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Jan 16
US-Taiwan reach agreement on tariff deal, but leave timelines and capacity rules unclear
The US Commerce Department said Taiwan and the US will sign a trade agreement involving up to US$500 billion in Taiwanese investment. However, the framework does not set annual allocations, phased targets, or completion deadlines, giving both sides broad flexibility.

SK Hynix has reportedly finished converting its key DRAM production facility in Wuxi, China, to the fourth-generation 1a process. The company reached the manufacturing milestone despite US export controls that limit exports of advanced semiconductor equipment to China.

South Korea's Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on intellectual property cooperation with China's National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) during a China-South Korea leaders' meeting in Beijing in January 2026. It was the third such agreement, following earlier MOUs in 2013 and 2021.
On December 10, 2025, Qualcomm Inc. disclosed its acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems in the US without revealing the deal's financial terms or completion date. The company highlighted that the move would reinforce its global leadership in the RISC-V ecosystem and improve its CPU development capabilities, complementing its existing Oryon custom CPU team.
SK Hynix plans to invest KRW19 trillion, about US$12.9 billion, to build an advanced semiconductor packaging plant in Cheongju, South Korea, as it moves to secure capacity for AI-driven memory demand. The investment would add to existing packaging operations in Icheon and a planned facility in Indiana, creating a network spanning South Korea and the US.
TSMC is speeding up its multibillion-dollar expansion in Arizona after posting strong earnings, signaling confidence in long-term artificial intelligence demand and the US push to rebuild domestic chip manufacturing.

Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) has provided new details on its planned sale of the Tongluo P5 fabrication plant to Micron Technology, confirming that the transaction is paired with a broader cooperation framework that includes prepaid reservations for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) back-end wafer manufacturing capacity.

Micron Technology and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation have reached a preliminary agreement under which Micron will acquire PSMC's Tongluo fabrication assets for US$1.8bn.

As the global semiconductor industry enters the post-Moore's Law era amid surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), advanced packaging has become a critical technology shaping technological competitiveness and industrial layout. On January 13, 2026, Taiwan's National Institutes of Applied Research (NIAR) unveiled its chip-level advanced packaging R&D platform.
AMD introduced its Helios system platform at CES 2026, marking a significant move in cloud AI computing competition from traditional single-chip performance to full rack-scale solutions. This development follows Nvidia's GB200 NVL series release and Google's TPU-based rack product plans disclosed by Broadcom, underscoring an industry trend toward delivering computing power through integrated system platforms rather than isolated chips.

Micron is scheduled to begin construction on its planned New York state megafab site on January 16, 2026, advancing its US manufacturing expansion even as executives warn that new capacity will take years to meaningfully ease tight conditions in the global memory market.

Taiwan's IC design segment posted a visibly divergent finish in December 2025, with AI/HPC, data center, and enterprise storage-related suppliers closing the year strongly, while consumer electronics-facing lines weakened amid seasonality, cautious panel and handset component pull-ins, and ongoing inventory adjustment.