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Friday 8 May 2026

AI boom reshapes global EMS supply chain as Taiwanese firms extend lead

As 2026 entered its second quarter, market research firm DIGITIMES released its ranking of the world's top 20 electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and original design manufacturers (ODM) for the first quarter of the year. The results underscored a sector increasingly being redrawn by the rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which continues to drive both growth and competitive realignment across the electronics supply chain.

Friday 8 May 2026

Taiwan government expands science parks as US-China tech war drags on

Taiwan's government decided five years ago to expand science park development after concluding that the US-China tech war would not end soon, laying the groundwork for the Third Kaohsiung Science Park (KSP), also called the Nanzih Science Park (NSP), under the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) Bureau. The Nanzih project is now under environmental review and, if approved, is expected to support semiconductor production, generate NT$960 billion (approx. US$30.46 billion) in annual output, and create 6,600 jobs.

Friday 8 May 2026

TSMC eyes bigger US investment; Arizona chip expansion accelerates

Taiwan remained the largest foreign delegation at the US Department of Commerce's SelectUSA Investment Summit for a third straight year, with TSMC indicating it may further expand its US investment footprint amid rising demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing and AI infrastructure.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Delta Electronics expands Malaysia presence as SEA becomes semiconductor growth hub

As global supply chains continue shifting under "China+1" and "Taiwan+1" strategies, Southeast Asia has emerged as a key destination for semiconductor and electronics investment. For Taiwanese power and automation company Delta Electronics, Malaysia is becoming a central part of that regional expansion strategy.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Singapore chip firms showcase cross-border manufacturing and testing strengths

Headquartered in Singapore, MPics Innovations is staffed by several former executives from Broadcom's isolation products division. The company has long focused on the automotive, industrial, and medical markets, known collectively as the AIM market, which demand high reliability.

Thursday 7 May 2026

WinWay April revenue hits second-highest on AI, HPC demand

WinWay said April 2026 revenue fell nearly 20% from the previous month due to its customer mix and product profile, but still rose more than 50% from a year earlier as orders for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) applications surged. The test interface maker said its Coaxial Socket high-end test socket capacity kept coming online.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Chinese semiconductor equipment makers deepen SEA OSAT presence

Chinese semiconductor equipment makers CCtech and Nextool Technology are expanding into Southeast Asia's OSAT hubs as Malaysia and Singapore emerge as key packaging and testing centers amid global supply chain restructuring and southbound shifts. Both companies said surging AI demand and fast growth in power electronics are setting up a new upcycle for test and packaging equipment.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Global chip sales surge in 1Q26, signaling supply and investment shifts

Global semiconductor sales reached US$298.5 billion in the first quarter of 2026, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported, underscoring robust worldwide demand with possible implications for technology supply chains, pricing, and production investment. The results come as markets eye a potential US$1 trillion year, driven by broad regional growth across Asia Pacific, the Americas, and China.

Thursday 7 May 2026

SEMI reports stronger wafer shipments with global implications

The SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group reported a 13.1% year-over-year rise in global silicon wafer shipment area to 3,275 million square inches in the first quarter of 2026, signaling stronger demand for wafers used in AI data centers and reshaping supply and production priorities across the global semiconductor supply chain.

Thursday 7 May 2026

SpaceX targets AI chip independence with US$119 billion Texas Terafab

Elon Musk is rapidly expanding his ambitions beyond rockets and electric vehicles (EVs), positioning SpaceX at the center of a vertically integrated artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure strategy spanning semiconductors, data centers, AI models, robotics, and space systems.

Thursday 7 May 2026

South Korea's US$344.3 million push to localize power chips

South Korea plans to provide KRW500 billion (US$344.3 million) in state funding for a large-scale research and development project aimed at localizing next-generation power semiconductors, ETNews reported.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Msscorps posts first-quarter loss as it pivots into silicon photonics inspection

Msscorps reported consolidated revenue of NT$579 million (US$18.46 million) in the first quarter of 2026, up 24.54% year-on-year and a record for the period, but still recorded a net loss of NT$31.85 million and an EPS loss of NT$0.61, marking a third straight quarter in the red. The firm said strong demand from materials analysis and AI chip analysis orders, along with growing revenue contribution from overseas sites, lifted scale and profitability during the quarter.

