UK electronics manufacturer TechPoint has acquired Esprit Electronics, an EMS provider based in Southampton. All 92 Esprit employees join the TechPoint Group, and the company will keep operating from its current facilities. Esprit Electronics was founded in 1985 and serves multinational industrial customers with manufacturing and test services, and also designs and manufactures custom filtered connectors for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC, EMI and RFI) and transient voltage suppression (TVS), including lightning protection. Esprit says it will continue to offer EMS, supply chain services, design support (DFM, DFT and DFX) and logistics. According to TechPoint, the acquisition gives customers of both companies more manufacturing capacity, access to specialist automation and engineering expertise, and a more resilient supply chain. The companies have not disclosed the purchase price.
According to the source, Samsung Electronics is expected to enter 2027 with approximately 80% of its planned memory production secured under long-term contracts, reinforcing its pricing position; this is an expectation, not an achieved result. Meanwhile, China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is expanding capacity and attracting attention from US tech companies seeking alternative DRAM suppliers. The source headline also references Samsung's HBM4 supply lock-in and that Apple and Tesla seek DRAM alternatives. The source does not state the cause.
South Korean substrate maker Daeduck Electronics is accelerating development of ceramic core substrates (CCS) to address warpage and thermal-management challenges as AI semiconductor packages grow larger. The company is currently conducting performance and internal reliability assessments, plans to advance samples and customer evaluations in 2027 and 2028, and is targeting mass production in 2029; ceramic cores are positioned as a material alternative to glass cores for next-generation large-area packages. These remain plans/targets, with mass production not yet achieved.
Powertip Technology is transitioning from a module design and supply company into a solutions provider. The company stated that it has seen rising demand in the first half of 2026 while the electronics and manufacturing industries faced higher material costs, which it aims to control by negotiating price adjustments with its customers. It noted that such negotiations are difficult due to intense market competition, and that failure to deal with the situation properly could impact future operations; the company also said similar circumstances previously occurred during the pandemic.
TrendForce indicates that advanced logic processes are becoming increasingly important to the HBM supply chain as demand for customized HBM (cHBM) grows; starting with the HBM4e generation, all HBM base dies are expected to adopt advanced logic processes, with cHBM base dies potentially using 4nm or more advanced nodes. NVIDIA's NVHBM is expected to be adopted in HBM4e and subsequent generations to support next-generation AI chips scheduled to enter volume production from 2028 onward, and NVHBM base dies are expected to rely primarily on TSMC's advanced processes. As base dies become more valuable, collaboration between HBM suppliers and foundries is expected to deepen, extending HBM competition beyond core dies to encompass access to advanced logic capacity. Separately, Semiconductor Insider exclusively reported on Oct 18 that Samsung Electronics is to develop 'Next-Generation HBM' with TSMC; the tweet was posted on Oct 20, 2026.
HBMcHBMHBM4eNVIDIA, TSMC and 3 totalTrendForce Official (Market Data)
Gaonchips said on Oct. 19 that it will participate in the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor for next-generation unmanned systems operated by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). Gaonchips will serve as a joint research and development partner in an aerial unmanned platform project overseen by KAI under the K-On-Device AI Semiconductor Technology Development Project, supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR), with Supergate as the lead developer. The project aims to develop an AI system-on-chip (SoC) to serve as the brain of next-generation expendable unmanned aerial vehicles, enabling drones to run AI and carry out missions independently through on-device processing even where communications are disrupted or limited. Gaonchips will implement a domestically developed neural processing unit (NPU) and radar signal processing technology using Samsung Electronics' 8nm foundry process, and will handle physical design and final design verification of the entire chip; KAI will be responsible for system integration and verification of the unmanned platform, and Supergate will lead AI chip architecture design and software development. Gaonchips has experience developing and mass-producing 5nm on-device AI semiconductors and has worked on a 2nm GAA process and 2.5D packaging AI accelerator design project for a Japanese customer. The announcement describes a development project; no production or commercialization results are reported.
