Samsung Electronics is reportedly preparing for urgent negotiations with Micron Technology at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, as surging mobile DRAM prices and tightening supply threaten to disrupt production plans for the upcoming Galaxy S26, according to South Korean media reports.
Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is under scrutiny for allegedly circumventing US export restrictions by illegally acquiring thousands of Nvidia's Blackwell architecture GPUs. Nvidia acknowledged the situation but said it had no concrete evidence and would investigate all available leads.
China's dominance of the global polysilicon market is forcing the industry into two divergent paths: domestic consolidation to manage a swelling glut, and US-backed overseas production to diversify supply chains. The trend highlights a deepening geopolitical divide over a material essential to both solar manufacturing and high-purity semiconductor applications.
Nintendo's stock price has fallen by 20% since reaching a recent peak in August 2025, mainly due to the artificial intelligence (AI) surge that pushed memory prices used in the Nintendo Switch 2 gaming console up by 40%, putting significant pressure on its profit margins. In response to the rapidly increasing semiconductor demand driven by AI infrastructure expansion, the electronics and home appliance supply chains have also started feeling noticeable impacts.
In the latest episode of Tech Insights, DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin argues that Washington's decision to lift export restrictions on Nvidia's H200 accelerator to China signals a shift toward managing dependency rather than forcing decoupling. Yet he stresses an overlooked reality: China may no longer feel compelled to buy the H200 at all.
South Korea has unveiled an expansive semiconductor strategy to secure its lead in next-generation memory and revive weaker segments such as logic chips and the domestic fabless sector. President Lee Jae-myung chaired a high-level government meeting with Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and policymakers, underscoring the urgency of reinforcing national competitiveness as global demand for AI semiconductors surges.
Singapore will invest SGD37 billion (approx. US$28.5 billion) over the next five years under its Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2030 Plan. The funding will support semiconductor development, biopharma research, and talent programs aimed at strengthening the country's position in high-value technology sectors.
Intel has secured a reduction of nearly EUR140 million (approx. US$163.7 million) in its remaining EU antitrust penalty, though the bloc's second-highest court upheld the finding that the company abused its dominance in the x86 processor market, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.
Taiwanese IC design company MediaTek announced its revenue for November 2025 at NT$46.896 billion (approx. US$1.51 billion), reflecting a 9.86% decrease from October but a 3.65% increase compared to November 2024. The fourth-quarter total reached NT$98.922 billion, narrowly missing the company's previously forecasted low-end target by about NT$4.3 billion.
As the US–China tech confrontation drags on, discussions consistently return to chips, semiconductors, rare earths, and tariffs. Despite accelerating supply-chain decoupling and overseas clients pushing for "Out-of-China" capacity, China remains the world's largest PCB manufacturing base and has fully captured both the volume and value gains from the AI server cycle. The country continues to demonstrate cost and efficiency advantages over production in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Qualcomm has acquired Ventana Micro Systems Inc., a move aimed at bolstering its capabilities in the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) and custom CPU development. The acquisition integrates Ventana's expertise in RISC-V design into Qualcomm's ongoing efforts on its Oryon CPU technology.
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