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Friday 17 July 2026
Oppo cuts OnePlus from North America and Europe, and Realme from China

OnePlus is exiting the North American and European markets for its future product launches, while sales of new Realme products will be suspended within its home market of China. The changes to both Oppo sub-brands signal the challenges low- to mid-tier brands face amid rising component costs and a tough global smartphone market this year.

Friday 17 July 2026
Montage Technology forecasts stronger first-half profit as AI demand lifts chip sales and discloses Korean prosecutors' search
China-based Montage Technology said its first-half results are expected to rise sharply, underscoring continued demand for AI-linked memory and interconnect chips that matter to data centers and device makers worldwide. The company also disclosed a regulatory search in South Korea, adding an overhang that global investors will be watching closely.
Friday 17 July 2026
China's DRAM milestone arrives with CXMT IPO; HBM now separates contenders from leaders

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) opened subscriptions for its STAR Market IPO on July 16, launching one of China's largest A-share listings of 2026 and marking the country's first complete DRAM journey from technology acquisition and manufacturing validation to mass production and capital market recognition.

Friday 17 July 2026
Analysis: Unveiling the low-profile engineer building China's CXMT into a DRAM heavyweight

ChangXin Memory Technologies' (CXMT) STAR Market IPO is more than just one of China's biggest semiconductor listings. It also marks the culmination of Zhu Yiming's two-decade effort to build a domestic memory industry, taking the entrepreneur from founding flash memory designer GigaDevice to creating China's first globally competitive DRAM maker.

Friday 17 July 2026
Interview: From six weeks to two minutes: QuantumDiamond's EU-backed quantum leap in chip inspection lands in Taiwan

The global tech landscape is currently dominated by two massive tides: the race for semiconductor supremacy and the long-promised dawn of the quantum era. While quantum technology is often associated with the distant goal of large-scale computing, a German startup is proving that quantum's most immediate impact may actually be in saving inspection time for the global semiconductor industry that powers the modern world.

Friday 17 July 2026
SK Group chair floats 'memory as a service' model for SK Hynix

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has floated a "memory as a service" model for SK Hynix, saying the memory chipmaker needs to build a higher-value business beyond manufacturing and selling chips.

Friday 17 July 2026
Exclusive: PC brands reportedly rush to secure CXMT memory as orders extend to end-2027
Chinese DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technology's (CXMT) IPO has entered its final stage, drawing close market attention. PC supply chain sources said the US had briefly planned to add CXMT to its entity list but had not announced it, and that easing US-China tensions, along with reports that Apple had tested CXMT memory and lobbied the US government, had signaled a possible green light and triggered a rush of orders from brands, with shipments reportedly booked through the end of 2027.
Friday 17 July 2026
South Korean suppliers ramp up hybrid bonding R&D beyond HBM5
As high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks add more layers, requirements for chip-to-chip bonding accuracy and signal transmission efficiency are becoming more demanding.
Friday 17 July 2026
Micron locks in automotive supply agreements as vehicle tech grows smarter
Micron Technology said it has completed strategic customer agreements with several tier 1 suppliers and ecosystem partners serving the global automotive industry, including Qualcomm, Visteon, Harman, Joynext, Denso, Astemo, and Hyundai Mobis.
Friday 17 July 2026
Memory shortages deepen as suppliers turn to long-term contracts

Memory shortages are rippling through global electronics supply chains, as tightening supply in DRAM and NAND pushes manufacturers to lock in long-term contracts. The squeeze could mean higher prices, longer lead times, and fewer options across servers, industrial systems, and consumer devices.

Friday 17 July 2026
Memory suppliers push prices higher as Apple and automakers face tighter supply
Memory suppliers have regained pricing power as AI-driven stockpiling and advance capacity bookings tightened supply for consumer electronics and automotive customers. The shift has become especially visible in the Apple supply chain, where industry sources said the company is now effectively the last major line of defense as vendors push for higher prices and allocate capacity elsewhere.
Thursday 16 July 2026
C.C. Wei on EMIB, memory envy, and why TSMC won't squeeze its customers
TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei used the company's second-quarter 2026 earnings call to push back on two narratives gaining traction among analysts: that rival packaging technologies threaten TSMC's advanced packaging business, and that the company should be extracting windfall margins from its dominant market position.
Thursday 16 July 2026
Beyond AI: Resilient consumer demand widens semiconductor supply crunch
Reports of lengthening semiconductor lead times have become increasingly common in recent months, highlighting that the imbalance between chip supply and demand has not eased but is instead spreading across a broader range of end markets. Taiwanese IC design companies believe that while booming cloud AI investment remains the primary driver behind today's capacity constraints across semiconductors and electronic components, resilient demand outside the cloud AI sector has also played an equally important role in keeping the market tight.
Thursday 16 July 2026
As Trump pushes chips onshore, Netlist's ITC memory bid could keep Samsung, Nvidia offshore

A US trade agency has opened an investigation that could block imports of the DDR5 server memory and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) feeding the AI data center boom, handing a small California patent holder a border lever that runs parallel to President Donald Trump's campaign to force chip production back onto US soil.

