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Thursday 26 February 2026

WinWay sees AI-driven demand push 2025 records, plans Kaohsiung expansion

Semiconductor test interface maker WinWay reported record 2025 revenue and profit driven by demand from AI, high-performance computing, and ASIC markets, and announced a NT$3.499 billion (approx. US$111.7 million) expansion, including a new factory in Renwu, Kaohsiung.

Thursday 26 February 2026

US rushing to reshore semiconductor production

The US is quietly rebuilding its domestic semiconductor industry by reducing dependence on Taiwan, which produces roughly 90% of the world's most advanced computer chips. Experts warn that any disruption to Taiwan's chip supply, whether from geopolitical tensions or natural disasters, could trigger a global economic crisis.

Thursday 26 February 2026

TSMC crosses US$2 trillion mark, undeterred by geopolitical and AI risks

On February 24, 2026, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) crossed the US$2 trillion market capitalization mark, becoming the eighth company in US stock market history to reach the milestone and the first from Taiwan. The achievement places TSMC sixth in the global rankings by market value, behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, and Amazon.

Thursday 26 February 2026

Cloud AI's ripple effect: A comeback for 8-inch wafers

The boom in cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) is reverberating far beyond the most advanced chipmaking nodes.

Thursday 26 February 2026

Frenemies by necessity: Taiwan and South Korea's AI balancing act

Taiwan and South Korea have long defined the frontlines of global tech rivalry. Now, that relationship is evolving into something far more nuanced. Driven by the demands of the AI supercycle and mounting geopolitical pressures, the two are settling into an uneasy but necessary "frenemy" dynamic. DIGITIMES president Colley Hwang laid out this shift in a lecture on February 24, 2026, mapping the hidden vulnerabilities and emerging interdependencies that will shape both nations' tech futures. His analysis, centered on TSMC and Samsung, is clear: the era of pure head-to-head competition is over. Collaboration is now a strategic imperative.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

UMC streamlines leadership: Jason Wang named CEO as co-president model concludes

Leading global semiconductor foundry, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), has announced on February 25, 2026, a significant restructuring of its executive leadership structure.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

SK Hynix signals seller's market as memory prices set to climb all year

SK Hynix, one of the world's top three memory chip makers, told investors on a recent Goldman Sachs conference call that the global memory market has fully shifted to a "seller's market," with prices expected to climb throughout 2026.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Chart: Why Taiwan's OSAT sector just flipped the switch

The latest January revenue data for Taiwan's Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) sector—disclosed this month—confirms a powerful industry-wide resurgence.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

TSMC's record profits signal AI boom far from over

Blowout earnings from TSMC in 2025 — and an even more bullish outlook for 2026 — have reignited investor enthusiasm across the global semiconductor sector. Attention is now turning to Nvidia, whose latest quarterly results are widely expected to surpass already lofty forecasts.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Sigurd invests NT$1.54B to acquire Unimicron's Hukou plant amid strong AI, ASIC demand

Taiwan's IC packaging and testing supply chain is accelerating expansion as Sigurd announced it will invest NT$1.54 billion (approx. US$49M) to purchase a factory in the Hukou Industrial Park from major IC substrate maker Unimicron. The facility will serve as Sigurd's second Hukou plant, slated to begin operations in 2H26 alongside its existing site to jointly support customer needs.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

China targets fivefold jump in advanced chip output to fuel AI expansion

China is preparing a fivefold increase in domestic advanced logic chip output within one to two years to support its expanding AI computing infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Nikkei Asia.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

PGC profits rebound in 2025 with sub-12nm processes exceeding 70% of revenue

Benefiting from a continued increase in high-end process non-recurring engineering (NRE) projects, Progate Group Corporation (PGC) reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of NT$415 million (US$13.21 million), down 10.2% from the previous quarter but surging 107.1% year over year, marking the company's second-highest quarterly revenue on record. Full-year 2025 revenue reached a record NT$1.35 billion, up 97.8% from 2024, with earnings per share (EPS) climbing to NT$2.06, surpassing the previous year's NT$1.65.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

India's Kaynes Semicon deepens ties with Synopsys in push toward advanced packaging

