South Korean President Lee Jae-myung recently convened a meeting at the Blue House titled the "Corporate Roundtable on Youth Employment and Expanded Regional Investment," bringing together leaders from the country's 10 largest conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and LG Group, along with representatives from the financial sector. Lee urged companies to work with the government to promote youth employment, entrepreneurship and more balanced regional development.
AMD's next-generation MI450 AI accelerator remains on schedule for launch and volume production in the second half of 2026, with CEO Lisa Su signaling confidence that supply capacity will not constrain deliveries as the company steps up its push in high-end AI chips.
At the Asia Photonics Expo (APE 2026) in Singapore, DIGITIMES interviewed MetaOptics, the first planar lens company listed on the Singapore Exchange's Catalist board. Aloysius Chua, the company's deputy CEO, outlined MetaOptics' latest technological advances and global footprint, with a particular focus on its progress in co-packaged optics (CPO).
India's Union Budget for fiscal year 2026–27, unveiled on February 1, 2026, emphasizes manufacturing, semiconductors, and AI-linked infrastructure as central pillars of economic growth. The measures aim to strengthen supply chains, reduce import dependence, and institutionalize compliance frameworks for both domestic and foreign investors.
Memory module maker Transcend Information reported a record high monthly consolidated revenue of NT$4.76 billion (US$150.4 million) in January 2026, driven by soaring demand for AI servers, large-scale industrial control shipments, and steadily rising memory prices.
Samsung Electronics' foundry business is reportedly preparing price increases for certain process technologies, including 4nm and 8nm nodes, with hikes reportedly around 10%. Despite the adjustment, Samsung is expected to maintain a pricing advantage over TSMC as TSMC continues to raise its own wafer prices.
To meet the surging demand driven by AI, TSMC is upgrading its second wafer fab under construction in Kumamoto, Japan, to use more advanced 3nm process technology. This development was personally conveyed by TSMC chairman C.C. Wei to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Global DRAM supply remains tight, pushing major PC makers, including HP, Dell, Acer, and Asus, to consider sourcing memory chips for the first time from Chinese suppliers such as ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to offset price surges driven by booming AI demand.
TSMC is doubling down on Japan. By upgrading its second Kumamoto facility to 3-nanometer production, the chipmaking giant has turned what was once a secondary supply-chain hedge into a cornerstone of its global strategy to dominate advanced AI silicon.
OSAT leader ASE Technology Holding is optimistic that its growth momentum will extend through 2026 and beyond, benefiting from the short supply of advanced packaging and testing capacity. COO Tien Wu said order visibility has improved over the past three months, prompting the company to further raise its 2026 advanced packaging and testing revenue target to US$3.2 billion. This would represent a doubling from US$1.6 billion in 2025, and is more than 20% higher than the previous forecast of US$2.6 billion. Of the total, 75% is expected to come from advanced packaging, with the remaining 25% contributed by advanced testing.
Japanese semiconductor startup Rapidus has secured more than JPY160 billion (US$1.02 billion) in private funding for fiscal 2025, surpassing its initial JPY130 billion target, according to a report by Nikkei on February 4. SoftBank Group and Sony Group each invested JPY21 billion to become the company's largest shareholders, while IBM is also reportedly preparing to join the round, adding international backing. The funding surge signals strong investor confidence and aligns with Japan's push to reinforce domestic semiconductor self-sufficiency.
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