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Wednesday 30 September 2026
AI boom draws display makers into semiconductors with glass core substrates and Micro LED
AI is driving the semiconductor industry into a new growth cycle while creating opportunities for display companies traditionally centered on panels to move into semiconductors. These companies are extending their reach into emerging areas such as advanced packaging and optical communications, seeking to leverage core technologies such as glass substrates and Micro LED.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
VSMC bets on value over cost as Singapore fab builds next-generation R&D and IP capabilities
VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (VSMC), the joint venture between Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) and NXP Semiconductors, opened its 12-inch wafer fab in Tampines, Singapore, on September 28.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Inside Anthropic's multi-billion-dollar loop: how circular financing powers the AI boom
As Anthropic prepares to ask public markets to back its expansion, confidential IPO filing details seen by Reuters reveal how heavily the AI developer relies on a small group of tech giants. At the core of its business is an increasingly circular financial network in which companies like Amazon and Alphabet's Google act simultaneously as equity investors, cloud suppliers, distribution channels, and direct AI competitors.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Foundry 2.0 revenue hits record as growth spreads beyond TSMC
Global Foundry 2.0 market revenue reached a record US$96.6 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 25% year-over-year and 11% sequentially, as semiconductor demand tied to data-center expansion spread beyond leading-edge processors into networking, power management, mature-node chips, packaging and test.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Linde secures Sanand land as global materials suppliers race to localize for India's first fabs
India's chip push is drawing the materials layer of the supply chain onshore. With Tata Electronics' Dholera fab and a cluster of packaging plants in Sanand under way, suppliers of industrial gases, wet chemicals, and photoresists from the US, Japan, and South Korea are moving to secure positions close to their future customers in Gujarat.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Samsung expects HPC to account for 66% of foundry business by 2029
Samsung Electronics expects high-performance computing (HPC) to account for 66% of its foundry business by 2029, up from 28% currently, as the company shifts its contract chipmaking portfolio beyond mobile products toward AI and HPC.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
India bars Semicon 2.0 chip plants from selling or mortgaging assets before full production
India has barred semiconductor projects approved under its Semicon 2.0 program from selling, disposing of, or mortgaging project assets until commercial production of the entire project is declared, according to guidelines issued on September 17, 2026. The rules attach lock-in conditions on assets, operations, and ownership to the INR1.27 trillion (US$13.22 billion) incentive scheme.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
TSMC reportedly evaluates Texas fabs as US regional competition intensifies
TSMC is reportedly evaluating whether to build a second US manufacturing hub in Texas, potentially housing up to 6 advanced wafer fabs, as its US footprint continues to expand. The move follows the company's establishment of a massive semiconductor cluster in Arizona, which encompasses 12 fabs, advanced packaging facilities, and an R&D center.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Grand Pacific Petrochemical, Air Water join forces to expand Taiwan semiconductor materials business
Taiwan-based chemical manufacturer Grand Pacific Petrochemical (GPPC) is optimizing its core business while actively expanding into high-tech and semiconductor materials-related industries, amid high oil prices and the reshaping of global trade flows. Company president Chia-hsiung Tseng stated that its strategic partnership with Japan-based industrial gas company Air Water (AWI) is a key move to connect GPPC to the semiconductor materials supply chain.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Memory shortage pushes TV semiconductors above panel costs

A global memory shortage linked to rising AI infrastructure spending has upended TV manufacturing economics, with semiconductor costs now overtaking display panels in some models. The shift, reported by ET News, could squeeze profitability at major TV makers including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

