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Thursday 30 April 2026

Korea's 'father of HBM' sees 1,000x AI memory surge as Google's TurboQuant faces real-world tests

Alphabet's Google has unveiled its KV cache quantization compression technology, TurboQuant, promising dramatic reductions in memory usage for AI inference. While the innovation has captured global attention, South Korea's academic and industrial sectors remain skeptical about its practical feasibility, even as they firmly expect AI inference to continue driving substantial growth in memory demand.

Thursday 30 April 2026

Memory crunch squeezes smartphone SoC market as Samsung gains share

Global smartphone system-on-chip (SoC) shipments fell 8% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, as a prolonged memory shortage weighed on handset makers and chipset vendors, according to Counterpoint Research.

Thursday 30 April 2026

Samsung memory buyers lock in longer deals as 2027 demand comes early

Samsung Electronics executives said major memory customers are seeking longer-term supply commitments and pulling forward demand for 2027, underscoring how tight supply is reshaping negotiations across DRAM, HBM, and server storage.

Thursday 30 April 2026

UMC stresses disciplined price hike, Intel deal, and memory foundry rumors draw attention

United Microelectronics (UMC) held its earnings call, where market focus centered on its recent price increases, progress in silicon photonics (SiPh) and advanced packaging, and speculation about entering memory foundry services.

Thursday 30 April 2026

Samsung Electronics' record chip profits signal strengthening AI memory supercycle

Samsung Electronics reported a sharp increase in first-quarter 2026 profitability, led by its semiconductor division, as AI-driven demand for memory chips continued to accelerate. The company's chip unit delivered an operating profit of approximately KRW53.7 trillion (US$360 billion), accounting for the vast majority of group earnings and marking a significant expansion from the prior year.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Seagate leans on long-term contracts as storage demand stabilizes

Seagate Technology is moving deeper into a contract-driven business model as cloud and hyperscale customers increasingly prioritize supply predictability over short-term procurement flexibility.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Seagate sees agentic AI beginning to lift HDD demand

Seagate Technology said emerging agentic artificial intelligence workloads are beginning to support demand for hard disk drives, as automated workflows generate and retain larger volumes of unstructured data.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Seagate tops estimates, raises outlook on cloud, AI demand

Seagate Technology reported fiscal third-quarter results above market expectations and issued a stronger-than-anticipated outlook, driven by sustained demand from cloud customers and AI-related workloads.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Nvidia taps Nanya for AI racks with LPDDR equivalent to 4,500 smartphones per rack

The AI boom is pushing memory demand well beyond high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Low-power DRAM is now under pressure too, with shortages emerging as chip developers including Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Tesla adopt LPDDR in next-generation processors, according to Chosun Biz.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Supreme's 1Q26 server revenue surpasses mobile as CSP demand boosts memory prices

Memory distributor Supreme Electronics (Supreme) saw its revenue double in the first quarter of 2026, driven by a sharp rise in memory prices. DRAM and Flash accounted for nearly 90% of total sales, with server revenue share reaching about 40%—surpassing mobile for the first time. Strong demand from cloud service providers (CSPs) is driving server memory prices higher, a trend expected to extend into the second quarter of 2026.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

AI server demand locks up memory supply through 2027, prices seen holding firm

Artificial intelligence (AI) server demand is tightening memory supply through 2027, with a large share of upstream capacity already committed under long-term agreements, according to memory module maker Team Group.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Taiwan logs record chip exports, AI demand outpaces geopolitical risk

As the conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran enters its second month, a fragile ceasefire has tempered immediate market shocks, yet economists warn that prolonged tensions could still ripple through global energy and trade. For Taiwan, however, strong export momentum — driven by surging demand for AI and semiconductor technologies — has so far cushioned the impact.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Adata reports soaring earnings on strong memory demand

A surge in demand for AI is fueling a powerful upswing in the memory market, propelling Adata to record-breaking results at the start of 2026.

