The South Korean printed circuit board (PCB) industry is struggling as soaring gold and copper prices, up 50% and 30% respectively since early 2025, increase production costs. Despite high factory utilization due to the AI boom in semiconductors, many companies cannot raise product prices, worsening profitability.
Amid rising US-China tech tensions and tight semiconductor supply chains, YMTC disclosed advances in 3D NAND flash memory and plans to develop high bandwidth flash (HBF) technology. Their Xtacking architecture evolution supports integration with AI accelerators, addressing capacity and cost challenges beyond traditional HBM.
Taiwan-based tech products distributor Weblink International is riding a surge in memory prices and robust demand for AI servers, positioning the company for strong growth in 2026. President Dave Lin said both segments continue to face supply constraints, but remain among Weblink's most promising growth drivers.
Taiwan's leading semiconductor assembly and test providers are launching record capital spending programs to expand advanced packaging capacity, as shortages at TSMC push chip designers to seek alternative supply chains through 2026.
Driven by the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor capacity, demand for specialty gases is rising. To secure a position in the local supply chain, high-tech materials and equipment supplier Wah Lee Industrial announced it has acquired a 51% stake in precision mixture gases manufacturer Jing De Gases for NT$561 million (approx. US$17.94 million). Together with affiliate company Wah Hong Industrial, the group will hold a combined stake of around 80%, marking Wah Lee's official entry into the high-barrier electronic-grade specialty gas blending and manufacturing segment of the semiconductor industry.
Facing severe memory shortages and rapidly rising prices, global PC brands are implementing strategies to offset cost pressures, including price increases or maintaining prices with downgraded specifications. Channel partners point out that memory accounts for nearly 20% of a PC's total bill of materials (BOM), and recent sharp hikes in memory prices have forced many vendors to quietly adjust their PC pricing.
China is requiring semiconductor manufacturers to source at least 50% of their equipment from domestic suppliers when adding new production capacity, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
It is difficult to imagine any company exerting greater influence on the AI industry in 2025 than Nvidia. The market closely tracks CEO Jensen Huang's every move—whether he was meeting US President Donald Trump or sharing fried chicken and beer with executives from Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Group in South Korea.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has formally launched a Section 337 investigation into alleged patent infringement involving advanced memory products, naming Samsung Electronics, Google, and Supermicro among the respondents in a case that could have significant implications for the global DRAM and AI server supply chain.
As China's leading 3D NAND maker, Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) has recently been regarded as the most aggressive company in promoting the adoption of domestic equipment. Its Phase III fab is even striving to build a purely all-domestic-equipment wafer production line.
Market inventory destocking in the networking supply chain is nearing its end, with telecom operators significantly increasing restocking for network infrastructure since the second half of 2025. This positive trend is expected to continue into the first half of 2026, offering growth opportunities to Taiwanese network integrated circuit (IC) design firms such as Realtek, MediaTek, Airoha, and RichWave, according to multiple sources in the supply chain.
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