Kaynes Semicon, the semiconductor assembly and test arm of Kaynes Technology India Ltd., has adopted engineering simulation software from Synopsys to strengthen its outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) operations, as part of a broader strategy to expand into advanced chip packaging.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

AMD and Meta seal US$100 billion AI infrastructure deal for 6GW of Instinct GPUs

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Meta have entered into a multi-year agreement to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs to power Meta's next-generation AI data centers, marking one of the largest AI infrastructure partnerships to date and potentially exceeding US$100 billion in value.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Intel taps SambaNova for AI inference push via partnership and minority stake

Intel has opted for a multi-year collaboration and minority investment in SambaNova Systems rather than a full acquisition, signaling a more capital-disciplined approach as it seeks to strengthen its position in the fast-growing AI inference market.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

TI posts rare first-quarter growth driven by turn orders and data center momentum

Texas Instruments (TI) has provided a revenue guidance range of US$4.32 billion to US$4.68 billion for the first quarter of 2026. This outlook reflects significantly stronger seasonality than usual, with revenue typically ranging from a low-single-digit decline to flat. Analysts noted that this sequential growth guidance marks what appears to be the first of its kind for the company in roughly 15 years. Earnings per share for the same period are expected to range from US$1.22 to US$1.48.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Texas Instruments posts mixed fourth-quarter 2025 results as data center strength offsets consumer weakness

Texas Instruments reported mixed results for the fourth quarter of 2025, with year-on-year growth supported by industrial and data center demand but sequential declines across most markets, underscoring uneven recovery trends and lingering demand uncertainty.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Microsoft and Qualcomm welcome Nvidia to competition as new PC chip approaches launch

Widespread speculation surrounds Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's previously teased chips set to be revealed at the March 2026 GTC conference. Among the most discussed possibilities are the long-rumored N1 and N1X PC chips, which have circulated in industry reports for the past two years but have yet to be officially announced. The N1 series chips appear ready and have reportedly completed product development with major PC brands, with Lenovo said to be one of the most critical partners in the collaboration.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

TI capex to fall as six-year investment cycle winds down, Sherman fab ramp ahead schedule

Texas Instruments is approaching the end of a six-year capex expansion after spending US$4.6 billion in 2025, and plans to cut 2026 investment to US$2 billion–US$3 billion as its Sherman fab ramps ahead of schedule, while monitoring indirect demand shifts tied to volatility in memory markets.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Elon Musk recruits South Korean chip talent as HBM sparks global war

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has amplified recruitment of South Korean semiconductor talent via social media, deepening competition for engineers as global tech firms increasingly target the country's skilled workforce.

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Exclusive: Inside Apple’s China entanglement, with ‘Apple in China’ author Patrick McGee

In an interview with DIGITIMES, Patrick McGee, author of 'Apple in China,' joined DIGITIMES vice president Eric Huang in dissecting the complex, decades-long interdependence between "the world's greatest company" and its primary manufacturing hub. The interview highlighted a critical crossroads: as Chinese "red supply chain" firms squeeze out traditional partners, Taiwanese giants are leveraging their Apple-honed expertise to lead the global AI revolution.

Tuesday 24 February 2026

A three-nation chip pact takes shape: Japan’s capital, Taiwan’s know-how, India’s talent

What if the next pillar of the global semiconductor industry isn't built in one country — but three?

Tuesday 24 February 2026

CMAT sees order visibility extending two quarters ahead as test interface structural precision upgrades

The rapid development of AI and high-performance computing (HPC) chips is providing long-term demand support for the semiconductor advanced testing interface supply chain, driving growth in the global probe card market. Technologically, as signal contact density and probe pin counts continue to rise, the requirements for guide plate hole counts and structural precision in a single probe card are also increasing accordingly.

Tuesday 24 February 2026

Taiwan says 15% US tariff caps worst-case risk, but exporters face uneven outlook

Following the US Supreme Court ruling that global tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unlawful, President Donald Trump announced a comprehensive tariff increase of 15%, a move Taiwanese officials say is less damaging than the alternative previously anticipated.

Tuesday 24 February 2026

Infineon bets on humanoid robots, targets AI data center-level growth

In an interview with Germany's Handelsblatt, Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck said the emerging robotics market is expected to generate significant revenue growth and help support the company's stable performance amid margin pressures.

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