Very interesting to see the level of Test capacity expansion in China:
Source: Chips & Wafers
AI Gossip
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Gigabyte Technology unveiled a desktop PC armed with the Nvidai GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip, media report, a data-center-in-a-box with AI capabilities including allowing 400 people ask questions simultaneously. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US)
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Taiwan’s July export orders rose 61.9% year-on-year to a fresh record high US$97.94 billion and beating the expected 52.7% increase, media report. The US led all others with orders up 88.9% to $40.79B, the fastest pace of growth ever. Orders for IT/communications products, including servers & networking gear, rose 89.5% to $33.27B on strong AI and cloud service demand, while Electronics Products, including semiconductors and chip manufacturing services, rose 71.7% to $41.32 billion. In August, officials see export orders nearing $100B, up 61.4% - 64.8%. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $United Microelectronics(UMC.US) $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) #Foxconn #Quanta #Wistron
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Winbond, Taiwan’s 2nd biggest DRAM maker, has moved up its timeline to expand production in Kaohsiung, (south) Taiwan, media report, kicking off expansion at both phase 2 and phase 3 of the fab at the same time, with clean room construction to begin in 2027 and equipment installed by 2029. $SSNLF $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) $Micron Tech(MU.US) #Winbond #NanyaTech #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Cerebras, the maker of giant AI accelerator chips armed with SRAM onboard, announced its latest generation, the CS-4 is made on TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing process, media report. Cerebras says CS-4 servers are up to 30 times faster than servers that use GPUs. Cerebras chips do not use HBM memory, instead relying on SRAM. $Cerebras(CBRS.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $AMD(AMD.US) #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Samsung Foundry is prioritizing expansion of 2nm capacity and performance over 1.4nm, with the 2nd and 3rd versions of 2nm process family, SF2P and SF2P+ in mass production next year, media report, adding the focus on 2nm will put it in a better position to compete for AI accelerator chip orders. The downside is Samsung pushed out 1.4nm mass production to 2029, from a prior timeline of 2027. TSMC’s A14 process is set to enter mass production in 2028. $SSNLF $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) #Samsung #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Rumor: Intel’s upcoming desktop PC processor, Razor Lake, will use TSMC’s high performance N2X process (2nm), media report. If accurate, it would mean Intel was expanding its use of TSMC 2nm family processes, with Nova Lake to use TSMC’s N2P in addition to Intel 18A. Nova Lake, the next-gen desktop PC processor, will introduce bLLC (Big Last-Level Cache), designed to compete with AMD’s 3D V-Cache, while the laptop version may be delayed until the Razor Lake-HX generation. $Intel(INTC.US) $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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This is a cool look at where we are in the packaging “cycle.”
And based on the differences in what is driving this cycle, it should be bigger than the last one.The last cycle was driven heavily by wire bonder capacity for mainstream products, with PCs a major source of demand during COVID.But this time, the mix is very different.Source: Chips & Wafers
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Tragedy struck at TSMC’s Fab 20 as a worker was crushed by electrical equipment, media report, saying the equipment was being moved and started to slide out of control, killing the 22-year old man, who was unable to get out of the way in time. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Foxconn, the AI server giant, is investing US$358.4 million (NT$11.5 billion) in Vietnam for more Co-Packaged Optics capacity there, after entering mass production in the 3rd quarter, media report. Foxconn also plans to spend NT$859 million in Mexico to buy 243,027.8 sq. meters of land, believed to be for future AI server capacity. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Amazon(AMZN.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Microsoft(MSFT.US) $Meta Platforms(META.US)
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Printed circuit board makers (PCBs) are whispering a fresh round of price hikes in the 2nd half 2026 to cope with continued materials price increases, media report, such as for CCL (copper-clad laminates), and prepreg. First half price hikes ranged from 5%-30%. The AI wave has caused prices to surge as companies scramble to build new plants to meet demand. CCL prices rose 20%-30% in the 1st half, and will continue up in the 2nd. PCB maker Chin-Poon Industrial said 1st half price hikes helped it pass 70%-80% of cost increases on to clients. #servers #PCB #CCL
