Apple and Xiaomi are doubling down on efforts to develop in-house 5G baseband chips, joining a race long dominated by tech heavyweights like Qualcomm and MediaTek. Both companies signaled their ambitions in 2025 to break away from reliance on third-party modem suppliers and take fuller control of their mobile silicon strategies.

Yamaha Motor is accelerating its pivot into the semiconductor equipment space with the launch of Yamaha Robotics, a newly established division focused on robotic systems for electronics manufacturing. The company aims to position the business as its third major revenue pillar, alongside motorcycles and marine engines.

Hitachi is positioning itself as a key player in the semiconductor industry's sustainability drive, offering AI-powered solutions and renewable energy infrastructure as chipmakers face mounting pressure to reduce their environmental footprint.

The Japan Semiconductor Equipment Association (SEAJ) has updated its sales forecast for Japanese-made semiconductor manufacturing equipment over the next three fiscal years, projecting a steady increase reaching JPY5.51 trillion (US$38.35 billion) by fiscal 2027. The latest forecast sees modest growth driven primarily by investments in cutting-edge chip technologies and AI-related applications.

Malaysia is advancing its integrated circuit (IC) design capabilities through a recent 10-year technology licensing deal worth US$250 million with Arm Holdings, aiming to strengthen local IC design firms like Oppstar, Key ASIC, and SkyeChip.

As US-China tech tensions intensify, Huawei is accelerating efforts to achieve technological independence after being added to the US Entity List in 2019. He Tingbo, president of HiSilicon and a central figure in Huawei's semiconductor strategy, is stepping into a pivotal role. She has been appointed head of Huawei's Senior Talent Compensation Division, expanding her authority over executive pay and talent development, key pillars in the company's long-term innovation agenda.

WPG Holdings, Asia's largest semiconductor distributor, is reportedly preparing a major organizational revamp centered on a "dual-engine" strategy, designed to break through global distribution bottlenecks while shoring up its core business capabilities.

Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS), a California-based chipmaker, has agreed to pay US$4.25 million to resolve allegations that it violated US export controls by shipping restricted components to Huawei Technologies in 2019, the year Huawei was placed on the US Entity List.

Amid speculation about its chip strategy, OpenAI has denied plans for large-scale use of Google's TPUs, saying it is only experimenting. The company aims to develop its own chips, though industry insiders believe a clear path will take time as it evaluates long-term AI service and computing needs.

While optimism about cloud ASICs is rising, demand and development vary widely among clients. Some with strong development teams are steadily increasing their ASIC needs, while others struggle with cost-efficiency or low production volumes. For ASIC designers, working with different clients can result in very different outcomes.

Japanese semiconductor firm Renesas has halted mass production of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors and will now launch new products including microcontroller units (MCU) for the edge AI and AIoT markets, and gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors for AI data centers, as the company restructures its business focus.