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Friday 11 July 2025
Samsung bets big on 2nm chips as foundry unit faces make-or-break moment

Samsung Electronics is placing a high-stakes bet on its 2nm chip manufacturing technology, as its foundry division works to reverse mounting losses and compete more effectively with global leader TSMC.

Friday 11 July 2025
Acter group hits new highs as global chip demand spurs growth
Acter Group, a leading Taiwanese provider of integrated electromechanical systems for cleanrooms, reported consolidated revenue of NT$3.82 billion (US$130 million) for June 2025, marking a 38% year-over-year increase. Second-quarter revenue reached NT$10.91 billion, up 27% from the previous quarter and 42% year-over-year. Cumulative revenue for the first half of 2025 totaled NT$19.46 billion — a 48% surge compared to the same period in 2024, setting new records for June, the second quarter, and the first half of the year.
Friday 11 July 2025
Taiwan's talent crunch in the age of AI: Macronix's Miin Wu and Deputy Minister Benson Yeh on rewiring education and industry
As Taiwan rides the wave of the AI revolution—with booming exports of GPUs and AI servers—some experts say the country risks losing sight of deeper, long-term challenges.
Friday 11 July 2025
SiPearl raises EUR130 million to mass-produce Rhea1 chip with TSMC, advancing Europe's AI and HPC goals
French microprocessor startup SiPearl has secured EUR130 million (US$152.53 million) in a Series A funding round, with investors including Taiwan's Cathay Venture Inc. The company will use the funds to mass-produce its Rhea1 chip and develop next-generation processors aimed at advancing Europe's capabilities in supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI).
Friday 11 July 2025
Qualcomm losing presence in Chinese flagship phones with MediaTek catching up

In a surprising change within the smartphone industry, MediaTek, long seen as the second largest chipmaker in the high-end sector, is gaining ground against American semiconductor giant Qualcomm in China's premium smartphone segment.

Friday 11 July 2025
Korea’s Rebellions taps Taiwan alliance to challenge Nvidia in AI chip race
Seoul-based AI chip startup Rebellions is moving fast to stake its claim as South Korea's top domestic supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. The company is ramping up production of its second-generation chip and forging new partnerships across Asia to grow its footprint.
Thursday 10 July 2025
Jim Keller: US restrictions only accelerate China's chip development
As the global semiconductor competition intensifies, Silicon Valley chip guru and Tenstorrent CEO Jim Keller has shared exclusive insights on China's chip market, export restrictions, and the future of RISC-V. A legend in the industry known for leading AMD's Zen architecture, Apple's A-series chips, Tesla's AI hardware, and Intel core technology, Keller champions open-source, high-performance computing (HPC), and AI chip development at Tenstorrent. He aims to make HPC more accessible to the broader developer community.
Thursday 10 July 2025
China's EDA shakeup stalls as Empyrean nixes Xpeedic deal

Empyrean Technology, one of China's top electronic design automation (EDA) vendors, announced on July 9 that it has terminated its proposed acquisition of Xpeedic Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. The unexpected cancellation marks a setback for China's ambitions to consolidate and strengthen its domestic EDA industry.

Thursday 10 July 2025
MediaTek bets on India for global automotive growth, targets 20% deployment share
MediaTek is intensifying its focus on India's fast-growing automotive market, with the company projecting the country will contribute 20% of its global automotive platform deployments over the next five years. The move underscores India's rising importance in the connected vehicle and software-defined mobility ecosystem, according to senior company executives.
Thursday 10 July 2025
Taiwan-Germany academic collab reportedly finalizes semiconductor research projects
Taiwan and Germany reportedly have finalized the semiconductor research projects that their academics will be collaborating on from 2026 to 2029.
Wednesday 9 July 2025
How China's trade-in policy is reviving South Korea's 8‑inch chip sector
In the escalating US-China tensions, China's aggressive drive to boost domestic semiconductor production—coupled with a sweeping "trade-in" subsidy program—has led to a surge of orders flowing to South Korean 8-inch wafer foundries, creating an unexpected boon for the nation's mature chip manufacturing sector.
Wednesday 9 July 2025
IBM taps Samsung's 5nm process for Spyre AI chip in new Power11 servers
IBM has introduced its latest Power11 enterprise servers in Germany, featuring the Spyre accelerator chip designed for AI inference. The chip is manufactured using Samsung Electronics' 5nm process and is integrated into various server models aimed at multiple industries, including finance, healthcare, government, and manufacturing.
Wednesday 9 July 2025
GlobalFoundries goes full-stack on AI chips with MIPS buy
GlobalFoundries has announced an agreement to acquire MIPS, a supplier of AI and processor intellectual property (IP). The acquisition aims to broaden GlobalFoundries' customizable IP portfolio and enhance its process technologies with integrated IP and software capabilities.
Wednesday 9 July 2025
MediaTek and Realtek go head-to-head in Ethernet chips battleground
High-end Ethernet chips continue to advance, while mid-range chips have expanded into broader applications. Particularly, automotive Ethernet is seeing a significant rise in adoption. Competition intensifies across sectors as Broadcom and Marvell wrestle for dominance in high-end cloud and AI server markets, while Taiwanese IC design companies such as MediaTek and Realtek are building more comprehensive product lines to stack up against the competition. As leading chip manufacturers in Taiwan and the US have launched a variety of strategies, chip designers affirm that Ethernet chips are becoming a new battlefield.
Wednesday 9 July 2025
US lifts EDA ban, revives Synopsys-Ansys China deal prospects
The US and China have reached a preliminary trade agreement that includes the resumption of rare earth exports from China. In tandem, several electronic design automation (EDA) software vendors have confirmed that the US Department of Commerce will lift its short-lived export ban on EDA tools. The reversal offers relief to companies such as Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens, which had faced rising uncertainty over their business continuity in the Chinese market.
Tuesday 8 July 2025
US-China semiconductor standoff sees tactical shifts as rare earths and EDA tools enter the fray

