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Friday 12 June 2026

TSMC hit by US patent suit, Taiwan ministry pledges support

TSMC has been drawn into a patent infringement complaint in the US by Ireland-based patent licensing firms Longitude Licensing and Marlin Semiconductor. The companies have claimed that the US government could block imports to the US of chips made by TSMC as a result of the case, and have enlisted several members of Congress to support their position, drawing market attention.

Friday 12 June 2026

Hanmi Semiconductor to invest in SpaceX as Terafab bets grow

Hanmi Semiconductor plans to invest KRW50 billion (US$32.81 million) in SpaceX, highlighting how space, satellites, and artificial intelligence infrastructure are increasingly linked. For global readers, the deal signals how semiconductor suppliers are positioning themselves around next-generation supply chains, customer demand, and the expansion of AI-driven industrial ecosystems.

Friday 12 June 2026

MediaTek May 2026 revenue rises nearly 5% ahead of ASIC ramp

MediaTek reported May 2026 revenue of NT$47.43 billion (approx. US$1.5 billion), up 1.49% from the previous month and 4.99% from a year earlier. Cumulative revenue for the first five months of 2026 totaled NT$243.32 billion, down 1.59% from the same period last year.

Friday 12 June 2026

Cadence deepens Intel Foundry partnership on next-generation chip design

Cadence and Intel Foundry are expanding their collaboration on advanced chip design, a move that could affect future semiconductors used in devices and data centers worldwide. The agreement aims to improve performance, power efficiency, and design readiness as chipmakers race to bring next-generation technologies to market.

Friday 12 June 2026

Malaysia, Japan expand rare earth and energy cooperation

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim concluded a three-day visit to Japan, during which he met with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The two leaders pledged to strengthen cooperation in critical minerals.

Friday 12 June 2026

HPSP reportedly receives test equipment order for Musk's Terafab

Elon Musk's planned Terafab chipmaking project has taken an early equipment-sourcing step, with South Korean equipment maker HPSP reportedly receiving a purchase order for high-pressure hydrogen annealing equipment.

Friday 12 June 2026

SuperAI 2026: From turbine backlogs to copper limits, AMD maps infrastructure walls closing in on AI

The artificial intelligence (AI) industry is expanding at a pace that the physical world cannot match, and the gap between digital demand and real-world supply is widening across every layer of the infrastructure stack, from power generation to chip manufacturing to data center construction. That was the assessment of Sachin Hindupur, global strategy and operations leader at AMD, in a presentation at SuperAI Singapore 2026 on Thursday.

Friday 12 June 2026

Chinese chip foundry United Nova bets US$3B on AI power, optical interconnects

United Nova Technology (UNT) is expanding from automotive and industrial chips into AI server power management and optical interconnects through a CNY20 billion (US$3 billion) 12-inch mixed-signal fab project.

Friday 12 June 2026

Official think tank lays out 2035 roadmap to reduce India's reliance on imported chips

India's official think tank NITI Aayog has outlined a 2035 roadmap for India to become a more central part of the global semiconductor industry, warning that continued reliance on imports leaves the country exposed to cost, supply, and security risks.

Friday 12 June 2026

PCIM 2026: Overcoming thermal warping in direct-cooled EV power modules

As wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors like silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) take the lead in electric vehicle (EV) powertrains, electronics packaging engineers are facing a thermodynamic reckoning. To extract maximum performance from these high-frequency, high-efficiency chips, the industry is driving an architectural shift: shrinking inverter volumes, eliminating heavy copper baseplates, and mounting molded power packages directly to liquid-cooled water jackets. However, this high-power-density approach exposes a fragile structural vulnerability. When mismatched materials are bonded under extreme manufacturing conditions, the physics of thermal expansion can tear a high-value power module apart before it ever leaves the assembly line.

Friday 12 June 2026

Taiwan OSAT firms gain from AI chip demand and foundry spillover

The global push for AI and HPC chips is tightening advanced packaging capacity and lifting orders for outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers. For international customers and supply chains, the shift suggests stronger demand for Taiwan's packaging and testing firms, alongside a broader rebalancing of semiconductor production.

