CEOs from Nvidia and other American tech companies are among those that the US government plans to invite to join President Donald Trump's visit to China next week. Along with the trade negotiations, the US leader has also sought to frame the summit as a type of high-level trade delegation, although the White House is reportedly considering inviting only a small number of executives.
Novatek Microelectronics, one of Taiwan's leading display driver IC (DDI) makers, said revenue in the first quarter of 2026 was supported by growth in system-on-chip (SoC) and large-size display driver products, which offset weakness in the smartphone segment.
Major international NAND manufacturers are gradually exiting the mature-process 2D NAND market, triggering panic buying and a sharp spike in prices. Industry sources suggest the supply shortage may be difficult to resolve. While vendors are seeking alternative solutions, product specifications are expected to become increasingly polarized as scarcity persists.
Global technology firms are reportedly offering unprecedented investment proposals to secure memory supply from SK Hynix, including funding new production lines and helping pay for expensive semiconductor equipment — underscoring the growing intensity of the AI-driven memory crunch.
Demand for high-performance printed circuit boards (PCBs) used in advanced semiconductors has surged in recent months, tightening supply across the copper clad laminate (CCL) industry and extending lead times more than twofold, according to industry sources.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and Device Solutions (DS) head Jun Young-Hyun, along with Device eXperience (DX) head Roh Tae-moon, issued a joint statement to all employees on the progress of wage negotiations on May 7, marking their first public remarks on the talks. The move comes as Samsung tries to defuse labor tensions ahead of a union strike deadline.
TSMC on May 8, 2026, reported consolidated net revenue of approximately NT$410.73 billion (US$12.6 billion) for April 2026, up 17.5% from the same month a year ago, though down 1.1% from March 2026.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced on May 6 that, excluding TSMC, about 20 Taiwan companies plan to invest US$35 billion in the US. The statement comes after US President Donald Trump issued reciprocal tariffs in April 2025, which unexpectedly helped speed up long-stalled progress on a Taiwan-US economic and trade agreement.
A labor dispute at Samsung Electronics is sharpening a debate with implications well beyond South Korea: how semiconductor companies balance worker compensation against the capital-intensive investment cycles that determine who leads in chips.
WT Microelectronics posted a record quarterly net profit in the first quarter of 2026, driven by an explosive surge in data center and server revenue that the company attributed to AI-driven demand and sustained capital spending by major cloud service providers, the IC distributor disclosed after an earnings call on May 7.
Samsung Electronics is facing mounting pressure from workers seeking a larger share of the AI-driven semiconductor boom, as unions threaten an 18-day walkout and the dispute puts renewed scrutiny on the company's decades-old performance-pay system.
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