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Friday 5 June 2026

Samsung's biggest union loses majority status after bonus talks

Samsung Electronics is facing a new shift in labor relations after the Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group Super-Enterprise Union reportedly lost its status as a majority union following a sharp drop in membership after bonus negotiations. The move weakens the union's representation and could further fragment future labor talks and union power at Samsung Electronics.

Friday 5 June 2026

FADU wins new contracts as AI workloads reshape data storage

As artificial intelligence (AI) workloads place unprecedented demands on data storage systems, South Korean SSD controller designer FADU is betting that next-generation storage architecture will become a critical battleground in the AI infrastructure race.

Friday 5 June 2026

GoldKey Technology sees memory crunch lasting into 2028 as AI demand lifts prices

GoldKey Technology expects memory shortages to persist into 2028, with AI demand and structural supply constraints set to keep prices rising through the second half of 2026 and into 2027.

Friday 5 June 2026

Global semiconductor market to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2026 as memory surges 250%, WSTS forecasts

The global semiconductor market is on track to nearly double in 2026, reaching US$1.51 trillion — a 90% year-over-year increase — driven overwhelmingly by an extraordinary surge in memory chip demand, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) Spring 2026 forecast released on June 2.

Friday 5 June 2026

Nvidia's Jensen Huang to meet South Korean business leaders beyond HBM sector

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is visiting South Korea on June 5 for meetings with major Korean business leaders, as the company's cooperation with local companies broadens beyond high-bandwidth memory into robotics, automobiles, gaming, and cloud infrastructure.

Friday 5 June 2026

HBM is too expensive, DRAM can't scale — Kioxia tells Computex SSDs are the answer for agentic AI

Koichi Fukuda, technology executive for applied SSD technology at Kioxia, used a Computex 2026 forum session on June 4 to argue that as enterprise AI shifts toward agentic systems, the next major constraint on AI performance will not be compute power but the ability to move data fast enough to feed it.

Friday 5 June 2026

CXMT's South Korean hiring spree puts Samsung, SK Hynix memory lead on alert

More than 200 South Korean engineers are conservatively estimated to be working at CXMT, China's leading DRAM maker, according to industry sources. Chinese semiconductor companies are stepping up talent acquisition, moving from broad outreach to targeted recruitment of core semiconductor R&D personnel in South Korea and the US. Observers say the shift could accelerate the narrowing of the semiconductor technology gap between China and South Korea.

Friday 5 June 2026

Memory crunch pushes low-end smartphones toward 2026 breaking point

The global smartphone market performed better than expected in the first quarter of 2026 after some brands pulled forward orders, but shipments still fell by about 3.1% from a year earlier, ending nine consecutive quarters of growth.

Friday 5 June 2026

Commentary: Memory boom driven by DRAM now, but HBM will decide future

AI demand is fueling a broad semiconductor upswing and pushing the memory industry into what many see as a long-awaited super-cycle. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have both reported strong earnings, prompting the market to reassess the strategic role of memory in AI infrastructure.

Friday 5 June 2026

South Korea's only SRAM-CIM IP firm Articron targets edge AI

South Korean semiconductor IP startup Articron is challenging the traditional AI chip design bottleneck by using a memory-centric architecture, with its self-developed SRAM-CIM compute chip IP "ART" now in testing and aimed at the power- and area-sensitive edge AI device market. The company says it expects to launch a commercial product in about two years.

Friday 5 June 2026

RTX Spark rekindles memory shortages, TeamGroup shifts to industrial control

Although PC market sales have slumped amid rising memory prices, Nvidia's "N1X" RTX Spark superchip is also fueling hopes for AI PC potential. TeamGroup General Manager Gerry Chen said the N1X can be configured with up to 128GB of memory, but there is simply not enough memory available right now, meaning supply shortages will grow even more severe.

Thursday 4 June 2026

Nvidia's Jensen Huang courts Korean giants in robotics expansion

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is visiting South Korea this week as the company seeks to expand its partnerships with major Korean conglomerates beyond semiconductors and into robotics, autonomous driving, and industrial automation, ETNews reported.

Thursday 4 June 2026

HBM4 supply in focus as SK's Chey meets TSMC's Wei

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won met TSMC chairman C.C. Wei in Taiwan on June 3, as SK Hynix and TSMC map out future cooperation in HBM4 base dies, advanced logic processes, and custom AI memory.

