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Friday 20 March 2026

When secrets walk out the door: TSMC's cross-border IP battle tests Taiwan's legal reach

TSMC built its dominance not just on cutting-edge fabs, but on closely guarded know-how that rivals cannot easily replicate. Now, that edge is at the center of a high-stakes legal fight. Former senior vice president Wei-jen Lo stands accused of walking out with the crown jewels — key parameters and trade secrets tied to the chipmaker's most advanced processes — before crossing the Pacific to join rival Intel. The case has landed in Taiwan's Intellectual Property and Commercial Court, and the outcome could set a precedent for how the island defends its most valuable technological assets.

Friday 20 March 2026

Commentary: Nvidia sees Groq as its next Mellanox

Since the start of 2026, Jensen Huang has twice drawn a striking parallel: likening a potential deal involving Groq to Nvidia's 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies. He first made the comparison during a late-February earnings call, and again in an interview following his keynote at GTC 2026 in March.

Friday 20 March 2026

MediaTek on cruise control as chipmakers scramble for next-gen silicon photonics standards

Nvidia GTC 2026 and the Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) have underscored the growing importance of optical communication in cloud AI, with chipmakers playing an increasingly critical role in the ecosystem.

Friday 20 March 2026

Samsung signals AI memory shift with HBM showcase at 2026 shareholders meeting

Samsung Electronics held its 57th annual shareholders meeting on March 18 in Suwon, South Korea, where it unveiled advanced memory products, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), signaling a strategic push to strengthen its semiconductor competitiveness.

Friday 20 March 2026

UK-Taiwan R&D ties scale up with Foxconn, Turing Space, NSYSU

Taiwan has long leveraged its manufacturing strengths to carve out a place in the global supply chain. Now, it is going further. With research and development reach expanding overseas, the country is shifting from contract manufacturing to joint innovation. The UK-Taiwan Innovative Industries Programme (I2P), run under the British Office Taipei and ITRI, has hit a record scale in 2026, with 17 research and development teams taking part in bilateral exchanges.

Friday 20 March 2026

AI tailwinds and global reach put Topco on track for double-digit growth in 2026

Driven by AI applications boosting advanced processes, HBM, and packaging technologies, demand for key materials like silicon wafers and photoresists has surged. Topco Scientific (TSC) has announced plans to focus on high-growth sectors such as AI, automotive, and data centers in 2026, targeting sustained double-digit growth.

Friday 20 March 2026

Commentary: Taiwan's display panel makers are quietly becoming chip companies

Taiwan built its technology identity on two pillars: semiconductors and display panels. One has thrived. The other is reinventing itself.

Friday 20 March 2026

Intel pushes large-area AI packaging to close foundry gap

Intel is reportedly preparing large-area AI chip packaging to strengthen its foundry business and challenge TSMC and Samsung Electronics.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Nvidia hosts Taiwan night at GTC 2026, Huang vows to defend Taiwan

Nvidia's GTC 2026 is well underway, with the event reaching a record scale as among the major annual events in the AI landscape. Despite a packed schedule, CEO Jensen Huang attended the conference's "Taiwan Night" on March 18 (local time) to engage with Taiwanese partners and express his appreciation for their work.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Gulf crisis drives up petrochemical and semiconductor costs

As fighting in the Middle East continues, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent shockwaves through global energy and petrochemical markets. The disruption is already rippling across supply chains, prompting manufacturers such as Shin-Etsu Chemical to scale back production of ethylene-based products and raise domestic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices in Japan by roughly 20%.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Fitipower opens Malaysia R&D center to boost global innovation and support

Fitpower officially inaugurated its new office in Puchong Financial Corporate Center (PFCC), Selangor, Malaysia, this week, marking the launch of its Malaysian subsidiary. The move expands Fitipower's global R&D footprint and deepens collaboration within Southeast Asia's semiconductor supply chain.

Thursday 19 March 2026

China curbs, Middle East tensions drive surge in chip material risks from gallium to helium

Global semiconductor supply chains are facing rising pressure as Middle East geopolitical tensions and China's tightening export controls on strategic minerals converge, pushing up prices for key materials and raising uncertainty over critical industrial gas supplies, according to Chosun Biz and Reuters.

Thursday 19 March 2026

SK Hynix posts record pay, R&D, and capex in 2025

Driven by the AI dividend and a robust semiconductor market, SK Hynix's average employee annual salary reached KRW185 million (approx. US$124,494) in 2025, up 58.1% year-over-year to set a new high. At the same time, the company also broke records for R&D investment and capital expenditure (capex).

