Passive component giant Yageo held its annual shareholders' meeting on May 27, 2025, personally chaired by Chairman Pierre Chen. During the meeting, a proposal to add two new directors was approved. Among them, Joy Chen, the chairman's eldest daughter, was elected as a group director, while the other seat was filled by Charles Hsu, chairman of TTFB.

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC), the world's leading supplier of BT substrate base materials, has notified clients of delayed shipments due to tightening raw material supply. The growing shortage is expected to trigger mid- to long-term disruptions in the substrate supply chain. Rising gold prices and extended lead times are already inflating costs across the NAND flash controller segment, potentially benefiting suppliers like Phison Electronics and Silicon Motion Technology through higher pricing leverage.

Topco Scientific Co. (TSC), a leading supplier of semiconductor and optoelectronics materials, anticipates a gradual rebound in the chip industry through 2025. Chairman Jeffery Pan highlighted that major clients have increased 7nm wafer input, driving utilization rates above 80%. DRAM fab utilization is also improving, while China's market remains robust, with utilization hovering around 90% or at full capacity. Pan described the 2025 industry outlook as "cautiously optimistic" and expects strong full-year results.

Shibaura Electronics announced on May 21, 2025, a shift in its stance regarding the competing tender offers (TOBs) from Japan's MinebeaMitsumi and Taiwan-based Yageo for its shares. Originally, Shibaura Electronics had recommended that shareholders accept MinebeaMitsumi's bid. However, the company has now revised its position from a clear endorsement to a neutral stance.

The ongoing takeover battle for Japan's Shibaura Electronics between Taiwan-based Yageo Corporation and its Japanese white knight, MinebeaMitsumi, has emerged as a critical case study in cross-border M&A dynamics, potentially redefining norms for foreign acquisitions of Japanese firms.

These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of May 19 – May 25. Highlights include China's accelerating push for tech self-sufficiency with new AI chips and operating systems, TSMC's global fab and packaging expansion gaps, Wolfspeed's looming bankruptcy amid China's SiC surge, and Huawei's growing dominance in 5G infrastructure as Western RAN giants retreat. From Computex showdowns to DeepSeek's LLM momentum, here's what topped the headlines.

Japanese PCB maker Meiko is ramping up its capex to JPY51 billion (US$351 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2026—a 70% increase from its earlier plan—as it accelerates efforts to diversify production away from China, particularly to meet the needs of a key smartphone client widely believed to be Apple.

VisEra, an optical component manufacturer under TSMC, held its shareholders meeting to outline its outlook for 2025. Chairman Robert Kuan told reporters that revenue growth will primarily come from the CMOS image sensor (CIS) business, driven by three major trends: increased market share of Android smartphones, the mainstream adoption of high-megapixel cameras, and expanding automotive demand into affordable vehicle segments. Notably, VisEra is also venturing into the next-generation key technology of the AI era—SiPh.

The recent tariff negotiations between the US and China have led to short-term concessions in some areas, but unresolved issues continue to tighten the noose on global supply chains. Among these, China's expanded restrictions on rare earth exports are significantly impacting critical industries, leaving European and American supply chains scrambling.

According to iNews24 and SE Daily, SK Hynix System IC, the 8-inch foundry subsidiary of SK Hynix, is urging employees in both South Korea and China to transfer to its joint venture unit in Wuxi, China, as part of a business optimization effort. The company recently held briefings for staff, offering an incentive of 3,000% of the base salary for those who accept the transfer to SK Hynix System IC (Wuxi).

As the AI wave accelerates demand for advanced storage solutions, the global memory supply chain is mobilizing at full speed. Major players are preparing to debut a host of new AI-related products at Computex 2025 in Taipei, underscoring the sector's critical role in powering the future of AI.

As capex simultaneously rises across foundry, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT), and printed circuit board (PCB) sectors, C Sun Manufacturing, a specialist in PCB and semiconductor equipment, is poised to seize burgeoning opportunities in advanced testing and overseas capacity expansion in 2025. The company's first-quarter revenue from advanced process equipment nearly reached 70%, signaling strong momentum and promising a fresh wave of orders from its tri-sector customer base to propel full-year growth.

Taiwan-based high-density interconnect (HDI) board manufacturer Compeq Manufacturing has reported robust growth in its low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications segment, which is expected to exceed 20% of total revenue in 2025.

Zeiss made its debut at Computex 2025, unveiling industrial metrology tools designed for AI server manufacturing, including CT scanners, 3D scanning systems, and industrial microscopes. Marc Wawerla, CEO of Zeiss Industrial Quality Solutions (IQS) and President & CEO of Carl Zeiss Industrielle Messtechnik GmbH, said the company aims to help supply chain partners set new quality standards for next-gen server production.

TSMC is fast-tracking its capacity expansion with plans to build nine new facilities in 2025, including eight wafer fabs and one advanced packaging plant. The move has energized sentiment across its supply chain. Advanced Echem Materials Company (AEMC) Chairman Chan Wen-hsiung said the firm had already anticipated this expansion, citing new capacity at its Tainan and Kaohsiung facilities as sufficient to support customer needs through 2030. A US plant is not under consideration before then and would only be evaluated after that timeline.

Nan Ya Printed Circuit Board Corp. (Nanya PCB), a leading Taiwanese IC substrate manufacturer, announced on May 19 that Chairman Chia-chau Wu will step down following the company's annual shareholders meeting on May 27. The board is expected to name a successor in the near term.

Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) and France's Thales Group have signed two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) aimed at potential cooperation in the semiconductor and satellite sectors. The announcements were made during the Choose France summit, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron to attract foreign investment.

PCB manufacturer Zhen Ding Technology posted a 23% year-over-year increase in consolidated revenue for the first quarter of 2025, marking a record high for the quarter. The company's integrated circuit (IC) substrate business was a key driver, with quarterly revenue climbing nearly 30%, bolstered by strong domestic demand in China.

Despite recent uncertainties surrounding new tariff policies under US President Donald Trump, major US and Chinese cloud service providers have reaffirmed that their capex plans for AI data centers in 2025 will remain on track. Further boosting market confidence, Saudi Arabia has collaborated with leading US tech giants to launch large-scale AI infrastructure projects across the Middle East, signaling robust demand for AI servers in the region.

Amid the renewed US-China trade tensions and fierce price competition from Chinese peers, the industry trend of "China Minus One" has resurfaced, spreading from outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers upstream to the IC substrate supply chain.

InPsytech, a leading provider of high-performance semiconductor intellectual property (IP) solutions under Egis, has been selected to join the Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE) as an IP partner. This recognition stems from InPsytech's outstanding performance in open NAND flash interface (ONFI) high-performance IP solutions. InPsytech plans to continue expanding its IP portfolio within Samsung's ecosystem, particularly by strengthening applications for UCIe IP.

AT&S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik AG, a global manufacturer of high-end IC substrates and printed circuit boards, posted a modest revenue gain for its 2024/25 fiscal year despite continued global economic turbulence, as a strategic asset sale and aggressive cost controls helped bolster its profitability.

Topoint Technology, a Taiwanese supplier of PCB drill bits and drilling services, anticipates revenue growth in the second quarter of 2025, fueled by stable order volumes during the tariff equivalence grace period. However, uncertainty surrounding potential US tariffs continues to cloud demand projections for the second half of the year, posing challenges for the company's planning.

Taiwan's PCB manufacturers are finding temporary relief as the US dollar strengthens following the suspension of US-China tariff negotiations, partially offsetting pressure from the New Taiwan dollar's recent appreciation. However, industry players remain cautious as uncertainty around President Trump's tariff policies continues to cloud the outlook for the second half of 2025.