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Friday 17 October 2025

ASML stands strong despite tariffs, fueled by China and TSMC orders

Acer chairman and CEO Jason Chen once described the "dulling effect" of US President Donald Trump's tariffs, a phenomenon now increasingly reflected in ASML's earnings and guidance. Despite these pressures, the Dutch firm reported steady third-quarter earnings, buoyed by a surge in demand from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector and a last-minute scramble by Chinese firms to acquire advanced chipmaking equipment.

Friday 17 October 2025

Commentary: TSMC chairman adopts cautious tone despite AI optimism

TSMC reported a record net profit of NT$452.3 billion (approx. US$14.8 billion) in the third quarter of 2025, surpassing expectations and pushing its first nine months' earnings to NT$1.21 trillion, already exceeding the full-year 2024 total of NT$1.17 trillion. However, Chairman C.C. Wei's demeanor marked a notable shift from previous years, emphasizing disciplined expansion amid strong AI demand.

Friday 17 October 2025

TSMC deepens US footprint with advanced packaging expansion, eyes AI growth

TSMC will build two advanced packaging plants in Arizona, part of a sweeping expansion to support soaring demand for AI chips and solidify its strategic presence in the US, Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei announced during the company's latest earnings call.

Friday 17 October 2025

China's 50-50 chip equation: From Nexperia's freeze to a new AI supply order

The Dutch government's one-year freeze of Wingtech subsidiary Nexperia's assets, on the grounds of national security, has once again highlighted vulnerabilities in the semiconductor supply chain. The move is prompting China's chip industry to accelerate internal restructuring to hedge against growing geopolitical uncertainty.

Friday 17 October 2025

GlobalWafers launches Fab300 in Italy, boosting Europe's semiconductor autonomy

GlobalWafers announced on October 16 that its new 12-inch wafer fab, Fab300, in Novara, Italy, has officially begun operations. This marks a significant step in the company's global expansion and a key milestone in Europe's push toward semiconductor self-sufficiency.

Friday 17 October 2025

AI expansion pushes HBM market towards $100 billion by 2028

As the AI ecosystem continues to expand, South Korean securities analysts predict the semiconductor industry's upward cycle will extend at least until after 2028. Samsung Electronics is expected to sustain its strong third-quarter performance and continue growing, supported by rising prices of general-purpose memory and surging demand for HBM.

Friday 17 October 2025

Power Integrations joins Nvidia's 800V AI data center supply chain

US-based PMIC manufacturer Power Integrations (PI) announced that it has officially entered Nvidia's 800V data center power supply architecture supply chain, becoming a certified supplier for the entire platform.

Thursday 16 October 2025

TSMC's gross margin hits 60% in 4Q25 as N2 process set for rapid growth in 2026

TSMC delivered a robust forecast on October 16, projecting its gross margin would climb back to 60% in the fourth quarter and raising its full-year revenue outlook. During an earnings call, Chairman C.C. Wei also announced a significant expansion of the company's Arizona operations after securing a second large plot of land to accelerate its US growth.

Thursday 16 October 2025

TSMC tells clients to order early as downstream demand signals remain strong

As demand for artificial intelligence (AI) continues to surge through 2025 and non-AI end markets show mild recovery, TSMC chairman C.C. Wei has raised the company's full-year revenue guidance once again.

Thursday 16 October 2025

Broadcom launches industry's first Wi-Fi 8 chips for AI-powered edge devices

Broadcom on Thursday introduced the industry's first suite of Wi-Fi 8 silicon solutions, signaling a new era in wireless connectivity engineered specifically for the demands of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven edge networks.

Thursday 16 October 2025

Samsung unveils stock rewards program to retain top talent

Samsung Electronics is rolling out a new stock-based rewards program in a strategic move to attract and keep its top employees amid a fierce global competition for talent.

Thursday 16 October 2025

Tsinghua University breaks imaging limits with Rafael chip, launching sub-angstrom era

The Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University (THU) in Beijing has developed the world's first "sub-angstrom snapshot spectral imaging chip" named Rafael. The research findings were published online in Nature, marking a significant advance in high-precision photonic chips and imaging technology in China. This breakthrough ushers intelligent photonics into an ultra-high resolution era below 0.1 nanometers (sub-angstrom level).

Thursday 16 October 2025

Samsung reportedly to bring in ASML's top lithography tools to take on TSMC

Samsung Electronics is reportedly pouring KRW1.1 trillion (approx. US$773 million) into next-generation chipmaking equipment in a high-stakes bid to close the gap with rivals TSMC and Intel in the global race to produce smaller, more powerful semiconductors.

