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Monday 18 May 2026

South Korean court bars factory occupations and orders safety work during planned Samsung strike

A South Korean court granted Samsung Electronics an injunction on May 18, 2026, limiting union dispute actions and ordering that safety protection systems and wafer anti-deterioration operations remain fully staffed and operational during any strike, according to Seoul Economic Daily. The Suwon District Court issued the decision three days before a planned general strike on May 21, 2026, and the ruling is expected to constrain the scale and methods of any walkout.

Monday 18 May 2026

AI storage boom gives Kioxia a rare opening against Samsung, SK Hynix

Kioxia Holdings is moving to capture a larger share of AI-related storage demand, as the shift from AI training to inference raises interest in high-speed, high-capacity NAND flash and solid-state drives.

Monday 18 May 2026

Memory crunch is CXMT's best shot at a major China IPO

China's top DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technologies is entering its Shanghai IPO push with a much stronger story for investors, as a global memory shortage turns years of losses into sharply higher revenue and profit.

Monday 18 May 2026

Samsung and union enter new round of talks ahead of planned strike

Samsung Electronics and its labor union in South Korea began a new round of negotiations on May 18, days before a planned strike that could bring its chip plants to a halt. The talks are being mediated by the government, which has signaled concern about the labor action's impact on the South Korean economy, in which Samsung contributes more than 20% of its exports.

Monday 18 May 2026

Nan Ya PCB to ramp up capacity as AI chips drive demand for advanced substrates

Nan Ya PCB, one of Taiwan's leading IC substrate manufacturers, said it expects capital spending to rebound sharply in 2026, potentially reaching a record high, as demand from advanced chip packaging customers accelerates alongside the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) computing.

Monday 18 May 2026

Memory shortage gives Team Group room to favor long-term customers

Team Group Chairman Dann-Ning Hsia said memory prices are likely to remain elevated as AI-related demand continues to strain supply, with the company prioritizing shipments to long-term customers in industrial, automotive and gaming markets.

Monday 18 May 2026

Samsung's race to avoid a chip strike is running out of time

Samsung Electronics' labor dispute entered a new phase on May 15 after the company's top executives issued a rare public apology and proposed resuming talks without conditions, only for the union to maintain its plan for an 18-day strike from May 21 to June 7.

Sunday 17 May 2026

Taiwan chipmakers quietly fill gaps left by Korea's HBM push

Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem is getting an unexpected lift from the AI server investment boom. Supply pressure that began in high-bandwidth memory and leading-edge process technology is now rippling into legacy memory, packaging, and testing.

Sunday 17 May 2026

Adlink bets on physical AI with robotics, healthcare, and semiconductors

Adlink Technology said on May 13 that edge AI demand continued to rise, helping the industrial PC maker deliver one of its strongest profit performances in recent quarters in the first quarter of 2026. The company struck a cautiously optimistic tone for the second half and said long-term growth will center on expanding AI deployment across more real-world use cases.

Saturday 16 May 2026

China's memory push accelerates as YMTC and CXMT expand DRAM ambitions

China's memory semiconductor industry is entering a new phase of expansion as leading domestic players ramp up investments in both NAND flash and DRAM technologies, amid an AI-driven global memory boom and tightening supply conditions.

Friday 15 May 2026

Samsung shields chip lines as union sticks to strike plan

Samsung Electronics has reportedly begun pre-emptive production adjustments at its semiconductor facilities as its labor union sticks to a planned 18-day strike despite the company's latest offer to resume talks without conditions.

Friday 15 May 2026

Memory maker Biwin reapplies for listing on Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Biwin Storage Technology recently resubmitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange again, with Huatai Financial Holdings acting as the sole sponsor. The Chinese memory module maker has seen a rebound in profit as demand for memory continues to rise.

