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May 5
Google's TPU push hits Nvidia's neocloud grip

Google's effort to expand its tensor processing units (TPU) beyond its own cloud is meeting resistance from some of the AI infrastructure companies best positioned to distribute alternative chips, with executives from Nebius, Lambda, and CoreWeave saying they do not plan to adopt TPUs anytime soon, according to The Information.

Lumentum reported record third-quarter fiscal 2026 results, with revenue rising to US$808 million, reflecting strong year-over-year growth driven by demand for optical components used in AI infrastructure, according to the company.
GlobalFoundries reported first-quarter results broadly in line with expectations, with management highlighting solid execution and profitability at the upper end of guidance ranges, according to company statements. Chief executive Tim Breen said the company made "significant traction in secular growth end markets," supported by differentiated technologies and customer-focused execution.
Transcend Information posted consolidated revenue of NT$7.449 billion (roughly $235 million USD) in April 2026, marking its strongest month on record—nearly six times higher than April 2025's NT$1.073 billion. Year-to-date revenue through April already exceeded the company's entire 2025 total of NT$17.13 billion.
The LCD TV panel market has shifted sharply from aggressive stocking to defensive procurement as global sports-event demand fades, pre-stocking cycles for China's 618 shopping festival wind down, and end-market demand loses momentum. TV brands are now focusing on inventory control and buying only as needed, while Chinese panel makers are trimming production to support prices.
Taiwan's decades-long tilt toward China is giving way to a sharper, US-focused strategy. Semiconductor expansion and surging demand for AI infrastructure are redrawing the island's trade flows — and its industrial ambitions.
SoftBank's memory unit SAIMEMORY is preparing to present a new 3D DRAM technology developed with Intel, as the AI hardware industry seeks ways to ease the power and heat constraints of high-bandwidth memory.
On May 5, AMD reported first-quarter 2026 results that exceeded expectations, supported by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, according to company data and media reports. Revenue reached US$10.25 billion, while net profit rose to US$1.38 billion, reflecting robust year-on-year growth across key metrics.
Global semiconductor sales are projected to reach US$1 trillion this year and could double to US$2 trillion by 2035, driven by rapid growth in AI data centers. But the boom is also shining new light on Southeast Asia's limited front-end manufacturing base, as SEMI urges the region to add more fabs to reduce chip supply-chain concentration in China and Taiwan.

Samsung Electronics' labor dispute is widening beyond a fight over bonuses, after board chairman Shin Je-yoon made a rare appeal for management and unionized workers to resolve the standoff through dialogue as a planned strike threatens to disrupt chip production, customer trust, and South Korea's broader economy.

As AI shifts from training to inference and from single-task use to multi-agent collaboration, South Korea's semiconductor industry is seeking to recast the market around memory rather than GPUs. South Korean academia and industry figures say the AI era will be defined by memory architectures, with the country aiming to build its own framework and challenge an order long dominated by Nvidia.
Ardentec's Longtan plant is set to begin taking AI ASIC wafer-probing orders in the third quarter of 2026, as the semiconductor testing provider moves to capture spillover demand from foundry strategic partners.