SK Hynix CEO Noh-Jung Kwak, reflecting on the emergence of China's DeepSeek, predicts that the generative AI model will ultimately have a positive impact on the semiconductor industry in the long run

China's automotive market remains caught in an intense price war, with competition becoming increasingly cutthroat over the past two years. This has forced weaker brands out of the market one by one. Industry projections suggest that by 2025, the dust will begin to settle, revealing a new turning point

Oppo unveiled its latest flagship foldable phone, the Find N5, on February 20 in Singapore, highlighting the company's advancements in mobile phone research and development. With the model set for sale on February 28, the Chinese smartphone maker aims to redefine the foldable phone market while enhancing its brand value and increasing high-end smartphone shipments globally

Alibaba Group's financial report for the fourth quarter of 2024 reveals an 8% year-over-year revenue increase, driven by the year-end shopping season. The revenue totaled CNY280.2 billion (US$38.6 billion), registering the fastest growth rate in over a year. This reflects strong performance in its core e-commerce and cloud computing sectors

Ant Group is recruiting developers for AI-equipped humanoid robots as it prepares to enter the field. According to Chinese media outlets Jiemian News and South China Morning Post, Shanghai Ant (Mayi) Lingbo Technology, an Ant Group subsidiary, is hiring humanoid robot systems and application software engineers, hardware architecture engineers, motion control software engineers, and finished machine/hardware specialists, for job positions in Shanghai and Hangzhou

Following BYD's debut of its "God's Eye" intelligent driving system, the already limited supply of 8-megapixel (8M) automotive CMOS image sensors (CIS) has quickly become a shortage, according to industry sources in China

HiSilicon is keen to grow its chip business beyond mobile phones and computing to the automotive industry, according to industry sources in China. During a recent summit for private entrepreneurs organized by the Chinese government, Huawei founder Zhengfei Ren's remarks about launching "Backup Plan 2.0" have drawn renewed attention

Memory firms are stepping up recruitment efforts, as global demand intensifies for manpower supporting development of semiconductors for AI applications

A former Samsung Electronics senior manager was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined KRW200 million (approx. US$138,820) by a South Korean court for allegedly leaking core semiconductor technology to China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). Analysts warn that the breach could inflict substantial losses on both Samsung and South Korea

Samsung Electronics is evaluating significant changes to its smartphone supply chain in response to tariff measures implemented by the Trump administration. According to South Korean media reports, the tech giant is exploring options to move its smartphone manufacturing operations away from China

Alibaba Chairman Joseph Tsai recently confirmed a partnership with Apple to bring AI features to the Chinese version of the iPhone, drawing renewed focus on the AI smartphone race. As of February 17, 2025, nearly six Chinese smartphone makers—including Huawei, Honor, Oppo, Meizu, Nubia, and Vivo—had integrated DeepSeek, leaving Xiaomi as a notable holdout

Reports indicate that TSMC is contemplating acquiring a stake in Intel's foundry business, a development that could significantly impact Samsung Electronics. This speculation arises amid ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to revitalize the US semiconductor manufacturing sector

The proposed merger between Honda and Nissan has taken an unexpected turn, with reports emerging that talks, initially called off, could be revived. In a surprising move, Honda is reportedly leveraging the situation to push for the resignation of Nissan's president, Makoto Uchida, before any further negotiations can proceed. At the same time, Renault is exploring options to sell its 36% stake in Nissan while deepening its ties with Geely—seen by many as a potential alternative to its long-standing relationship with Nissan

Japanese NAND Flash manufacturer Kioxia unveiled its latest advancement in NAND flash memory technology on February 20, featuring an impressive increase to 332 layers, up from the previous 218 layers. This innovation not only enhances data transfer speeds by 33% but also improves power efficiency during read operations, positioning the company to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and similar applications

Lenovo posted strong third-quarter results for the 2024/25 fiscal year, with revenue reaching US$18.796 billion, up 19.6% year-over-year, marking its best quarterly sales in three years and the second-highest in company history. The growth was largely fueled by AI-driven demand and expanding enterprise solutions