Samsung Electronics' board has approved a 2026 shareholder return plan estimated at KRW90 trillion to KRW110 trillion (approx. US$64-79 billion), which the company says is the largest ever by a Korean firm.

Autonomous driving technology is maturing, and a future in which cars entirely drive themselves is quickly approaching in the rearview mirror. Yet safety and trust remain crucial barriers to overcome before fully autonomous driving becomes a reality, and a key part of this is the "eyes" of the car.

As AI chips continue to grow in size, the shift in advanced packaging from 300 mm wafers to square panels is becoming clearer, driving parallel development of new packaging technologies including FOPLP, CoPoS, and Glass Core. Manz Asia general manager Robert Lin said yield will determine whether Glass Core can move into mass production.

Piotech Inc. reported a sharp rise in first-half 2026 earnings, helped by stronger demand for semiconductor deposition equipment, wider adoption of new process tools and improving economies of scale.

SK Group Chairman Tae-Won Chey said in a recent interview with CNBC that memory demand is surging explosively and that the most severe "memory shortage" will hit in 2027. He also apologized to the market for the pace of memory chip price increases, saying the rapid rise is fueling chip inflation across the industry.

The global memory market is entering a sharp upcycle as cloud providers boost capital spending and demand for AI infrastructure lifts DRAM, NAND, and HBM prices. According to DIGITIMES, the three largest upstream memory chip makers are headed for a more than threefold jump in combined DRAM and NAND revenue in 2026, with supply constraints likely to keep pricing firm until new capacity arrives in 2027.

Bosch Rexroth, the industrial technology subsidiary of Bosch, showcased advanced semiconductor and smart manufacturing solutions at the 2026 Taipei International Industrial Automation Exhibition, held from August 19 to 22.

Xiaomi is preparing to take its in-house smartphone silicon further upmarket, with founder and chairman Lei Jun confirming that a new generation of its Xring chip is on the way. Supply-chain sources say the chip has already returned from fabrication, completed initial power-on testing and moved into the device integration stage.

SK hynix is considering a large-scale memory semiconductor investment in Japan, with Miyagi Prefecture emerging as a potential site, although the company has stressed that no decision has been finalized.

The AI industry is watching the rise of co-packaged optics (CPO) as faster AI systems now depend on more efficient links between chips and data centers. At DIGITIMES Tech Forum 2026 in Taipei, analyst Jerry Zheng said the technology is moving toward mainstream adoption as bandwidth demand outpaces computing gains.