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Rumor: Intel Malaysia took over some advanced packaging for TSMC due to a surge in orders for CoWoS packaging by a major mutual client, media report, adding ASE, Unimicron, Gudeng Precision and others are also expected to benefit from the move. TSMC is expected to ship more advanced chips as the packaging bottleneck eases. $Intel(INTC.US) $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Acer Chairman: PC shipments may plunge over 20% in the 2nd half of 2026 as higher prices bite, media report, with the PC giant planning to focus on new businesses to maintain growth. Chair Jason Chen also said price increases for memory chips and SSDs have started to plateau, so PC price hikes have also slowed. $Dell Tech(DELL.US) $HP(HPQ.US) $Micron Tech(MU.US) $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Three of Taiwan’s top chip design houses have invested in new data centers for more R&D compute, media report:
-MediaTek (smartphone chips, custom ASICs, more): Opened the first of three phases at its new Tongluo R&D data center in May, aimed at R&D across AI and high performance computing, advanced node chip designs and advanced packaging.-Global Unichip (GUC, custom ASICs, more): Its Zhunan data center began trials in the 2nd quarter and is for chip design work on advanced 3nm, 2nm and below nodes, custom ASICs and advanced packaging design.-Novatek (custom ASICs, more): Broke ground July 28 on an NT$2.9B R&D data center for own product designs and custom ASIC design service. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Microsoft(MSFT.US) $Meta Platforms(META.US) #semiconductorsSource: Dan Nystedt
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Taiwan has essentially zeroed out Gulf helium.
Qatari imports fell from a $23M/mo peak to ~$0.15M. US-sourced helium went from near-zero to ~$32M/mo over the same stretch.This is either a structural supply sourcing change or a good proxy for true Hormouz shipping traffic.Source: Chips & Wafers
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The incentive structure behind Coherent talking about moving into 300mm SiC is the following, and it's not good:
For years, the Western SiC industry argued that China couldn't compete in 150mm SiC wafers. The moat was supposedly decades of SiC experience, crystal-growth know-how, defect control and, ultimately, yields.Then Chinese suppliers flooded the market with 150mm SiC wafers.So the narrative shifted to 200mm.Sure, China could make 150mm wafers, but could it do so with sufficiently low defect density, uniformity and yields to compete commercially on 200mm wafers?And then, in a shorter amount of time than expected, Chinese wafer suppliers like TankeBlue and SICC achieved competitive 200mm SiC wafers.So now Coherent is talking up their book; new 300m SiC wafers.That makes sense strategically: as Chinese suppliers move up the wafer-size curve, Western suppliers need to establish the next layer of differentiation and justify a price premium.But there is an important wrinkle. The emerging datacenter/HVDC opportunity may actually be more vulnerable to Chinese competition than automotive EV’s.Why? HVDC power applications are industrial-grade, with lower qualification barriers than automotive traction inverters for EV's.In other words, one of the markets expected to drive the next wave of SiC demand may also be one where Chinese suppliers can enter more easily. That makes the need for Western SiC suppliers to establish a real technological and economic moat even more important.The question is whether 300mm provides that moat - or whether, once again, the industry is simply moving the goalposts in an attempt to stay relevant.$Coherent Corp.(COHR.US) $Wolfspeed(WOLF.US)@lithos_graphein thoughts?Source: Chips & Wafers
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The board of Wafer Works, the silicon wafer maker, approved NT$15.95 billion in capex to expand production, media report, with capacity to rise to 100,000 wafers per month by mid-2027. The firm mainly produces silicon wafers, does Gallium Nitride (GaN), and is boosting production of epitaxial wafers for CIS. #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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AI is driving strong demand for mature process chip manufacturing, so more price hikes are on the way, media report. Last week, China’s top chip foundry SMIC said it hiked 3rd quarter prices on key technologies. Taiwan media say 15%-20% price increases this year are just the beginning – more are in store for 2027. Taiwan’s UMC, Vanguard International (VIS) and Powerchip all face upside next year as utilization rates continue to rise and AI-related demand remains strong. $United Microelectronics(UMC.US) $GlobalFoundries(GFS.US) $SkyWater Tech(SKYT.US) #semiconductors
Source: Dan Nystedt
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Taiwan power semiconductor makers plan to hike prices 10%-15% on chips not-under-contract by October amid hot AI demand and after industry giant Infineon raised prices, media report. This is the 3rd time Taiwan firms have raised prices, up an average 15%-20% in the 1st half of 2026. Demand in the 2nd half has further strengthened.
