onsemi reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter 2026 results, driven by accelerating demand for power management solutions in AI data centers and industrial applications, as the semiconductor supplier continued to improve profitability through operational restructuring and higher-value products.

The AI infrastructure boom has driven up memory prices across consumer electronics, dampening sales of smartphones and notebooks while hitting upstream system-on-chip (SoC) developers. With memory prices projected to keep climbing through 2027, industry observers generally expect end-market sales to remain sluggish, testing the resilience and strategy of players across the entire value chain.

A Japanese electronics distributor has stopped accepting new customers because it cannot fully supply its existing ones, Nikkei reported, as demand from AI data centers tightens supply of the conventional DRAM used in PCs.

Memory IC designer Elite Semiconductor Microelectronics Technology (ESMT) expects shipments and gross margin to remain stable in the fourth quarter of 2026 despite higher memory wafer procurement costs, while its average selling price (ASP) will rise from the third quarter of 2026. The company also expects tight DDR2 and DDR3 supply-demand conditions to keep prices stable in 2027 as it continues securing foundry and OSAT capacity to meet customer demand.

Sherman, a city north of Dallas, has emerged as a possible site for TSMC's next US chip plant, with Texas development documents describing a proposed US$45 billion investment in two semiconductor fabs by an unidentified manufacturer.

Apple is committing more money to research and securing supplies while reducing cash spending on fixed assets, a combination that shows how its AI ambitions and component shortages are reshaping investment. Its November 2 results reveal both a deliberate push into new capabilities and the growing financial burden of keeping devices and services available.

China's outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies entered the fourth quarter with rising sales, high utilization, and an industry-wide price upturn. Their third-quarter results also show how much reported profit growth rests on investment gains and lower taxes, and how heavily the sector is now spending to close an advanced packaging gap that AI demand has exposed.

Geopolitical tensions, volatile crude oil prices, and tightening sustainability requirements are reshaping the global chemical industry, creating new challenges and opportunities for Taiwan's specialty chemicals sector. Against this backdrop, the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) forecasts that Taiwan's specialty chemicals output will reach NT$185.7 billion (US$5.7 billion) in 2026, up 10.9% from 2025, partly driven by higher oil prices pushing up specialty chemical prices.

South Korea plans to bring new semiconductor fabs into operation at least two years ahead of schedule by speeding up construction approvals and infrastructure development, as the government seeks to support KRW1,600 trillion (approx. US$1.2 trillion) in planned private investment, Yonhap reported on November 2.

Apple said the main supply constraint in its fiscal fourth quarter 2026, ended September 26, was the availability of leading-edge process capacity for its in-house chips. It said the constraint is easing as more of its products move to 2nm technology.

Samsung Electronics plans to shut down its remaining 8-inch foundry lines by the end of 2030, forcing South Korean chip designers to seek alternative manufacturing capacity as competing foundries operate near full capacity, The Elec reported.