With less than an hour remaining before a planned strike was set to begin, Samsung Electronics and its labor union reached a tentative agreement late on May 20, narrowly avoiding what industry observers estimated could have triggered supply-chain disruptions worth more than KRW100 trillion (US$66.8 billion).

ASML expects its first advanced semiconductors made using next-generation High-Numerical Aperture (High-NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment to ship within months.

GlobalFoundries announced on May 19 that it is making a limited partner investment in Playground Global's Fund IV through GlobalFoundries Accelerate, the company's venture capital program focused on early-stage semiconductor and deep-technology innovation. The investment represents an expansion of GlobalFoundries' strategy to engage with emerging technologies and promising startup ventures in the semiconductor ecosystem.

Recent media reports say Google is set to team up with Blackstone to form a new cloud computing leasing company, with Blackstone as the main shareholder. The new venture aims to build about 500 MW of computing capacity by 2027, most of it using Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), a move industry watchers say supports Google ASIC partners such as MediaTek, Broadcom, and TSMC.

Photonic semiconductors have become indispensable to modern defense — prized for their ultra-high-speed data processing, high capacity, low power consumption, and exceptional reliability. Yet despite their growing strategic importance, South Korea remains almost entirely dependent on foreign suppliers for these critical components. Industry leaders are now sounding the alarm: as global supply chains fracture along geopolitical lines, photonic semiconductors are no longer just industrial goods — they are national security assets, and South Korea's access to them is far from guaranteed.

Trump has once again accused Taiwan of "stealing" the US semiconductor industry — his second such broadside in as many months.

As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, demand for data centers is rapidly redrawing the export map of nations.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) chair and CEO Lisa Su led the company's China team in Shanghai for AMD AI DevDay 2026 on May 19. The event marks the first time it has been held outside the US, drawing large crowds of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) developers, supply chain partners, and corporate customers.

Supply chain optimism grows as Blackwell shipments ramp, Rubin approaches, and Intel CPUs re-enter the AI server spotlight.

Intel is urging notebook and PC customers to adopt its most advanced chip manufacturing technology as surging demand for artificial intelligence computing continues to strain global CPU supply, according to industry sources.

Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, revealed at the Plug and Play May Summit in Sunnyvale on May 19 that the state's relationship with TSMC began with an unsolicited approach during her first trip to Taiwan in 2013 — a cold call that has since grown into one of the largest semiconductor investments in US history.

South Korean foundry operator DB HiTek is facing a slower ramp in silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), testing its push into next-generation power semiconductors as technology barriers and a market slowdown complicate its growth plans.

Rising manufacturing costs at upstream foundries and back-end packaging and testing are pushing power management IC (PMIC) makers toward price increases, with global implications for device makers and automotive and data-center operators as firms weigh whether to accept higher PMIC prices or shift strategies amid ongoing worldwide capacity constraints and node migration pressures.

As of May 18, 2026, TSMC's market value stood at NT$58 trillion (US$1.8 billion), MediaTek's at NT$5.45 trillion, and Delta Electronics' at NT$5.2 trillion — the three largest companies in Taiwan's capital market. The rapid expansion of electronics valuations has drawn regulatory scrutiny and triggered risk warnings for some companies, while lawmakers argue that rules on managed securities and related standards need updating to reflect a fundamentally changed market structure.

India inaugurated Rajasthan's first semiconductor plant on May 15, marking a significant step in the country's push to expand domestic electronics and chip manufacturing under its broader industrial policy agenda.

Flexible copper clad laminate (FCCL) manufacturer Asia Electric Material (AEM) said that its long-term investment in new product development has begun to yield results, with the company's operational focus shifting toward product promotion and customer sample certification in 2026. Its two major new products will target the semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) application markets.

TSMC's Arizona fab has turned profitable, surprising the market and supply chain after years of warnings from founder Morris Chang and others that overseas fabs could lose money. Supply-chain sources say the US plant has now benefited from six years of process tweaks and ramp-up, while three factors drove the turnaround.

Analog Devices Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire Empower Semiconductor for about US$1.5 billion in cash, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A formal announcement could come as soon as Tuesday. The deal has not been finalized and could still fall through.

Samsung Electronics and its South Korean labor union resumed talks on May 19 in a last-ditch effort to avert an 18-day strike set to begin May 21, with the two sides reportedly closing in on some differences.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan recently told CNBC's Mad Money that the company's external manufacturing business, known as Intel Foundry, is emerging as a cornerstone of the chipmaker's revitalization strategy. Tan described the foundry initiative as a "national treasure," emphasizing its role in rebuilding advanced semiconductor production capacity within the US after decades of manufacturing dominance in Asia.

Baidu said its core AI businesses became the majority of the company's revenue in the first quarter of 2026, driven by rapid growth in AI cloud infrastructure, expanded foundation-model support on its model-as-a-service platform Qianfan, and stronger commercial adoption of its Kunlunxin AI chips.

Prices for semiconductor-grade hydrogen fluoride supplied to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are expected to rise sharply between late June and July, as higher costs for a key China-sourced raw material ripple through South Korea's chip supply chain, according to industry sources cited by The Elec.

As China cements its position as the world's largest producer of display panels, the country is now pushing deeper into one of the industry's most strategically sensitive areas: substrate glass.