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Tuesday 5 May 2026

AMI capacity sold out through 2028 as CCL makers race for high-end tools

The PCB industry is entering a new phase of transformation in the AI era, as rising demand for high-frequency and high-speed applications accelerates upgrades in upstream copper-clad laminate (CCL) materials. Among the beneficiaries is impregnation equipment maker Asia Metal Industries (AMI).

Tuesday 5 May 2026

As Nvidia goes to zero in China, Beijing races to fill the void

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company's share of China's data-center computing market has dropped to zero. The admission underscores how US export controls are reshaping the country's AI chip sector — and how urgently Beijing is moving to localize its semiconductor supply chain, from processors to silicon wafers.

Tuesday 5 May 2026

SEMICON SEA 2026: the trillion-dollar chip era is already here

The global semiconductor industry is entering a "multi-trillion-dollar" growth cycle sooner than expected, SEMI President and CEO Ajit Manocha said, urging Southeast Asian countries to strengthen cooperation to address talent, energy, and geopolitical challenges. Manocha predicted rapid revenue expansion driven by AI, IoT, and quantum demand.

Tuesday 5 May 2026

Machvision sales hit a record high on strengthening AOI demand

Machvision reported consolidated revenue of about NT$343 million (US$10.84 million) for April 2026, up 1.4% from the previous month and 3.75% from a year earlier, marking another monthly high.

Tuesday 5 May 2026

CHPT posts record April revenue on AI-driven HPC demand

Semiconductor test interface provider Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT) said its revenue in April 2026 continued to set a new all-time monthly high, driven by rising demand for semiconductor testing linked to artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Tuesday 5 May 2026

Intel's revival runs on politics and promises — but supply bottlenecks tell a different story

Intel's share price has hit historic highs as the semiconductor industry draws significant investor attention. But is this hype justified? DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin took a deep dive into the fundamental facts, production bottlenecks, and competitive gaps behind Intel's surge during a recent podcast.

Monday 4 May 2026

Win Semiconductors: GaAs and InP supply still meets production demand

Rising raw material prices have pushed up gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate costs, squeezing a key material used in power amplifiers (PA). Win Semiconductors said that its scale gives it stronger bargaining power, but the company will renegotiate prices with customers if input costs swing sharply.

Monday 4 May 2026

AI's 1.6T shift turns InP into optical supply chain bottleneck

The transition from 800G to 1.6T optical modules is no longer an upgrade cycle — it is a physics-driven inflection point.

Monday 4 May 2026

Yageo's Pierre Chen says AI hardware boom is lifting passive component demand

Yageo chairman Pierre Chen said the rise of AI applications is driving stronger demand not only for advanced semiconductors and memory, but also for passive components, sensors, and power semiconductors.

Monday 4 May 2026

BenQ Materials unit Cenefom enters memory supply chain with CMP brush wheels

BenQ Materials is accelerating its expansion into semiconductor materials as its subsidiary Cenefom officially begins operations at its new Guangyuan plant. The facility's chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) brush wheels have entered the Taiwan supply chain of a major memory manufacturer.

Monday 4 May 2026

AI chip demand ignites embedded substrate race among Samsung, Ibiden, Unimicron

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) has moved early to commercialize embedded semiconductor substrates, but the window is rapidly closing as Japan's Ibiden and Taiwan's Unimicron prepare to enter the field, setting up a new competitive front in advanced packaging.

Monday 4 May 2026

Zhen Ding expands NTHU partnership with new five-year research program

PCB maker Zhen Ding Technology has launched the second phase of its joint research center with National Tsing Hua University, aiming to deepen collaboration on advanced PCB and IC substrate technologies, smart manufacturing, and talent development.

Saturday 2 May 2026

Yageo AI revenue reaches 15% as chair says sector remains early in cycle

Yageo chairman Pierre Chen said the company has undergone a major transformation over the past eight years, driven in part by the rise of AI applications.

Saturday 2 May 2026

Samsung Electro-Mechanics tops US$2 billion quarterly sales, flags ABF substrate shortage

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) reported its first-ever quarterly revenue exceeding KRW3 trillion (approx. US$2.2 billion), driven by expanding AI infrastructure investment and rising demand for automotive electronics, marking a new scale milestone for the company.