Thursday 4 June 2026

SK and TSMC deepen HBM, advanced packaging tie-up

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei in Taiwan on June 3, as the two sides exchanged views on the latest trends in next-generation AI technologies and discussed how to shape the future of the AI ecosystem. The meeting underscored closer ties between the two companies, which plan further to strengthen cooperation in next-generation HBM and advanced packaging.

Thursday 4 June 2026

Goldkey targets NT$10B funding to lock in memory supply as prices surge

Memory module maker Goldkey said it plans to raise NT$6 billion (US$191.4 million) to NT$10 billion in working capital in 2026 through multiple channels as tight supply and rising contract prices fuel a memory supercycle. The company also plans to accelerate a shift into higher-value segments such as industrial control, AI, and edge computing after posting a 30% gross margin and 27.4% operating margin in the first quarter of 2026.

Thursday 4 June 2026

Kioxia weighs new NAND fab as AI demand drives long-term expansion plans

Kioxia is evaluating the construction of a new NAND flash manufacturing facility at its Kitakami site in Iwate Prefecture, aiming for production to begin after 2029-2030 as the company prepares for sustained growth in AI-driven storage demand.

Wednesday 3 June 2026

Micron's HBM4 push signals bigger Nvidia supply role

Micron Technology may supply more HBM4 memory for Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin platform than the market currently expects, as the US memory maker ramps up equipment investment for the new technology, according to sources in South Korea's memory equipment industry.

Wednesday 3 June 2026

SK Group weighs pausing SK Siltron sale as AI chip demand lifts wafer strategy

SK Group is reportedly placing AI and semiconductors at the center of its next round of business restructuring, prompting a fresh internal review of the strategic value of SK Siltron, a major global silicon wafer maker. The planned sale of SK Siltron, once seen as a move to improve SK Group's financial structure, now faces uncertainty as the group reconsiders whether to push ahead with the deal.

Wednesday 3 June 2026

Commentary: Why the world's memory giants are betting on Anthropic

The latest funding round for Anthropic produced a headline-grabbing figure: a US$65 billion capital raise that pushed the artificial intelligence (AI) startup's valuation to $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI and making Anthropic the world's most valuable AI startup.

Wednesday 3 June 2026

Exclusive: SK Group and Foxconn talks could signal deeper Taiwan-Korea AI supply chain ties

COMPUTEX drew major AI supply chain players to Taiwan, and industry sources said SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won was set for a private meeting with Foxconn chairman Young Liu, alongside his meetings with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The reported talks could signal broader cooperation on AI infrastructure.

Wednesday 3 June 2026

NAND market hits record as YMTC closes in on global rivals

The global NAND flash memory market reached a record US$46 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, driven by AI infrastructure demand, higher enterprise SSD shipments, and rising NAND prices, according to Counterpoint Research.

Wednesday 3 June 2026

SK Hynix to double capacity over next 5 years, as Nvidia CEO leaves 'Please make more' note on Computex booth

SK Group chairman Tae-won Chey said SK Hynix plans to double its overall production capacity over the next five years, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) drives a global memory shortage. He added that the expansion is tied to deeper cooperation with Taiwan's semiconductor and IT supply chains, particularly through a strategic alliance with foundry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Tuesday 2 June 2026

Samsung signals broader AI memory deployment with HBM5 roadmap and thermal tech

Samsung Electronics has used Computex 2026 to outline a broader AI memory strategy, highlighting HBM5, thermal management, and advanced packaging as it prepares for next-generation AI systems. The company also pointed to deeper alignment across memory, foundry, logic, and packaging.

Tuesday 2 June 2026

South Korea cuts EUV equipment approvals to speed Samsung and SK Hynix expansion

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announced on June 2, 2026, that it would sharply streamline domestic approval procedures for extreme ultraviolet equipment used in semiconductor fabrication, reducing installation lead times from 34 days to 9 days to accelerate advanced production lines. The ministry said the change reclassifies EUV tools from high-pressure gas manufacturing facilities to a new "specific equipment" category after a partial revision to the Enforcement Decree of the High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act.

Tuesday 2 June 2026

SK Hynix reportedly preparing Dalian fab for 200-layer FG NAND to capture AI storage demand

SK Hynix is reportedly preparing to mass-produce a new generation of 200-layer-class NAND flash memory based on floating-gate (FG) architecture at its Dalian Phase 2 facility in China, as the company seeks to strengthen its position in the fast-growing enterprise SSD (eSSD) market for AI data centers.

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