CONNECT WITH US
Tuesday 7 April 2026
Quobly moves quantum chips into volume production

French quantum chip startup Quobly has continued to report progress while expanding its partnership network. The company has set up a new presence in Canada and gained recognition at the American Physical Society meeting, where it was identified as a potential key player in the emerging quantum computing era.

Tuesday 7 April 2026
Intel challenges TSMC CoWoS as Amazon, Google reportedly explore alternatives

AI-driven demand is pushing advanced chip packaging to its limits, exposing constraints in TSMC's CoWoS capacity and forcing hyperscalers to seek alternatives, leaving Intel as the only credible challenger with its EMIB platform.

Tuesday 7 April 2026
US MATCH bill targets China chip equipment, services

US lawmakers are moving to tighten semiconductor restrictions, with a bipartisan proposal targeting both equipment exports and downstream controls on advanced chips.

Tuesday 7 April 2026
Korean chip suppliers face second year of price cuts despite AI boom

Samsung and SK Hynix delivered record performance in 2025, driven by strong investment in AI infrastructure. Yet the gains have not flowed upstream. Materials and component suppliers are facing a second consecutive year of price cuts, with contract terms for 2026 again revised lower.

Tuesday 7 April 2026
Global AI chip suppliers compete as TSMC remains top foundry partner
As the artificial intelligence (AI) era advances, approximately 133 companies are actively developing or selling AI chips, according to a SEMIEcosystem report citing Jon Peddie Research. Major suppliers include Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, and Google, alongside numerous startups focusing on edge AI solutions.
Tuesday 7 April 2026
MSScorps targets CPO demand with in-house silicon photonics test platform

MSScorps has expanded its silicon photonics (SiPh) testing capabilities in recent years and will debut its in-house "MSS HG" platform at the Electronic Production Equipment Exhibition on April 8.

Tuesday 7 April 2026
MediaTek, Qualcomm reportedly cut smartphone AP orders with TSMC
Amid soaring memory prices, manufacturers have repeatedly lowered 2026 shipment targets for smartphones, PCs, and other consumer electronics, triggering a ripple effect across the supply chain. Recently, reports emerged that major Chinese smartphone brands are scaling back purchases of processors, forcing MediaTek and Qualcomm to reduce their subsequent orders with TSMC, with estimated cuts of 10-15% in wafer starts on 4/3nm processes.
Tuesday 7 April 2026
Google's chip revisions raise questions for MediaTek's growth plans

Recent reports suggest that Google has once again made engineering changes to its Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU, pushing the chip's tape-out to around mid-2026. The product in question—known as the v8x and designed by MediaTek—has raised fresh concerns about whether MediaTek can scale its application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, business as planned this year.

Tuesday 7 April 2026
Weekly news roundup: China's special AI chip supply ends; TSMC plans 12 fabs in Arizona
Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of March 30-April 5, 2026:
Tuesday 7 April 2026
Samsung's eightfold profit jump signals AI spending immunity to geopolitical risk
Samsung Electronics reported a record-shattering eight-fold leap in quarterly profit, as insatiable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips outweighed growing concerns over geopolitical instability in the Middle East.
Tuesday 7 April 2026
Anthropic secures 3.5 GW of next-gen compute via landmark alliance with Google and Broadcom

Anthropic, Google, and Broadcom today announced a massive expansion of their strategic partnership, unveiling a multi-year roadmap that secures approximately 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of next-generation AI computing capacity for Anthropic.

Tuesday 7 April 2026
Formosa Plastics denies cutting PE supply amid US-Iran conflict, confirms March output increase
Impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, Taiwan has recently reported a shortage of plastic bags, raising questions about whether Formosa Plastics Group deliberately reduced production and stockpiled raw materials to drive up prices in the plastic pellet market.
Monday 6 April 2026
China 2.5D packaging demand surges, supporting Korean backend equipment growth
China's semiconductor equipment market is emerging as a critical growth engine for South Korean suppliers, driven by accelerating AI deployment and tighter restrictions on US vendors. Demand for advanced packaging tools is running ahead of expectations, with high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and 2.5D packaging advancing in tandem as central pillars of future growth. At the same time, Beijing's push for supply chain localization is reshaping competitive dynamics and limiting foreign access.
Monday 6 April 2026
India roundup: India ramps up electronics and chip ambitions with new approvals, local fabs, and supply chain curbs

India is accelerating its push to build a self-reliant electronics and semiconductor ecosystem, approving new component projects, supporting local display and chip manufacturing, and tightening market access for Chinese products, as rising investments, policy incentives, and global partnerships position the country as an emerging hub in the global supply chain.

