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Monday 25 May 2026
Samsung's China exit shows Korean brands under pressure

Samsung Electronics' retreat from China's TV and home-appliance market is raising broader questions for South Korean industry, as Chinese companies gain ground in consumer electronics, autos and memory chips.

Monday 25 May 2026
AI server boom lifts memory interface chip leader, but DDR5 risks linger
Montage Technology, a company that does not manufacture memory chips itself but instead supplies the interface chips linking CPUs and memory, has quietly emerged as one of the semiconductor sector's most valuable players during the current memory upcycle.
Sunday 24 May 2026
China smartphone sales plunge 16% around May Day holidays as memory price hikes squeeze demand
China's smartphone sales fell 16% year‑over‑year during the two weeks surrounding the 2026 May Day holiday, a drop that signals wider implications for global supply chains and consumer demand as rising memory prices push up device costs and curb upgrades, according to Counterpoint Research's China Weekly Smartphone Sell‑Out Tracker data.
Sunday 24 May 2026
Geopolitics disrupts chips — can Taiwan and South Korea cooperate to hold the line?
The global semiconductor industry is being pulled in two directions. On one side, the cost of building a single advanced chip factory has ballooned to as much as US$40 billion, concentrating production in the hands of a shrinking club of players. On the other hand, US-China technology rivalry is redrawing the map of who gets to make what — and for whom.
Sunday 24 May 2026
Micron starts producing most advanced US-made DRAM at Virginia fab, expands domestic memory supply
Micron Technology has begun manufacturing its 1-alpha (1α) DRAM process technology at its factory in Manassas, Virginia, marking what the company described as the most advanced memory technology ever produced in the US and a key milestone in its effort to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
Saturday 23 May 2026
SK Hynix weighs opening Seoul office at SK Group headquarters

SK Hynix is reportedly considering opening a Seoul office and sales operation inside SK Group's Seorin Building in Jongno, Seoul, a symbolic headquarters site for the conglomerate, according to Maeil Business Newspaper and Chosun Biz.

Saturday 23 May 2026
CXMT IPO puts China's DRAM supply-chain push in focus

CXMT's planned Shanghai listing is becoming more than a test of investor appetite for China's top DRAM maker. It is also putting a spotlight on whether the company's next phase of expansion can accelerate China's push to localize semiconductor equipment and materials.

Friday 22 May 2026
AMD's Lisa Su says memory is becoming another pressure point for AI chips

AMD CEO Lisa Su said the company is satisfied with its current CoWoS supply from TSMC, while noting that memory has become another pressure point in the AI chip supply chain.

Friday 22 May 2026
WPG Holdings flags server supply gaps amid memory price hikes, 800V shift
Amid the continued crowding-out effect of artificial intelligence (AI) demand, IC distributor WPG Holdings said memory shortages and rising prices are weakening end-product sales momentum, and forecast that smartphone and PC production will shift from flat growth to a decline in 2026.
Friday 22 May 2026
AP Memory IPD enters Intel's EMIB supply chain, shipments set for 2Q26
Specialty memory design company AP Memory is positioning itself to capture growth momentum from stack silicon capacitors (S-SiCap). The company said its discrete S-SiCap products, also known as discrete silicon capacitors (IPD), will begin small-volume shipments in the second quarter of 2026, making it the first supplier qualified for Intel's embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB) advanced packaging solution, as shipments gain strong momentum.
Friday 22 May 2026
Samsung's quiet Taiwan play: Pairing memory with foundry to chip away at TSMC
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong quietly visited Taiwan on May 21 and met with MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai, according to semiconductor supply chain sources, in a move aimed at expanding Samsung's foundry business by securing another major customer after deals with Tesla and renewed work with AMD. Samsung declined to comment, and MediaTek had not issued an official response by press time.
Friday 22 May 2026
Analysis: Samsung deal prevents walkout but deepens internal rifts over compensation
Samsung Electronics and its union signed a provisional agreement late at night, about an hour before a scheduled May 21 strike, averting an industry estimate of more than KRW100 trillion (approx. US$66.8 billion) in supply chain disruption. The deal eases an immediate labor crisis but leaves unresolved structural conflicts and rising personnel costs.
Friday 22 May 2026
AI memory crunch pushes Nanya Technology toward 2027 fab ramp

Nanya Technology plans to raise 2026 capital expenditure above NT$52 billion (US$1.64 billion), with chairman Tzou Ming-jen saying the DRAM maker will accelerate new fab construction to capture AI-led memory demand. Equipment installation is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027, followed by mass production in the second half.

