Huawei and Qualcomm announced on Oct. 5 that they had signed a multi-year patent licensing agreement covering technologies including 5G, computing, AI and networking.

The boundary for adopting external capacity is changing, as workloads that previously needed memory offload because of insufficient high-bandwidth memory (HBM) can now run directly on next-generation GPUs. As a result, demand for external capacity is shifting toward scenarios with higher memory requirements and deployments designed to extend the usable life of existing GPUs.

Towa plans to build a new factory in Kyoto Prefecture to produce assembly and packaging equipment for advanced semiconductors used in artificial intelligence applications.

Netlist and Micron reached a settlement for a patent dispute, with Micron agreeing to license Netlist's patents for US$600 million over 5 years. The deal concludes a complaint launched by Netlist over alleged infringements of its proprietary memory technology as the sector undergoes a lucrative boom in demand due to the rise of AI.

Taiwanese integrated circuit (IC) design firms report that passing on costs to customers will likely continue through 2027 as upstream foundry and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) price hikes take shape.

Taiwan-Asia Semiconductor Corporation (TASC) expects a stronger second half of 2026 as new Apple Watch demand lifts sensor orders. The company said weak consumer electronics demand has not materially affected its business, with smartwatch and earphone orders arriving faster than expected. More sensors per device and seasonal demand should lift fourth-quarter performance above the third, making the second half clearly stronger than the first.

A string of AI server smuggling prosecutions is showing that following US export-control rules to the letter has not stopped advanced Nvidia hardware from reaching China. The weak point lies less in the chips themselves than in the multi-layered server supply chain that carries them, where each participant checks its own slice, and no one owns the final destination.

As the global communications industry moves toward the 6G era around 2030, front-end modules supporting frequency ranges such as D-band at 130-150GHz and W-band at 77-95GHz have become major research priorities across academia and industry.

Dassault Systèmes is pitching its virtual twin software as the link between India's chip design base and the factories and packaging plants now being built under the country's semiconductor mission. The French industrial software company is offering tools that simulate production before anything is built, as the government's Semicon 2.0 program widens support beyond fabrication to design, research, and talent.

India's young chip industry is becoming a contest among the world's largest semiconductor equipment makers, with Canon the latest to declare its interest. The race remains at an early, positioning stage, however, and has so far produced few confirmed orders.

Japan's Rapidus is widening its semiconductor push with help from four Malaysian IC design firms, a move that could strengthen chip-development support for customers worldwide. The partnership underlines how Malaysia is emerging as a key design hub, linking Japanese ambitions with global supply-chain and AI-chip demand.