DIGITIMES Semiconductors: IC manufacturing news

Home Tech Semiconductors IC manufacturing

Monday 26 January 2026

Lisa Su's toughest call: scrapping AMD's server roadmap

Jodi Shelton, co-founder and CEO of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) and Shelton Group, recently launched a new podcast, A Bit Personal. Following its January 16 debut episode featuring an in-depth conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the series' second episode, released on January 23, spotlighted AMD CEO Lisa Su.

Monday 26 January 2026
TAISIC Materials shifts focus to high-end SiC substrates
Facing intense price competition from Chinese manufacturers in the silicon carbide (SiC) substrate market, Kenmec Mechanical Engineering's subsidiary TAISIC Materials is pursuing a targeted strategy emphasizing high-end niche applications and advanced R&D. This approach diverges from scale-based price competition and aims to redefine SiC's functional value within specialized technology sectors.

Monday 26 January 2026
China unveils flexible fiber chips, an alternative to traditional silicon architectures
As traditional silicon-based semiconductors approach physical and manufacturing limits, flexible and non-planar chip architectures are gaining attention as a new direction in global semiconductor research.

Monday 26 January 2026
Commentary: China's RISC-V progress from C-Sky to T-Head
Alibaba is rumored to be evaluating a plan to spin off T-Head Semiconductor for a potential listing. T-Head may still appear to be a young company, but to the semiconductor industry, this Chinese IC design company's roots span more than twenty years of transformation and arduous progress. Its predecessor, C-Sky Microsystems, also plays an important role in China's development of the RISC-V architecture. In review of its evolution, the reason why Alibaba chose this critical moment to push this team onto center stage has become clear.

Monday 26 January 2026
Weekly news roundup: strategy shifts, supply chain realignments, scaling limits
Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of January 19-25, 2026.

Monday 26 January 2026
India roundup: India's semiconductor ambitions face hurdles echoing SEA as local IC design sector strives to grow
With Micron's ATMP facility moving into commercial production and fresh investments from domestic players, India's semiconductor push is gaining firmer footing. However, despite its deep talent pool, the country's IC design sector continues to face challenges in building global competitiveness.

Saturday 24 January 2026
China advances T1000 carbon fiber supply chain for semiconductor materials
As the global semiconductor industry pushes forward with advanced processes, heterogeneous integration, and cutting-edge packaging, competition now extends beyond process nodes to include material stability and equipment performance. Recently, China's development in high-performance carbon fiber has drawn attention from semiconductor equipment makers and advanced manufacturing supply chains.

Saturday 24 January 2026
US-Taiwan tariff deal masks deeper semiconductor geopolitics
While the recent announcement that the US will lower tariffs on Taiwanese exports from 20% to 15% was welcomed by officials in Taipei as a diplomatic milestone, the reaction within the semiconductor supply chain has been more measured.

Saturday 24 January 2026
Energy limits AI growth; geopolitical stakes in rare earths, new packaging innovations reshape global supply chains
The Global Electronics Association's latest "2026 Electronics Industry Trend Forecast" highlights critical challenges and shifts that will impact the sector over the next few years. Chief among these are energy infrastructure constraints that are throttling AI expansion, a move toward strategic interdependence in regional supply chains, and advancements in packaging technologies that are transforming industry dynamics. These developments signal substantial changes in investment approaches, geopolitical relations, and manufacturing policies worldwide.

Friday 23 January 2026
Alibaba's T-Head Semiconductor reportedly eyes IPO amid China chip boom
Alibaba is reportedly planning to spin off its chip unit, T-Head Semiconductor, and pursue an initial public offering (IPO) to capitalize on the current surge in Chinese chipmaker listings.

Friday 23 January 2026
Taiwan-US semiconductor pact's financing details spark interpretation issues with broader industrial implications
Taiwan and the US have agreed to reduce tariffs and grant Taiwan most-favored-nation status under Section 232 for semiconductors and related products. However, a major issue has arisen regarding the financing for Taiwan's investment commitments. The US Fact Sheet cites Taiwan's credit guarantee financing as "at least" US$250 billion, while the official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two specifies an "upper limit" of US$250 billion. This inconsistency has led to questions about the exact nature of Taiwan's financial obligations and how they will be implemented in the future.

Friday 23 January 2026
Samsung foundry ramps up utilization as Tesla orders near

Samsung Electronics' foundry division is expected to increase factory utilization to the 60%–70% range this year as the company focuses on improving profitability ahead of large-scale artificial intelligence chip production for Tesla, according to South Korean media reports, including The Asia Business Daily and ZDNet Korea.