Industry insiders said US-China relations have been flammable ever since the trade war ignited, especially in the high-stakes arena of semiconductors. But in recent weeks, a series of diplomatic signals suggests the two sides may be testing the boundaries of each other's political and economic endurance.

Tuesday 8 July 2025
Realtek's Q2 results remain stable, but sustainability in 2H25 remains uncertain
Taiwan-based network IC design giant Realtek announced its revenue for June 2025, reporting a monthly revenue of NT$10.207 billion (US$351 million), showing less than a 1% decline compared to both the previous month and the same period last year, indicating minimal variance.
Tuesday 8 July 2025
Intel repositions chip strategy, scales back 18A in favor of 14A

Intel's once-touted 18A chipmaking process, which former CEO Pat Gelsinger emphasized as a critical factor for surpassing competitor TSMC by 2025, appears to have lost its position as the focal point of the company's strategic plans.

Tuesday 8 July 2025
EDA tool ban lifted, China's PCB industry seizes strategic opening

As demand surges for AI, HPC, and high-speed communications, the PCB industry is entering a new phase of advanced innovation. Chinese PCB manufacturers are aggressively moving into the AI server and HDI segments, seizing the opportunity through technical breakthroughs, expanded capacity, and ambitious market expansion.

Monday 7 July 2025
US tariff rates: 10% or 70%? Industry says it will determine chip supply direction
Following the announcement of a preliminary tariff agreement framework with Vietnam, US President Donald Trump recently told the media that letters would soon be sent to several related countries outlining subsequent tariff regulations. Regarding the scope of tariffs, Trump's statements were ambiguous, indicating some countries would face rates between 10-20%, while others could see tariffs as high as 60-70%, a significant disparity.
Monday 7 July 2025
WPG's three-way merger sets stage for glocalization chip distribution reboot

WPG Holdings' planned restructuring is already stirring the semiconductor distribution sector, even in the absence of formal announcements. Attention is centered on the potential repositioning of World Peace Industrial (WPI) as a global consignment hub, one that could reroute orders away from rival distributors.

Monday 7 July 2025
Weekly news roundup: Samsung secures patents, Intel leadership shakeup, Apple foldable prototype
Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from June 30 to July 6, 2025. This week's highlights include Samsung's strategic licensing of Intel patents to avoid global IP battles, Intel's executive shakeup, and Apple edges closer to launching a foldable iPhone. Meanwhile, China's domestic AI chipmakers face steep uphill battles, while Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem formed a new alliance backing TSMC's international expansion.
Monday 7 July 2025
Xiaomi's T1 follows Apple's lead in wearable chips: insights into architecture strategy
Since launching its T1 wearable chip in May 2025, Xiaomi has intensified competition in the smartwatch market, raising concerns among chip design partners. The move mirrors Apple and Samsung's strategy of using self-developed SoCs to secure greater control, optimize performance, and break into the high-end wearable segment.
Monday 7 July 2025
WPG Holdings partners with Axelera AI to accelerate edge AI applications
WPG Holdings' subsidiary, Silicon Application Corporation Group (SACG), announced on July 3 that it has secured exclusive distribution rights in the Asia-Pacific region for European edge AI chip startup Axelera AI.
Monday 7 July 2025
Rising AI ASIC use drives surge in SLT chip testing; Market to grow 30% in 2026
As artificial intelligence fuels rapid growth in high-performance computing, it's also triggering a shift in how semiconductor chips are tested. Beyond leading AI GPU makers, major cloud providers—known as hyperscalers—are doubling down on custom-built AI chips, or ASICs, sparking a sharp rise in demand for system-level testing, or SLT. These tests are designed to handle the higher speeds and power levels of next-generation processors.