AI SoC (AI system-on-chip)neural processing unit (NPU)Gaonchips, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and 4 totalThe ElecPartnership/M&A
Related manufacturers
Gaonchips, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Supergate, Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electro-Mechanics said in a regulatory filing on Oct. 19 that it signed a 360.5 billion won contract to supply package substrates for memory semiconductors to a major global company, with the contract running from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2027 and representing 3.2% of the company's consolidated revenue last year. This is the company's first disclosed long-term agreement (LTA) for package substrates, bringing its total disclosed LTAs this year to seven; contracts previously concentrated in the components business involving silicon capacitors (Si-Caps), MLCCs and inductors have now expanded to the Package Solution division, with cumulative contract value of approximately 4.3 trillion won. According to the source, growing demand for high-value products such as GPU and CPU substrates for AI servers and heterogeneous integration chiplets is believed to have led to the LTA. Separately, the company last month disclosed plans to invest 4.27 trillion won in its FC-BGA production facilities in Sejong and 2.51 trillion won in package substrate manufacturing equipment in Vietnam; including building expansion in Vietnam, total spending is expected to exceed 8 trillion won. The company previously announced plans to invest 8 trillion won at its Sejong facility and 15 trillion won at its Busan facility by 2040 as part of a government-led megaproject.
Nvidia's South Korea representative, Soyoung Jeong, said at KES 2026 that the company's Vera CPU already has customers in South Korea, and that the collaboration with LG Electronics on humanoid robots is expected to deliver results soon (an expectation stated by the source, with results not yet delivered). She also outlined Nvidia's role in the shift toward AI agents and physical AI. The source provides no specific figures on pricing, capacity or demand.
Citing IFA's CEO, the source states that sluggish demand in the European consumer electronics and home appliance markets in recent years, combined with overcapacity built during the pandemic, has dealt European manufacturers a double blow of falling demand and excess supply. Chinese competitors, leveraging rapid product development cycles and aggressive pricing, are aggressively seizing market share. This has placed severe operational pressure on European appliance makers such as BSH, which produces Bosch and Siemens appliances, and Miele, forcing some into plant closures. No specific price or volume figures are provided in the source.
According to commentary, Samsung Electronics' 2nm mass-production capability at its Taylor, Texas fab has become critical to its efforts to close the gap with TSMC, while Tesla's AI5 chip delivery schedule and Broadcom's potential 2nm orders hang in the balance. The company's ability to achieve competitive yields and stable output at the US facility will determine whether it can turn major customer orders into a broader foundry comeback. The source does not state the cause, and these statements are commentary rather than realized yield or order outcomes.
2nm processSamsung Electronics, TSMC and 4 totalDigiTimes AsiaCapacity Change
According to South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, Samsung Electronics has transferred 126 of its mobile, display, and home appliance technologies free of charge to 99 small and midsize companies this year, with mobile technologies making up the bulk of the handover. The ministry hosted the 2026 technology-sharing event with Samsung at L Tower in Seoul's Yangjae-dong on October 19, 2026.
mobile technologiesdisplay technologieshome appliance technologiesSamsung ElectronicsDigiTimes Asia
According to officials and business leaders speaking at a seminar in Taipei on October 19, Taiwanese electronics makers are deepening their presence in Mexico's Chihuahua state, drawn by surging US demand for AI servers. The pace of foreign investment is driven by the state's access to the US market, and Chihuahua is seeking to transition from a manufacturing base into a research and design hub. The source does not give specific investment amounts, facilities, or timelines.
AI serversTaiwanese electronics makersDigiTimes AsiaCapacity Change
Research indicates that renewable energy bottlenecks in South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore are slowing memory chipmakers' RE100 progress. The world's three largest memory manufacturers—Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology—along with Taiwan-based Nanya Technology, Winbond Electronics, and Macronix International, face significant obstacles in their transition to renewable energy.
memorySamsung Electronics, SK Hynix and 6 totalDigiTimes Asia
Related manufacturers
Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron Technology, Nanya Technology, Winbond Electronics, Macronix International
According to Commercial Times, institutional investors remain optimistic about the memory industry's long-term outlook, supported by expanding AI inference demand and limited new supply of mature memory products, despite slowing gains; fourth-quarter DRAM contract prices in 2026 are expected to rise about 20% quarter-on-quarter. The projected increase marks a slowdown from approximately 80% in the second quarter and 40% in the third, which the report attributes to a higher comparison base, weakening end-market purchasing power, and price ceilings under long-term agreements (LTAs) gradually taking effect. CXMT has announced progress in its next-generation 4F² DRAM architecture, which institutional investors note could theoretically reduce memory cell area by about 33% compared with the mainstream 6F² design, though mass production still faces challenges involving yields, leakage current, and data retention; it remains unclear whether the 4F² design applies to the entire DRAM cell or only specific areas, with full commercialization generally expected after 2028, and MoneyToday notes CXMT's announcement has yet to significantly affect DRAM spot prices, which continue to rise. Per Chosun Biz, companies including Apple and Tesla have raised the possibility of turning to Chinese suppliers such as CXMT and YMTC as memory costs climb, though analysts see limited near-term price pressure given constraints on Chinese suppliers' pricing competitiveness, available volumes, and sales markets. According to Commercial Times, if NVIDIA switches Rubin Ultra from 12-Hi to 8-Hi HBM while keeping the number of stacks per GPU and capacity per DRAM layer unchanged, HBM capacity per GPU would fall by about 33%, while the same DRAM die supply could theoretically support 50% more GPUs; TrendForce notes 8-Hi HBM is expected to cost 10–20% more per Gb than 12-Hi in 2027. Institutional investors note that larger AI models, longer context windows, and growing KV cache requirements are driving demand for greater memory capacity and bandwidth, particularly server DRAM and enterprise SSDs.
