SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has defended Samsung and SK's combined KRW4,755 trillion (approx. US$3.52 trillion) investment plans, arguing that South Korea cannot keep pace in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race without committing unprecedented amounts of capital.
King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) president Gauss Chang said the AI era is creating new challenges for capacity expansion, as rapidly rising chip prices and shorter product cycles are reshaping the value of semiconductor testing. He also warned that demand can become increasingly distorted as it moves through the AI supply chain, making actual end-market demand difficult to assess.
Taiwanese semiconductor wafer testing solutions provider Hermes Testing Solution Inc. (HTSI) reported sustained revenue growth in October, supported by steady demand for high-power thermal management modules, cleaning materials and engineering services.
Doosan is moving ahead with a roughly KRW970 billion (approx. US$716 million) expansion of copper-clad laminate (CCL) production in South Korea and China as demand for AI accelerators, network switches and high-speed optical modules puts pressure on existing manufacturing capacity.
Washington's case for letting Nvidia sell H200 chips to China rested on case-by-case national-security screening. A New York Times investigation published on November 7 suggests that the screening cleared companies whose listed offices stood empty and whose owners have ties to firms on the US trade blacklist. The findings sharpen doubts over whether the licensing channel can keep advanced AI hardware away from restricted entities.
Nvidia is pitching South Korea's factories as the proving ground for robots trained in simulation. At its AI Day Seoul 2026 event on November 9, the company detailed physical AI projects with Hyundai Motor Group, Doosan Robotics, LG Electronics, and SK Hynix, and signed an autonomous driving agreement with Kakao Mobility, even as a controversy surrounding chief executive Jensen Huang hung over the gathering.
Paras Semiconductors, a subsidiary of Indian defense company Paras Defence & Space Technologies, announced a strategic technology partnership with US-based BroadPak Corporation on November 6 to build advanced semiconductor packaging capabilities in India, anchored by a planned INR62 billion (US$658.77 million) OSAT facility in Madhya Pradesh.
Samsung Electronics may begin trial runs across its Taylor, Texas, foundry in mid-to-late December 2026 as it installs and tests manufacturing equipment ahead of planned commercial production in 2027.
Terafab, the chipmaking venture backed by Tesla and SpaceX, is reportedly planning memory output that would rival the world's largest DRAM maker. Japanese and Korean equipment and materials suppliers are already being courted to help build it, though suppliers and analysts question whether the schedule and the demand will hold.
Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) has showcased a new generation of domestically developed lithography systems spanning front-end wafer fabrication and advanced packaging, marking further progress in China's semiconductor equipment localisation. The company claims more than 90% of key components in its front-end systems are sourced domestically, with the equipment advancing into volume production.
Concerns over an overheating AI market have resurfaced, fueled by delays in data center construction, power and permitting bottlenecks, and the potential deferral of hundreds of billions of dollars in capital expenditure.
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