Wednesday 29 April 2026

Memory test capacity stays high as substrate prices may rise in 2Q26

The memory industry cycle is on the upswing, driven by strong customer orders, rising OSAT prices, and high capacity utilization rates. Memory OSAT companies reported a surprisingly robust first quarter of 2026 despite the usual seasonal slowdown. With DRAM demand remaining strong and upstream substrate material costs increasing, market watchers expect key raw material price hikes to become a trend. Continued healthy customer demand should further boost OSAT capacity utilization, supporting revenue growth into the second quarter of 2026.

Tuesday 28 April 2026

Nanya breaks into Nvidia's AI memory ecosystem with LPDDR

Nvidia's next-generation AI platform Vera Rubin is approaching mass production, with a key architectural shift favoring low-power DRAM. Sources familiar with the matter say Nanya Technology has secured a supply chain position through LPDDR products, supported by an advanced packaging collaboration with TSMC, as Economic Daily News and other Taiwanese media outlets noted. The move marks the first entry by a Taiwanese memory maker into Nvidia's AI server primary memory ecosystem.

Tuesday 28 April 2026

Macronix returns to profit in 1Q26, citing tighter supply and higher memory prices

Macronix's return to profitability in the first quarter of 2026 signals supply constraints and stronger memory pricing, with implications for global flash markets and customer supply chains. The Taiwan-based memory maker reported wider margins, robust NAND growth, and reduced inventories, suggesting that tighter industry supply and higher ASPs could significantly reshape pricing and sourcing worldwide.

Tuesday 28 April 2026

Samsung fast-tracks Pyeongtaek fabs to turn HBM4 edge into AI memory scale

Samsung is accelerating one of its most aggressive memory capacity buildouts in years, aiming to bring its Pyeongtaek Line 4 fab, or P4, into full operation by the end of 2026 as the AI server boom reshapes demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM.

Tuesday 28 April 2026

Wuhan unveils US$38 billion plan; YMTC and XMC lead memory expansion

China's central tech hub Wuhan has unveiled its 2026 major project plan, targeting 355 city-level projects with total investment exceeding CNY260 billion (approx. US$38.1 billion).

Tuesday 28 April 2026

AI lifts memory: SK Hynix hits 72% margin as Samsung nears 70%

SK Hynix reported record results for the first quarter of 2026, with operating margin reaching about 72% — among the highest globally — as artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand lifted memory pricing, according to company disclosures and Korean media reports.

Monday 27 April 2026

Samsung reportedly breaks 10nm barrier with first single-digit nanometer DRAM working die

Samsung Electronics has reportedly become the first company in the world to develop a single-digit nanometer-class 10a DRAM working die, using the prototype to fine-tune process conditions to rapidly improve yield.

Monday 27 April 2026

Weekly news roundup: Micron's Sanand ramp shifts India chip debate; Qualcomm Chief reportedly seeks deals in South Korea

Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of April 20-27, 2026:

Monday 27 April 2026

NEO Semiconductor advances 3D DRAM with POC validation

Driven by AI, demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is surging, causing a supply shortage in DRAM and prompting cloud service providers to pre-book capacity for the next two years. The rising need for larger HBM capacities is expected to grow exponentially, while 3D DRAM technology emerges as a solution to overcome current process scaling limits.

Sunday 26 April 2026

Samsung, Kingston reportedly lift SSD prices by over 10% as supply tightens

Samsung Electronics and Kingston Technology have reportedly notified distributors of price increases of more than 10% across their solid-state drive (SSD) product lines, according to IT Home, citing supply chain sources.

Sunday 26 April 2026

Samsung reportedly advances sub-10nm DRAM as SK Hynix targets HBM4E sampling

Samsung Electronics has reportedly produced a working die for sub-10nm DRAM, marking a potential breakthrough below the 10-nanometer threshold, according to The Elec. SK Hynix, meanwhile, is preparing to sample its next-generation high-bandwidth memory product as memory makers accelerate their product roadmaps.

Sunday 26 April 2026

Samsung bets its HBM leverage can hold Nvidia's LPU orders — but TSMC is pushing back

The AI era has officially shifted from training to inference and agent-centric computing, prompting Nvidia's strategic acquisition of Groq to integrate LPUs into its own platform. This move not only eliminates a strong competitor but also sparks a fierce battle between Samsung Electronics and TSMC over LPU foundry orders.

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