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Monday 2 February 2026

Apple ramps up supplier price cuts to protect margins as costs rise

Apple reported strong results for its fiscal first quarter of 2026, but the company's supply chain did not share in the enthusiasm. The key reason is that Apple is feeling the impact of rising prices for critical components while striving to maintain a certain gross margin range. This means increased pricing pressure on suppliers.

Monday 2 February 2026

Kioxia targets data center NAND as rivals chase HBM

Kioxia Holdings sees an opportunity to expand its presence in high-density storage for AI data centers as rivals direct resources to other segments. The company's incoming president said demand tied to artificial intelligence continues to grow and Kioxia will keep capital spending disciplined.

Monday 2 February 2026

Sanctioned YMTC fast-tracks Wuhan Phase III NAND fab for early 2H26 mass production

China's YMTC is fast-tracking construction of its Wuhan Phase III NAND flash fab, bringing its mass production target forward to the second half of 2026, roughly a year ahead of the original 2027 schedule.

Monday 2 February 2026

Chinese panel cuts push LCD TV prices higher in February

The first half of 2026 is packed with events, including the Super Bowl, tax season, the FIFA World Cup, and the Lunar New Year holiday. TV brands have therefore moved forward with inventory stocking. China's top three panel makers—BOE Technology, TCL China Star Optoelectronic Technology (CSOT), and HKC—will simultaneously implement production cuts of five to 10 days each. This is expected to tighten overall supply-demand conditions for LCD TV panels and drive prices upward. Additionally, there are fewer working days in February, so panel output is expected to decline significantly, shifting supply and demand toward a tighter balance and making LCD TV panel price increases in February a certainty.

Monday 2 February 2026

Nvidia CEO projects TSMC capacity to double, warns of memory shortage, reaffirms OpenAI investment during Taiwan visit

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, on February 1, 2026, underscored Taiwan's central role in the global artificial intelligence supply chain, saying the company "would not be possible without Taiwan," while warning that soaring AI demand is placing unprecedented pressure on semiconductor, memory, and manufacturing capacity worldwide.

Monday 2 February 2026

Micron ramps global memory investments as Nvidia prepares HBM4 rollout

As Nvidia prepares to adopt its sixth-generation HBM4, Micron has taken a quieter approach to supply timelines compared with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Yet the company's recent surge in capacity investments signals growing confidence in its memory business. At the same time, its expansion in Singapore—focused on NAND Flash—is widely seen as a forward-looking technological move.

Sunday 1 February 2026

Transsion profits halved in 2025 because of memory price increases

The smartphone industry is bearing the brunt of rising memory prices, and the impact is most evident in mid- to low-end models. Transsion, the Chinese smartphone maker regarded as a leading brand in emerging markets, has become one of the first handset vendors to be clearly hit by this wave of memory price increases. On the evening of January 29, 2025, Transsion announced its earnings forecast for full-year 2025, estimating annual revenue of CNY65.568 billion (US$9.4 billion), down about 4.6% year over year. Net profit is estimated at about CNY2.546 billion, plunging 54.11% year over year, nearly half of the previous year. This marks the first significant profit decline since Transsion went public.

Saturday 31 January 2026

Intel signals return to memory with new DRAM bonding research

In early 2026, a research update published by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), part of the US Department of Energy, sparked industry discussions about whether Intel is poised to re-enter the DRAM market. Although the report did not explicitly confirm Intel's large-scale comeback in DRAM manufacturing, the signals it released warrant consideration.

Saturday 31 January 2026

Samsung, SK Hynix target surging growth in automotive memory market for autonomous driving systems

Automobiles are rapidly transforming into servers/smartphones-on-wheels with the advancement of autonomous driving technologies, which has led to a surge in demand for automotive memory. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are viewing the automotive sector as the next major battleground after AI, with both South Korean memory giants taking proactive measures to gain a foothold in this emerging market.

Friday 30 January 2026

SanDisk sees sevenfold profit surge in 2QFY26, extends Kioxia JV

SanDisk delivered a strong fiscal second quarter in 2026, reflecting accelerating demand across data centers, industrial applications, and consumer electronics, driven by the ongoing AI infrastructure buildout. The US flash memory maker reported revenue of US$3.03 billion, up 61% year over year, while net profit surged 7.7-fold to US$803 million, according to its January 29, 2026, earnings release.

Friday 30 January 2026

DRAM price surge ripples downstream as CWE plans EMC hike

The recent surge in DRAM prices is widening pricing headroom across the semiconductor supply chain, prompting Chang Wah Electromaterials (CWE), a major semiconductor materials supplier and distributor, to plan price increases for epoxy molding compound (EMC) starting in March 2026.

Friday 30 January 2026

Memory prices soar as AI demand tightens DRAM and NAND supply, spot buying slows near year-end

Memory demand remains strong, intensifying the industry's supply-demand imbalance. Contract prices for the first quarter of 2026 are rising sharply, with major South Korean memory suppliers releasing new quotations showing DDR5 price hikes of up to 80%, while DDR4 prices are holding at roughly 50% increases. Parts of the server memory supply chain are still awaiting official price settlements in February 2026.

