Phison Electronics continues to benefit from the rapid growth in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, AI inference, and enterprise storage, with its Phison AI Data Platform gradually being deployed across industries in Taiwan, said company CEO Khein-seng Pua.

At the China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE), Morphotonics, a Netherlands-based nanoimprint lithography company, made the case that the quickest way to reach affordable AR glasses runs through the display industry rather than the semiconductor background, where most AR lens-making equipment comes from.

These are the seven supply chain takeaways from Apple's announcements on September 9, covering new iPhone models, new AirPods, chips, and upgrades to its ecosystem.

Apple used its 2026 iPhone launch to do two things it had avoided for years: name the process node in its flagship chip, and raise the price of phones already on sale. Both moves point to the same pressure. Memory is expensive, the packaging that binds memory to logic has become the hard part of building a phone chip, and Apple has stopped absorbing the cost.

Behind the foldable, Apple used the same event to rebuild the sensing hardware in its wearables and to push active noise cancellation down to US$129. Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, and AirPods 5 in Cupertino on 9 September, and the two watches share the key upgrades: an all-new Health Sensing System and the S11 chip, which Apple calls its most powerful wearable silicon.

Asus reported consolidated revenue of NT$94.96 billion (US$3.02 billion) in August 2026, up 12.87% from July and 51.17% from a year earlier — the second-highest monthly figure in company history. Revenue for the first eight months reached NT$645.19 billion (US$20.5 billion), up 42.3% year over year. The company attributed the gain to AI server and PC demand, with motherboard orders also recovering.

At its booth at the China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE), Luxshare and its camera-module affiliate Luxvisions showcased the components they believe will define the next generation of smart eyewear, pointing to weight and price as among the industry's biggest remaining obstacles.

Ample Electronic Technology said strong demand for passive components and artificial intelligence (AI) server-related products is boosting business momentum, as multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) customers ramp up copper paste purchases.

Verizon and Corning have agreed to a multi-billion-dollar supply deal that could shape broadband access and artificial intelligence infrastructure well beyond the US. The pact underscores how telecom networks are becoming a shared foundation for consumer internet, enterprise connectivity, and the data-heavy systems driving the next wave of AI services.

This week, DIGITIMES heads to Shenzhen to cover an expo showcasing the world of optoelectronics, a class of technologies that serves as the link between electricity and light. In today's era of pervasive digital connectivity, from smart glasses to cars to phones, this event is expected to give us a glimpse into the hardware supply chain behind these devices, and increasingly behind the global AI infrastructure build-out.

The 27th China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE 2026) will run September 9-11 in Shenzhen, bringing together more than 5,000 exhibitors from over 30 countries and regions as AI infrastructure, high-speed optical communications and AR/VR applications reshape the optoelectronics industry.

As AI server computing power and per-rack power density continue to rise, traditional 54VDC power architectures are hitting bottlenecks such as excessive current, higher copper usage, and greater transmission losses. This is pushing next-generation AI data center power designs toward 800V high-voltage direct current (HVDC).

STMicroelectronics said humanoid robots are still most likely to enter manufacturing first, as the industry works through key hurdles in hand dexterity, edge AI decision-making, and total system cost. The chipmaker made the remarks at a recent press event in Taiwan focused on sustainability, AI data centers, and robotics.

As AI computing power surges, the energy consumption of AI servers has become a major bottleneck that must be solved. The issue is spreading from chips into power delivery systems as Nvidia's AI racks ramp up, rapidly pushing up the power draw of a single AI rack.

AI and high-performance computing (HPC) demand is changing the semiconductor industry's technology and investment priorities. As chip power consumption, computing density, and data transfer requirements rise rapidly, competition is no longer limited to front-end process scaling; 3D stacking, advanced packaging, high-density interconnects, thermal management, and memory technologies are also becoming more important.

System integration remains a key hurdle as the AI chip industry pushes for higher power efficiency and faster transmission speeds, drawing intense attention to when short-reach optical communications between racks and chips will enter practical use. Industry players say the maturity of system integration is still the main consideration for commercialization.

Acer used its next@acer global press conference at IFA 2026 in Berlin, Germany, to unveil non-PC products as part of its strategy to enhance resilience. At the event, the company introduced an e-paper display, a foldable screen, an e-scooter, and its latest gaming handheld, with chairman and CEO Jason Chen noting that Acer will continue making new products to wow consumers.

As Acer marks its 50th anniversary in 2026, Chairman and CEO Jason Chen said at the company's next@acer global press event during IFA in Berlin, Germany, that the PC maker's four future growth drivers are PCs, smart healthcare, smart living, and sustainability. He said the roadmap underscores Acer's stature as an international brand and its continued ambition.

Niching Industrial is expanding its heat-spreader capacity as AI and high-performance computing demand pushes up orders across the global semiconductor supply chain. The company said larger stamping equipment, tighter plating control, and future liquid-cooling technologies are being developed to support chips that generate more heat in data centers worldwide.

Ligitek is accelerating its move from LED packaging into silicon photonics (SiPh) and high-speed optical communications, with 1.6T product samples already tested and volume-production equipment due from late 2026 through the first quarter of 2027. Chairman I-hsin Tung said recent optical throughput tests exceeded industry benchmarks, with revenue contribution expected in the second half of 2027.

Samsung Electronics launched its new Galaxy Z series foldable smartphones, including its first wide-folding model, kicking off this year's foldable smartphone battle. With attention on the upcoming release of Apple's debut foldable smartphone, the market reported on September 2 that Xiaomi and Huawei will unveil new foldables on September 7, ahead of Apple.

Solomon Technology, a Taiwanese artificial intelligence (AI) 3D vision company, is showcasing two key inspection applications that integrate its core AI vision and optical technologies at Semicon Taiwan 2026. The applications include full-wafer warpage detection inside front-opening unified pods (FOUP)/cassettes and through-glass via (TGV) aperture defect inspection technology, aimed at preventing equipment downtime during manufacturing processes and ensuring the yield and quality of next-generation advanced packaging.

AI infrastructure expansion is accelerating demand for 800G and 1.6T optical modules, lifting first-half 2026 results across major Chinese suppliers and extending order visibility into 2027.

Cooling specialist Auras Technology is expanding from GPU platforms to ASIC-related products as its next growth driver, amid the ongoing shift toward liquid cooling in AI servers, with chairman Steve Lin highlighting sustained progress in projects for major international cloud service providers (CSP) such as AWS and Meta.

Sandisk says its NAND-based High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) technology can match HBM bandwidth while providing eight to 16 times the capacity at a similar cost, positioning flash memory closer to processors as inference workloads strain conventional memory systems.