Sunday 5 April 2026
Samsung and SK Hynix to reportedly bolster helium supply chain as Iran conflict risks rise
Facing the risk of a prolonged Iran conflict, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have reportedly begun strengthening their helium supply chain management for semiconductor manufacturing. Both companies plan to diversify suppliers beyond the Middle East and adjust import ratios by country to maintain stable supply chains.
Saturday 4 April 2026
How second-tier powers are bypassing big tech via Taiwan

The global AI narrative is often reduced to a struggle between US- and China-based tech giants. However, a quieter yet more significant movement is emerging among second-tier industrial powers. During a recent lecture, DIGITIMES chairman Colley Hwang spoke about how nations such as Germany, Japan, France, and Canada are increasingly focused on building sovereign AI.

Saturday 4 April 2026
Samsung strike threat clouds PMIC, mature-node outlook
Samsung Electronics reportedly faces renewed strike risk after union talks stalled, threatening already tight mature-node semiconductor supply chains. Power management ICs (PMICs) and display driver ICs (DDICs) are seen as the most exposed segments, given constrained capacity and firm demand.
Friday 3 April 2026
PSMC moves up value chain as Europe taps Taiwan to commercialize AI chip research
Europe is turning to Taiwan as it looks to bring semiconductor research into production, with foundries such as Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC) playing a growing role in bridging that gap as the artificial intelligence race intensifies.
Friday 3 April 2026
PSMC, CEA-Leti strike multi-year deal to ease AI data, power bottlenecks

Taiwanese foundry Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC) and France's CEA-Leti have signed a multi-year agreement on April 3 aimed at easing one of artificial intelligence's most pressing constraints: rising power consumption and data-transfer bottlenecks inside data centers, executives said in an interview with DIGITIMES Asia.

Friday 3 April 2026
2026 USTR Report: landmark 'ART' pact reshapes US-Taiwan trade landscape
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has designated Taiwan as a highly cooperative and pivotal trading partner in its 2026 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report.
Friday 3 April 2026
US faces split Asia: allies build 'sovereignty walls' as digital tensions rise

The 2026 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report signals a new era of digital friction between the US and its closest Asian allies.

Friday 3 April 2026
Taiwan pushes ahead with AI and tech agenda even as budget deadlock threatens fiscal paralysis
Taiwan sits at a rare intersection of economic momentum and political gridlock. The island's economy expanded 8.68% in 2025, exports hit a record US$640.75 billion, and per capita GDP is closing in on the US$40,000 threshold — largely on the back of booming global demand for AI chips and semiconductor capacity. Yet while Taiwan's technology industry is firing on all cylinders, its legislature remains deadlocked over the government's spending plan.
Friday 3 April 2026
Taiwan tackles CPO testing bottlenecks to scale SiPh for AI data centers
The surge in AI computing power is driving explosive demand for high-speed optical interconnects in data centers. Forecasts show that by 2026, over 50% of data center transceiver sales will come from silicon photonics (SiPh) modules, a sharp rise from 33% in 2024.
Friday 3 April 2026
Memory stocks rattled by TurboQuant, but demand outlook holds
Google Research's TurboQuant memory-compression algorithm has raised concerns that demand for AI-related memory could weaken, but South Korean experts and analysts say the market reaction may be overblown.
Thursday 2 April 2026
Copper price surge drives quarterly lead frame price hikes
Lead frame packaging suppliers are hiking prices to pass along rising costs sweeping through the semiconductor supply chain. Gold, silver, and copper prices continue to climb sharply, significantly raising raw material costs. At the same time, the inventory reduction cycle within the mature process semiconductor market is nearing completion, prompting customers to ramp up orders.