Thursday 21 May 2026
GigaDevice sees niche DRAM and NAND prices rising through 2026
GigaDevice said tight supply and rising prices across DRAM, NOR Flash, and SLC NAND Flash continued to fuel strong first-quarter 2026 earnings growth, supported by recovering demand from AI, server, and industrial applications.
Thursday 21 May 2026
SK Hynix reportedly shifts Cheongju mask fab toward HBM yield push
SK Hynix is reportedly moving to reshape part of its Cheongju campus around wafer testing, a shift that underscores how high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is putting new pressure on the back end of the chipmaking process.
Thursday 21 May 2026
Tech Forum 2026: How much longer can semiconductors sustain Taiwan?
During a keynote discussion session at Tech Forum 2026, DIGITIMES senior reporter Monica Chen and semiconductor analyst Andrew Lu shared their views on current AI server technology transformations, concerns over capital expenditure bubbles among global cloud giants, changes in application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and chip architectures, and TSMC's global expansion strategy.
Thursday 21 May 2026
Commentary: China builds its memory twin engines; IPO push for YMTC, CXMT intensifies

China's memory chip industry is entering a critical capital markets phase, with YMTC formally launching IPO counselling and CXMT resuming its STAR Market listing review after updating its prospectus. The parallel moves mark an accelerated push by China's two leading memory chipmakers to secure long-term funding and expand their role in the global semiconductor industry.

Thursday 21 May 2026
Samsung labor dispute adds pressure to memory chip market
Surging demand for AI data center infrastructure has already pushed the memory market into a structural shortage. Now, Samsung Electronics' labor dispute is adding another layer of uncertainty for DRAM and NAND Flash prices.
Thursday 21 May 2026
OSE targets AI server SMT growth as memory demand lifts outlook
Orient Semiconductor Electronics (OSE) said that strong memory market demand is lifting its outlook and expanding its role in the memory supply chain, while also strengthening its importance in surface-mount technology (SMT) for AI server boards with major US clients.
Thursday 21 May 2026
China memory supplier Biwin's AI photonics funding raises questions
China's AI infrastructure race is entering a new phase, with industry focus shifting from raw computing power toward data transmission efficiency.
Thursday 21 May 2026
Samsung averts strike with last-minute labor deal, but deeper divisions remain
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 (approx. US$66.8 billion).
Wednesday 20 May 2026
China's top NAND flash chipmaker YMTC begins IPO tutoring with Chinese banks
China's leading memory chipmakers are accelerating their push into public capital markets, with YMTC Group formally entering IPO guidance on May 19, shortly after domestic DRAM leader CXMT updated its own prospectus filings.
Wednesday 20 May 2026
Xiaomi halts ultra-thin smartphone production as memory costs squeeze prices
Xiaomi warns memory costs could push flagship phone prices past CNY10,000 (approx. US$1,468) in 2026, a development that would affect global consumers as higher-capacity models become more expensive and manufacturers adjust portfolios. The company also withheld an ultra-thin, Apple Air-style device after concluding trade-offs would harm battery life and camera performance.
Wednesday 20 May 2026
Former Samsung semiconductor head warns that memory prices and demand could fall sharply after 2028
The global semiconductor industry has been focused on a memory supercycle, with some forecasts suggesting the upturn could last until 2030. However, Kye-hyun Kyung, former head of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division and currently a standing advisor to Samsung, has cautioned against overly optimistic sentiment in the memory market.
Wednesday 20 May 2026
Samsung braces for major strike after bonus talks collapse

Samsung Electronics faces a major labor disruption after its union said about 48,000 workers would walk off the job on May 21, beginning an 18-day strike after last-ditch government-mediated talks over performance-based bonuses collapsed, according to Yonhap News Agency.