Nvidia’s AI Factory plans call for an upgrade to 800VDC, raising performance demands for all components and opening new growth for high end power chips made using SiC and GaN materials (Silicon Carbide and Gallium Nitride). $Infineon Technologies(IFNNY.US) $STMicroelectronics NV(STM.US) $Texas Instruments(TXN.US) $ON Semiconductor(ON.US) $Wolfspeed(WOLF.US) #FujiElectric #Rohm #MitsubishiElectricSource: Dan Nystedt
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When Nvidia announced Spectrum-X switches built with CPO (co-packaged optics) have entered mass production, it named 4 Taiwan firms among partners, TSMC, Foxconn, ASE and Browave as well as China’s leading optics firm, TFC Communication, media report, and multiple firms say their order books are already full through 2027 and expect supplies to be tight into 2028.
CoreWeave, Lambda and Oracle will become the first to deploy the 200Gbps/lane CPO Ethernet switch system, billed for a big leap in performance:5x improvement in network power efficiency5x increase in continuous AI uptime10x extension in Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)Up to 1.6x overall AI network performance boost, supports 100s of 1000s of GPUsTSMC and Foxconn are expected to play key roles, with TSMC leading production via its COUPE silicon photonics engine platform, which integrates components that are then packaged by ASE and use Browave’s optical components. Foxconn does final assembly of the CPO switches.Foxconn Chairman Young Liu has said CPO switch shipment volumes will reach 10,000 units this year, with 2027 shipments multiplying several times over.Taiwan’s FOCI and ShunSin have secured key niches in the supply chain, with FOCI’s expertise in Fiber Array Units (FAU) and ShunSin’s advanced packaging mass production prowess, media say, calling them key winners further down the supply chain. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) $Oracle(ORCL.US) $Coreweave(CRWV.US)Source: Dan Nystedt
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Korea continues to import WFE equipment as it expands and upgrades existing fab capacity. Etch, in particular, has clearly been an area of focus.
But sometimes the data points to a more nuanced picture. Within Etch, the growth story is overwhelmingly concentrated in Dry/Plasma Etch.Why? 👉The dry etch surge lines up with SK Hynix's M15X and Samsung's P4 ramps, and the HBM buildout compounds it: TSV etch adds an extra dry etch step vs conventional DRAM, structurally raising dry etch intensity per wafer.Biggest beneficiary? 👉Lam Research - dominant in memory dry etch, and the TSV etch steps that HBM adds only deepen its exposure.Source: Chips & Wafers
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Rumor: Apple will unveil a foldable iPhone alongside the next-generation iPhone 18-series on Sept. 9 in the US, media report, adding supplier Foxconn has kicked manufacturing into high gear and stepped up recruitment at its main iPhone campus in Zhengzhou, China, offering 8,800 yuan (US$1,225) signing bonuses to encourage workers to return by mid-August (14th, 15th). $Apple(AAPL.US) $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) #iPhone
Source: Dan Nystedt
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TSMC’s investments in Arizona, USA and Kumamoto, Japan are paying off, contributing to TSMC’s net profit in the 1st half of 2026, media report:
TSMC Arizona NT$31.15 billion (US$973M) up from NT$4.52B in 2025Japan (JASM) NT$1.22 billion, turning profitable vs last year's loss (NT$4.52B) 1/3 $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US)Source: Dan Nystedt
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The US plans to tell dozens of nations they must pick sides in its AI race with China, Reuters reports. The US won 35 signatories to the AI Opportunity Statement for cooperation on AI models, and dozens of nations to the Pax Silica supply chain resilience initiative. China responded by launching the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization to promote open-weight AI models. Kazakhstan is the only nation so far to have joined both initiatives, a nation potentially rich in critical minerals needed by the US side. #semiconductors #AI
Source: Dan Nystedt
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TSMC Arizona’s 2nm fab may arrive as much as four-quarters earlier than expected, media report, amid speedy progress on the chip giant’s 3rd fab (P3) in Phoenix.
The 2nd fab is also ahead of schedule, with equipment set to be installed in the 2nd half of 2026 (now), and mass production expected in the 2nd half of 2027. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Apple(AAPL.US) $AMD(AMD.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Amazon(AMZN.US) #semiconductors #ArizonaSource: Dan Nystedt