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Jul 10
TSMC CoWoS output reportedly to reach at least 200K wafers in 2027

TSMC is accelerating advanced packaging capacity expansion as supply remains tight, with market chatter indicating its CoWoS monthly output will reach at least 200,000 wafers in 2027. Equipment makers are still waiting for TSMC to finalize order allocation, a delay that is raising fears of price-cutting competition and delivery delays, as lead times run at least seven to nine months.

After the semiconductor index nearly doubled in the first half of 2026 before a sharp pullback, the central question is whether the industry's AI-driven growth cycle has already peaked. This analysis examines the sustainability of the AI semiconductor boom, the outlook for memory and ASICs, and the geopolitical risks reshaping global supply chains.
The rapid expansion of AI servers and large language models (LLMs) is driving unprecedented demand for data center computing, making high-speed interconnect technologies one of the next major battlegrounds in AI infrastructure.
Taiwan PCB leaders launch fundraising wave for AI data centers
Jul 12, 10:31

Taiwan's PCB industry is entering a new expansion cycle as investment in AI data centers and other emerging applications accelerates. Since 2025, several board makers and upstream material suppliers have launched large-scale fundraising plans at home and overseas, including three bellwethers: Zhen Ding Tech, Unimicron, and Compeq.

InP supply crunch leaves South Korea exposed
Jul 12, 10:31
Coherent has agreed to prepay AXT US$22.3 million under a three-year agreement for committed 6-inch indium phosphide substrate capacity, showing how buyers are moving to reserve future supply as AI data center investment strains a concentrated photonics materials market.
Hermes Testing Solutions said that its June 2026 revenue jumped sharply as rising demand for advanced chip testing lifted sales of its custom products, cleaning materials, and engineering services. The test interface supplier said the growth was driven by continued strength in high-end semiconductor testing activity.

Bellwether Electronic has evolved from a connector and wire harness manufacturer into a technology developer shaping industry standards and generating patent licensing revenue by focusing on customer challenges in high-current connectors, high-density integration and foolproof connector design, according to Bellwether Electronic chairwoman Hsu Jui-ying, speaking at the Taiwan Venture Capital and Private Equity Annual Conference on July 7.

Samsung Electronics' preliminary results for the second quarter of 2026 again underscore a striking split inside the company: surging semiconductor profits driven by AI server demand are lifting overall earnings, while TVs, home appliances, and other end-device businesses remain under pressure.

Samsung Electronics has postponed mass production of its CXL 3.1 memory modules after delays to next-generation server processors from Intel and AMD pushed back the broader PCIe 6.0 ecosystem, highlighting how AI infrastructure adoption increasingly depends on platform readiness rather than individual components.

Backed by support from the European Chips Act, German quantum startup QuantumDiamonds has completed a financing round totaling EUR91 million (approx. US$104.1 million), a move expected to deepen its presence in the three major semiconductor markets and speed the rollout of diamond-based quantum sensing technology into wafer fabs worldwide.
South Korean AI semiconductor startup Mobilint is gaining traction in physical AI with its neural processing units (NPU) for edge devices, as the AI boom spreads from cloud computing into robots, autonomous vehicles and drones. Mobilint CEO Shin Dong-joo (transliterated from Korean) and other industry figures say the next two to three years will be a crucial window for South Korea to capture the physical AI market through NPU technology.
China moved on July 10 to wall off its domestic supply of helium, a gas with no substitute in chipmaking and medical imaging, in a step that suggests Beijing does not expect Middle East supply risks to ease quickly — and one that could tighten an already strained global market.