Friday 1 May 2026

Samsung Electro-Mechanics weighs MLCC price hike of 5–10% as supply tightens

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is considering raising prices for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) by about 5% to 10% as demand from artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure tightens supply, according to Korean media reports and industry sources.

Thursday 30 April 2026

Chang Wah Technology forecasts double-digit growth in the second quarter on EMC LED strength

Packaging leadframe maker Chang Wah Technology Co., Ltd. reported that it achieved NT$3.672 billion (US$116 million) in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, its fourth-highest quarterly result, and set a monthly record with NT$1.327 billion in March. The firm said customers maintained steady demand, and it was targeting a challenging double-digit percentage growth for the second quarter, driven by strong shipments of EMC LED leadframes.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Analysis: Taiwan's two major panel makers enter semiconductor packaging; CPO and FOPLP become key

Optical communication technology is shifting from traditional pluggable optics toward co-packaged optics (CPO) architectures. Advanced packaging technologies are extending from wafer-level to panel-level, bringing fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) into the spotlight. At the intersection of these trends, Taiwan's panel manufacturers are actively entering the semiconductor packaging field in search of new growth momentum.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

PCB industry urges four policy moves in Thailand expansion

Amid global supply chain restructuring, Asia's PCB industry is moving toward closer regional collaboration. Industry experts say that as southbound expansion in the PCB sector takes shape, the next phase for Thailand's PCB industry will shift from capacity expansion to accelerating the development of an advanced manufacturing ecosystem. Future competitiveness will hinge on localizing supply chains, developing talent, and continuously improving related supporting infrastructure and systems.

Tuesday 28 April 2026

AI chip testing complexity lifts probe card and upstream supply chain demand

As AI chips move to advanced process nodes and packaging technologies, semiconductor testing requirements are becoming significantly more complex.

Monday 27 April 2026

Thailand's PCB industry moves upmarket, local supply gaps persist

Thailand is fast emerging as a critical hub for high-end electronics manufacturing, as global supply chains shift and demand for AI computing power accelerates.

Monday 27 April 2026

TSMC's refusal of ASML's expensive High-NA EUV equipment, explained

ASML has launched its 0.55 High Numerical Aperture Extreme Ultraviolet (High-NA EUV) in an effort to extend Moore's Law. The market had originally expected TSMC to adopt it first, but the company has held back. TSMC Senior Vice President of Global Business Kevin Zhang stated at the North America Technology Symposium that there are currently no plans to introduce High-NA EUV before 2029, mainly because "it's too expensive!" This decision also reflects how TSMC is shifting competition focus from equipment to process integration and cost efficiency.

Monday 27 April 2026

Weekly news roundup: Micron's Sanand ramp shifts India chip debate; Qualcomm Chief reportedly seeks deals in South Korea

Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of April 20-27, 2026:

Monday 27 April 2026

Innolux enters leading tier of advanced packaging with new RDL and TGV technology

Innolux is expanding into the advanced semiconductor packaging sector, leveraging display technology as its core platform to accelerate integration with semiconductor and IoT technologies. Building on its strengths in Thin-Film Transistors (TFTs), the company continues to enhance hardware performance while aggressively deploying in Mini LED, Micro LED, and advanced semiconductor packaging. Through technological iteration and capacity optimization, it aims to strengthen its market competitiveness.

Friday 24 April 2026

TSMC CoPoS equipment orders face reshuffle with legal turmoil at Taiwanese equipment maker

The semiconductor packaging equipment sector is experiencing order shifts linked to significant executive changes at a key Taiwanese supplier, raising concerns over TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) and chip-on-panel-on-substrate (CoPoS) advanced packaging equipment orders. Industry sources indicate that ASE Technology Holding's equipment orders may also be affected as the supply chain undergoes potential realignment.

Friday 24 April 2026

AI PCB supply crunch squeezes margins on rising materials and energy costs

A tightening supply of high-end materials is emerging as a key constraint just as PCB specifications and manufacturing processes move into a new upgrade cycle. Shortages span from T-glass fiberglass cloth for IC substrates to longer lead times for copper-clad laminates (CCL), with prices for multiple upstream inputs rising in tandem.

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