MediaTek CEO Ricky Tsai recently discussed artificial intelligence, semiconductor geopolitics, and MediaTek's evolving strategy in an interview with an English-language publication. He also reflected on his academic background and career path, as well as his approach to work and life.

Vivo unveiled its V70 series in Taiwan on the March 10, aiming to drive continued growth in its 2026 local operations by bringing flagship features to a broader audience. Although Taiwan's smartphone market is expected to slow in 2025 due to high penetration rates and the price of components continues to rise, Vivo Taiwan President Yi-ting Chen said the company plans to boost revenue by 30% and increase shipment volume by 20% through targeted product segmentation and innovative marketing strategies.

Memory shortages and price increases continue to escalate. To avoid even higher prices, vendors are shipping products sooner rather than later. However, two major notebook ODMs, Quanta and Compal, have both reported that they have not seen any early pull-in effects. Both companies stated that first quarter 2026 NB shipments will still decline double digits quarter-on-quarter, with the seasonal slow period still evident.

Taiwan's semiconductor industry is globally dominant, yet the very success of its production ecosystem is creating friction for the academic and research community that underpins it. Many universities across the island are expanding programs in electrical engineering, electronics, chemical engineering, and materials science in a bid to grow the pool of semiconductor talent. But with industry fabs running at full capacity, circuit designs submitted for educational and academic purposes are difficult to schedule into factory operations — leaving researchers competing for time on production lines built for commercial throughput.

Advanced packaging capacity is tightening, and Nvidia is quietly pushing its Chip-on-Wafer-on-PCB (CoWoP) technology forward. The company is working with PCB, semiconductor packaging, and testing suppliers — even as foundry leader TSMC remains fully focused on expanding CoWoS production.

Taiwan is deepening its investment in domestic semiconductor research infrastructure, part of a broader push to develop homegrown chip technology capabilities beyond its world-leading commercial foundries.

Inmax recently announced that its self-developed DDR wafer-level test system has been adopted by a major DDR memory manufacturer and has successfully been validated for mass production. The delivery of this equipment has been partially completed, marking the official start of commercialization for Inmax's business.

Groq has reportedly requested Samsung Electronics' foundry division to increase wafer production for its inference AI chips, reflecting the booming market demand. Industry sources expect Samsung's foundry business to boost profitability by deepening collaboration with Groq and scaling up output.

Major printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer Zhen Ding Technology reported a slight 3.97% year-over-year decline in February 2026 revenue to NT$11.72 billion (US$367.45 million), despite being part of the traditional off-season for consumer electronics. The company highlighted that momentum for products related to high-end AI continued to see robust growth, while revenue from servers, optical communications, and IC substrates all maintained a year-over-year growth of more than 60%, indicating that its revenue structure is rapidly shifting toward high-end AI applications.

As the global semiconductor manufacturing process advances below 2nm, wafer fabs are demanding increasingly stringent cleanroom environments. This has rapidly boosted demand for airborne molecular contamination (AMC) solutions from major suppliers such as Greenfiltec, Yesiang, and Sweden's Camfil. Driven primarily by TSMC's aggressive capacity expansion and rapid progress in advanced nodes, these companies have recently faced rare supply tightness, sparking a new wave of price increases.