Friday 30 January 2026

Samsung, LG hike laptop prices as memory 'chipflation' hits

Prices for laptops and consumer IT devices are climbing as a sustained rally in memory semiconductor costs ripples through the market. The trend, described by industry observers as "chipflation," is beginning to reach consumers as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics debut their latest notebooks with sharply higher price tags.

Friday 30 January 2026

South Korea NAND flash gains strategic role in next-gen AI infrastructure

With artificial intelligence (AI) technology advancing at a breakneck pace—particularly as applications move from the training phase to inference—demand for high-capacity, high-performance storage in data centers and embedded devices is surging. Once considered a low-margin segment prone to market volatility, NAND flash has taken on a new strategic role in Nvidia's blueprint for next-generation AI infrastructure, becoming an indispensable component for AI inference workloads.

Friday 30 January 2026

Taiwan pledges equal incentives for US investors under new MOU, with no cap on subsidies

Taiwan is stepping up efforts to anchor global investment at home, offering equal incentives to US and foreign firms even as cross-border commitments under the Taiwan–US Investment Cooperation MOU remain asymmetric.

Friday 30 January 2026

Memory, CPU shortages hit Wintel notebooks, benefiting Apple

Notebook makers are under growing pressure as memory shortages and price increases persist, while a widening shortage of CPUs adds a second constraint. What began as a supply gap at Intel has now extended to AMD, leaving notebook brands that had planned to pull forward orders with limited components available. The dual shortages are clouding the outlook for the notebook market in 2026. Industry observers say Apple is likely to benefit in the near term as Wintel suppliers absorb most of the disruption.

Friday 30 January 2026

Greatek hits full capacity on AI-driven flip chip, QFN packaging demand

Powertech Technology (PTI) and its subsidiary test and assembly firm Greatek jointly held an online investor conference to discuss future operations. Greatek president Yu-Chang Chi said that driven by sustained demand from AI and memory customers, flip chip and QFN packaging lines have reached full capacity. Bumping packaging capacity is also expected to be fully utilized in the coming quarters, leading to a positive outlook for first-half 2026 performance.

Friday 30 January 2026

SK Hynix reportedly converts Icheon DRAM lines as supply crunch boosts margins

The global memory market is moving into a phase that looks increasingly different from past cyclical upswings, as demand tied to artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems continues to strain supply. With conventional DRAM prices firming and capacity expansion remaining cautious, major memory makers are reshaping production strategies to protect margins rather than pursue volume growth.

Thursday 29 January 2026

Samsung reclaims memory sales crown as SK Hynix extends profit lead

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both delivered record fourth-quarter 2025 results, underscoring the sharp rise in memory prices and profits as supply across the market tightens.

Thursday 29 January 2026

Samsung foundry hit by China pullbacks in 2025, eyes late-year stabilization

Chinese customers who had planned to use Samsung Electronics' foundry services abandoned a number of projects in 2025 as US regulatory pressure on China intensified and uncertainty peaked ahead of mass production, according to Korean industry sources. Market participants say conditions may look different in 2026.

Thursday 29 January 2026

Earnings call summary: Samsung 4Q25 profit jumps as AI memory crunch pressures phones and displays

Samsung Electronics reported record quarterly revenue and operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2025, as surging memory prices and tight supply, driven by the artificial intelligence boom, more than offset seasonal weakness in smartphones, televisions, and home appliances. The company also warned that an acute chip shortage is expected to persist, creating cost pressures for its mobile and display businesses.

Thursday 29 January 2026

Analysis: China's chip price spiral has begun; a grey rhino threatening the 2026 supply chain

China's semiconductor supply chain is sending a clear signal: a wave of "chip inflation" driven by mature-node manufacturing, memory, and packaging costs is no longer theoretical; it is becoming a structural reality. Following Cmsemicon's decision to raise prices on MCU and NOR Flash products by 15% to 50%, long-stable commodity chips have officially entered an inflation cycle.

Thursday 29 January 2026

AI boom threatens global chip supply, automakers warned

The Covid-19 pandemic once sparked a wave of upgrades for personal computers and smartphones, fueling strong demand for semiconductors. However, it also exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains, leaving companies like TSMC entangled in the global automotive chip crunch and prompting the US and Europe to invite TSMC to build factories on their soil.

Thursday 29 January 2026

Analysis: how SK Hynix is binding customers to its AI memory

SK Hynix is moving to lock out competitors in the high-stakes battle for AI memory, deploying a "one-team" operational strategy that integrates the chipmaker directly into its customers' design processes just as it confirms the mass production of its next-generation HBM4.

Thursday 29 January 2026

Earnings call summary: Samsung 4Q25 profit tops KRW20 trillion on memory boom

Samsung Electronics posted record quarterly revenue and operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2025, underscoring how AI-driven demand for advanced memory has become the company's main earnings engine, even as smartphones, TVs, and home appliances faced seasonal slowdowns and margin pressure.

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