Friday 23 January 2026

Rayzher restructures to boost global expansion and innovation in high-tech gas supply

Rayzher Industrial, a leader in high-tech gas supply systems, approved organizational restructuring and senior management changes at its board meeting on January 22. The company established an Innovation Business Group to support growth aligned with global semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industry trends.

Friday 23 January 2026

Thailand's tech hub ambitions: US$3.1 billion data centers, chip roadmap to 2050

Thailand is reinforcing its ambitions as a regional technology hub, approving US$3.1 billion in data center projects while unveiling a national semiconductor and advanced electronics strategy aimed at building a fully integrated "Made-in-Thailand" chip ecosystem by 2050.

Friday 23 January 2026

SAS charts new profit trajectory with GaN surge and semiconductor service chain value enhancement

Under the leadership of Sino-American Silicon Products Group (SAS) chairwoman Doris Hsu, 2026 was set to be a pivotal year for the group's compound semiconductor business unit, which was to advance aggressively. This outlook stemmed from SAS's deep positioning in high-performance power electronics and communication components, particularly its proactive deployment targeting AI servers and next-generation communication technologies.

Friday 23 January 2026

ASML leads chip equipment charge into advanced packaging

Global semiconductor equipment suppliers are accelerating their push into advanced packaging. They are positioning back-end processes as a new growth engine as artificial intelligence drives demand for more complex chip integration.

Friday 23 January 2026

Analysis: How Howard Lutnick is redrawing the memory-chip map

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is driving a fundamental reordering of the global semiconductor supply chain. According to exclusive analysis from DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin, the administration has shifted its pressure campaign away from advanced logic chips and toward memory, delivering a blunt ultimatum to South Korea's two dominant producers: build wafer fabs in the US or face tariffs of up to 100%.

Friday 23 January 2026

TSMC and Samsung reduce 8-inch wafer capacity, but oversupply still remains

TSMC chairman C.C. Wei confirmed adjustments in 8-inch and mature process capacities to improve efficiency, with Samsung also cutting 8-inch output. Despite these reductions and price hikes by Chinese foundries like SMIC and Huahong, the 2026 market remains oversupplied.

Friday 23 January 2026

TSMC reveals dual purpose behind Chiayi AP7 plant as Yunlin expansion looms

TSMC has significantly expanded its advanced packaging capacity in recent years to meet surging AI customer demand. Despite planning six to eight phases for the Chiayi site, internal assessments indicate this remains insufficient. The company is now considering acquiring land for an additional facility in Yunlin, according to supply chain sources.

Friday 23 January 2026

South Korea-made EUV pellicles to be adopted at Samsung's Taylor fab

Industry sources stated that Samsung has signed equipment contracts and placed orders for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photomask pellicle-related equipment for its Taylor fab with South Korean equipment supplier Fine Semitech Corp. (FST).

Friday 23 January 2026

Intel’s “better than guidance” quarter comes with a catch

Intel's latest financials highlight a fragile turnaround: while AI-linked data center demand and early traction in advanced manufacturing offer strategic promise, weak margins, volatile profitability, and cautious guidance suggest near-term pressure remains, keeping investor focus squarely on execution and the pace of recovery, which Intel attributed to tight supply across the industry.

Friday 23 January 2026

Lip-Bu Tan faces Intel's first real bottleneck of the AI era

Intel outlined an increasingly AI-centric roadmap across client PCs, data centers, and manufacturing. Still, executives cautioned that tight supply and early-stage foundry ramps continue to limit near-term revenue and profitability, keeping the company's turnaround highly dependent on execution through 2026.

Friday 23 January 2026

Intel slows its most ambitious node—and signals where the real battle is for now

Intel is sharpening its manufacturing strategy around yield improvement, selective capital spending, and differentiated advanced packaging, while keeping major 14A capacity investments on hold until customer demand is secured.

Thursday 22 January 2026

SAS shifts SiC strategy with 12-inch wafers and AI glasses innovation

Facing intense price wars triggered by China's rapid expansion in the global silicon carbide (SiC) wafer industry, Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) chairwoman Doris Hsu has decisively reshaped the company's resource allocation. She revealed that standard SiC wafer prices have plunged 60-70% within six months due to market turbulence. In response, SAS is withdrawing from the commoditized power segment for GlobalWafers' SiC wafers and prioritizing three niche markets focused on high-barrier applications.

Thursday 22 January 2026

Nvidia overtakes Apple as TSMC's largest customer

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said rising demand for AI computing has pushed the company past Apple to become the largest customer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

More IC manufacturing coverage