"He practically created a new era—the age of AI," Mou-Shiung Lin said of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Yet, the early TSMC executive describes the methodology behind that success in blunt terms: it is "violent."

ASML's latest update suggests High NA EUV is no longer confined to laboratory validation. With 10 systems already operating across four customers worldwide, and three more in shipment or installation, the technology is beginning to enter production ramp-up. The shift matters because adoption now hinges less on optical promise and more on whether chipmakers can justify the added cost.

Taiwanese chip packaging firms are advancing fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) and glass-substrate development as AI processors demand ever-larger reticle sizes and more complex packaging. Their early manufacturing scale, automation progress, and substrate design choices could help determine who controls the next bottlenecks in high-end chip assembly.

Chinese GaN power semiconductor maker Innoscience gained direct access to capital markets after listing in Hong Kong at the end of 2024, giving it fresh funding to expand GaN capacity and technology development.

We previously discussed how automation removes environmental uncertainty, while autonomy requires systems to operate in complex settings. The biggest difference is that autonomous robots must enter unstructured environments and get work done, knowing where they are, what surrounds them, and how to move safely and efficiently while carrying out tasks.

Apple has finally unveiled the long-anticipated foldable iPhone Duo, with former CEO Tim Cook making a brief appearance at the start of the launch video. The moment suggested the device was Cook's farewell act, rather than John Ternus' first turn as chief executive, even as Apple used the 2026 fall event to frame its next stage of AI strategy.

Advanced packaging is stretching semiconductor inspection in two directions at once: packages are getting larger while the features inside them are getting smaller.

Advanced packaging is reshaping the semiconductor value chain, making materials innovation a key source of technical breakthroughs. As large-format panel-level packaging (PLP) gains traction, Resonac CTO for semiconductor materials Hidenori Abe told DIGITIMES that the company sees five major materials challenges: warpage, plating, coating, bonding, and polishing.

King Slide Works posted the fastest revenue growth in August among the 50 Taiwan-listed AI supply chain companies tracked by DIGITIMES, with sales up 318% from a year earlier. It marked the fourth consecutive month that the server rail kit maker more than doubled its revenue, following gains of 161% in May, 200% in June and 315% in July.

The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography race is splitting into two tracks. Intel has moved High-NA EUV into production, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are targeting DRAM production in 2028, and TSMC plans to introduce the technology into advanced-node high-volume manufacturing in 2030.

In September 2020, Huawei's smartphone business suffered a severe blow.

WG Tech (Jiangxi) Group is accelerating its shift from display glass into semiconductor applications, targeting through-glass via (TGV) substrates for optical communications and advanced packaging as AI demand expands.

A battery quality controversy involving GAC Aion has put supplier CALB, the world's fourth-largest EV battery maker, under scrutiny and highlighted a less comfortable side of China's breakneck expansion in new energy industries.

If Taiwan's government is determined enough, finding funding and land for the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) or the National Institutes of Applied Research (NIAR) is not necessarily the hardest part. The more difficult question comes later: who will shoulder the enormous and recurring cost of keeping advanced semiconductor research infrastructure running?

Taiwan's traditional manufacturers are warning that the island's growth story is widening a long-running labor gap, as semiconductor and AI server demand lifts the economy even as factories struggle to hire and retain skilled workers. In the auto supply chain, where smart vehicle electronics are increasingly essential, companies say the workforce shortage is becoming a structural risk.