Sony Group will not spin off its semiconductor business, which focuses on image sensors, president and CEO Hiroki Totoki said recently. The group is retaining the unit because its imaging-sensor expertise creates synergies between components and creative production, while a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will support future manufacturing investment.
Li Auto's chip and domain controller subsidiary, Mahe Xin Technology, has entered a first-round equity financing agreement worth CNY 1.625 billion (approx. US$243.33 million). The fundraising follows the automaker's recent opening of its in-house technologies to external customers, mirroring similar moves by other Chinese EV companies.
The US imposed sanctions on five Chinese entities tied to ex-Google engineer Linwei Ding for theft of trade secrets. The action follows his conviction for stealing confidential AI technology from Google, apparently to benefit Chinese firms.
Chinese DRAM maker CXMT is targeting higher-density manufacturing. At a recent shareholder meeting, management pledged to enter what it called the "uncharted territory" of extreme memory scaling, using process innovation to overcome technical barriers.
CATL's third-quarter revenue rose 58.58% year-over-year to CNY165.22 billion (approx. US$24.73 billion), but net profit attributable to shareholders increased just 14.54% to CNY21.25 billion. For the first nine months of 2026, revenue reached CNY442.14 billion, up 56.19%, while net profit rose 31.6% to CNY64.53 billion, according to its filing on Cninfo.
AMEC is seeking an entry into South Korea's power semiconductor market through MOCVD equipment trials with SK Keyfoundry and Magnachip. The Chinese equipment supplier holds a large share of its domestic MOCVD market but remains unable to supply Samsung Electronics' and SK Hynix's South Korean fabs.
Executives from Chinese nickel producers plan to meet as early as October 20 to seek coordinated production cuts at Indonesian processing plants as weaker prices and rising costs pressure margins. The talks could affect global nickel and battery supply chains, but their timing and outcome remain uncertain amid ongoing policy challenges in Indonesia.
Axcelis Technologies plans to break ground on a US$35 million ion implantation equipment manufacturing facility in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, expanding its semiconductor infrastructure for customers worldwide. The project highlights investment in advanced semiconductor capacity as the global economy enters the artificial intelligence era, with production scheduled to begin in 2028.
Chinese tech giants ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have collectively ordered more than 3 million units of Nvidia's new RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards, representing a total value exceeding US$35 billion, as reported by Reuters.
Competition among Chinese suppliers is driving down prices for dexterous robotic hands, but cheaper hardware has yet to resolve a bigger challenge for humanoid developers: proving that multi-finger systems can perform industrial tasks reliably and at a competitive cost.
Chinese battery giant CATL is giving its battery-service business a distinctive boost through a three-party battery-swapping agreement linking Huawei-affiliated Yinwang Intelligent Technology, CATL, and CATL's battery-swapping subsidiary, Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology (CAES).
Japan plans to provide an additional JPY400 billion (US$2.5 billion) to support Rapidus' advanced semiconductor production between fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2029, as the government seeks to achieve mass production of 2nm chips in fiscal 2027. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) presented the latest policy on October 19, according to reports from Reuters, Nikkei Asia, and BigGo Finance. The funding would be provided as an industrial investment between April 2027 and March 2030.
Japan has successfully launched a spacecraft bound for the moons of Mars, gaining an early advantage over China in the international race to become the first country to return samples from Mars or its satellites.
Samsung Electronics is expected to enter 2027 with approximately 80% of its planned memory production secured under long-term contracts, reinforcing its pricing position while China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) expands capacity and attracts attention from US tech companies seeking alternative DRAM suppliers.
BYD is facing declining market share in China's domestic electric vehicle (EV) battery market, even as its overseas business continues to expand, highlighting a growing divergence between its domestic and international performance.
China's Hygon Information Technology reported a 57.58% increase in revenue for the first nine months of 2026, reflecting sustained demand for domestic high-performance processors and AI computing chips. Yet slower quarterly growth, mounting R&D expenditure and a steep share-price correction have highlighted the gap between the company's operating performance and market expectations.
