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Monday 30 March 2026

China builds open RISC-V chip platform with Xiangshan, Ruyi OS

China's Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched next-generation chip and operating system co-development alongside the debut of the Xiangshan open-source processor and Ruyi native OS at the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum.

Monday 30 March 2026

Toshiba, Rohm, Mitsubishi Electric, and partners begin talks on integrating Japanese power device and semiconductor businesses

Monday 30 March 2026

China's semiconductor capacity share to reach 32% by 2030

The global semiconductor industry is undergoing a structural transformation. SEMI estimates that in 2025, capital expenditures (CapEx) by the four largest US cloud service providers (CSPs) will reach US$400 billion, more than twice the total semiconductor industry CapEx. When including Chinese cloud providers and sovereign AI investments, global AI infrastructure spending could surpass US$1 trillion by 2027.

Monday 30 March 2026

Arm pushes beyond licensing with a new AI CPU platform

Since Arm formally launched its Arm AGI CPU platform and upended its long-standing business model, industry observers have been eager to understand both the mechanics behind the move and its long-term implications.

Monday 30 March 2026

Taiwan broadens strategic industry list to include AI, quantum, and SiPh

Taiwan's premier Cho Jung-tai has unveiled a new list of 13 strategic industries. The lineup includes silicon photonics (SiPh), quantum technology, and unmanned vehicles. Quantum technology currently remains confined to academic and research labs, with no established industry or startups in Taiwan. Even so, the announcement signals that industrial support programs may be on the way.

Monday 30 March 2026

Sumco shifts wafer strategy to equipment upgrades over new plant

Sumco has revised its semiconductor wafer supply plan to prioritize upgrading existing fabrication equipment over building new capacity, following approval from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

Monday 30 March 2026

Samsung invests in AI chip design startup to speed silicon and cut power use

Samsung Electronics has backed AI chip design startup Normal Computing in a US$50 million funding round, expanding its push into AI-driven electronic design automation and next-generation semiconductor architectures. The move targets faster chip development cycles and rising energy constraints in AI infrastructure.

Monday 30 March 2026

Weekly news roundup: AI, supply chains, new entrants intensify global chip race

Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of March 23-27, 2026:

Monday 30 March 2026

Taiwan’s AI pivot: from chip factory to “silicon innovation island”

Taiwan is moving to cement its status as the "beating heart" of the global technology industry by transitioning from a hardware manufacturing powerhouse into what Acer founder Stan Shih calls a "silicon innovation island". The Taiwanese government plans to do this through a series of infrastructure projects, from power generation to supercomputing.

Sunday 29 March 2026

AMD, Meta reportedly audit Samsung HBM4 lines as supply shifts from pledges to validation

Samsung Electronics' next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) program is entering a customer validation phase, according to NewDaily, as major technology firms reportedly begin on-site audits of its production lines.

Saturday 28 March 2026

OmniVision invests US$145 million in wafer foundry to secure chip supply

OmniVision Group said on March 20 it will invest CNY1 billion (US$145 million) in Rong Semiconductor (Ningbo) Co. (RongSemi) via a capital increase, taking a 5.88% stake based on a CNY4 billion funding round. The move targets tighter upstream integration, aiming to secure wafer capacity and improve supply chain resilience.

Saturday 28 March 2026

Samsung bets on turnkey strategy as non-memory strength becomes critical

Samsung Electronics is aggressively pushing its semiconductor "super-gap" core strategy centered on a turnkey solution model. However, the success of this approach hinges on restoring and rebuilding competitiveness in its non-memory businesses.

Friday 27 March 2026

Intel confirms CPU price rises amid supply constraints, raising global hardware costs

Intel has confirmed it has begun raising CPU prices for OEM customers in response to ongoing supply constraints and rising raw material costs. According to Nikkei Asia, both Intel and AMD have notified clients of planned price increases in March and April 2026. The report notes that AI-driven global memory shortages are pushing hardware costs higher and extending delivery times, placing unprecedented margin pressure on channel partners.

