in 2028 as the next phase of its carbon pricing framework — a cap-and-trade market where companies buy and sell permits to emit greenhouse gases. However, environmental researchers and academics caution that the experiences of Japan, South Korea, and the European Union (EU) show that emissions trading markets take years to mature and operate effectively. With Taiwan's own carbon fee only recently taking effect, they argue the government should prioritize policy continuity and give businesses time to internalize carbon costs and implement decarbonization strategies before introducing a cap-and-trade regime.

As semiconductor manufacturing enters the 2nm era, conventional transistor scaling is approaching its physical limits. On June 25, 2026, IBM unveiled what it described as the world's first sub-1-nanometer chip technology, featuring a 0.7nm (7-angstrom) process node. The research chip integrates nearly 100 billion transistors into an area roughly the size of a fingernail, marking a significant milestone in semiconductor scaling.

AI chip competition is widening beyond raw performance, a shift that matters for global cloud providers, device makers, and investors. Tenstorrent chief executive Jim Keller says the startup can outdo Cerebras, while also courting Intel, Qualcomm, and hyperscalers for licensing deals, acquisitions, and future chip deployments.

As the US tightens controls on advanced AI chip exports, smuggling schemes are surfacing across the AI server supply chain, driven by soaring Chinese demand for AI servers from buyers like Alibaba and Tencent willing to pay almost any price. Supermicro was investigated in the first half of 2026, with executives and employees allegedly bypassing US export controls to divert restricted AI servers and technology to China. Taiwan's Albatron was also reported to be involved, and the case has since escalated: Keelung prosecutors detained Albatron Technology general manager Kevin Lu on Tuesday on suspicion of smuggling Supermicro AI servers to restricted markets.

Chinese semiconductor material manufacturers are accelerating investments in advanced products as Beijing pushes for greater self-sufficiency, challenging the long-standing dominance of Japanese suppliers in a global market valued at US$73.2 billion.