DRAMHBMserver DRAMCXMT, NVIDIATrendForcePrice Movement
In a New Product Insider item published October 19, 2026, Mouser Electronics announced that in the third quarter of 2026 (July through September) it introduced, as an authorized global distributor, more than 5,000 new part numbers ready for shipment. Highlighted quarterly introductions include: Renesas Electronics RZ/G3SE series 64-bit general-purpose MPUs for IoT Edge applications (up to four Arm Cortex-A55 cores at up to 1.2 GHz plus a 200 MHz Cortex-M33 coprocessor); Semtech LR2021EVK2XxS1 evaluation kits based on the LR2021 LoRa Plus RF transceiver, covering 868MHz, 915MHz, 2.4GHz, S-band and L-band for satellite communications and offered in North America (915 MHz), Europe (868 MHz) and Asia (490 MHz) variants, each with two LoRa Plus RF boards and two XIAO modules based on Nordic Semiconductor's nRF54L SoC; Infineon Technologies XENSIV TLx49012 magnetic angle sensors (automotive TLE49012 and industrial TLI49012, with SPI, ABZ, PWM and UVW interfaces); and Banner Engineering S100 series multitouch displays. Mouser states its customers can expect 100% certified, genuine products fully traceable to their manufacturers. The source does not state the cause (this is a catalog-update item with no price or supply-demand event).
RZ/G3SE Quad Core MicroprocessorsLR2021 LoRa Plus RF transceiverXENSIV TLx49012 Magnetic Angle SensorsMouser Electronics, Inc., Renesas Electronics and 6 totalElectronics Sourcing
Samsung is reportedly collaborating with TSMC, the world's largest chip maker, to secure a base die supply for NVIDIA's newly announced NVHBM memory standard; this is a reported (rumored) arrangement and not confirmed as implemented. NVIDIA claims that, compared to standard HBM4E, NVHBM integrates the controller into the 3D HBM stack and delivers up to 30% more memory bandwidth, 15% lower HBM power consumption, and up to 25% more usable compute die area on the processing unit. According to the report, there are strict requirements that must be fulfilled before NVHBM mass production, one of which is that NVIDIA's NVHBM base die must be manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm node; even though Samsung has its own 3 nm production lines, NVIDIA's IP is reportedly optimized for TSMC's nodes, forcing Samsung to collaborate with TSMC and become its customer despite its own production capabilities. This arrangement applies only to the base die; for memory, Samsung will continue using its sixth-generation 10 nm processes, typical for HBM manufacturing, meaning only part of the production will be handled by TSMC.
NVHBM base dieNVHBMHBM4ESamsung, TSMC and 3 totalTechPowerUpPartnership/M&A
RECOM Power, the Austrian designer and manufacturer of power conversion solutions, and CELUS, a cloud-based electronics design automation company, today announced a partnership that brings a first set of RECOM power designs to the CELUS Design Platform, covering 37 RECOM CUBOs (reusable circuit modules on the platform, also known as Digital Datasheets). Twenty-nine are built around RECOM power ICs for isolated and switching DC/DC conversion and sit in the platform's Isolation and Switching DC-DC Conversion functional blocks: RVP001 (4 CUBOs), RVP003 (9 CUBOs), RVP003S (1 CUBO), RVP010 (6 CUBOs), RVP6501 (1 CUBO), RVPW011 (1 CUBO), RVPW012 (1 CUBO), RVPW014 (4 CUBOs), RVPW015 (1 CUBO) and RVPW016 (1 CUBO), each built from a RECOM reference design and named after its main power IC. The remaining eight CUBOs cover RECOM's R-78 switching regulators (6 CUBOs: R-783.3-0.5 V1/V2, R-785.0-0.5 V1/V2, R-78AA3.3-0.5 V1/V2) and RAC AC/DC converter modules (2 CUBOs: RAC02E-3.3SK/277 V1, RAC04-09SGA V1). Each CUBO combines technical specifications with application-oriented information such as interfaces, schematic context, bill-of-materials details and implementation guidance, built from RECOM data sheets, application notes and reference designs. The partnership arrives alongside the platform's new Power Nets capability, in which engineers define supply nets with voltage and direction and the Design Assistant proposes only solutions whose power specifications match those nets; designs continue in the engineer's own tools via the platform's integrations with Altium Designer, KiCad, Siemens EDA and Autodesk Fusion. The collaboration connects these RECOM designs with the more than 30,000 engineers in over 100 countries who use the CELUS Design Platform and its library of more than 560,000 components.