Thursday 16 October 2025

Nanya sees DDR4 price and volume growth; annual contract talks emerge

Memory manufacturer Nanya successfully ended 11 consecutive quarters of losses in the third quarter of 2025. General manager Pei-Ing Lee stated that average selling prices (ASPs) rose about 40% quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter, with strong confidence in continued price increases and operational growth in the fourth quarter. Although price hikes vary across product lines, maintaining first-quarter 2026 pricing would be ideal. Recently, customers have also requested annual long-term contracts for DDR4, signaling the industry's recovery from its trough to a healthy level.

Thursday 16 October 2025

TSMC 3Q25 earnings hit a record high with gross margin near 60%

Fueled by surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand and a wave of new smartphone launches, TSMC operated its 5nm and 3nm chip production lines at full capacity during the third quarter of 2025. The foundry posted consolidated revenue of NT$989.92 billion (US$32.3 billion), net income after tax of NT$452.3 billion, and earnings per share (EPS) of NT$17.44—yet another record high. Cumulative EPS for the first three quarters reached NT$46.75, already surpassing the company's full-year 2024 performance.

Thursday 16 October 2025

India's Sahasra exports packaged memory to Europe, marking OSAT progress

India's Sahasra Semiconductors has begun volume production of Made-in-India Micro SD cards and USB drives for Germany's Hama under a multi-year supply contract. The agreement marks one of the first exports of locally packaged semiconductor memory products from India to Europe, showing measurable progress in the country's semiconductor manufacturing capabilities.

Thursday 16 October 2025

AI drives Southern Taiwan Science Park revenue to near NT$2 trillion

Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) has posted an impressive revenue performance for January to August 2025, driven by the global AI boom. Almost breaking NT$2 trillion at NT$1.828 trillion (approx. US$59.7 billion), this represents a 40.05% year-over-year increase from the same period in 2024.

Thursday 16 October 2025

Taiwan tackles semiconductor talent shortage amid demographic challenges

Taiwan is confronting critical workforce challenges as declining birth rates and an aging population lead to labor shortages and structural aging within its workforce. These demographic pressures pose risks to the island's industrial upgrading, economic growth, and national strength, particularly in the semiconductor sector, where talent supply is already strained. To sustain its domestic chip industry and realize its "smart technology island" vision, the government is deploying policy incentives alongside industry collaboration.

Thursday 16 October 2025

OCP Summit: Taiwan emerges as backbone of global AI supply chain

Speaking at the 2025 OCP Global Summit in California, Eric Huang, Vice President of DIGITIMES, delivered a keynote address spotlighting Taiwan's pivotal role in the fast-evolving global AI supply chain. According to Huang, two sectors in Taiwan are becoming indispensable in the AI age: advanced chip development and AI server system integration.

Thursday 16 October 2025

Dutch seizure of Nexperia raises stakes for Chinese tech assets abroad

In a dramatic escalation of the US-China tech war, the Dutch government has seized control of the Netherlands-based semiconductor manufacturer Nexperia, invoking a Cold War-era emergency law to take over the Chinese-owned firm.

Thursday 16 October 2025

ASML sees continued growth in EUV demand, confident in High NA progress

ASML remains optimistic about the outlook for its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, including the next-generation High Numerical Aperture (High NA) EUV tools, as semiconductor customers ramp up investments in advanced logic and DRAM production. The company expects EUV demand to rise further in 2026, supported by strong momentum in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

Thursday 16 October 2025

ASML expects China sales to normalize after exceptional growth cycle

ASML said it expects its sales in China to decline significantly in 2026, characterizing the shift not as a downturn but as a return to normal market conditions following an unusually strong two-year cycle. The company's executives emphasized that the current year's performance in China has remained robust, but the elevated levels seen in 2024 and 2025 were not sustainable in the long term.

Thursday 16 October 2025

ASML lifts margin outlook, signals cautious 2026 growth with XT:260 launch

ASML Holding NV offered a cautiously optimistic outlook during its third-quarter 2025 earnings call on October 15, 2025, pointing to higher fourth-quarter sales and margin improvements, while acknowledging uncertainties in 2026 demand. The company highlighted stronger performance in its low numerical aperture (Low NA) systems, steady momentum in AI-driven demand, and unveiled a new lithography tool—the XT:260—targeted at the fast-growing advanced packaging market.

Thursday 16 October 2025

ASML signals stable 2025 sales outlook as China demand expected to cool

ASML Holding NV said on October 15, 2025, that it does not expect sales next year to fall short of this year's level, signaling a stable outlook but offering little upside for investors hoping for stronger growth. Analysts, however, said the company typically provides conservative guidance, suggesting potential strength in sales of advanced tools outside China as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom drives new investment.

Thursday 16 October 2025

TSMC's advanced chip orders surge with AI boom, boosting Taiwan's OSAT sector

As TSMC prepares to release its latest financial results, investor optimism remains high despite renewed concerns over an AI bubble. Industry watchers continue to bet on generative AI as a key growth driver, propelling demand in the high-performance computing (HPC) sector and encouraging clients to steadily scale up chip orders with TSMC.

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