Wednesday 30 September 2026
Commentary: Garmin returns to OLED, putting Micro LED on notice
Garmin's decision to offer OLED options but no Micro LED version in its new flagship smartwatches, the fenix 9 and fenix 9 Pro, has revived debate over whether the emerging display technology is ready for sustained commercial competition. The shift comes about a year after Garmin launched the world's first Micro LED smartwatch, the fenix 8 Pro Micro LED in September 2025.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
GlobalFoundries Singapore capacity utilization tops 90% as silicon photonics expansion hits equipment lead-time bottleneck
GlobalFoundries (GF) is expanding its Singapore footprint following its acquisition of local silicon photonics foundry Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF), integrating 200mm and 300mm silicon photonics technologies while transferring its existing US 300mm capabilities to Singapore.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Rare earths loom over US-China trade truce
The US-China trade truce was extended after last week's Trump-Xi summit, but China's dominance of rare-earth supply chains remains a key pressure point as Washington tries to stabilize economic ties while reducing its dependence on Chinese critical minerals.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
SoftBank subsidiary Saimemory taps Shinko to bring ZAM closer to commercialization
Saimemory, a SoftBank subsidiary, has brought Shinko Electric Industries into its effort to commercialize Z-Angle Memory (ZAM), adding packaging-substrate, high-density integration and manufacturing expertise to a next-generation memory project that already includes Intel and Japan's RIKEN.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
In global semiconductor race, Singapore bets on critical, mature technologies
Amid the ongoing restructuring of the global semiconductor supply chain, Singapore is focusing on advanced packaging, heterogeneous integration, silicon photonics, and optical interconnects, aiming to leverage nearly six decades' worth of manufacturing and supply chain expertise. In contrast with industry players in Taiwan, South Korea, and the US, who have continued to pour resources into 2nm and 1.4nm advanced processes, Singapore's semiconductor firms see no need to replicate Taiwan's foundry model. Instead, they aim to harness Singapore's existing strengths in mature and specialty processes, assembly and testing, equipment, materials, and multinational R&D clusters to secure their foothold in the supply chain for next-gen semiconductors.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Column: Why Micron's US$250M venture fund is about more than HBM margins—Taiwan has a stake in it
Micron unveiled the Micron Ventures Paradigm Fund, a US$250 million venture vehicle, in mid-August 2026, as the memory maker pairs more than US$25 billion in fiscal 2026 capex with a pledge to invest more than US$250 billion in the US by 2035. The fund is designed to give Micron an early look at technology shifts, position it for next-generation AI architectures, and strengthen its strategy to reduce memory-cycle volatility.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
South Korea AI compute squeeze hits researchers and startups
South Korea's AI sector is facing a growing GPU shortage as research institutes and small companies struggle to secure enough compute for model training and deployment. As government support ends, research teams are finding it harder to continue training, while startups are being squeezed by rising rental costs and long-term contract demands from suppliers.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Samsung Foundry nears 60% 2nm yield, shifts focus to power efficiency to win customers
Samsung Electronics' foundry business has reportedly raised yield on its 2-nanometer (2nm) SF2 process to nearly 60% and is now shifting engineering work toward power efficiency and other maturity checks. The effort is part of a broader push to win larger customers for its advanced manufacturing business.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
US, China eye US$60 billion in tariff relief, but chips stay off the table
The US and China are moving toward tariff reductions on about US$60 billion of bilateral trade following last week's Trump-Xi summit, but semiconductors and other strategically sensitive sectors remain outside the arrangement.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Advanced packaging shifts toward system integration as AI renews semiconductor talent appeal

At Singapore's Innovate Together 2026 conference on September 25, executives and researchers from A*STAR's Institute of Microelectronics (IME), KLA, ASM International, the National University of Singapore (NUS), the SHINE Centre, and ASMPT discussed how advanced packaging is evolving beyond conventional chip integration, with optical interconnects, panel-level packaging, and talent development emerging as key challenges.

Tuesday 29 September 2026
Beyond 16 layers: HBM stacks test advanced packaging equipment makers
At Singapore's Innovate Together 2026 conference on September 25, equipment makers including ASM, ASMPT, and KLA said the challenges facing next-generation advanced packaging are expanding beyond the performance of individual tools to hybrid bonding, interface materials, defect metrology, process control, optical interconnects, and panel-level packaging.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Samsung bonus plan to lift South Korea talent race

Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions division is set to announce the calculation and payout rules for its special management performance bonus in late September, after a holiday break. The move comes as SK Hynix continues recruiting experienced talent, underscoring how pay systems and workplace conditions have become key to attracting and retaining workers at South Korea's semiconductor giants.

Tuesday 29 September 2026
GlobalFoundries eyes GaN expansion to challenge TSMC in AI

GlobalFoundries (GF) is preparing a major global capacity expansion as TSMC is set to gradually exit gallium nitride (GaN) foundry services in 2027. GF said it was the first foundry to proactively approach TSMC and secure a GaN technology license, positioning itself to give existing customers a "seamless migration" path to its own platform.

Tuesday 29 September 2026
GF's MIPS bets on RISC-V physical AI, expands into autos and data centers
MIPS, a GlobalFoundries (GF) unit, said it has completed its integration with the ARC unit acquired from Synopsys earlier this year and is using the move to position RISC-V for physical AI, while expanding from AIoT into automotive and data center applications. MIPS said the strategy lowers the barrier for global customers to adopt GF platforms across process technologies and has pushed GF and MIPS to become the world's second-largest processor IP provider.
Tuesday 29 September 2026
Chips make up nearly half of South Korea's September exports; China, Hong Kong account for 52% of them
Semiconductors made up nearly half of South Korea's exports in the first 20 days of September, while China and Hong Kong combined accounted for more than half of the country's chip shipments in August, underscoring the growing concentration of the latest export surge by both product and destination.