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China's push to build a domestic semiconductor equipment industry is beginning to cut into revenue at major Japanese toolmakers, with five major Japanese suppliers posting a combined 12% drop in China sales for the fiscal year ended March 2026, Nikkei reported.

The AI boom is accelerating upgrades in thermal management and power management, and it is also triggering a revolution in voltage regulator module (VRM) architecture, with workloads pushing the industry from doubler-based designs to direct native multi-phase control. Industry insiders say the growing shortage of power components has three main causes: inventory corrections over the past three years that have left stockpiles too low, AI-related applications are surging rapidly, and a shift away from Chinese supply chains is gaining momentum amid geopolitical shifts.
VFT targets semiconductors, foldable display, energy materials
Jun 24, 07:25

Optical film and nano-coating materials developer Victory For Technology (VFT) is focusing on three key areas — AI and semiconductor processes, foldable displays, and key new-energy materials — as it deepens R&D and product deployment to capture emerging opportunities in the global supply chain.

Samsung Electronics is putting long-term memory supply agreements higher on its second-half agenda as demand from data centers broadens beyond high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, into server DRAM and storage products.

At VivaTech 2026 in Paris last week, Philippe Keryer, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Thales, identified Europe's core quantum challenge in a single observation: "The problem is not really how we invent, it's really how we scale."

Hwatsing Technology, China's leading domestic supplier of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) equipment, is seeking up to CNY4 billion (approx. US$552 million) through a private placement to expand chip equipment capacity, strengthen wafer reclamation services, and accelerate high-end semiconductor tool R&D.

Samsung Electronics' foundry plant in Taylor, Texas, is showing signs of moving into equipment-level execution. Key engineers from ASML Korea, the Dutch lithography equipment giant's South Korean unit, have been dispatched to the Taylor facility and are expected to remain on site for roughly six to eight weeks, according to Korean industry publication DealSite.

JEDEC finalized a new HBM4 packaging specification called SPHBM4 that aims to broaden high bandwidth memory (HBM) use cases by reducing packaging complexity and cost, industry sources reported. According to ET News, the DRAM subcommittee completed its review, and the JEDEC board gave final approval, positioning the standard to influence AI semiconductor cost structures and substrate choices.

Industrial gas manufacturer Nippon Sanso Holdings announced it will raise prices for all helium products in the Japanese market starting in July 2026, with an average price increase of more than 30%. Affected products include helium used in key applications such as semiconductor front-end process wafer cooling and medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment. The move is mainly driven by geopolitical instability in the Middle East.

Fulltech, a glass fiber yarn and cloth maker, said at its 2026 annual general meeting that demand for next-generation AI servers and high-speed switches is lifting specifications and demand for upstream PCB materials. Chairman Yuan-Pin Chang said the share of low DK2 shipments will keep rising in the second half of 2026, helping optimize the product mix and boost revenue and profitability.
Market sentiment toward the smartphone industry remains subdued. On the demand side, global smartphone sales have declined for several consecutive weeks during the second quarter of 2026, with only Apple and Huawei showing relative resilience thanks to their strong brand appeal. On the supply side, chip shortages continue to intensify, expanding beyond memory products to include both advanced-node and mature-node semiconductors.