Chinese DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is expanding into higher-value memory markets, introducing DDR5 server modules, mass-produced LPDDR6 chips, and automotive DRAM at IC China 2026, which opened on November 12. The expansion, backed by manufacturing advances and higher research spending, signals CXMT's ambitions beyond its established mobile memory business.

SK Hynix is working with Intel and other industry partners to develop memory-centric computing architectures that would allow AI servers to share memory resources, as agentic AI drives up demand for memory capacity and bandwidth.

Intel is courting South Korea's AI ecosystem on two fronts: a 23-company alliance built around Korean-made servers and an inference GPU that swaps costly high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for low-power DRAM. At the 2026 Intel AI Summit Seoul, held at COEX on November 12, the US chipmaker also offered its custom chip design and foundry services to a market crowded with neural processing unit (NPU) startups and home to two of the world's largest memory makers.

Samsung Electronics is expanding its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) packaging operations in South Korea as its Cheonan campus runs short of space, prompting the company to develop nearby Onyang into another major production base for advanced AI memory.

SK Hynix's sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) production yield has reportedly surpassed 70%, Chosun Biz reported on November 12, citing semiconductor industry sources, as rival Samsung Electronics moves ahead with a major chip packaging expansion.

Micron Technology has responded to an open letter from the Taoyuan Union, a labor group in Taiwan, about its ongoing contract talks. Taoyuan is a city in northern Taiwan where Micron has a large factory, and the dispute centers on a new employee bonus program that the union has been pressing the company to discuss.

Samsung Electronics said on November 12 it had moved up the planned opening of its new high-bandwidth memory (HBM) packaging plant in South Korea by one year to June 2028 to meet rising demand for AI server memory.

Taiwan’s glass fiber exports to South Korea rose 54.0% year-over-year in the first nine months of 2026 as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced packaging expanded. South Korea has also become Taiwan’s largest trade deficit partner, with Taiwan’s deficit reaching US$59.37 billion in the first 10 months of 2026, more than double its US$25.39 billion deficit with Japan.

China is advancing its domestic semiconductor ambitions while continuing to access restricted US AI processors, exposing the limits of Washington's export controls and the challenges facing Beijing's pursuit of technological self-sufficiency.

AP Memory Technology reported record-breaking third-quarter 2026 revenue and net profit, driven by surging demand for its integrated passive device (IPD) silicon capacitors under the S-SiCap product family. Order visibility now extends through the second half of 2027. The company projects that as manufacturing capacity expands, silicon capacitor revenue will experience multi-fold growth and surpass its core IoT RAM revenue in 2027.

As AI servers and data centers expand, rising DRAM demand is driving up memory prices and supply pressures, making memory an increasingly important infrastructure cost. AMD has introduced AI-predictive memory management technology that tiers DRAM and NAND flash, forecasts application data-access needs, and moves data from Flash to DRAM before CPUs require it, reducing reliance on costly DRAM capacity.

Charles Kau, chairman of IEMC, said TSMC "cannot make 3D DRAM," dismissing reports that the foundry is evaluating entry into the next-generation memory market at Nvidia's request. TSMC declined to comment on market speculation and stressed that it remains focused on its core foundry business.

Smaller electronics manufacturers are relying on the spot market for memory as major customers lock in future supply through long-term agreements, according to independent electronic components distributor Smith.

South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix has named former development chief Hyun Ahn to lead a new Americas unit as competition for custom high-bandwidth memory (HBM) pushes suppliers closer to US chip designers.

Qualcomm has identified Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology as its primary memory suppliers for certain products, including automotive applications, in its fiscal 2026 annual report. The disclosure was absent from the previous two years' filings and comes as Qualcomm's automotive revenue jumped 52%.

SK Hynix is using Nvidia's AI technology and GPU acceleration to speed up memory chip simulations, with improvements in etching-process development and tests of thermal and elastic deformation analysis. As memory structures and manufacturing processes become increasingly complex, the companies are working to reduce simulation time and computational demands to support process optimization during R&D.

Memory testing and packaging company ChipMOS Technologies posted strong profit growth in the third quarter of 2026, with net income rising 48.4% quarter-over-quarter to NT$1.323 billion (approx. US$41.5 million) and earnings per share reaching NT$1.89, the highest quarterly level since 2022.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix face uncertainty over demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) as US lawmakers press for tighter controls on AI chip exports to China following allegations involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Phison Electronics CEO Pua Khein-Seng expects AI demand to surge again after the Lunar New Year, tightening NAND Flash supplies and intensifying competition for high-capacity triple-level cell (TLC) and quad-level cell (QLC) products. The company has already secured more than 70% of its targeted 2027 supply.

Zhu Yiming, chairman of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), reportedly participated in Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's second funding round, drawing attention to his semiconductor investment network. Neither DeepSeek nor the reported investors have confirmed the claims, leaving the investment entity, amount, and shareholding structure unclear.

A decade ago, China's Tsinghua Unigroup alarmed Taiwan's semiconductor industry with an aggressive acquisition campaign. Under then-chairman Zhao Weiguo, the group acquired Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics, sought stakes in Powertech, SPIL and ChipMOS, and publicly expressed interest in integrating MediaTek. Its financial firepower and rapid expansion unsettled Taiwanese chipmakers.

As artificial intelligence pushes computing systems toward unprecedented processing demands, another technological bottleneck is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: the energy and time required to store, retrieve, and move data.

Winbond Electronics chairman Arthur Chiao said the AI data center buildout planned by major cloud service providers (CSPs) for 2027 and 2028 is largely secured, with funding, land, power, and infrastructure almost all in place, so there is no need to worry too much about investment freezing in the near term. But 2029 could become a key point for the next downturn, when it remains to be seen whether funding can keep supporting such massive spending, he said.

Winbond Electronics will revive the Spansion brand for the NOR Flash and F-RAM business it is buying from Infineon Technologies and run it as a fully independent, fabless company, chairman Arthur Chiao said, describing the US$1.12 billion deal as a way to secure top international talent and intellectual property.

Winbond Electronics chairman Arthur Chiao said memory prices and profits should not go any further at this stage, warning that a market in which memory thrives while other industries struggle is bad for consumers and the wider economy.