Apple has secured enough NAND flash memory to sustain production through the first quarter of 2026. But the iPhone maker is facing steep price increases for DRAM as artificial intelligence demand shifts leverage toward chipmakers, according to Morgan Stanley.
When Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed at CES 2026 that its next-generation AI processor, Vera Rubin, had entered full production, the message to the memory industry was immediate. The move effectively ignited a new competitive cycle in sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4), as suppliers race to lock in design wins for Nvidia's post-Blackwell platforms.
Looking ahead to 2026, PCB industry leader Zhen Ding Tech. (ZDT) said demand remains solid across high-end applications such as AI servers, optical communications, and IC substrates, with related revenue contributions expected to scale quarter by quarter.
Benefiting from strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) smartphones and AI servers, IC testing giant Sigurd Microelectronics announced that its December 2025 revenue surpassed NT$1.8 billion (approx. US$57.21 million). The figure not only marked a record high for a single month, but also propelled the company's fourth-quarter 2025 and full-year revenues to new all-time highs.
AMD CEO Lisa Su stated at CES 2026 that the industry has officially entered the "YottaScale" era, marking a shift toward new performance benchmarks. In an interview with CNBC, Su also explained that AI has not slowed the company's hiring pace, that AMD is actively recruiting and prioritizing candidates who are "AI forward."
Facing the memory shortage, PC companies are aggressively promoting new models at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), hoping to regain momentum. Acer rolled out multiple new series, including Aspire, Predator, and Swift AI. Dell introduced the return of its classic thin-and-light XPS lineup and revealed that its gaming brand Alienware will launch new products.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang used his CES 2026 keynote to focus on agentic AI and Physical AI, outlining how the company is extending AI into systems that operate in the physical world. Supply-chain sources said that humanoid robots are viewed as one development direction for Physical AI, with implications for high-performance microcontrollers; however, training remains constrained by scarce and fragmented data.
TSMC sustained minor losses from the December 27, 2025, earthquake near Yilan, thanks to comprehensive seismic management implemented after the 1999 earthquake. These measures safeguarded costly equipment and support stable semiconductor output despite a magnitude 7.0 quake.
Soaring memory prices have boosted the performance of related supply chains, with Nanya Technology and Adata Technology posting record single-month revenues for consecutive months, with December 2025 revenue reaching new highs.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang addressed concerns regarding recent memory supply shortages during a press conference at CES 2026, stating that Nvidia will be the exclusive consumer of sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) in the near term. Huang expressed confidence that this exclusivity will provide Nvidia with strategic advantages.
Nvidia has expressed optimism about resuming sales of its H200 AI chips to China, while stressing that any return to the market will proceed quietly, without public announcements or regulatory fanfare.
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