Intel's recruitment of Wei-jen Lo, formerly TSMC's Senior Vice President of Strategy Development, signals an aggressive push by the US IDM to regain process leadership. However, industry veteran Burn J. Lin argues that while high-level talent acquisition is significant, it does not guarantee the ability to replicate TSMC's manufacturing success.

For decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has pursued scale: more parameters, more data, more GPUs. That approach delivered rapid breakthroughs but also revealed hard limits in power consumption, cost, and accessibility. In China, a different path is taking shape, one that looks beyond silicon scaling laws to the human brain itself.

French semiconductor IP vendor Dolphin Semiconductor said its collaboration with HCLTech reflects growing demand for pre-optimized, platform-based system-on-chip development, as energy costs, time-to-market pressure, and design complexity rise.

Flexible printed circuit (FPC) manufacturer Complex Micro Interconnection (CMI) reported stable order intake across industrial, commercial, consumer, and automotive sectors during an online investor briefing. The company is expanding into high-frequency/high-speed, medical, and advanced commercial niche markets while preparing for capacity increases.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong has returned to South Korea after a week-long business trip to the US. Lee reportedly met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Austin, Texas, with senior executives of Samsung's foundry division also present. It is also rumored that Lee met with AMD CEO Lisa Su to discuss HBM supply and foundry orders using advanced 2-nanometer process technology. These efforts are considered tactics to help Samsung regain leadership in AI semiconductors.

Acer chairman and CEO Jason Chen has pointed out that soaring memory prices have triggered ripple effects across the market, driving up costs and retail prices, which in turn impact demand.

Apple is facing renewed cost pressure as its long-term DRAM supply contracts with South Korean memory makers approach expiry in January 2026, heightening concerns that higher component costs could spill over into its next generation of devices.

The smartphone industry is facing considerable cost challenges in 2026 amid ongoing memory supply shortages and rising prices. This situation is expected to lead to a 1.6% decrease in annual shipments, a shift from the earlier forecast of 2.8% growth made in September, according to DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin.

The notebook market is expected to encounter an unusual shift in seasonal demand for a second consecutive year, with 2026 poised to replicate the disruption seen in 2025. While geopolitical tensions drove the initial reversal in 2025, industry insiders attribute the 2026 distortion mainly to rising memory prices, which are prompting enterprise buyers to accelerate purchases.