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May 21
TSMC's COUPE push puts Samsung's silicon photonics ambitions under pressure
Samsung Electronics has launched silicon photonics foundry services and entered pilot production, signaling during its latest earnings call that optical communication modules will soon move to mass production — backed by aggressive investment. Yet compared with TSMC, which has already achieved breakthroughs in co-packaged optics (CPO) through Taiwan's well-established supply chain ecosystem, Samsung still has a long way to go.
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong quietly visited Taiwan on May 21 and met with MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai, according to semiconductor supply chain sources, in a move aimed at expanding Samsung's foundry business by securing another major customer after deals with Tesla and renewed work with AMD. Samsung declined to comment, and MediaTek had not issued an official response by press time.

AMD said it plans to invest more than US$10 billion in Taiwan's technology ecosystem to accelerate AI infrastructure development, while also revealing a new strategic direction centered on an elevated fanout bridge (EFB) packaging ecosystem.

Samsung Electronics and its union signed a provisional agreement late at night, about an hour before a scheduled May 21 strike, averting an industry estimate of more than KRW100 trillion (approx. US$66.8 billion) in supply chain disruption. The deal eases an immediate labor crisis but leaves unresolved structural conflicts and rising personnel costs.
South Korea announced a national plan to raise domestic production of defense semiconductors to 50% by 2029, targeting heavy reliance on US and Taiwan supply chains to bolster national security. The initiative, unveiled at the 2026 Advanced Strategic Semiconductor Innovation Conference, covers research and development, manufacturing, ecosystem building and workforce training and follows the recent passage of the Defense Semiconductor Act by the National Assembly on May 7, 2026.
InPsytech, the intellectual property unit of Egis Technology Group, announced on May 21 that it hired a former Altera CEO and ex-Intel executive as a senior strategy adviser to support global market expansion and large-scale growth. The firm said the appointment aims to leverage the adviser's semiconductor leadership experience to guide worldwide strategy and help scale the company's business in international markets.
Lam Research has opened a Panel-Level Packaging (PLP) Innovation Excellence Center in Salzburg, Austria, underscoring the company's move deeper into advanced packaging as customers explore panel-based processes. Aaron Fellis, corporate VP and GM of dielectric atomic layer deposition (ALD) products at Lam Research, said leading chip firms are testing PLP in R&D or alliances and that several customers could start trial production within the next one to two years.
TSMC supply chain material maker AMC rides AI packaging yield boom
May 22, 09:30

Alliance Material Co. (AMC), a Taiwan-based advanced semiconductor materials supplier, said its balance film anti-warpage material has entered customer validation and is expected to begin mass production in the second half of 2026, as AI chip demand drives a new wave of advanced packaging expansion.

BOE, Corning target glass substrates for AI chip packaging
May 22, 09:28

BOE Technology, China's leading display panel maker, is expanding its push into new businesses beyond panels. The company said on the evening of May 20 that it had signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with US glass materials supplier Corning to cooperate in glass-based packaging substrates, foldable glass, perovskite glass substrates and optical interconnects.

Nanya Technology plans to raise 2026 capital expenditure above NT$52 billion (US$1.64 billion), with chairman Tzou Ming-jen saying the DRAM maker will accelerate new fab construction to capture AI-led memory demand. Equipment installation is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027, followed by mass production in the second half.

At Plug and Play Silicon Valley May Summit 2026, 12 global corporate leaders took the stage for a "Corporate Reverse Pitch," inviting potential partners to co-create solutions for the next decade of industry challenges.
AMD CEO Lisa Su arrived in Taiwan on May 20, 2026, on a private jet and largely followed the same itinerary as her April 2025 visit, including a meeting with TSMC, a technology forum and dinner with Taiwan supply chain partners, and an about one-hour summit forum. This time, AMD also made the rare announcement that it will invest more than US$10 billion in Taiwan's industrial ecosystem to accelerate AI infrastructure buildout.