Friday 15 May 2026

Samsung strike risk lifts memory spot prices as supply risks mount

Samsung Electronics' escalating labor dispute is adding fresh uncertainty to the memory market, with spot prices moving higher as South Korea's government pushes management and labor to resume talks ahead of a planned 18-day strike.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Memory supply crunch pushes Phison to historic earnings

Phison Electronics posted record earnings in April as the artificial intelligence boom and tightening NAND flash supply drove memory prices sharply higher, underscoring the growing influence of AI demand across the semiconductor storage industry.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Samsung reportedly speeds up 3D NAND, packaging, and substrate plans

Samsung Electronics is reportedly reviving delayed semiconductor initiatives across next-generation NAND flash, compound semiconductors, advanced packaging, and substrates — areas it set aside after more than a year of prioritizing DRAM design and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) competitiveness. The move signals a shift from catch-up mode back toward longer-term technology investment.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Analysis: Samsung labor standoff underscores diverging Taiwan-Korea semiconductor workforce models

The ongoing Samsung Electronics labor dispute highlights sharply different labor models in South Korea and Taiwan, where firms such as TSMC operate with minimal union presence and rely instead on compensation-driven workforce stability. Industry observers say the Samsung conflict reflects broader tensions over profit sharing during the AI-driven semiconductor upcycle, while Taiwan's tech sector continues to favor high mobility and individual incentives over collective bargaining.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Etron sees DRAM rally stretching into 2027 as shortages persist

The memory market is entering a new growth cycle as artificial intelligence demand reshapes supply and pricing, with DRAM prices still rising 10% to 20% a month, according to Nicky Lu, chairman of Etron Technology.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Wieson eyes 2Q26 recovery as new businesses gain traction

Wieson Technology said on May 12 that its first quarter 2026 results lagged expectations as soaring global memory costs and chip shortages delayed customer shipments, and intensifying competition plus inventory digestion in China's auto market weighed on performance. The electronics components maker reported consolidated revenue of NT$704 million (US$22.33 million) in the first quarter of 2026, down 24.95% year-on-year, with gross margin at 21% versus 27% a year earlier, operating margin at around 2%, and earnings per share of NT$0.13, down from NT$0.86 in the same period of 2025.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Memory prices disrupt NB seasonality, hit 2H26 shipments and margins

Rising memory prices are reshaping the global PC market: stronger first-half notebook shipments are propping up revenue, but surging component costs threaten gross margins and are prompting cautious second-half planning by ODMs and brands, which are increasingly pivoting toward AI servers for relatively better profitability despite similar inflationary pressures and uncertainty.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Samsung and SK Hynix rush to expand capacity as AI memory demand soars

The artificial intelligence(AI) boom is triggering an unprecedented expansion race among the world's largest memory chipmakers.

Thursday 14 May 2026

AP Memory profit nearly doubles as S-SiCap shipments and IoTRAM ramp drive revenue

AP Memory reported that net profit for the first quarter of 2026 rose 91% to NT$660 million (US$20.93 million) as the company scaled mass production of its S-SiCap silicon capacitor and benefited from strong demand for its IoTRAM customized memory. The Taiwan-based chip packaging and memory supplier said silicon capacitor shipments entered a ramp-up phase in the first quarter of 2026 as AI and high-performance computing accelerators drove up power demands, placing greater emphasis on advanced packaging, power delivery, and signal integrity.

Wednesday 13 May 2026

Commentary: AI server ODMs face margin squeeze as memory costs soar

As AI server orders surge, system assembly makers are finding that more business does not always mean better profits. High-priced GPUs and soaring memory costs are pushing up revenue without lifting manufacturing fees at the same pace, leaving original design manufacturers (ODMs) facing lower gross margins as assembly orders grow.

Tuesday 12 May 2026

AI drives IC price hikes, lifts China chip exports 83.7% in April

Global investment in AI computing power is continuing to boost semiconductor demand, and China's chip exports are surging in tandem. Data from China's General Administration of Customs show that China's IC export value rose 100.1% year-over-year in April 2026, marking the first time it has doubled and reflecting how price hikes in AI servers, data centers, and memory are spreading rapidly through the IC supply chain.

Tuesday 12 May 2026

SK Hynix reportedly buys Silicon Valley property to bolster AI supply chain

SK Hynix has reportedly acquired a building in San Jose, California, as the memory chip maker moves to establish a new production and R&D base in Silicon Valley, a key battleground for AI semiconductors. Industry observers said the move is part of a broader push to expand its global footprint and strengthen its position in the AI semiconductor supply chain.

Tuesday 12 May 2026

Samsung labor dispute rattles global supply chain

Samsung Electronics' escalating labor dispute has sparked global supply-chain concerns, with Apple and HP said to be warning they could exit the company's ecosystem. Suppliers, industry groups, and clients are now assessing contingency measures as mediation resumes, with potentially wide-ranging implications for production schedules, procurement stability, investor confidence, and the wider technology hardware market at large.

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