DIGITIMES ICT: ICT manufacturing news

Home Tech ICT ICT manufacturing

Wednesday 25 March 2026

Analysis: Qualcomm restructures Asia operations, giving Taiwan greater strategic weight

At a spring banquet in Taiwan, Qualcomm used the occasion not only to recap highlights from its recent appearances at major industry exhibitions, but also to underscore the growing importance of 6G standards in an AI-driven era. More consequentially, ST Liew—Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies and President for Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Australia/New Zealand—announced a structural shift: Qualcomm's Taiwan operations will be elevated into a standalone region, reporting directly to the APAC president, on par with markets such as Japan and South Korea.

Wednesday 25 March 2026

Broadcom expects optical communication supply chain capacity issues to ease by 2027

The Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC 2026) concluded on March 19, with Broadcom holding a media briefing to discuss the latest technologies and product announcements from the event. Addressing concerns about capacity bottlenecks across the optical communication supply chain, Broadcom acknowledged that many segments currently face tight supply conditions. However, the company noted that supply chain partners are actively expanding capacity, and more suppliers are joining the market. Broadcom projects that production capacity constraints will gradually be resolved by 2027.

Wednesday 25 March 2026

TSMC SVP Lora Ho to retire, set to join Acer as independent director

Acer is set to elect new board members at its 2026 shareholders' meeting, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) senior vice president Lora Ho included in the list of nominees for the new board. Industry observers expect her nomination to be approved at Acer's shareholder meeting on May 29.

Wednesday 25 March 2026

Xiaomi flags memory pressure, sees Apple user conversions, and pushes embodied AI strategy

Xiaomi executives outlined the group's 2025 performance and strategic priorities during an investor earnings call and webcast on March 24. Management highlighted record annual revenue and adjusted net profit, then devoted much of the presentation to artificial intelligence (AI), embodied intelligence (physical AI), and progress in the company's electric vehicle (EV) business. The call opened with standard operator instructions and procedural remarks from investor relations, followed by prepared remarks from Xiaomi president Lu Weibing and CFO Alain Lam Sai Wai, who fielded investor questions.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Eternal Materials braces for stronger 2026 but flags oil-driven cost monitoring

Eternal Materials expects operations in 2026 to outperform 2025, driven primarily by growth in precision equipment and scaling shipments of semiconductor advanced packaging materials. The company has increased raw material procurement to mitigate supply risks amid rising oil prices tied to Middle East tensions.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Sharp taps BD chief as CEO in post-restructuring shift

Sharp Corporation, a subsidiary of Foxconn, has named its Chief Business Development Officer, Tetsuji Kawamura, as its next president and CEO, placing an executive with deep overseas and new-business experience at the helm as the Japanese electronics maker pivots from restructuring toward growth.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Techman's product shift and semiconductor focus could sustain growth despite macro uncertainty

Techman Robot plans to release a dual-arm robot and deploy an upgraded humanoid model at customer sites in the second half of 2026, moves the company says will broaden its addressable market and deepen ties to semiconductor customers.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Nexperia turmoil accelerates localization; Panjit targets 5% global MOS market share

As mature process foundry prices rise, Panjit COO Edgar Chen said the company will not implement across-the-board price hikes despite increasing copper raw material costs. Instead, the focus is on improving gross margins and optimizing product mix. Price increases of 10-20% are planned for low-margin products, mainly small-signal lines, with customer communications underway in the first quarter of 2026. The pricing impact is expected to show in the second quarter and be fully implemented by the third quarter.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

DNP to open R&D base in Telangana, India, to advance mobility and medical healthcare research

Dai Nippon Printing (DNP)'s decision to open a research and development base in Telangana in April 2026 could accelerate collaborative innovation between the Japanese industry and Indian academia, with potential impacts on electric vehicle charging and pharmaceutical ingredient production for global markets.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

AI boom lifts substrate maker Kinsus as prices and demand rise

Buoyed by strong demand from makers of AI GPUs, CPUs, and application-specific chips, Kinsus Interconnect Technology said it expects a sharp lift in both revenue and product mix as new capacity for ABF substrates comes online.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Alibaba unveils XuanTie C950 and C925, advancing RISC-V into AI and edge computing

Alibaba's DAMO Academy has introduced two new RISC-V processors—the flagship XuanTie C950 and the energy-efficient C925—marking a significant step in pushing the open-source architecture into both high-performance AI and edge applications.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Japan exits the living room: TCL nears deal to acquire Sony's TV business

Sony's deal to sell off a majority stake of its television business to rival TCL is reportedly nearing completion. The proposed US$1 billion transaction reflects the long decline of Japan's television giants at the hands of rising Chinese competitors like TCL.

