Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the company's in-house AI5 chip has completed design tape-out and entered a critical pre-production validation stage. The move has drawn renewed attention from supply chains in Taiwan and South Korea as Tesla builds a scalable computing infrastructure for vehicles, AI training systems, and humanoid robots.

Ardentec's Longtan plant is set to begin taking AI ASIC wafer-probing orders in the third quarter of 2026, as the semiconductor testing provider moves to capture spillover demand from foundry strategic partners.

Intel has announced that it has appointed Alex Katouzian as head of its Client Computing and Physical AI Division. With this hire, Intel seeks to align its consumer PC business with physical AI applications spanning robotics and AI -enabled devices.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company's share of China's data-center computing market has dropped to zero. The admission underscores how US export controls are reshaping the country's AI chip sector — and how urgently Beijing is moving to localize its semiconductor supply chain, from processors to silicon wafers.

The global semiconductor industry is entering a "multi-trillion-dollar" growth cycle sooner than expected, SEMI President and CEO Ajit Manocha said, urging Southeast Asian countries to strengthen cooperation to address talent, energy, and geopolitical challenges. Manocha predicted rapid revenue expansion driven by AI, IoT, and quantum demand.

Apple is exploring a significant shift in its semiconductor supply chain, holding early discussions with Intel and Samsung Electronics to produce the main processors used in its devices, according to Bloomberg. The move would mark a potential diversification away from its long-standing reliance on TSMC, Apple's exclusive partner for more than a decade.

Intel is gaining momentum in both chip design and foundry operations. Its PC platform roadmap for the next two years is coming into sharper focus as process technology and yield improve, according to PC supply-chain sources.

Univacco said its Vietnam plant will begin mass production in the second quarter of 2027 as the company moves to position itself in the co-packaged optics and advanced packaging materials supply chain. The move aims to leverage tariff advantages, lower manufacturing costs, and ample labor to boost overseas competitiveness.

Onsemi told investors during its first-quarter 2026 earnings call, held on May 4, that China remains a key growth market for its automotive power products, even as China's passenger vehicle market softened. The company reported that "Our China automotive revenue grew year-over-year in the first quarter, despite a decline in the China passenger vehicle market of 6% for the same period," framing the performance as evidence of rising semiconductor content and share gains within Chinese electric vehicle programs.

During an earnings call on May 4, Onsemi portrayed its artificial intelligence data center business and new Treo platform as central to a recovery that began in the first quarter, saying improving order patterns and product ramps are translating into higher revenue, expanding gross margins, and stronger cash returns to shareholders.

Lattice Semiconductor has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AMI, a leading provider of platform firmware and infrastructure manageability software, for $1.65 billion. The deal — structured as $1.0 billion in cash and roughly $650 million in Lattice stock — is expected to close in Q3 2026 and would effectively double Lattice's total serviceable addressable market to approximately $12 billion.

Onsemi reported a mixed but generally improving set of first-quarter 2026 results, signaling early signs of recovery in key end markets while highlighting ongoing volatility in profitability.

Intel's share price has hit historic highs as the semiconductor industry draws significant investor attention. But is this hype justified? DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin took a deep dive into the fundamental facts, production bottlenecks, and competitive gaps behind Intel's surge during a recent podcast.

Samsung Electronics is reportedly restarting its silicon carbide (SiC) wafer foundry business, aiming to tap into the fast-growing next-generation power semiconductor market, reinforce its market position, and improve utilization rates at its existing 8-inch foundry lines. Industry estimates suggest Samsung could enter mass production of SiC chips by 2028.

The AI chip race is increasingly running into a different kind of limit — not compute, but packaging, as supply constraints around advanced technologies such as CoWoS begin to tighten.

Kioxia and SanDisk are set to present a new 3D flash memory architecture aimed at extending NAND scaling beyond 1,000 stacked layers, as memory makers seek ways to overcome the physical and electrical limits of conventional layer increases.

Rising raw material prices have pushed up gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate costs, squeezing a key material used in power amplifiers (PA). Win Semiconductors said that its scale gives it stronger bargaining power, but the company will renegotiate prices with customers if input costs swing sharply.

As global demand for AI infrastructure accelerates, the collaboration between Taiwan and South Korea—the core pillars of the global semiconductor supply chain—is critical to winning the new tech race. Colley Hwang, chairman of DIGITIMES and IC Broadcasting, said South Korea's plan to deploy 260,000 Nvidia GPUs remains heavily reliant on Taiwan's manufacturing capabilities.

Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of April 27-May 4, 2026:

Samsung Electronics' foundry business is drawing renewed attention as its 4nm process reportedly reaches higher utilization, supported by HBM4 base-die demand and orders from global technology companies.

Taiwan's government is advancing its Five Trusted Industry Sectors program, which identifies semiconductors, AI, defense, security, and next-generation communications as the country's core growth drivers. The push for self-sufficiency in semiconductor materials and equipment has already generated NT$22 billion (US$696.92 million) in new output in 2025, with some of the machinery reportedly shipped to China.

Supply-chain participants said Apple's fiscal second-quarter 2026 performance should be read less as a demand story and more as a reflection of persistent constraints in advanced semiconductor capacity, particularly at leading-edge process nodes.

United Integrated Services reported a record net profit of NT$9.069 billion (US$287 million) for 2025 and posted NT$20.288 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, increases of 46.5% year-on-year and 76.15% year-on-year, respectively, the firm announced. The engineering and cleanroom contractor said it holds nearly NT$150 billion in orders and aims to reach NT$100 billion in annual revenue in 2026, while comfortably exceeding NT$10 billion in after-tax net profit, positioning itself as a leading profitable player in factory engineering services.

SEMICON SEA 2026 convened from May 5 to 7 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center in Kuala Lumpur to showcase Malaysia's expanding role in the global semiconductor supply chain amid surging demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Organizers presented the event under the theme "Transform Tomorrow" and framed the conference as a platform for industry decision-makers, multinational firms, and innovators to explore capacity, talent, and sustainability challenges.