Friday 27 March 2026

Taiwan's ALi bets on custom chips for 2026 turnaround

At a series of year-end gatherings in Hsinchu and Taipei this week, Star Fusion and its affiliated companies outlined their business outlook for 2026, pointing to a shift toward higher-value chip design as a key growth driver.

Friday 27 March 2026

US advances chip tracking mandate after US$2.5B smuggling case exposes export gaps

In a rare show of bipartisan unity, a key US congressional committee voted 42-0 on Thursday to advance the Chip Security Act (CSA). The bill marks one of the most aggressive efforts yet to embed national security directly into the semiconductor supply chain, shifting export compliance from paperwork to hardware-level monitoring.

Friday 27 March 2026

Nvidia says quantum computing will not replace GPUs

Nvidia said quantum computing will complement rather than replace GPUs, even as Taiwan accelerates investment in quantum technology. Speaking at an industry event, the company said it does not expect any quantum technology to displace GPUs and instead sees future systems combining GPUs, QPUs, and CPUs to boost computing performance.

Thursday 26 March 2026

Semicon China 2026: Siemens EDA pushes agentic AI to cut chip design cycles in half

At the SEMICON China 2026 opening keynote, Siemens EDA IC Products Executive Vice President (EVP) Ankur Gupta delivered a clear message: traditional EDA software is no longer sufficient, and future chip design tools must be AI-driven.

Thursday 26 March 2026

Nuvoton and Tower agree on framework to restructure joint Japanese foundry operations

Nuvoton and Tower have agreed to restructure their joint Japanese operations, a move that could reallocate fabs and services and affect global semiconductor supply chains and customer relationships. The deal separates the partners' 12‑inch and 8‑inch businesses to sharpen strategic focus and ensure continuity across operations and customers worldwide.

Thursday 26 March 2026

SEMICON China opens with focus on AI chips and advanced packaging

SEMICON China 2026 opened on March 25 in Shanghai, as the global semiconductor industry enters a new expansion cycle fueled by the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.

Thursday 26 March 2026

China's Naura and AMEC lead China's push into advanced chip packaging

As advanced packaging pushes toward 3D integration and high-bandwidth computing, hybrid bonding has emerged as a critical battleground for semiconductor equipment makers.

Thursday 26 March 2026

Nvidia and Emerald AI partner with utilities to build grid-responsive AI data centers

Nvidia and Emerald AI said on Tuesday that they are joining forces with a group of major US power producers — including AES Corporation, Constellation Energy, Invenergy, NextEra Energy, Nscale Energy & Power, and Vistra — to develop a new generation of "AI factories" designed to come online faster and operate as active participants in the power grid.

Thursday 26 March 2026

US senators accuse Nvidia CEO of misleading claims, urge halt to AI chip exports

US Senators Jim Banks and Elizabeth Warren, in a joint letter dated March 23, called on US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to suspend Nvidia's export licenses for advanced AI chips destined for China and intermediary Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore and Vietnam.

Thursday 26 March 2026

Four reasons that Aspeed dominates the BMC chip market

As Taiwan-based IC design firms face declining global market share due to China, Taiwan's Aspeed stands out by dominating the baseboard management controller (BMC) chip sector.

Thursday 26 March 2026

Broadcom to mass-produce 400G single-lane PAM4 DSP by 2027, vows to maintain lead

Broadcom recently announced that it completed development of a 400G single-lane PAM4 digital signal processor (DSP) at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) 2026, signaling accelerated progress toward higher-speed optical links, with implications for global data center scalability, AI deployments, and supply-chain dynamics as the industry awaits volume production and wider market adoption over the coming years.

Wednesday 25 March 2026

With Hua Hong partnership, STMicro builds 'China for China' supply chain

STMicroelectronics said this week that its STM32 microcontrollers, produced in partnership with Hua Hong Semiconductor, have entered volume production in China and are now being shipped to local customers, marking a significant step in the company's "China for China" strategy.

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