DIGITIMES Asia news

Tuesday 3 February 2026

YMTC enters LPDDR5 battlefield as China leans on it to steady NAND flash supply

Memory shortages are worsening across the market as international suppliers shift capacity aggressively toward servers, tightening supply for consumer electronics and automotive sectors. China's leading NAND flash producer YMTC is reportedly being assigned a stabilisation role, prioritising support for key domestic industries to maintain supply chain continuity and avoid production disruptions and layoffs

Japan's TDK leans on premium batteries while rare earth supply risks deepen

Tuesday 3 February 2026

US Judge dismisses Samsung FRAND lawsuit, strengthening ZTE's global hold

Tuesday 3 February 2026

China's AI competition heats up: ByteDance and Alibaba ready new flagship models

Tuesday 3 February 2026

Nexperia plans Malaysia expansion in face of geopolitical risks and automotive supply concerns

Tuesday 3 February 2026

LATEST STORIES

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Taiwan prioritizes global partnerships in trade

Officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Finance are attending the 2026 APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies' Meeting (FCBDM) in Shanghai from February 4-5, just after opposition Kuomintang (KMT) leaders led business representatives to Beijing for a cross-strait exchange forum on February 3. Some argue that Taiwan should not deepen ties solely with the US to avoid losing economic resilience, emphasizing the need to maintain trade and investment relations with China

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Defending the crown: Samsung and LG leverage AI and Micro RGB to counter Chinese rivals in appliances and displays

As Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics prepare for 2026, both South Korean technology leaders are sharpening their competitive edge by embedding artificial intelligence (AI) across displays and home appliances. Beyond hardware upgrades, their strategies increasingly rely on subscription and leasing models, platform ecosystems, and an expanded Micro RGB TV lineup, signaling a shift toward service-oriented growth and deeper customer engagement

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Alphabet reportedly plans major Bangalore expansion, bolstering India's AI ambition

Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, is planning a significant expansion in India, potentially taking millions of square feet of new office space in Bangalore's Whitefield tech corridor, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The move comes as the US tech giant seeks to strengthen its AI and cloud capabilities in one of its fastest-growing overseas markets

Wednesday 4 February 2026

China's memory makers abandon low-price strategy: DRAM, NAND near Korean levels

Recent market speculation has claimed that China's memory producer CXMT is triggering a price war by offloading DDR4 at deep discounts. Supply chain sources, however, said CXMT has largely pivoted to DDR5 process development, keeping only around 10,000 wafers of DDR4 capacity for a handful of long-term customers, making large-scale, low-priced dumping into the open market unlikely

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Karnataka govt wades into Foxconn tax dispute, averting escalation

The Karnataka government has asked two local gram panchayats to stand down from taking action against Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn over alleged tax dues, a move that temporarily defuses a dispute threatening the state's investment climate, according to The Economic Times

Wednesday 4 February 2026

China's tech giants transform Lunar New Year into AI showdown

This year's Lunar New Year holiday is shaping up as an intense AI competition for China's tech industry. Unlike previous campaigns driven by payment platforms or e-commerce red envelope promotions, the main battlefield has shifted toward AI assistants and large-model application entry points

Wednesday 4 February 2026

CXMT, YMTC scale up DRAM and HBM output keenly in largest expansion push yet

Amid an acute global memory chip shortage, China's leading manufacturers ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) are rolling out their most aggressive capacity expansion plans, seeking to close the gap with global giants Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Alibaba's Quark glasses escalate China's push against Meta and Samsung

Alibaba Group's launch of its Quark artificial intelligence glasses has intensified competition in the global market for AI-powered wearables, as Chinese technology companies step up efforts to challenge a category where US firms led by Meta Platforms have taken an early lead

Wednesday 4 February 2026

India wins electronics investment, but key gap threatens momentum

India's rise as an electronics manufacturing hub has been one of the fastest shifts in the global supply chain over the past decade. Geopolitical realignments, generous incentives, and growing interest from multinational companies have pushed the country into the spotlight as a serious alternative manufacturing base

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Samsung SDI posts heavy loss in 2025, pins recovery hopes on energy storage

Samsung SDI, one of South Korea's three major battery makers, posted a steep operating loss in 2025 as the global market for electric vehicle batteries slumped. The company reported an operating loss of more than KRW1.7 trillion (US$1.17 billion) for the year. However, it is betting that a shift in strategy—anchored by local production of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the United States and an expansion of its energy storage systems business—will return it to profitability in 2026

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Samsung to tear down birthplace of its chip business at Giheung campus for new R&D center

Samsung Electronics is dismantling a key building at its Giheung campus as part of plans to construct a large-scale advanced research center, according to Hankyung. The site, known as SR5, is regarded as the birthplace of the company's semiconductor business and the location where Samsung developed its 65-megabit DRAM in 1992

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Samsung Electro-Mechanics poised to enter Nvidia NVSwitch substrate supply chain

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) has secured its first supply role with Nvidia, the world's leading GPU manufacturer, to provide high-end flip chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrates for NVSwitch systems. According to South Korea's Seoul Economic Daily, the agreement marks the company's first engagement as a supplier of these specific components to Nvidia

Wednesday 4 February 2026

Aito's surge lifts Seres to front of China's EV race

After Huawei transferred the "Aito" brand and related patents to Seres for CNY2.5 billion (approx. US$359 million), Seres has rapidly consolidated its position in China's fast-growing new-energy vehicle (NEV) market. While Huawei no longer owns the brand, it continues to provide Seres with technical and marketing support, including smart cockpit systems and advanced driver-assistance technologies

Wednesday 4 February 2026

China leads the humanoid robot supply chain, with 2026 sales forecast to jump

Morgan Stanley is bullish on China's humanoid robot market, forecasting sales to surge 133% year-over-year to 28,000 units in 2026. As supply-chain costs decline and mass production accelerates, humanoid robots are expected to gain initial traction in industrial applications before expanding into consumer markets over the next decade

Wednesday 4 February 2026

South Korea tops China, Taiwan in Micro LED, but supply chain dependence looms

South Korean panel makers are about one to two years ahead of competitors in China and Taiwan in Micro LED driving and assembly technologies, according to analysts. However, the country remains heavily reliant on overseas suppliers for chips and backplanes, making supply-chain independence an increasingly pressing issue

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