Thursday 16 July 2026
CXMT IPO raises fresh capital, but its own prospectus map shows distance still to close
The IPO prospectus filed by Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) ahead of its planned listing on Shanghai's STAR Market offers an unusually candid portrait of the global DRAM industry it is entering, including detailed profiles of the three incumbents it must eventually displace, and a frank accounting of how far behind it still sits.
Thursday 16 July 2026
Baiwei Storage forecasts sharp first-half profit surge on AI memory demand
Shenzhen Baiwei Storage Technology said its first-half 2026 revenue and profit are likely to rise sharply, highlighting how the global AI boom is reshaping demand for memory chips and related equipment. The company's preliminary figures suggest stronger orders, improved product mix, and a recovering storage market that could matter for investors worldwide.
Thursday 16 July 2026
Hanmi, Hanwha clash in court over HBM equipment patents
Hanmi Semiconductor and Hanwha Semitech clashed in a Seoul courtroom over patents covering thermocompression bonders, or TC bonders, critical equipment used to stack DRAM chips vertically in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM.
Thursday 16 July 2026
CXMT outspends all peers on R&D as a share of revenue, IPO filing shows

Across almost every competitive metric disclosed in its STAR Market IPO prospectus, Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) trails the established leaders of the global DRAM industry. There is one conspicuous exception: the share of revenue the company devotes to research and development has exceeded every peer in the comparison group for three consecutive years — and by a wide margin.

Thursday 16 July 2026
CXMT IPO filing reveals Micron and Samsung alumni at heart of China's DRAM push

The IPO prospectus of Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), filed ahead of a planned listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, lays bare the international talent base the company has assembled to compete against the established leaders of the global DRAM industry — and raises a subtler question about the residency arrangements of its founder.

Thursday 16 July 2026
Korean prosecutors raid Rambus, Montage, and Renesas as memory-interface chip probe goes global
South Korean prosecutors have opened a criminal front in a widening international investigation into alleged price-fixing of the small but critical chips that link AI processors to high-speed memory, raiding the local operations of three global suppliers on July 15.
Thursday 16 July 2026
Commentary: CXMT IPO binds China's DRAM supply chain into one ecosystem

CXMT's STAR Market IPO has become more than a fundraising exercise. The strategic placement roster shows how China's largest DRAM maker is using the capital market to connect semiconductor suppliers, AI cloud providers, device brands, automakers, and state-backed investors, reinforcing a domestic memory ecosystem.

Thursday 16 July 2026
Memory and CPU supply gaps threaten server shipments in 3Q26
Component shortages that began with PCs and smartphones are now spreading to servers. Inventec, a leading server motherboard maker, said supply gaps will continue widening from the third quarter of 2026 and could hit shipments, while a supply-chain source said some companies are even reluctant to talk about shortages for fear upstream vendors will redirect supply.
Thursday 16 July 2026
Samsung may scale back foldable storage upgrades as memory costs rise
Samsung Electronics is reportedly preparing to reduce a long-running preorder perk for its next Galaxy foldables as memory prices climb. According to ChosunBiz, the South Korean company will likely cut its "free storage upgrade" offer from a full double-capacity boost to a subsidy covering only half the price gap between the 256GB and 512GB versions.
Thursday 16 July 2026
CXMT's US$8.5 billion IPO signals China's accelerating challenge to global memory leaders
CXMT's Shanghai debut could reshape global memory markets by speeding China's push into advanced DRAM and HBM, while highlighting how US export controls are altering the industry's technology path. For readers worldwide, the listing signals both greater supply competition and a potential shift in where next-generation memory innovation develops.
Thursday 16 July 2026
Column: From K-Semiconductor to AI superpower —How South Korea is taking its next chip leap

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung unveiled the country's Three Mega Projects for AI and Semiconductors in late June 2026, an ambitious national strategy designed to strengthen South Korea's global leadership in artificial intelligence and semiconductors. The initiative centers on three pillars—semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centers—and aims to double the nation's DRAM output within five years while expanding capabilities in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), advanced packaging, AI processors, and next-generation memory technologies. It also seeks to extend South Korea's semiconductor footprint beyond the Seoul metropolitan region.