CONNECT WITH US
Tuesday 15 September 2026
Phoenix Pioneer Technology AI power substrate order visibility extends to 1Q27

IC substrate manufacturer Phoenix Pioneer Technology (PPt) turned profitable in the first half of 2026, driven by strong momentum in its advanced AI power substrate business. Production lines are running at full capacity, with order visibility clearly extending into the first quarter of 2027. Notably, end-system customers are bypassing OSAT providers to negotiate long-term agreements (LTAs) directly with the company.

Tuesday 15 September 2026
Nvidia, MediaTek deepen 20-year chip ties

Nvidia and MediaTek have recently drawn market attention after Nvidia invested US$3.5 billion in MediaTek convertible bonds, expanding cooperation into custom AI chips, AI PCs, automotive, and data centers. But their overlap began more than 20 years ago, during competition in the PC chipset market, when MediaTek, ALi, ULi, and Nvidia were already connected.

Tuesday 15 September 2026
Global data center capex could reach US$31.6 trillion by 2050 as AI demand surges
PwC and Oxford Economics jointly released their Global Data Centre Outlook 2026–50 in early September, projecting cumulative global data center capex of US$31.6 trillion by 2050 under the baseline scenario. If AI adoption accelerates, investment could approach US$50 trillion under an upside scenario.
Tuesday 15 September 2026
Sigmaintell: Memory shortage to ease in 2027 before chip growth hits 2029 wall

After months of tight supply and sharp price increases in 2026, the global memory market is expected to see its supply-demand gap narrow significantly in 2027 as DRAM capacity expands and demand patterns shift, according to Beijing-based Sigmaintell Consulting. The consultancy expects the memory and broader semiconductor markets to continue growing through 2028, but forecasts a potential pullback in 2029 as evolving AI applications reshape demand.

Tuesday 15 September 2026
The 1,000-watt problem: a TSMC veteran on the brute force forging Nvidia's AI chips
"He practically created a new era—the age of AI," Mou-Shiung Lin said of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Yet, the early TSMC executive describes the methodology behind that success in blunt terms: it is "violent."
Monday 14 September 2026
Kokusai Electric gains from Hitachi split as AI memory demand surges
Kokusai Electric, the semiconductor equipment maker spun off from Hitachi and later acquired by KKR, has emerged as one of the clearest winners from Hitachi's restructuring. According to Nikkei, the company benefited from faster decision-making, continued research and development spending, and rising demand for advanced memory equipment as AI infrastructure spending accelerated in the second half of 2024.
Monday 14 September 2026
Yole Group takes outside capital for the first time, selling minority stake to new French fund
Yole Group, the French market-research firm that tracks the semiconductor, photonics and electronics supply chains, has sold a minority stake to Cervinvest Scale, the lower-midcap fund of Paris-based Cervinvest Capital. The deal, announced September 14, is the fund's first investment.
Monday 14 September 2026
Fujitsu's Monaka targets 2027 mass production with TSMC 2nm boost
Fujitsu is preparing to take its advanced AI CPU overseas, with sales set to begin as early as 2027 in Japan, the US, and Asia. The company is betting on Monaka, a high-efficiency, power-saving chip developed with technologies refined through its work on the Fugaku supercomputer, to regain competitiveness in advanced logic ICs as demand for AI inference surges.
Monday 14 September 2026
AI demand lifts UMC, VIS, PSMC revenue

After mature-node price competition from 2023 to 2025, AI demand has spread from GPUs and HBM to power management ICs (PMICs), power components, networking chips and specialty processes. At the same time, aggressive price cutting by mature-node players in China has eased, pushing quotes for Taiwan foundries broadly higher since the start of 2026.