Tuesday 24 March 2026

Chinese Premier encourages foreign investment except Japanese firms at China Development Forum

On March 22, 2026, the Chinese government held the international "China Development Forum" in Beijing, inviting global corporate leaders to participate. Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council, called for foreign investment, pledging to maintain stable economic growth and a favorable business environment to enable companies worldwide to operate in China with confidence. However, amid worsening China-Japan relations, Japanese corporate leaders, who had attended annually in the past, were absent from this year's forum.

Monday 23 March 2026

Grab expands beyond SEA with strategic push into Taiwan

Grab has unveiled a major move in its international growth strategy, announcing plans to acquire Delivery Hero's Foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan — marking its first significant expansion outside Southeast Asia.

Monday 23 March 2026

Brinno targets growth with time-lapse, visual AI, and defense imaging push for 2026

Brinno outlined time-lapse photography, visual AI, and defense imaging as its three core business pillars for 2026 at a spring banquet on March 20, saying the focus will accelerate R&D investment and growth through its global distributor network.

Monday 23 March 2026

Zenitron warns memory shortages will reverberate across global tech supply chains

Zenitron president YY Chou warned that surging demand for AI servers, data centers, and robotics is driving memory shortages that will affect global supply chains and pricing, with gradual market balance expected over two years, influencing hardware costs and capacity planning for international technology companies and data center operators worldwide.

Monday 23 March 2026

Tescan integrates Seoul demo lab to speed testing for AI memory and advanced packaging customers

Tescan's expansion of its Seoul site integrates a Demo Lab with office space to better serve semiconductor clients amid global AI-driven memory demand, promising faster failure analysis and reliability testing for advanced packaging customers worldwide and reducing testing wait times for partners pursuing heterogeneous integration and chiplet technologies.

Monday 23 March 2026

Kinpo targets product mix upgrade in 2026 with server, EV charger, and automotive electronics growth

Kinpo Group held an investor conference on March 19, where General Manager Chen Wei-Chang expressed optimism for the second half of 2026 and projected a balanced revenue distribution between the first and second halves of the year. The company's server, EV charging station, SSD storage device, and mobile payment businesses have all entered mass production.

Monday 23 March 2026

China's DeepLink unifies heterogeneous chips to boost AI computing power

The Shanghai AI Laboratory recently unveiled its DeepLink hybrid inference solution, emphasizing heterogeneous chip collaborative computing capabilities. This move marks a breakthrough in integrating China's AI computing infrastructure and is seen as a localized alternative amid limited access to advanced GPUs and interconnect technologies.

Monday 23 March 2026

Taiwan central bank revise 2027 GDP growth upward

Taiwan's central bank sharply raised its 2026 GDP forecast to 7.28%, citing substantial capex from international cloud service providers and aggressive investment expansion by domestic manufacturers as the main engines sustaining the economy. The Ministry of Economic Affairs reported strong early-year export order growth that supports the outlook.

Monday 23 March 2026

Facing regulatory and competitive pressures, Apple CEO signals alignment with China

Apple CEO Tim Cook struck a conciliatory tone at the China Development Forum, praising Chinese developers and manufacturing capabilities while emphasizing shared goals in innovation and sustainability, just days after renewed state media criticism of Apple's App Store practices, according to Bloomberg.

Monday 23 March 2026

IEI Integration eyes strong 2026 growth as networking projects scale up

Industrial computer (IPC) maker IEI Integration held an investor briefing on March 18, during which IEI president Jordan Jiang stated that several projects the company has been developing in the networking sector will begin shipping in phases in 2026, becoming the primary driver of revenue growth for the year.

Monday 23 March 2026

Allied Circuit eyes 2Q27 mass production in Vietnam, targets LEO satellite market with Meiko

The global PCB industry continues to deepen its Southeast Asia footprint. Among the latest moves, Allied Circuit (ACCL) and Japanese firm Meiko have recently announced a joint venture to build a new factory in Vietnam focused on high-layer count (HLC) PCB capacity. The plant is expected to enter mass production by the second quarter of 2027, prioritizing the AI server PCB market opportunity.

Monday 23 March 2026

Aluminum foil costs push capacitor prices higher in Taiwan and Japan

Following earlier price increases for tantalum capacitors and inductors, the aluminum capacitor supply chain is now seeing further price adjustments. Taiwanese manufacturers say end-market demand remains strong only in the AI sector, while upstream raw material prices — metals in particular — continue to climb, nearing a critical cost threshold for suppliers. The passive components industry's "cost defense battle" has now spread from inductors and chip resistors to aluminum capacitors.

Monday 23 March 2026

India roundup: India eyes key hub for semiconductors, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing

India is rapidly positioning itself as a strategic hub for semiconductors, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing. Japanese and domestic chipmakers expand local operations, the 2026 budget offers tax and import incentives, solar wafer sourcing is mandated, and Reliance secures a US$3 billion green ammonia deal with Samsung, highlighting supply chain and energy transitions.

More ICT manufacturing coverage