Thursday 19 March 2026

Elan wins patent infringement ruling against FocalTech, plans damages claim

Taiwanese touch chipmaker Elan announced a significant legal victory as the court ruled in its favor in a 2024 patent infringement lawsuit against FocalTech. The court confirmed the validity of Elan's patent and found FocalTech guilty of infringement.

Thursday 19 March 2026

China's photoresist push moves from lab wins to mass supply

China's semiconductor materials localisation is shifting into commercial scale, with domestic photoresist suppliers moving from pilot validation to mass supply, marking a turning point in one of the chip industry's most tightly controlled segments.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Nexperia's China split sends orders to Taiwan

Nexperia's China unit has begun producing power semiconductors on 12-inch wafers. The move marks a decisive break from its Dutch headquarters and is sending ripple effects across global supply chains.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Amazon's Trainium 3 rumors clash with supplier optimism

Rumors circulating in the semiconductor market suggest that Amazon may scale back shipments of its upcoming Trainium 3 artificial-intelligence chip after internal tests reportedly showed performance falling short of expectations. Yet suppliers involved in the chip's components say they have received no such notice and continue to prepare for a rapid ramp-up in production beginning in the second quarter of 2026.

Thursday 19 March 2026

AI and memory drive semiconductor output to surpass US$1 trillion in 2026

The global surge in AI demand and tightening memory supply have pushed prices higher, propelling the semiconductor industry into a new growth cycle. Global chief marketing officer and president of Taiwan at SEMI, Terry Tsao, said the sector's output is expected to break the US$1 trillion mark ahead of schedule in 2026, with projections reaching US$2 trillion by 2035, outpacing previous forecasts. However, he also highlighted talent recruitment as the biggest bottleneck facing the semiconductor industry over the next three years.

Thursday 19 March 2026

The HBM paradox: why Taipei and Seoul can't afford a diplomatic cold war

A diplomatic dispute over administrative nomenclature has escalated into a high-stakes standoff between Taiwan and South Korea, threatening to cast a shadow over one of the world's most critical semiconductor supply chains.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Samsung maps out semiconductor strategy with multi-year contracts, Tesla chip on track for 2H27

At its recent annual shareholders meeting, Samsung Electronics addressed questions about the current memory market supercycle and shared insights into its semiconductor strategy amid the AI boom and broader economic cycles. The company underscored long-term supply agreements and strategic partnerships as pillars for navigating uncertainty and sustaining growth.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Chip price surge in 2Q26 shifts cost pressure to end markets

As more European and American chipmakers and IDM giants publicly announce price hikes effective April 1 of this year, mature process foundries in Taiwan and China have also nearly finalized plans to raise prices. The semiconductor industry is clearly entering a broad wave of chip price increases that will likely push costs onto end markets.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Nvidia signals optical future, but materials shortages stand in the way

Riding a surge in demand for optical communications driven by artificial intelligence (AI), Taiwan's compound semiconductor makers—including Visual Photonics Epitaxy, IntelliEPI, WIN Semiconductors, GCS Holdings, and Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company—are poised for a new phase of growth. However, that expansion is colliding with a critical constraint: a shortage of indium phosphide, or Indium Phosphide, a material essential to high-speed data transmission.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Intel to expand EMIB capabilities in Malaysia amid Section 232 probe uncertainty

Intel's advanced packaging complex in Malaysia is expected to begin operations later this year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said, as the company advances its assembly and testing capabilities and the government emphasises upskilling local talent.

Thursday 19 March 2026

China's mature-node push gathers pace: Nexchip, Silan, Hua Hong step up capacity and integration

China's semiconductor strategy is shifting from leading-edge competition to strengthening mature and specialty nodes. Facing geopolitical pressure and supply chain fragmentation, domestic foundries are accelerating investment in 28nm-class technologies, analog chips, and vertically integrated ecosystems.

Thursday 19 March 2026

Rapidus scales back US 2nm R&D early, raising timeline and funding concerns

With support from the Japanese government, Rapidus has been advancing R&D and pilot production testing to mass-produce 2nm chips by 2027. However, due to funding constraints and schedule pressure, Rapidus has begun scaling back its R&D investment at NY Creates in New York earlier than expected — a move that could negatively impact its mid- to long-term development of advanced process technologies at the 2nm node.

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