Taiwan's innovation engine ran hot in 2025. The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) announced on February 26, 2026, that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) topped Taiwan-based invention patent applicants for the 10th consecutive year, filing 1,485 applications.

As AI-driven demand continues to lift global semiconductor output, TSMC is accelerating the localization of electroplating additives used in advanced packaging to secure a stable supply. Through four measures — production line guidance, equipment optimization, quality inspection, and sample validation — the company has supported Japanese suppliers in establishing production in Taiwan, cutting production cycles from 60 days to 20 days and improving logistics efficiency by 90%.

Japan is planting its flag in India's semiconductor sector — and doing so fast. The market is projected to reach US$110 billion by 2030, and Japanese firms are racing to claim a piece of it.

As AI dominance drives computing costs to unprecedented heights, a surprising truth is emerging at the front of quantum technology: the future of AI may depend not on replacing classical computers, but on a subtle, yet astronomically valuable, incremental improvement.

Semiconductor test interface maker WinWay reported record 2025 revenue and profit driven by demand from AI, high-performance computing, and ASIC markets, and announced a NT$3.499 billion (approx. US$111.7 million) expansion, including a new factory in Renwu, Kaohsiung.

The US is quietly rebuilding its domestic semiconductor industry by reducing dependence on Taiwan, which produces roughly 90% of the world's most advanced computer chips. Experts warn that any disruption to Taiwan's chip supply, whether from geopolitical tensions or natural disasters, could trigger a global economic crisis.

On February 24, 2026, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) crossed the US$2 trillion market capitalization mark, becoming the eighth company in US stock market history to reach the milestone and the first from Taiwan. The achievement places TSMC sixth in the global rankings by market value, behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, and Amazon.

Taiwan and South Korea have long defined the frontlines of global tech rivalry. Now, that relationship is evolving into something far more nuanced. Driven by the demands of the AI supercycle and mounting geopolitical pressures, the two are settling into an uneasy but necessary "frenemy" dynamic. DIGITIMES president Colley Hwang laid out this shift in a lecture on February 24, 2026, mapping the hidden vulnerabilities and emerging interdependencies that will shape both nations' tech futures. His analysis, centered on TSMC and Samsung, is clear: the era of pure head-to-head competition is over. Collaboration is now a strategic imperative.

Leading global semiconductor foundry, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), has announced on February 25, 2026, a significant restructuring of its executive leadership structure.

SK Hynix, one of the world's top three memory chip makers, told investors on a recent Goldman Sachs conference call that the global memory market has fully shifted to a "seller's market," with prices expected to climb throughout 2026.

Blowout earnings from TSMC in 2025 — and an even more bullish outlook for 2026 — have reignited investor enthusiasm across the global semiconductor sector. Attention is now turning to Nvidia, whose latest quarterly results are widely expected to surpass already lofty forecasts.

Taiwan's IC packaging and testing supply chain is accelerating expansion as Sigurd announced it will invest NT$1.54 billion (approx. US$49M) to purchase a factory in the Hukou Industrial Park from major IC substrate maker Unimicron. The facility will serve as Sigurd's second Hukou plant, slated to begin operations in 2H26 alongside its existing site to jointly support customer needs.

China is preparing a fivefold increase in domestic advanced logic chip output within one to two years to support its expanding AI computing infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Nikkei Asia.

Benefiting from a continued increase in high-end process non-recurring engineering (NRE) projects, Progate Group Corporation (PGC) reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of NT$415 million (US$13.21 million), down 10.2% from the previous quarter but surging 107.1% year over year, marking the company's second-highest quarterly revenue on record. Full-year 2025 revenue reached a record NT$1.35 billion, up 97.8% from 2024, with earnings per share (EPS) climbing to NT$2.06, surpassing the previous year's NT$1.65.

Kaynes Semicon, the semiconductor assembly and test arm of Kaynes Technology India Ltd., has adopted engineering simulation software from Synopsys to strengthen its outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) operations, as part of a broader strategy to expand into advanced chip packaging.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Meta have entered into a multi-year agreement to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs to power Meta's next-generation AI data centers, marking one of the largest AI infrastructure partnerships to date and potentially exceeding US$100 billion in value.

Intel has opted for a multi-year collaboration and minority investment in SambaNova Systems rather than a full acquisition, signaling a more capital-disciplined approach as it seeks to strengthen its position in the fast-growing AI inference market.

Texas Instruments (TI) has provided a revenue guidance range of US$4.32 billion to US$4.68 billion for the first quarter of 2026. This outlook reflects significantly stronger seasonality than usual, with revenue typically ranging from a low-single-digit decline to flat. Analysts noted that this sequential growth guidance marks what appears to be the first of its kind for the company in roughly 15 years. Earnings per share for the same period are expected to range from US$1.22 to US$1.48.

Texas Instruments reported mixed results for the fourth quarter of 2025, with year-on-year growth supported by industrial and data center demand but sequential declines across most markets, underscoring uneven recovery trends and lingering demand uncertainty.

Widespread speculation surrounds Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's previously teased chips set to be revealed at the March 2026 GTC conference. Among the most discussed possibilities are the long-rumored N1 and N1X PC chips, which have circulated in industry reports for the past two years but have yet to be officially announced. The N1 series chips appear ready and have reportedly completed product development with major PC brands, with Lenovo said to be one of the most critical partners in the collaboration.

Texas Instruments is approaching the end of a six-year capex expansion after spending US$4.6 billion in 2025, and plans to cut 2026 investment to US$2 billion–US$3 billion as its Sherman fab ramps ahead of schedule, while monitoring indirect demand shifts tied to volatility in memory markets.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has amplified recruitment of South Korean semiconductor talent via social media, deepening competition for engineers as global tech firms increasingly target the country's skilled workforce.