Thursday 7 May 2026

From chips to telecoms, South Korea faces an AI-era labor reckoning

Labor tensions across South Korea's technology sector are intensifying, and the conflict is no longer confined to traditional disputes between workers and management. Increasingly, the country's AI-driven economic transformation is exposing fractures within workforces themselves, as employees in faster-growing business divisions demand a larger share of corporate profits. In contrast, weaker divisions struggle to keep pace.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Intel shifts data center chip packaging to Vietnam and expands EMIB advanced packaging integration

Intel is relocating a data center chip production line from Costa Rica to its Vietnam facility. The move, flagged in a Saigon Hi-Tech Park management board report to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and cited by The Investor and VN Economy, will transfer operations to Intel Products Vietnam (IPV) within the same industrial park.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Transcom sees overseas defense orders drive revenue and production into 2026

Transcom Technology reported that April 2026 revenue rose 45.94% year on year to NT$90.82 million (US$2.9 million) as delayed defense project shipments from March were booked in April, and said defense-related products moving into mass production would support steady second-quarter shipments. The power amplifier maker disclosed first-quarter 2026 revenue of NT$178 million, a gross margin of 54%, net profit after tax of NT$20.2 million and earnings per share of NT$0.22, and stated that current order fulfillment progress pointed to an operational recovery in the second quarter.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Commentary: Why Apple's Intel and Samsung talks remain preliminary—and what that means for TSMC

A year of Intel-Apple negotiations and recent Samsung chatter amount to familiar supply-chain posturing—and TSMC's technical advantages remain unbeatable.

Thursday 7 May 2026

Intel targets entry-level advanced packaging, draws interest from Google and Amazon

Over the past decade, market assessments of Intel have largely been confined to a single lens: execution in advanced process technology. By that metric, Intel has struggled, with delays in 10nm and setbacks at the 7nm node, leading to the loss of Apple's chip orders. This view assumes that semiconductor manufacturing advantage is determined primarily by transistor density, particularly in the system-on-chip era.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

Nvidia, AMD expand in Taiwan as US touts strategic ties at SelectUSA Summit

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said its A+ Industrial Innovation R&D Program has helped attract Nvidia to invest in Taiwan and set up an overseas headquarters in Taipei, while AMD has also received major ministry support to establish a research and development center in the southern city of Tainan.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

VIS joins CoWoS chain with TSMC-backed Singapore interposer foundry

Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) said on May 5 that it has secured support from TSMC for a new interposer foundry line at its 12-inch Singapore fab, alongside a broader push into the CoWoS supply chain. The company said the move will accelerate capacity expansion and lower capital expenditure requirements as demand stabilizes after year-endinventory corrections.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

AEM CEO says AI upends semiconductor testing

Singapore semiconductor equipment and testing company AEM is facing a dual challenge of "physics and cost" as the AI era rewrites the limits and supply-chain logic of chip testing, CEO Samer Kabbani said. AI is also driving up to US$7 trillion in global infrastructure investment, he said, while forcing the industry to adapt to faster product cycles and far larger, more power-hungry packages.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

SEMI president says SEA must build ecosystems, not just fabs, to capture trillion-dollar opportunity

At SEMICON Southeast Asia 2026, SEMI President and CEO Ajit Manocha delivered a clear message: the semiconductor industry is entering a "multi-trillion-dollar journey," but capturing that growth will depend less on ambition and more on coordination, ecosystems, and long-term strategy.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

Intel Capital leads QuantWare's US$178 million bet on hyperscale quantum computing ambitions

QuantWare's US$178 million Series B round aims to accelerate the global rollout of larger, industrial-scale quantum processors, promising hyperscale quantum compute through its VIO-40K architecture and KiloFab foundry — a development that could reshape supply chains, national technology capabilities, and industrial adoption for countries seeking scalable quantum computing.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

GCS Holdings says InP export controls remain top supply risk despite capacity and sourcing moves

Export controls on indium phosphide (InP) risk prolonging supply strains in the compound semiconductor market, GCS Holdings warned, affecting optical and RF component makers worldwide. The company said it has secured capacity and diversified sourcing ahead of the second half of 2026, signaling potential relief from first-half 2026 constraints for global customers and partners.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

GlobalWafers reports weaker quarter as expansion weighs on margins

GlobalWafers said on May 4 that its first-quarter performance reflected a transitional period, as short-term cost pressures and capacity expansion weighed on margins even as demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing began to strengthen.

Wednesday 6 May 2026

VIS sees stronger growth in the AI boom and pricing power

Buoyed by robust demand for artificial intelligence and the early success of price increases, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (VIS) is projecting a stronger performance for the second quarter of 2026, with wafer shipments expected to rise by more than 10% from the previous quarter. Average selling prices are forecast to increase by 2% to 4%, while gross margins are likely to recover to above 30%.

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