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Tuesday 18 August 2026
Nvidia swaps credit support for exclusive chip sales in OpenAI's Ohio data center campus

Nvidia has reached a deal with OpenAI to provide up to US$105 billion in credit guarantees for the AI startup's upcoming 8GW data center campus in Ohio. The support will help OpenAI to secure a lease from SB Energy, while Nvidia will be the facility's exclusive chip supplier.

Tuesday 18 August 2026
AI drives power semiconductors into at least a two-year shortage
The cloud AI data center boom is not close to bursting, according to chip supply-chain players. They say that analog ICs, including power semiconductors, will stay tight for years. They also expect price hikes to continue, with more than one round likely ahead.
Tuesday 18 August 2026
Eiso Enterprise's Guishan plant expansion doubles PCB capacity, eyes AI, aerospace, defense markets

Niche printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer Eiso Enterprise has officially opened the second-phase expansion of its new plant in Guishan, Taiwan, which is expected to raise the company's overall monthly production capacity to 1.5 times the previous level.

Tuesday 18 August 2026
AI server supply chain ramps up capital, talent, and capacity
The AI server supply chain continues to expand capital expenditures, pouring in cash, building factories, and hiring aggressively, to heighten barriers to entry. On top of rapid product iterations and increasingly complex designs, the competitive gap between players is widening. Multiple supply chain sources note that the AI server ecosystem will become more concentrated: top players will continue to secure large orders while gaining leverage to negotiate better commercial terms with customers.
Tuesday 18 August 2026
Taiwan advances national quantum computing plan as key procurement contract nears

Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is preparing the second-phase quantum research program, known as the "Quantum Leap Project," for 2027 to 2031, while a Request for Proposal for the National Center for High-Performance Computing's (NCHC) quantum computing (QC) host is expected soon. The move has raised questions over whether NSTC Minister Wu Cheng-wen's recent US trip could include talks with leading quantum computing companies on potential Taiwan-US cooperation.

Tuesday 18 August 2026
SpaceX-Cursor acquisition closes the loop between AI compute, models and applications
As the AI race increasingly evolves around who can secure the most compute, develop the strongest models and convert them into commercially viable applications, SpaceX has moved another step toward controlling all three layers under one expanding ecosystem.
Tuesday 18 August 2026
MediaTek widens ASIC services as market share surges

MediaTek has reportedly landed major orders for Google TPU products in recent years, even appearing to challenge Broadcom's position. At a recent earnings call, MediaTek also raised its 2027 ASIC market share target to 15% to 20%, and industry watchers largely credit that goal to the breadth of MediaTek's ASIC services.

Tuesday 18 August 2026
Tech blocs of the new Cold War: US pushes allies to pick a side

The intensifying US-China technology rivalry is moving beyond export controls and semiconductor restrictions. What comes next could matter more: the formation of competing international AI ecosystems.

Tuesday 18 August 2026
AI server demand pushes high-end MLCC lead times toward 40 weeks
Multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) supply is increasingly diverging by product specification, with mainstream components remaining relatively stable while lead times for some high-capacitance, high-specification parts used in AI servers stretch toward 40 weeks.
Tuesday 18 August 2026
SpaceX, Nvidia push space AI from lunar exploration toward orbital data centers

As SpaceX accelerates its push into space-based AI data centers and Nvidia brings Jetson GPUs into lunar exploration missions, the race to build computing infrastructure beyond Earth is moving from proof-of-concept experiments toward actual deployment.

Monday 17 August 2026
Taiwan Mobile lifts 2026 profit outlook on AI data center push

Taiwan Mobile has raised its full-year 2026 operating profit growth outlook to 7% to 9%, excluding the impact of its planned Systex acquisition, as AI applications continue to drive demand for data center computing power and spur the company's AI data center (AIDC) expansion.

Monday 17 August 2026
Phison CEO sees years of NAND shortage, AI growth chance
Phison Electronics CEO Pua Khein-Seng said the company is seizing a once-in-a-lifetime chance to transform into a high-growth business as AI agents drive massive demand, keeping NAND Flash supply tight for many years. He said 2027 capacity constraints will be even more severe than in 2026, leaving room for further price gains, though the pace of increases will gradually narrow.
Monday 17 August 2026
Nvidia closing in on US$100B credit guarantee deal for OpenAI's Ohio data center
Nvidia is approaching an agreement to provide credit guarantees of around US$100 billion for OpenAI's 10GW data center in Ohio, among the largest AI infrastructure projects ever, according to The Information. This is a significant reduction from earlier plans by Nvidia to guarantee US$250 billion for the project, although it would remain by far Nvidia's largest such commitment.
Monday 17 August 2026
OCP APAC 2026: When AI starts running the hardware that runs it
The tech industry has long been fixated on one persistent bottleneck: the physical limitations of high compute in the AI era. But what if the industry's focus, rather than pouring endless resources into infrastructure scaling and thermal architecture, should instead turn toward the reverse of that equation?
Monday 17 August 2026
Topoint's high-end drill bits hit 56% share ahead of schedule, aims to double capacity by end of 2028

