South Korea's trade chief said Seoul sees room to coordinate with Taiwan on upcoming US chip tariffs, signaling potential cooperation between the two Asian semiconductor powerhouses as Washington reshapes tariff rules under President Donald Trump. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said Taiwan's ongoing negotiations create space for both sides to seek the most favorable treatment.

Samsung Electronics is reportedly preparing to convert portions of its NAND flash production lines in Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong into DRAM facilities as the company races to meet surging demand for general-purpose DRAM used in AI servers and data centers.

Wu Cheng-Wen, Taiwan's Minister without Portfolio and head of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), told the Financial Times that the United States will not levy heavy tariffs on Taiwan's semiconductor sector, and that Taipei will help Washington understand the industrial model behind the island's chip-manufacturing strength.

The turmoil surrounding Nexperia persists as Wingtech, the Chinese parent company of Nexperia, has formally lodged a complaint with the Dutch government, demanding the withdrawal of its control over Nexperia Netherlands. This follows the Dutch government's recent announcement suspending the takeover execution amid negotiations with China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), while not revoking the original court ruling that authorized the takeover.

Nvidia plans to incorporate mobile-grade LPDDR memory into future AI servers, a shift that could trigger a severe supply squeeze and drive prices significantly higher through 2026. Market researchers warn that the move to reduce power consumption may strain global inventory and intensify shortages across the wider electronics sector.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to invest JPY100 billion (US$671 million) in Rapidus in fiscal 2025, securing a controlling stake as the government accelerates its push to rebuild domestic advanced chip manufacturing. The funding will be executed through the Information-Technology Promotion Agency, and Rapidus aims to reach break-even around 2030 and pursue an initial public offering in 2031.

South Korea's SK Hynix is reportedly considering establishing a memory chip assembly and testing (ATMP) facility in India. However, the company's recent public announcement of investment plans did not mention any facility in India, leaving the potential entry unconfirmed.

Toshiba's sudden move from its long-standing partnership with Rohm Semiconductor to a brief collaboration with China's Sicc unsettled Japan's power semiconductor sector. Toshiba reversed course after METI intervened, but uncertainty still surrounds the future of its relationship with Rohm.

South Korea's leading chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, are projected to pay a combined corporate tax of approximately KRW6 trillion (US$4.2 billion) for the year 2025, signaling a nearly ninefold increase compared to 2024. This surge reflects the rapid growth in the global semiconductor market, driven largely by accelerating demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

GlobalFoundries (GF) has recently acquired Singapore-based silicon photonics chip company Advanced Micro Foundry. Meanwhile, Lightmatter, a US silicon photonics chip company that works with GF, is expanding the number of systems it is building. Seeing huge growth potential in the silicon photonics market, the company expects that after completing integration and testing with switch and XPU customers, it will move toward commercial shipments in 2027.