Monday 14 September 2026
STMicro lead times top 1 year, boosting Taiwan chip makers
AI crowd-out effects are rippling through the supply chain, with lead times for microcontroller units (MCUs) from STMicroelectronics reportedly stretching beyond 1 year and triggering severe shortages in industrial control MCUs. That is opening the door for Taiwanese chip makers to push into high-end industrial MCUs, while supply is expected to remain tight through 2027 and stable delivery becomes key to defending market share.
Monday 14 September 2026
DIGITIMES Insight: High NA EUV chips near production, but economics will be the pacemaker
ASML's latest update suggests High NA EUV is no longer confined to laboratory validation. With 10 systems already operating across four customers worldwide, and three more in shipment or installation, the technology is beginning to enter production ramp-up. The shift matters because adoption now hinges less on optical promise and more on whether chipmakers can justify the added cost.
Monday 14 September 2026
DIGITIMES Insight: Taiwanese firms lead in FOPLP as overseas rivals race to catch up
Taiwanese chip packaging firms are advancing fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) and glass-substrate development as AI processors demand ever-larger reticle sizes and more complex packaging. Their early manufacturing scale, automation progress, and substrate design choices could help determine who controls the next bottlenecks in high-end chip assembly.
Monday 14 September 2026
China optical firms target photonics with mixed high-end, lower-cost push
The 2026 China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) closed on September 11. While near-eye display applications such as AR/VR and smart glasses drew attention, vendors' latest moves in optical communications also attracted strong industry interest.
Monday 14 September 2026
South Korea broadens espionage law to counter rising tech leaks
South Korea's revised Criminal Act took effect September 13, extending the scope of espionage offenses from acts benefiting North Korea to those benefiting any foreign country or equivalent organization, as South Korea strengthens protection of semiconductors and other strategic technologies.
Monday 14 September 2026
Samsung, Qualcomm deepen 2nm talks as pricing and yield hurdles persist
Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm are expanding discussions over 2nm foundry cooperation, with pricing, yield, and process optimization still unresolved as Samsung seeks to regain a share of Qualcomm's flagship processor business.
Monday 14 September 2026
Gritek to take full control of 12-inch silicon wafer venture in major restructuring
Gritek plans to strengthen its position in China's large-diameter silicon wafer market by acquiring the remaining stakes in two semiconductor materials companies, according to a company announcement.
Monday 14 September 2026
AI's energy demand ignites global nuclear rush, straining Taiwan's restart
A worldwide nuclear comeback, fueled by artificial intelligence data centers and semiconductor demand, is tightening supply chains and labor markets just as Taiwan considers restarting idle reactors.
Monday 14 September 2026
India semiconductor deals hit a multi-year high ahead of SEMICON India 2026
India's semiconductor companies have raised nearly half of their all-time equity funding since the start of 2025, and deal activity this year is already at a multi-year high. The figures arrive days before SEMICON India 2026, the country's flagship semiconductor conference, opens in New Delhi on September 17.
Monday 14 September 2026
Hua Hong Grace completes Huali Micoelectronics acquisition, state parent raises stake

Hua Hong Grace (HHGrace) has completed the share issuance for its acquisition of a 97.4988% stake in Huali Microelectronics (HLMC), strengthening the company's position in China's semiconductor foundry market.

Monday 14 September 2026
CPO nears mass production — next battle about interfaces, yield and maintenance
As AI computing bandwidth keeps rising, optical interconnect architectures are moving beyond pluggable optical modules toward near-packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO). But large-scale deployment will depend on more than optical-engine performance. Precision alignment, serviceability, manufacturing yield, and whether the supply chains for light sources, packaging, testing, and materials can advance in step are becoming equally critical.
Monday 14 September 2026
AI server tracker: Taiwan ASIC design houses diverge as AI projects enter different revenue cycles
Taiwan's ASIC design-service suppliers all posted year-over-year revenue growth in August 2026, but the underlying figures point to sharply different stages of the custom-silicon cycle.
Monday 14 September 2026
AI server tracker: Taiwan testing suppliers accelerate as AI chip complexity raises interface demand
Taiwan's semiconductor testing supply chain continued to ride strong AI and high-performance computing (HPC) demand in August 2026, with all four major suppliers posting year-over-year revenue growth.
Monday 14 September 2026
India's chip show nearly doubles in two years, with suppliers leading the build-out
The exhibitor list for Semicon India 2026 suggests the country's semiconductor push has moved past announcements and into procurement. The show has drawn 535 exhibiting companies, up 52% from 351 in 2025 and 97% from 271 in 2024. Moreover, the sharpest growth is not in chipmakers, but in areas that fabs purchase only once construction is real: cleanroom and utility contractors, specialty gas and chemical suppliers, and metrology and inspection tool vendors.
Monday 14 September 2026
Weekly news roundup: HBM4 strain, Intel price hikes and the next AI infrastructure buildout
AI demand remained the dominant force across semiconductors, memory, foundry and data-center infrastructure this week. Intel raised CPU prices while Qualcomm and MediaTek targeted openings in IPC and IoT; memory inventories tightened as HBM4 and server demand strained DRAM and NAND supply; and Micron, Taiwan Mobile, Samsung Electronics, ASML, Synopsys and Eaton advanced plans tied to AI, advanced-node manufacturing and higher-density data centers. Below are the most-read DIGITIMES stories from September 7–13, 2026.
Monday 14 September 2026
India roundup: India says it cannot build electronics without China
India is accelerating its semiconductor and electronics ambitions, courting Taiwan, easing China restrictions, expanding local manufacturing and chip infrastructure, while global technology companies deepen investment despite rising costs and regulatory risks.