DIGITIMES has recently published three latest research reports regarding Qualcomm's cloud AI ASIC business strategy for 2026, the status of the worldwide top-3 memory makers, plus the latest trends of the memory industry, and an update to DIGITIMES' estimate of global smartphone shipments in 2026 as a result of ongoing price hikes of memory

If today's AI data centers are blazing "powder kegs" of heat, IBM was the visionary that prepared the "fire extinguisher" half a century ago. While Nvidia's top chips now require water cooling to operate, few realize that this technology's "biological father" actually dates back to IBM in the 1960s. Today, we explore this groundbreaking US patent 3,524,497 ("Patent 497") and its blue-cooling revolution spanning over 50 years

China has intensified pressure on Japan's supply chains. Following curbs on dual-use items and rare earth exports, the Ministry of Commerce has launched an anti-dumping probe into Japanese-origin dichlorosilane (DCS)

China's Ministry of Commerce said on January 7, 2026, that it has launched an anti-dumping investigation into Japanese-origin dichlorosilane (DCS). While framed as a routine trade-remedy case under existing rules, the decision reflects a more specific reality in the semiconductor materials supply chain: China now has domestic fallback capacity in this critical process material, allowing policymakers to act selectively at a sensitive juncture

Recent supply-chain signals suggest that OpenAI has shifted hardware orders from Luxshare to Foxconn, a move widely interpreted as preparation for highly interactive, portable AI devices. While specifications remain undisclosed, industry sources believe the products will emphasize real-time interaction tightly coupled with cloud-based AI, pointing to a new class of always-connected endpoints rather than conventional consumer electronics

The US AI sector stands at a crossroads. After years of breakneck infrastructure expansion, cracks are beginning to show in the financial foundation supporting this boom

The global economic landscape underwent three major transformations in 2025: the Great Rebalancing, the evolution of the AI supercycle, and a US industrial revival driven by national security considerations

Post-pandemic inventory digestion for mature semiconductor processes has come to an end. Market conditions have rebounded amid tariff-hedging and precautionary stocking, driving Taiwan's leading packaging lead frame supplier, Chang Wah Technology, to see rising demand for high-end products in the second half of 2025. The company has also accelerated capacity expansion plans across Taiwan, China, and Malaysia

Japanese semiconductor firms are pivoting toward advanced packaging and alternative lithography as TSMC extends its scale advantage in artificial intelligence chips. TSMC's 3nm and 2nm capacity is largely locked in. Advanced packaging now contributes a growing share of sales. The company is on track to see annual revenue exceed US$250 billion around 2029 or 2030. That widening gap has pushed Japanese companies to focus on panel-level packaging and nanoimprint technologies. Both emerged at SEMICON Japan 2025 as key levers to bypass manufacturing bottlenecks and secure a foothold in the fast-expanding AI accelerator supply chain

Artificial intelligence continues to be the central force behind the upcoming productivity revolution. Yet in the US, foundational energy constraints threaten to stall progress. The primary obstacle is not a shortage of semiconductor chips or inadequate computing capacity. It is a more fundamental resource: electricity. Increasing demand from AI data centers (AIDCs) is straining the nation's electric grid. It is testing the limits of social tolerance

The global semiconductor market is projected to reach US$1 trillion as early as 2026, significantly ahead of previous industry forecasts targeting 2030. The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) forecast, released in December 2024, expects growth to be driven predominantly by logic chips, including GPUs and AI accelerators. Memory markets are poised for the steepest increase

The biggest recent news in AI chip development is Nvidia's non-exclusive technology licensing agreement with Groq. Nvidia invested US$20 billion to acquire Groq's technology license and onboard its core engineering team

On December 30, Chinese AI company Z.ai launched a share sale to raise HK$4.35 billion (approx. US$560 million), aiming to become the first large language model (LLM) developer listed in Hong Kong amid a tech IPO surge, with a scheduled listing for January 8, 2026. Meanwhile, Z.ai has recently launched its latest open-source model, GLM-4.7, signaling a shift toward enterprise-focused AI and broader global adoption. As the company prepares for a 2026 IPO, the release highlights the growing influence of independent developers in a market increasingly shaped by hyperscale competitors and ecosystem distribution

When the Manhattan Project mobilized the full weight of the American state in 1945 to unlock atomic energy, it revealed something humanity had not fully grasped before: once a scientific breakthrough is absorbed into national strategy, its impact can far exceed any single industry or technology. Eighty years later, the US is attempting to recreate that logic—this time around artificial intelligence (AI)

Facing US restrictions on high-end computing products, China is restructuring its AI chip industry by advancing GPU, TPU, and NPU technologies simultaneously. Domestic firms struggle to match Nvidia's software ecosystem but seek breakthroughs with TPUs for efficiency and NPUs for edge applications