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Tuesday 15 September 2026
DIGITIMES Insight: AI sends the semiconductor market toward US$1.6T, with memory doing the heavy lifting
DIGITIMES Intelligence forecasts the global semiconductor market will expand from US$791.7 billion in 2025 to US$1.6 trillion in 2026, representing year-on-year growth of 109.1%.
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Wednesday 16 September 2026
EV batteries cannot simply power humanoid robots, with energy density and costs posing key hurdles
Power battery technology has reached maturity in the new energy vehicle (NEV) market, but transferring it to humanoid robots presents two major barriers: the need for significant technological upgrades and the difficulty of spreading costs across a market characterized by low-volume, highly customized demand.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
SK Hynix union approves revised pay deal after 25-vote rejection

SK Hynix's production workers' union has approved a revised pay agreement that raises the cash share of employee profit-sharing bonuses, ending weeks of uncertainty after members rejected the previous proposal by just 25 votes.

Wednesday 16 September 2026
SK Hynix, Intel in talks on US production to ease memory crunch
SK Hynix is in talks with Intel about a potential deal that could give the South Korean company its first memory chip manufacturing operation in the US, as tight supply pushes customers and governments to secure more domestic capacity.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
Apple reportedly accepts Samsung's 1Q27 memory hike, raising the 2027 smartphone cost floor
Apple's acceptance of sharply higher Samsung Electronics memory prices for early 2027 is putting a number on the cost of the AI boom for smartphones. The reported agreement comes just days after Apple limited the iPhone 18 Pro price increase to US$100, highlighting its willingness to absorb part of a historic rise in memory costs to defend shipments and market position.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
Samsung reportedly pushes conventional memory modules to partners in Vietnam and India as HBM crowds its back end
Samsung Electronics is reportedly handing the growth in its commodity memory module business to outside assemblers in Vietnam, India, and the Philippines, a sign of how completely high-bandwidth memory (HBM) has taken over its own packaging space. The shift keeps Samsung's scarce back-end capacity focused on its most profitable products and pushes the geography of its conventional memory supply increasingly outside South Korea.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
Hanmi Semiconductor reportedly lands first back-end foothold at Terafab
Hanmi Semiconductor has reportedly secured an order to supply advanced packaging equipment to Elon Musk's Terafab, marking the first known entry by a South Korean back-end equipment supplier into the planned US semiconductor megaproject.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
Aleees locks in Tainan plant for 20-year North America order

Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials maker Aleees said its new precursor plant will be built in Tainan, with trial production set for January 2027 and commercial shipments in July 2027, as it prepares to fulfill a 20-year long-term agreement with a North American customer. The move marks a major turning point for the company as it meets surging demand for localized supply chains in North American energy storage and EV markets.

Wednesday 16 September 2026
Huawei reportedly scales back AITO role as Seres takes greater control
Huawei and Seres, a Chongqing-based premium manufacturer of high-end electric NEVs, are reportedly adjusting their smart vehicle partnership in the AITO brand. Huawei would shift toward a more asset-light role, and Seres would take greater control over AITO's product, marketing, sales, and service operations.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
Apple, Intel links sharpen focus on Lens Technology's next glass growth markets
Lens Technology is pushing its precision-glass expertise into two higher-value markets that could reshape its growth profile: Apple-linked foldable devices and Intel-linked through-glass-via (TGV) substrates.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
US-based Teradyne opens Bengaluru office to support India's semiconductor push
Teradyne has opened a new office in Bengaluru as India expands its chipmaking ambitions, which could affect supply chains, pricing, and manufacturing capacity worldwide. The move gives the US test-equipment maker a local base in one of Asia's fastest-growing technology hubs, where demand is rising across the semiconductor industry.
Wednesday 16 September 2026
Commentary: China's US$4.5 trillion electronics target confronts the limits of manufacturing scale

Where will China's electronics manufacturing industry find growth over the next five years? The answer is taking shape in the 15th Five-Year Plan for the sector, released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC): industry revenue is targeted to exceed CNY30 trillion (US$4.47 trillion) by 2030.

Wednesday 16 September 2026
Samsung reportedly taps TSMC for custom HBM base dies as new foundry dynamics emerge

The logic die at the bottom of a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stack has become the semiconductor industry's newest contested territory. Within weeks, SK Hynix has been reported to be weighing Intel alongside TSMC, Samsung Electronics has been reported to be pairing its own foundry with TSMC, and Micron has confirmed that TSMC will manufacture its next-generation base die. What began as a single-vendor arrangement is turning into a multi-front sourcing contest — and the assumption that a second source automatically means a cheaper one is already being challenged.

Wednesday 16 September 2026
South Korean NPU startups face validation hurdle in push for global sales

South Korea's neural processing unit (NPU) startups are moving from chip development toward commercial deployment, but limited experience operating at scale remains a major hurdle to winning global customers.

Wednesday 16 September 2026
Star Shining launches IPO plan as renewable energy assets reach 676MW

Star Shining, an AUO Group affiliate, signed an IPO advisory agreement with Cathay Securities on September 15, formally starting its capital markets process in Taiwan. The renewable energy developer said it is targeting a listing in 2028 after building and managing 676MW of renewable energy capacity.

Wednesday 16 September 2026
ITRI showcases AI robots, drones to push commercialization in southern Taiwan

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) held its ITRI Innovation Day on September 15 in Tainan, Taiwan, bringing together research groups and startup teams to highlight 25 cross-disciplinary technologies in AI, smart robotics, and unmanned vehicles. The event was designed to move more research and development results into industrial use through demonstrations, business matchmaking, and an innovation market.