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Tuesday 23 December 2025
Silicon Optronics eyes BSI and low-power products in face of memory supply concerns
Silicon Optronics (SOI) highlighted at its recent earnings call that ongoing price hikes and shortages in consumer memory remain unresolved, potentially tightening wafer foundry supply for the company's lens module-related chips. The firm warned that since SoCs integrated with lenses require memory support, shortages in consumer memory could limit production volumes of mid- to low-end consumer applications due to high costs or material mismatches. Given that this segment is a core shipment market for SOI, the company said it will closely monitor developments.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
US probes top Southeast Asian Nvidia buyer over chip smuggling

US authorities are investigating Singapore-based cloud provider Megaspeed International Pte. amid concerns that Nvidia chips could have been diverted to China, as a senior Republican lawmaker presses the Commerce Department to tighten enforcement of US export controls.

Tuesday 23 December 2025
Weltrend expects USB PD market share to remain strong as heat-management ICs grow
At a recent investor briefing, Weltrend Semiconductor discussed its two major business pillars: USB Power Delivery (USB PD) chips and fan driver ICs for heat management. While USB PD shipments continue to grow, average selling prices (ASPs) have declined due to increased competition. For fan driver ICs, rising demand from AI servers and market share gains drove year-to-date growth of 37.2% in the first three quarters of 2025, with this product line now contributing more to overall revenue than USB PD. Despite mixed performance in 2025, Weltrend emphasized that both key growth segments have strong potential to continue upward in 2026.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
Rohm, Tata Electronics form partnership to manufacture power semiconductors in India
Rohm and Tata Electronics said they have entered into a strategic partnership to establish semiconductor manufacturing operations in India, targeting both domestic and overseas markets, as the two companies seek to expand their presence amid growing efforts to localize chip supply chains.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
Exclusive: Why photons beat copper in AI factories—Celestial AI Co-founder on Marvell's acquisition
In a year when artificial intelligence spending has begun to resemble a national infrastructure program, Celestial AI has chosen to stop being a standalone startup. Preet Virk, the company's co-founder and chief operating officer, says the decision to sell to Marvell was less about scale for its own sake than about physics, efficiency, and timing.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
China's space launch surge exposes Taiwan's tech gap
As privately owned rocket and satellite manufacturers in the United States continue to surge, China has been accelerating its own commercial space ambitions. Beyond its extensive low-Earth-orbit satellite deployment plans, the privately held Chinese launch company LandSpace Technology achieved a milestone on December 3, 2025, when its Zhuque-3 rocket completed a successful maiden flight.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
Wingtech-Nexperia talks continue as chair warns dispute threatens global chip supply
Talks between China's Wingtech Technology and its Dutch subsidiary Nexperia are ongoing as the companies seek to resolve a governance dispute that has disrupted semiconductor supplies, with Wingtech's chair warning that prolonged uncertainty could further damage global supply chains.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
Korean chip industry faces mounting pressure from escalating power prices
Electricity costs for South Korea's domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry have reportedly surged, raising concerns over mounting cost pressures on chipmakers. Over the past four years, electricity consumption has risen by only about 9%, yet total electricity bills have more than doubled.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
Nexperia's China unit secures local wafer supply under governance dispute
The Chinese subsidiary of Nexperia, the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer, has moved to secure wafer capacity from domestic suppliers to support production of key products in 2026, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. The shift underscores a widening rupture between the China operation and its European parent, as disputes over corporate governance and control continue to reshape the company's global supply chain.
Tuesday 23 December 2025
TRI's 2025 operations hit record highs, with advanced packaging opportunities to further drive growth
Optical and electrical inspection equipment supplier Test Research Inc. (TRI) held an online investor conference on December 16, 2025, stating that, benefiting from continued strong demand for networking servers, semiconductors, and automotive electronics, its 2025 revenue is confirmed to hit a record high. The company expects 2026 order momentum to remain strong, significantly reducing the impact of traditional seasonality, with full-year operations expected to continue setting new highs. Gross margin is projected to remain firmly in the 55–60% range.
Monday 22 December 2025
Central bank raises Taiwan's 2025 growth forecast to 7.31%
Taiwan's Central Bank has sharply revised its economic growth forecast for 2025 to 7.31% from the 4.55% projected in September, citing the absence of US semiconductor tariffs under Section 232 and a stronger-than-expected surge in AI demand driving export momentum.
Monday 22 December 2025
Pan Jit snaps up Vietnam plant to ramp auto chip output
Pan Jit International Inc. signed a definitive agreement on December 18, 2025, to acquire a 95% stake in Torex Vietnam Semiconductor, a move aimed at expanding the Taiwanese firm's manufacturing footprint and scaling its automotive-grade chip production. The transaction follows an initial memorandum of understanding signed in February 2025 and initiates the formal equity transfer process between the companies.
Monday 22 December 2025
King Yuan Electronics ramps up expansion in Singapore amid AI chip testing surge
King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) is accelerating its expansion efforts in Taiwan and Singapore to address rising demand for AI chip testing services. The Taiwanese testing and assembly firm plans to establish its first overseas manufacturing base in Singapore, aiming to commence mass production by 2027, according to KYEC chairman C.K. Lee.
Monday 22 December 2025
TSMC's CoPoS equipment set for mid-2026; overseas suppliers shake up Taiwan firms
Benefiting from surges in AI GPU, and ASIC demand, both TSMC and non-TSMC camps have raised their 2026 CoWoS capacity plans. Notably, due to CoWoS supply shortages and Nvidia's requirements, TSMC's foundry orders are gradually spilling over to OSAT companies like Amkor and ASE, raising market concerns about a potential loss of TSMC's market share.
Monday 22 December 2025
Weekly news roundup: Intel's TSMC talent grab draws scrutiny, Samsung foundry lands Intel order, Moore's Law talent gap looms
These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of December 15 to December 21, 2025.
Monday 22 December 2025
Japan-based AOI Electronics to support Kaynes' semiconductor back-end expansion in India
AOI Electronics, a Japan-based semiconductor assembly and test provider, has entered into a business alliance with India's Kaynes Semicon Private Limited and Japan's Mitsui to support the establishment of a semiconductor back-end processing business in India.
Monday 22 December 2025
TSMC pushes back on Japan fab delay rumors, keeps options open
According to Nikkei, Yuichi Hotta, president of TSMC's Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), confirmed on December 19 that construction of the second wafer fabrication plant in Kikuyo Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, is continuing. This statement counters recent reports by Japanese media suggesting the project had stalled.
Monday 22 December 2025
India roundup: India expands semiconductor sector through acquisitions and global partnerships
India is bolstering its semiconductor ecosystem through strategic overseas acquisitions, potential integration into Apple's supply chain, and specialized domestic manufacturing, while navigating delays in major facility ramp-ups.
Monday 22 December 2025
China’s AMEC broadens chip equipment reach with Sizone acquisition

