DIGITIMES Semiconductors news

May 7

Arm's $2 billion AGI CPU backlog signals strong hyperscaler demand

During the earnings call on May 6, Arm announced a significant expansion of its product strategy, centering on the emergence of "Agentic AI" and "Physical AI" as primary growth drivers for the next decade. The company defines agentic workloads as a shift from human-based queries to continuous, autonomous tasks where CPUs must coordinate data movement, manage memory, and orchestrate work across accelerators. To address this, Arm recently launched the Arm AGI CPU, a product purpose-built for these specific AI requirements.

Singapore chip firms showcase cross-border manufacturing and testing strengths

May 7

Chinese semiconductor equipment makers deepen SEA OSAT presence

May 7

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

May 7

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

May 7

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IC MANUFACTURINGTaiwan firms' US investment tops forecasts; government lines up US$50 billion financing

May 8, 12:43

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced on May 6 that, excluding TSMC, about 20 Taiwan companies plan to invest US$35 billion in the US. The statement comes after US President Donald Trump issued reciprocal tariffs in April 2025, which unexpectedly helped speed up long-stalled progress on a Taiwan-US economic and trade agreement.

IC MANUFACTURINGAnalysis: Samsung's union fight exposes a fault line in semiconductor investment

May 8, 12:10

A labor dispute at Samsung Electronics is sharpening a debate with implications well beyond South Korea: how semiconductor companies balance worker compensation against the capital-intensive investment cycles that determine who leads in chips.

PASSIVE, PCB, OTHER IC COMPONENTSAI infrastructure spending just doubled an IC distributor's revenue in one year

May 8, 11:57

WT Microelectronics posted a record quarterly net profit in the first quarter of 2026, driven by an explosive surge in data center and server revenue that the company attributed to AI-driven demand and sustained capital spending by major cloud service providers, the IC distributor disclosed after an earnings call on May 7.

IC MANUFACTURINGSamsung workers seek bigger share of AI profits as strike looms

May 8, 11:54

Samsung Electronics is facing mounting pressure from workers seeking a larger share of the AI-driven semiconductor boom, as unions threaten an 18-day walkout and the dispute puts renewed scrutiny on the company's decades-old performance-pay system.

IC MANUFACTURINGCommentary: Trump-Xi Summit puts Taiwan's chip industry at center of global politics

May 8, 11:18

US President Donald Trump is expected to visit Beijing on May 14-15 for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. If the trip proceeds as planned, it would mark Trump's first visit to Beijing since returning to the White House and the most consequential meeting between the two leaders since the escalation of the US-China technology war reshaped the global economy.

IC MANUFACTURINGTopco hits record 1Q26 revenue, profit on semiconductor materials demand

May 8, 10:56

Topco Scientific reported record first-quarter 2026 revenue and profit on May 7, driven by strong demand for photoresists, photomask substrates, and silicon wafers used in advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes, as well as peak revenue recognition from environmental engineering projects in Taiwan and overseas.

IC MANUFACTURINGPMIC supplier GMT bets on volume growth over higher prices

May 8, 10:35

Power-management chip maker Global Mixed-Mode Technology, or GMT, said demand conditions in the first quarter of 2026 were stronger than expected, helped by an improved product mix and resilient PC-related orders, even as memory shortages and rising component costs continue to reshape the broader electronics industry.

IC DESIGN, DISTRIBUTIONM31 weathers project delays as royalties and advanced-node demand signal recovery

May 8, 10:34

M31 Technology reported a first-quarter 2026 revenue decline as contract timing disruptions pushed some North American advanced-process projects into the next quarter, but the company said royalties and resumed project activity should underpin a rebound in the second quarter and beyond.

PASSIVE, PCB, OTHER IC COMPONENTSBenQ Materials bets on CPO and microLED amid optical communications push

May 8, 10:29

BenQ Materials is seeing its diversification begin to pay off as it pushes into co-packaged optics (CPO) and microLED. The polarizer maker said its subsidiary Cenefom's chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) wheel has entered the Taiwan supply chain for memory chip makers and is set to begin shipments in the second half of 2026.

IC DESIGN, DISTRIBUTIONSamsung reportedly testing 1.4nm Exynos 2800 with 96MB cache

May 8, 09:55

Samsung is reportedly testing a next-generation Exynos processor that could push the company's chip ambitions beyond smartphones, with early specifications pointing to a 1.4nm-class design, a 10-core CPU, a large 96MB system-level cache, and a possible PC variant aimed at Google's Chromebook ecosystem.

MEMORY CHIPSTranscend 1Q26 profit jumps 20-fold as gross margin hits 76%

May 8, 08:37

Memory module maker Transcend Information posted strong financial results in the first quarter of 2026, with gross margin reaching 76.39%, comparable to levels seen at major international upstream memory manufacturers. Net profit after tax rose to NT$8.12 billion (approx. US$259.04 million), up 149% from the previous quarter and a staggering 2,075% higher than the same period in 2025. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at NT$18.93, surpassing the full-year 2025 EPS of NT$12.98, setting a new record high.

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