SK Siltron is preparing to bring a new silicon wafer manufacturing facility online in South Korea next month. The expansion comes as AI data center investment helps lift wafer shipments, while pricing remains under pressure as capacity added during the last expansion cycle continues to weigh on the market.
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the company's Cheonan plant on June 23 to review high-bandwidth memory production operations, as cumulative revenue from the company's latest HBM generation has crossed the US$1 billion mark and demand tied to AI chips continues to rise.
Global helium supply is under renewed strain. Nippon Sanso, Japan's largest industrial gas supplier, announced it will raise prices across its helium product line by an average of more than 30% starting July 2026, citing persistent tightness in global supply driven in part by rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East.
