As tensions between China and Japan escalate over export controls on rare earths and semiconductor materials, China is accelerating efforts to build domestic production capacity—even as Japanese firms continue to dominate the global photoresist market.
Eric Demers, a veteran GPU architect who until recently served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm and led its GPU business, is leaving the company to join Intel, according to a disclosure he made on LinkedIn.
The explosive demand for AI chips has created a rare production bottleneck for TSMC's advanced 3nm process, with capacity fully booked through 2027. Deutsche Bank analysts suggest that the crunch may provide a strategic opening for Samsung Electronics to capture orders from major technology firms.
Apple is losing the preferential access it held for more than a decade at TSMC as surging demand for AI chips shifts the balance of power toward Nvidia and other high-performance computing customers. The change highlights how AI workloads are reshaping capacity allocation at the world's largest contract chipmaker, reducing Apple's ability to secure priority production at the most advanced nodes.
ASM International said it posted stronger-than-expected preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2025, buoyed by a rebound in demand from China and robust orders from advanced logic and foundry customers. The company also raised its outlook for the first quarter of 2026, signaling growing confidence in the semiconductor capital-spending cycle.
