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Aug 6
DRAM price surge lifts Samsung and Micron as SK Hynix loses share
Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology are benefiting more strongly from rising conventional DRAM and NAND prices than SK Hynix, whose focus on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) has slowed the expansion of its traditional DRAM business despite its leadership in HBM.
Memory module maker Transcend Information reported July 2026 consolidated revenue of NT$5.2 billion (approx. US$161.44 million), surging 308% from a year earlier and 3% from the previous month, with operating performance remaining at a high level.

AMD said on August 6 that it has agreed to buy Taalas, a Toronto-based startup focused on specialized AI inference silicon, in a move aimed at improving the efficiency of AI systems worldwide. The deal could help AMD compete in a rapidly growing market where companies need faster, lower-cost computing for real-time applications.

US President Donald Trump said imports of polysilicon and related products threaten national security and ordered new trade measures aimed at lifting domestic production. The proclamation reflects a broader effort to reduce the US's reliance on foreign supply for solar manufacturing, semiconductors, and other advanced technologies.

AI memory startup NEO Semiconductor has unveiled X-SRAM, a new architecture designed to address the difficulty of scaling conventional SRAM at advanced logic process nodes.

Huawei executive director and Consumer Business Group chairman Richard Yu warned on August 5 that sharply rising memory costs could trigger widespread smartphone price increases, saying handset makers risk losses if they continue selling devices at previous price levels.
Former White House National Security Council chief of staff Alexander Gray has called on South Korea to deepen supply chain cooperation with the US and avoid following the European Union's digital regulation path.
Transcend Information said the global memory shortage remained severe and could persist through 2027, with little sign of improvement in 2026. The Taiwanese storage maker said upstream suppliers had warned that supply in 2027 could be even tighter than in 2026, keeping price increases in place for an extended period.
V5 Technologies reported record consolidated revenue of NT$273 million in July 2026, as demand for AI chips and semiconductor packaging capacity expansion lifted orders. Revenue rose 7.78% from June and 63.4% from a year earlier, while revenue for the first seven months of 2026 climbed to NT$1.692 billion, up 86.26% from NT$908 million in the same period of 2025.

Samsung Electronics will pay Netlist up to US$897 million in gross licensing fees over five years under a series of agreements that settle years of litigation and renew a commercial relationship covering server memory, high-bandwidth memory (HBM), product supply, and technology cooperation.

Largan announced on August 5 that July revenue reached NT$4.877 billion (US$150.8 million), up 31% month-over-month and 11% year-over-year. For the first seven months, consolidated revenue totaled NT$34.086 billion, up 7% year-over-year, as the company entered the traditional peak season.

On August 5, Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council said it had completed the central government's 2027 budget plan, with NT$182.3 billion (US$5.7 billion) earmarked for technology spending, up about 9.5% from 2026. The biggest increase goes to sovereign AI computing power and infrastructure as Taipei pushes ahead with its Smart Nation 2.0 initiative.