Printed circuit board (PCB) drill bit manufacturer Topoint Technology stated during its second-quarter 2026 earnings call that strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers and high-performance computing (HPC) has significantly improved its product structure. High-end coated drill bit products accounted for 56% of product share in the first half of the year, already exceeding the company's original full-year target of 55%.

Monday 17 August 2026
AI server growth is lifting Taiwan ODM revenue, but margins now face the harder test
Taiwan's top six original design manufacturers are seeing AI servers become the main revenue engine in 2026, but the boom is also bringing heavier exposure to expensive GPUs, CPUs, high-bandwidth memory, and networking parts. That has broadened the sales base while making gross margin protection a central concern in the industry.
Monday 17 August 2026
Weekly news roundup: AI expansion fuels supernodes, post-HBM memory, liquid cooling and supply-chain shifts
This week's most-read stories traced the AI boom across the stack, from supernodes and next-generation memory to liquid cooling, solar power, telecom services and PCB demand. Below are the most-read DIGITIMES stories from the week of August 10-16, 2026.
Monday 17 August 2026
LG, Nvidia deepen ties on humanoid robots, AI factories, and vehicles
LG said on Wednesday that it is developing a next-generation bipedal humanoid robot with Nvidia technology, a move that could influence how factories, vehicles, and service robots are built and deployed worldwide. The South Korean conglomerate also outlined plans for AI manufacturing sites and a future vehicle platform, signaling broader competition in physical AI.
Monday 17 August 2026
AI server tracker: Demand drives strong growth across Taiwan's CCL, design services, substrate, and testing supply chains
Taiwan's AI server supply chain continued to show strong growth in July 2026, with revenue rising across copper-clad laminate (CCL), design services, substrates, and testing. All four segments recorded year-over-year growth, while design services posted the strongest monthly increase.
Monday 17 August 2026
India roundup: India's electronics push gains momentum as water, China ties and chip incentives collide

India's electronics and AI infrastructure ambitions are accelerating, but mounting environmental opposition, tighter Chinese visa curbs, and intensifying competition for semiconductor investment are exposing new challenges. As Google advances a US$15 billion AI data center, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) restructures its cloud business, and Dixon Technologies expands its smartphone OEM business, states are sweetening incentives to strengthen India's position in global technology supply chains.

Monday 17 August 2026
DFI accelerates edge AI rollout in 2H26 with ‘Right Compute’ strategy
Industrial PC (IPC) maker DFI held its second-quarter 2026 earnings conference on August 14, reporting a sharp improvement in profitability as its embedded, intelligent automation and network security businesses all gained momentum. Revenue growth accelerated further in July, strengthening the company's confidence in the second-half outlook.
Sunday 16 August 2026
China's AI supernode build-out turns more chips into more computing power

China is accelerating construction of its national computing network, and a growing share of new capacity is likely to use supernodes. With domestic AI accelerators still trailing leading global chips in single-card performance, Chinese vendors are increasingly relying on larger card counts, high-speed interconnects and system-level optimisation to close the gap.

Sunday 16 August 2026
Edgecore pushes all-optical networking for distributed AI data centers
Edgecore Networks said distributed AI infrastructure will become more important as data centers run into limits on power, space, and cooling. Speaking at the 2026 OCP APAC Summit, the company outlined an all-optical networking approach designed to connect GPUs, servers, and storage across multiple sites and regions.
Saturday 15 August 2026
Gelsinger calls HBM 'lousy', SK Hynix says it's not memory's final answer

High-bandwidth memory (HBM), a core component in AI semiconductors, has drawn fresh scrutiny after former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger called it "lousy" at a recent AI summit in Paris. SK Hynix, the market leader in this type of memory, also said it is not the final answer to AI memory bottlenecks, underscoring the industry's push to find a next-generation memory architecture beyond HBM.

Saturday 15 August 2026
Lotes sees tight supply, says demand remains intact

Connector maker Lotes is deepening its server business, with its server quick disconnect (QD) line set to enter mass production in July, and expansion is expected to accelerate at the same time. A new-generation server platform is expected to begin small-volume shipments in the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by a larger-scale ramp-up in early 2027, making both key growth drivers to watch in the coming quarters.