Volvo Cars is extending its partnership with Nvidia to develop automated driving for its future cars, aiming for the cars to handle everything from highways and city traffic to parking, and to gradually introduce eyes-off and mind-off driving. The technology will be built on Nvidia's Hyperion sensor and compute architecture, together with the Halos operating system and the Alpamayo driving software stack, while Volvo contributes its vehicle safety systems and engineering expertise. The first car to use the technology will be a next-generation Volvo model, part of what the company calls its largest-ever product push. The two companies have worked together since 2017, and Volvo's flagship SUV, the EX90, already runs on Nvidia's DRIVE Orin and DRIVE Xavier platforms.
Renesas Electronics recently released a 650-V, 20-mΩ d-mode GaN FET built on Gen 4+ technology in an 8×8 mm dual-side-cooled (DSC) PQFN package, part number TP65H020G4PLSGBD, which is sampling now to AI data center OEMs and ODMs with mass production planned for mid-2027. According to Renesas, Gen 4+ offers lower RDS(on) (and smaller size), lower gate capacitance (CGS, CGD) and output capacitance (Coss) than Gen 4, due to incremental improvements in cell design and better specific on-resistance; Gen 6 won't sample until 2027. The device is d-mode, pairing the GaN transistor with an LV silicon MOSFET. The package supports top-side, bottom-side, or dual-side cooling, currently supports 20-mΩ devices, and with future 10- to 15-mΩ devices a single cold plate may suffice. Versus TOLT, the DSC PQFN offers approximately a 57% to 60% reduction in package area in the x-y axis, is about 1 mm tall versus 2.35 mm for TOLT (2.3 mm in the table), has 9% to 10% lower thermal impedance (0.36 °C/W versus 0.4 °C/W), and cuts PCB area of a four-switch power stage by roughly 15% to 25%. In air-cooled tests on a 6-kW, 800-to-48 V IBC demo board running at 650 kHz to 1 MHz, the DSC showed a 0.14% improvement in full-load efficiency, roughly 10+ W of additional power in a 6-kW converter; liquid cooling was not used because samples had just arrived, with liquid-cooled testing as the next step. The DSC 8×8 (with 650-V GaN) is applied on the primary side, with two 3-kW blocks in series each seeing roughly 400 V of the 800-V bus. The primary applications for the DSC package technology are intermediate bus converters taking 800 V DC on the primary side down to 48 V, 12 V, and 6 V. For 800-to-6 V conversion with output currents beyond 3,000 A, Renesas is working with EPC toward a DSC option for LV GaN. Renesas showcased the device as part of its 800-V power solutions at the OCP Global Summit, held October 12–15 in San Jose, California.
650-V 20-mΩ d-mode GaN FET (Gen 4+)Renesas ElectronicsPower Electronics News
Taiwanese semiconductor packaging equipment provider E&R Engineering Corp. has announced the opening of its new Malaysian subsidiary, E&R Semiconductor (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD., to expand packaging materials production capacity. The new facility is currently undergoing sample testing and qualification, with mass production scheduled to officially begin early next year, according to the company. The plant is expected to create 50 local job opportunities and will strengthen E&R's supply capabilities in Southeast Asia, delivering real-time technical support and supply chain flexibility to semiconductor and OSAT customers. President KS Chen said the Malaysia plant inauguration marks a milestone in the global deployment of the company's carrier tape business and, to address growing customer demand in Southeast Asia, the company has shifted part of its production focus to Malaysia while expanding capacity. General Manager AK Ong said the new facility allows the company to stay closer to its customers. This is a planned expansion; mass production has not yet begun.