Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura visited TSMC's headquarters in Hsinchu on November 24, 2025, as part of a semiconductor investment promotion event in Taipei, saying the chipmaker remains strongly interested in expanding in Japan. The visit included talks with senior TSMC executives overseeing investments and industry-academia cooperation and marked Kimura's second trip to TSMC this year
Japanese semiconductor firm Rapidus, which aims to mass-produce 2nm chips by 2027, has initiated plans for advanced technological developments, including the construction of a second factory in Hokkaido. The company has yet to commence mass production of advanced process chips
Micron Technology announced plans to expand its DRAM memory development at its Hiroshima facility, with significant backing from the Japanese government. This move aims to boost output for high-performance and AI chip applications, according to Nikkei
China has applied disruptive innovation and a fully controllable domestic solution to break through compute bottlenecks, with chip performance now capable of surpassing constraints linked to sub-5nm advanced nodes, according to Wei Shaojun, vice chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association and professor at Tsinghua University
South Korean electronics giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expanding their television product offerings beyond their traditional core focus areas to counter fierce pricing competition from Chinese companies. Both firms are diversifying into each other's market segments in an effort to sustain sales and market share in a challenging global environment
Japan is preparing to designate artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion, space, and other advanced sectors as "national strategic technologies," while moving to require stricter cybersecurity protections at semiconductor plants that receive government subsidies, according to reports from Nikkei and financial news outlet Minkabu. The dual initiatives highlight Tokyo's push to strengthen technological competitiveness and reduce supply chain risks amid intensifying global competition
Xiaomi has unveiled MiMo-Embodied, an open-source foundational model that integrates autonomous driving with embodied intelligence. The research team includes Fuli Luo, a former DeepSeek deep learning researcher who recently joined Xiaomi
Baidu CEO Robin Li says AI will become the core of China's "new-quality productive forces," adding that the company will deepen investment in AI infrastructure and model development as Beijing pushes its national "AI+" strategy
Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has opened a new shared pilot line capable of producing gate-all-around transistors, a move aimed at helping domestic companies develop 2nm and next-generation chip technologies. The facility, located at AIST's Advanced Semiconductor Research Center in Tsukuba, gives Japanese firms access to production-grade tools needed to prototype and validate GAA structures
China's "first domestic GPU stock," Moore Threads, is preparing for its STAR Market IPO, drawing strong investor interest as Beijing prioritises homegrown AI compute. The overwhelming subscription and ultra-low allotment rate highlight how closely the market is tracking China's GPU self-sufficiency effort
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently indicated that the design finalization of Tesla's AI5 chip is imminent, sparking speculation about Samsung Electronics' semiconductor foundry in South Korea as the likely production site
China's semiconductor expansion is running into fresh obstacles as the US tightens export controls on advanced chipmaking tools. CXMT and other Chinese chipmakers are likely to face constraints on equipment investment despite Beijing's push for domestic alternatives. While the government moved early to accelerate local equipment development, replacing leading-edge tools remains difficult in the near term
Murata Manufacturing sued Chinese RF front-end leader Maxscend Microelectronics in a German court over alleged patent infringement involving RF filters, marking an escalation of the China-Japan semiconductor patent dispute into Europe
TCL CSOT began mass production of 21.6-inch inkjet-printed OLED medical monitor panels in November 2025 and is expanding the technology to notebooks and tablets, while Samsung and LG are cautiously evaluating its market potential