Friday 12 June 2026

Power semiconductors race to cut resistance for GPU cooling

Power semiconductors are taking on a central role as AI data centers move from 800V high-voltage input down through multiple power-conversion stages to the ultra-low voltages used by chips. After the post-pandemic inventory correction, industry players say power semiconductors have shifted "from a supporting role to the lead" under the new AI high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power architecture.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Amkor Korea weighs KRW1 trillion Gwangju expansion amid reported TSMC order growth

Amkor Technology Korea is considering investing about KRW1 trillion (approx. US$650 million) to expand its chip packaging and testing facilities in the South Korean city of Gwangju, according to Korean media reports and city officials. The company has not officially announced the plan.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Applied Materials CEO: AI reshapes semiconductor innovation

Applied Materials said artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the global semiconductor industry and could drive years of heavy investment in chipmaking, packaging, and materials engineering. The shift matters far beyond one company, because AI demand is increasing worldwide and is expected to influence data centers, device costs, energy use, and the pace of technology development.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Applied Materials expands Singapore base as AI supply-chain bottlenecks loom

Applied Materials is expanding manufacturing and research in Singapore as artificial intelligence (AI) drives a wider shift in semiconductor planning, supply chains, and investment. The move highlights how AI demand is influencing chipmakers, equipment suppliers, and global customers, with implications for production capacity, regional innovation hubs, and technology markets worldwide.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Commentary: TSMC's pricing power stays intact as AI demand keeps fabs full

Market chatter about TSMC has intensified, with reports that its advanced process and packaging prices will rise again in the second half of 2026 and 2027, while some Google TPU production could shift to Intel, and some AMD products could be made by Samsung Electronics. TSMC CFO Wendell Huang recently told the media that global inflation and overseas fab expansion have indeed pushed up operating costs, adding that TSMC does not rule out moderate price adjustments. Those comments have drawn close attention across the industry.

Thursday 11 June 2026

AI boom drives capital inflows, but Taiwan sees low systemic risk

Taiwan's export growth has accelerated to its strongest pace in nearly 16 years on the back of AI and higher prices for electronic components, drawing large amounts of capital into the stock market and other asset markets. Central bank governor Chin-Long Yang said on June 10 that Taiwan remains far from systemic risk despite concerns over surging market activity.

Thursday 11 June 2026

US lawmakers push ITC to enforce patent case involving TSMC

Congressional Republicans are urging stronger exclusion orders in the ongoing Section 337 investigation tied to TSMC's advanced-node chips, while the company reiterates compliance with local laws and highlights ongoing legal uncertainty in its quarterly filing.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Taiwan Mask sells Zhunan plant to Siliconware Precision Industries for NT$2.8 billion

Taiwan Mask (TMC), a Taiwanese photomask manufacturing process company, has approved the sale of its Plant 6 in Zhunan, Taiwan. The company said the move is primarily a strategic measure aimed at activating assets and focusing on its core business. It is also intended to improve the group's capital allocation efficiency, optimize its balance sheet, and boost earnings per share (EPS).

Thursday 11 June 2026

Questions emerge over timing of Nvidia's 800V data center push, but suppliers say plans remain unclear

Recent market speculation suggests that Nvidia's ambitious transition to a native 800-volt direct-current (800VDC) architecture for AI data centers may be delayed by up to a year, pushing large-scale production and deployment beyond 2028. The reports also claim that major cloud service providers (CSPs) could postpone adoption of the technology.

Thursday 11 June 2026

CanSemi IPO exposes strains in China's mature-node chip push

CanSemi Technology's planned ChiNext listing has exposed the financial strain behind China's push to build mature-node semiconductor capacity, as the Guangzhou-based foundry seeks fresh capital despite persistent losses, negative gross margins and a long road to profitability.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Taiwan deepens ties with Central and Eastern Europe as Taiwanese firms expand into Czech Republic, Poland

The Czech Republic and other Central and Eastern European countries have gradually become emerging markets for Taiwanese investment and exports. This follows the donation of vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic from the Czech Republic to Taiwan, underscoring the shared values of democracy and freedom between the two.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Applied Materials invests US$500 million in Singapore to meet AI chip demand

As artificial intelligence (AI) fuels an unprecedented surge in demand for advanced semiconductors, Applied Materials is deepening its commitment to one of Asia's most important chipmaking hubs.

Thursday 11 June 2026

Wistron ITS rebrands as WITS to scale chip and AI engineering in software-hardware integration pivot

Wistron ITS has officially changed its name to WITS. Chairman Ching Hsiao pointed out that the rebranding signifies the company's transition from software into the new frontier of "software-hardware integration."

Thursday 11 June 2026

Gudeng flags EUV supply constraints as advanced-chip expansion accelerates

Gudeng chairman and CEO Bill Chiu said global demand for AI is driving a wave of 2nm and 3nm advanced-node capacity expansion, but the biggest constraint for chipmakers is not building fabs — it is securing extreme ultraviolet lithography systems.

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