Onsemi's leadership fielded a wide range of investor questions following the company's second-quarter 2026 results, with much of the discussion centered on its accelerating AI data center business, capacity utilization, and how the company is managing rising input costs.
RichWave Technology said at a recent earnings call that Wi-Fi 7 adoption continues to rise rapidly, with strong demand from telecom operators and retailers. The radio frequency (RF) front-end supplier said that the second half of 2026 should be slightly better than the first half of the year overall, but warned that tight supply of memory and passive components could affect shipment timing.
Automotive chip sales are improving across Europe and the US, but major suppliers say global carmakers and their suppliers are still buying largely for immediate needs. A fuller inventory rebuild — one that could affect prices and supply globally — has yet to begin, leaving the recovery more cautious than expected.
Taiwan and the US are deepening auto trade ties that could influence consumer choice, supply-chain resilience, and tariff policy beyond the island's borders. The latest comments from the American Institute in Taiwan come as Taiwan weighs lower car import duties, a move that could affect prices, jobs, tax revenue, and trade dynamics worldwide.
Global automakers are facing slower market growth, the rapid rise of Chinese carmakers, and sustained EV investment, with Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz under strain in recent years. While German automakers still lead the global auto industry, revenue and profitability have come under broad pressure over the past two years as competition shifts from volume growth to product value and operating efficiency.
Automotive chip demand surprised to the upside in the second quarter of 2026, with industry players saying the market could stay hot in the second half as new EV architectures become clearer and customers rebuild inventories. The strongest signal came from Texas Instruments (TI), which said the strength in automotive chips was completely unexpected.
As the global electric vehicle (EV) market enters a growth adjustment phase, the auto industry is shifting from "electrification" toward "intelligence," while AI agents move rapidly from the cloud to end devices. Qualcomm says the end devices with which future AI agents will mainly interact include about 6 billion smartphones, 2 billion AI wearables, 2 billion PCs, and 500 million connected cars, underscoring how vehicles are becoming a key gateway to AI services.
Micron has said its Strategic Customer Agreement (SCA) long-term supply deals with 16 key strategic customers include seven automotive customers — among them Qualcomm, Visteon, and Harman, all key suppliers supporting the automotive ecosystem — reinforcing its push into the auto supply chain. The memory maker said the agreements also cover CSPs and AI infrastructure players.
