A new McKinsey report says the global semiconductor landscape is undergoing a dramatic divergence, with the US emerging as the center of leading-edge computation while Europe pivots toward securing industrial supply chains. As 2025 nears its end, the firm notes that a clear pattern has formed in the wave of greenfield Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): the US is consolidating the future of advanced logic production, and Europe is focusing on technological security and manufacturing continuity.

National Development Council (NDC) minister Chun-Hsien Yeh has pointed out that shifting global geopolitical risks are disrupting supply chains. To adapt, Taiwan aims to seize the AI trend by advancing its "five trusted industries" that are closely linked with AI development. The government's strategy includes promoting 10 major AI infrastructure projects to generate over NT$15 trillion (US$462 billion) in output value, driving nationwide industrial upgrades through AI commercialization and integration toward becoming a smart nation.

The International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) will take place from February 15 to 19, 2026, in San Francisco, US, with MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai delivering the opening keynote on semiconductor innovation amid the AI era. The conference highlights a surge in submissions and shifting geographic leadership in integrated circuit (IC) design research.

Nvidia has asserted that its graphics processing unit (GPU) platform remains a full generation ahead of its competitors, responding to increased attention on Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip sector. The company emphasized that GPUs provide greater versatility and performance than specialized ASIC chips like the TPU.

While TSMC is actively building and expanding 2nm fabs and MediaTek's chips are advancing to the 3nm process node, the long-overlooked 0.18-micron technology is unexpectedly making a comeback. IC design industry experts state that 0.18 microns and even 28nm are mature processes still widely used in China. More importantly, 0.18 microns offers extensive room for innovation and has become a sweet spot for academic paper publications.

Samsung Electronics has announced its 2026 senior executive promotions, marking a sharp departure from its five-year pattern of steadily reducing the number of high-level advancements. The company increased its total senior promotions to 161, up from 137 in the previous year, drawing widespread industry attention and signaling a strategic shift toward bolstering leadership in future growth sectors, according to ET News and Chosun Biz.

Nvidia will implement 800V infrastructure in its Vera Rubin platform by 2027, with Taiwanese firms leveraging EV expertise for AI servers, potentially boosting revenue in AI power management by 2026.

China has applied disruptive innovation and a fully controllable domestic solution to break through compute bottlenecks, with chip performance now capable of surpassing constraints linked to sub-5nm advanced nodes, according to Wei Shaojun, vice chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association and professor at Tsinghua University.

Google has been on a streak of breakthroughs in AI. Gemini 3 has been outperforming major AI models, while it has also received strong engineering feedback on Antigravity. Its already fast-rising TPU business is now seeing another major development: Google is reportedly in discussions with Meta about potentially deploying TPUs in Meta's data centers. This is fundamentally different from Google providing TPU computing services to Apple or Anthropic in the past.

Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger previously pointed to Taiwan's "precarious" position in the global geopolitical balance. This assessment has now reversed, however, as Gelsinger—now a partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Playground Global—offered high praise for Taiwan's supply chain and manufacturing prowess. As Taiwan rises in global influence with its tech hub status, experts are urging foreign players to expand collaboration with local companies, rather than worry about geopolitical risks.

Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has opened a new shared pilot line capable of producing gate-all-around transistors, a move aimed at helping domestic companies develop 2nm and next-generation chip technologies. The facility, located at AIST's Advanced Semiconductor Research Center in Tsukuba, gives Japanese firms access to production-grade tools needed to prototype and validate GAA structures.

China's "first domestic GPU stock," Moore Threads, is preparing for its STAR Market IPO, drawing strong investor interest as Beijing prioritises homegrown AI compute. The overwhelming subscription and ultra-low allotment rate highlight how closely the market is tracking China's GPU self-sufficiency effort.

Samsung Electronics has reportedly launched mass production of its latest mobile application processor, the Exynos 2600, sparking increased activity across South Korea's semiconductor ecosystem. Local test and assembly firms, including Doosan Tesna and Hana Micron, have begun increasing utilization rates in response to the new production phase.

Meta is reportedly negotiating to adopt Google's tensor processing units (TPUs) in its data centers starting in 2027, with plans to lease TPUs from Google Cloud as early as 2026. According to Bloomberg, citing The Information and insiders, this potential partnership positions Google as a viable alternative AI accelerator supplier to Nvidia, potentially reshaping the industry landscape.

Samsung Electronics' long-running foundry partnership with Baidu is facing renewed questions after the Chinese tech giant unveiled a five-year roadmap for its Kunlun AI chips without identifying a manufacturing partner. Industry analysts say the omission reflects growing pressure from geopolitical and regulatory headwinds that are reshaping cross-border semiconductor cooperation.

Bloomberg reports that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has closed its antitrust review of SoftBank Group's planned US$6.5 billion acquisition of US chip designer Ampere Computing, clearing the final obstacle to the transaction.

Amid rising US–China tech tensions and China's "Robot Plus" initiative, humanoid and service robots have emerged as the next major strategic sectors. Yet even as China's humanoid robotics market expands rapidly, core compute remains heavily reliant on suppliers such as Intel and Nvidia, fueling concerns over technological autonomy.

South Korean startup Stratio has developed a mass-producible short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging sensor based on germanium, costing just 1% of comparable market products. By integrating AI algorithms, the company targets applications across recycling, agriculture, food safety, home appliances, and security industries, aiming to become the smartphone's "fourth camera lens."

South Korea's trade chief said Seoul sees room to coordinate with Taiwan on upcoming US chip tariffs, signaling potential cooperation between the two Asian semiconductor powerhouses as Washington reshapes tariff rules under President Donald Trump. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said Taiwan's ongoing negotiations create space for both sides to seek the most favorable treatment.

GlobalFoundries (GF) has recently acquired Singapore-based silicon photonics chip company Advanced Micro Foundry. Meanwhile, Lightmatter, a US silicon photonics chip company that works with GF, is expanding the number of systems it is building. Seeing huge growth potential in the silicon photonics market, the company expects that after completing integration and testing with switch and XPU customers, it will move toward commercial shipments in 2027.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed in a post on X that the company is close to taping out its next-generation AI5 chip while simultaneously beginning development of AI6. Tesla plans to introduce a new AI chip design into volume production every twelve months, positioning the company to become the world's largest producer of AI silicon.

These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of November 17 to November 23, 2025.

Qualcomm announced the winners of the 7th Qualcomm Innovate in Taiwan Challenge (QITC) on November 21. First place went to MoBagel, which provides high-efficiency, energy-saving, enterprise-level artificial intelligence (AI) agent solutions. Second place was awarded to Moovo, noted for its performance in smart city applications and global electric bike (e-bike) rental services. Third place went to Paia Technology, which focuses on AI education.

TSMC's advanced CoWoS packaging capacity has become extremely tight, resulting in only a few leading AI chipmakers having the means to book capacity in large quantities. Other ASIC makers and second-tier AI chip companies have struggled to secure sufficient capacity. There is market speculation that Intel's EMIB advanced packaging process is becoming the main alternative option that chipmakers are considering. Marvell and MediaTek are both rumored to try it, following a new business model that involves front-end water fabrication at TSMC and back-end packaging with Intel.