Alibaba Cloud has unveiled the Zhenwu M890, a new proprietary AI training and inference chip developed by its semiconductor subsidiary T-Head Semiconductor, as the Chinese cloud group accelerates its push into full-stack AI infrastructure for the agentic AI era.

China's leading memory chipmakers are accelerating their push into public capital markets, with YMTC Group formally entering IPO guidance on May 19, shortly after domestic DRAM leader CXMT updated its own prospectus filings.

GlobalFoundries announced on May 19 that it is making a limited partner investment in Playground Global's Fund IV through GlobalFoundries Accelerate, the company's venture capital program focused on early-stage semiconductor and deep-technology innovation. The investment represents an expansion of GlobalFoundries' strategy to engage with emerging technologies and promising startup ventures in the semiconductor ecosystem.

Xiaomi warns memory costs could push flagship phone prices past CNY10,000 (approx. US$1,468) in 2026, a development that would affect global consumers as higher-capacity models become more expensive and manufacturers adjust portfolios. The company also withheld an ultra-thin, Apple Air-style device after concluding trade-offs would harm battery life and camera performance.

The global semiconductor industry has been focused on a memory supercycle, with some forecasts suggesting the upturn could last until 2030. However, Kye-hyun Kyung, former head of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division and currently a standing advisor to Samsung, has cautioned against overly optimistic sentiment in the memory market.

Recent media reports say Google is set to team up with Blackstone to form a new cloud computing leasing company, with Blackstone as the main shareholder. The new venture aims to build about 500 MW of computing capacity by 2027, most of it using Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), a move industry watchers say supports Google ASIC partners such as MediaTek, Broadcom, and TSMC.

Photonic semiconductors have become indispensable to modern defense — prized for their ultra-high-speed data processing, high capacity, low power consumption, and exceptional reliability. Yet despite their growing strategic importance, South Korea remains almost entirely dependent on foreign suppliers for these critical components. Industry leaders are now sounding the alarm: as global supply chains fracture along geopolitical lines, photonic semiconductors are no longer just industrial goods — they are national security assets, and South Korea's access to them is far from guaranteed.

Trump has once again accused Taiwan of "stealing" the US semiconductor industry — his second such broadside in as many months.

As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, demand for data centers is rapidly redrawing the export map of nations.