South Korean foundry operator DB HiTek is facing a slower ramp in silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), testing its push into next-generation power semiconductors as technology barriers and a market slowdown complicate its growth plans.

Rising manufacturing costs at upstream foundries and back-end packaging and testing are pushing power management IC (PMIC) makers toward price increases, with global implications for device makers and automotive and data-center operators as firms weigh whether to accept higher PMIC prices or shift strategies amid ongoing worldwide capacity constraints and node migration pressures.

ITE Tech's stable first-quarter results and planned price increases from the second half of 2026 signal potential cost pass-through across global PC, notebook, and embedded markets, affecting device makers and buyers worldwide as memory and component costs climb and inventory strategies shift in response to anticipated further price rises.

As of May 18, 2026, TSMC's market value stood at NT$58 trillion (US$1.8 billion), MediaTek's at NT$5.45 trillion, and Delta Electronics' at NT$5.2 trillion — the three largest companies in Taiwan's capital market. The rapid expansion of electronics valuations has drawn regulatory scrutiny and triggered risk warnings for some companies, while lawmakers argue that rules on managed securities and related standards need updating to reflect a fundamentally changed market structure.

India inaugurated Rajasthan's first semiconductor plant on May 15, marking a significant step in the country's push to expand domestic electronics and chip manufacturing under its broader industrial policy agenda.

Flexible copper clad laminate (FCCL) manufacturer Asia Electric Material (AEM) said that its long-term investment in new product development has begun to yield results, with the company's operational focus shifting toward product promotion and customer sample certification in 2026. Its two major new products will target the semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) application markets.

TSMC's Arizona fab has turned profitable, surprising the market and supply chain after years of warnings from founder Morris Chang and others that overseas fabs could lose money. Supply-chain sources say the US plant has now benefited from six years of process tweaks and ramp-up, while three factors drove the turnaround.

Analog Devices Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire Empower Semiconductor for about US$1.5 billion in cash, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A formal announcement could come as soon as Tuesday. The deal has not been finalized and could still fall through.

Samsung Electronics and its South Korean labor union resumed talks on May 19 in a last-ditch effort to avert an 18-day strike set to begin May 21, with the two sides reportedly closing in on some differences.

Shortly after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang left China following a delegation led by US President Donald Trump, Beijing officials swiftly announced a meeting with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su, drawing market attention to a possible shift in the atmosphere surrounding US-China AI chip cooperation.

Google's announcement for the upcoming Googlebook, which tightly integrates Gemini features, signals that it is no longer limiting its PC strategy to the Chromebook line and is pushing into a higher-end product tier in the AI PC era. Chipmakers, including Intel on the x86 side and Qualcomm and MediaTek on the Arm side, are also joining the race, further intensifying competition in the AI PC market.