AMEC, China's leading semiconductor equipment vendor, has sent its clearest signal yet that it no longer intends to remain a single-discipline specialist. Its planned acquisition of a controlling stake in Hangzhou Sizone Electronic Technology marks a strategic shift toward becoming a platform-scale equipment group, rather than a company defined by individual tools.

Monday 22 December 2025
Column: 2D materials struggle to deliver on semiconductor scaling promise
The isolation of graphene in 2004 sparked widespread expectations that two-dimensional (2D) materials could fundamentally reshape electronic devices. Graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have since enabled progress in niche applications and research prototypes. Yet their impact on mainstream logic devices remains limited. The long-anticipated use of 2D materials to sustain Moore's Law through transistor channel integration has yet to materialize at scale.
Monday 22 December 2025
South Korea examines challenges in building a strong AI semiconductor industry
The National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) recently convened a seminar, gathering industry and academic experts to assess South Korea's position in the AI semiconductor sector. The discussion underscored concerns about the country's heavy focus on memory chips and drew attention to Taiwan's comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem as a model.
Monday 22 December 2025
AI servers now compete as much on heat management as on computing power

As AI workloads reshape data center design, performance is no longer defined solely by computing power. Thermal management has emerged as an equally decisive battleground. Unlike traditional CPU-centric systems, modern AI servers rely heavily on GPUs and specialized accelerators, each drawing hundreds of watts per chip. The resulting thermal density far exceeds the limits of conventional air-cooling, turning heat dissipation into a core infrastructure challenge rather than a peripheral engineering concern.

Sunday 21 December 2025
TSMC's US expansion stirs security debate as Taiwan government reaffirms N-2 rule

TSMC's plan to sharply expand its US footprint has reignited debate in Taiwan over technology security, even as the government insists that existing safeguards remain firmly in place.

Sunday 21 December 2025
Taiwan academics seek to break through SiPh yield bottlenecks
Cloud computing, GenAI, and high-performance computing continue to drive bandwidth and energy efficiency demands. Line rates have now been pushed beyond 100–200Gbps. The intense heat generated by machines poses serious rack management challenges at data centers.
Saturday 20 December 2025
Foxconn's quantum advancement earns UNESCO recognition
Marking the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the Quantum 100 initiative, recognizing key contributors who have made pivotal contributions to the advancement of quantum science, technology, and the broader quantum community.