DeepSeek is reportedly working closely with Huawei to influence the design of Huawei's future AI chips, a link reportedly closer than typical supplier-customer relationships. The collaboration shows the growing ties between two of China's largest technology firms to sidestep Nvidia. This is a reported collaboration whose status is unconfirmed; the source provides no specific product models, timeline, or volume figures.
According to the source, Kioxia is prioritising proprietary NAND flash technology and customer-specific development over aggressive capacity expansion, seeking to capitalise on rising AI storage demand while reducing exposure to memory market volatility. The title additionally states that Kioxia targets higher-value AI storage with an Nvidia partnership and advanced NAND technology. This describes a company strategy/prioritisation; no capacity figures, timelines, or realized expansion or reduction results are given.
China's electronic design automation (EDA) industry is consolidating: Shanghai-based S2C and Wuxi-based HyperSilicon are merging into a unified digital front-end EDA platform. The deal is backed by Empyrean Technology and other investors, and its stated aim is to strengthen domestic capabilities in hardware emulation, chip verification, and simulation. The consolidation targets the hardware emulation gap in domestic EDA.
hardware emulationchip verificationsimulationS2C, HyperSilicon and 3 totalDigiTimes AsiaPartnership/M&A
Apple has announced a new-product event called "Pro and tell" to be held in Los Angeles on October 28, with the company widely expected to unveil its first MacBook Pro with a touchscreen. According to the source, the new model is expected to introduce OLED display technology and the iPhone-inspired Dynamic Island interface, while featuring high-end M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. These product features remain expectations; the event has not yet taken place and the product has not been officially unveiled.
Amkor Technology is tripling its planned investment in Gwangju to expand advanced packaging capacity for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. The source does not state the specific investment amount or the resulting figure after the tripling. The project is a semiconductor project under South Korea's southwestern development strategy and is being brought into construction. The stated context for the increased investment is growing AI packaging demand. This is a planned expansion; the source provides no completion timeline or capacity figures.
advanced packaging capacity for artificial intelligence and high-performance computingAmkor TechnologyDigiTimes AsiaCapacity Change
Transmission systems integrator TiMotion Technology plans to begin trading on Taiwan's Emerging Stock Board on October 21, coinciding with its 20th anniversary. The company is targeting record revenue in 2026 on strong industrial demand and its expansion into the robot market. In addition, its Vietnam plant is set to open by year-end (this plan is stated in the title; the body does not elaborate). These items are plans or targets, not yet achieved results.
TPK Holding has completed a pilot production line for glass-substrate through-glass via (TGV) technology at its Zhongli plant and started joint development and validation of early-stage samples with semiconductor packaging companies. Under its stated plan, the company targets core technology validation by the end of 2027 and mass production in 2028; the title cites an investment of NT$6 billion. This is a planned/expansion event, and mass production has not yet been realized.
According to Cailian Press, on October 19, 2026, China's Ministry of Commerce and eight other government departments issued guidelines on accelerating "technology-driven commerce" that call for deepening the country's "AI+ manufacturing" campaign and enriching the supply of smart goods such as smartphones, computers, home products, wearables, and robots. The guidelines also encourage developing and using smart products based on "secure and reliable" open-source operating systems. The content constitutes policy guidance/plans; the source does not report any implementation or execution status.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services built on the Chinese AI model from their information technology (IT) systems. The source describes this as Washington escalating its scrutiny of Chinese AI; the order has been issued, but the source does not state an implementation timeline or confirm that removals have been completed.
China is proposing to extend AI technology export controls to chip design, memory technologies, and large-scale computing clusters, introducing specific technical thresholds for each. The source does not state the cause. The measure remains at the proposal stage and has not taken effect; no implementation timeline or approval status is mentioned.
Zhen Ding Technology Holding announced that it, Elite Material (EMC), Taliang Technology, and Topoint Technology will jointly invest a total of NT$60 million (approx. US$1.85 million) in collaboration with Taiwan's National Central University (NCU) to establish the "Advanced PCB Talent Development Program." The initiative will combine interdisciplinary research capabilities and industry resources to build a long-term industry-academia collaboration platform focused on cultivating talent in advanced printed circuit boards (PCBs) and supporting the industry's development in the artificial intelligence (AI) era.
advanced printed circuit boards (PCBs)Zhen Ding Technology Holding, Elite Material (EMC) and 4 totalDigiTimes AsiaPartnership/M&A
According to an analysis, China's proposed AI export controls would target top-ranked foundation models and advanced agents. The proposed regulations cover foundation models, AI agents, chip design, and large-scale computing clusters. The source does not state the cause. The controls remain proposed and are not yet in effect.
foundation modelsAI agentschip designDigiTimes AsiaPolicy/Regulation
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
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. announced the development of the world's smallest 008004-inch size (0.25mm × 0.125mm) NTC thermistor, the NCU01 series (the 'world's smallest' claim is based on Murata research as of October 19, 2026). Compared with Murata's previous smallest 01005-inch size (0.4mm × 0.2mm) product, the new series reduces mounting area by approximately 60% while achieving equivalent temperature-sensing performance, with resistance tolerance of ±1% and B-constant tolerance of ±1%. Murata plans to begin sample shipments in October 2026 and mass production during 2027, with the lineup to be expanded progressively, beginning with 100kΩ and 10kΩ resistance values. Primary applications include temperature monitoring on circuit boards in smartphones and wearable devices, as well as in IC packages and system-in-package (SiP) modules. This is a planned product development announcement; sample shipments and mass production have not yet been realized.
An analysis article states that US backing for Intel is growing, but Intel insists that its turnaround remains independently run. The article also discusses the inherent contradiction in the economics of the foundry business: semiconductor manufacturing demands enormous upfront capital and years of sustained investment, yet the companies making those investments are expected to preserve enough strategic independence to respond quickly to technology cycles and customers. The source does not specify the form, amount or timing of the backing, nor does it state a cause.
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
ChipAgents, a Santa Clara company, announced it is expanding its agentic AI platform across digital and analog semiconductor engineering, introducing the IC-Star engine, which aims to connect fragmented design workflows through a common system that can plan tasks, operate engineering tools and evaluate results, with engineers retaining control over requirements, critical decisions and final signoff. According to the company, the announcement addresses a mismatch: AI models evolve within months, while developing a chip can take 12 to 18 months or longer, and faster code generation alone cannot close that gap. Digital capabilities span specification analysis, architecture exploration, RTL design, verification, debugging, coverage closure and power-performance-area optimization; analog capabilities include topology and schematic design, simulation, behavioral modeling, layout generation and physical verification. The company reports more than 200 semiconductor enterprise deployments and cites customer outcomes: Andes Technology shortened one processor-verification workflow from two to three months to approximately three weeks and reduced a processor customization project by 30%; eMemory reported approximately 80% less engineering effort for datasheet analysis and verification-testbench construction, alongside increases of 18% in test patterns and 5% in functional coverage; WhaleChip reduced root-cause analysis from days to approximately 15 to 60 minutes per round while identifying four critical bugs. Those figures are company-reported examples, and the release provides no independent evaluation or enough methodological detail to establish how broadly the results apply; the announcement does not establish autonomous, end-to-end chip development. The company says the platform works with existing EDA infrastructure and supports on-premises learning. A technical webinar scheduled for October 29 should provide an opportunity to examine these capabilities.
IC-Star engineRenoir semiconductor-specific modelChipAgents, Andes Technology and 4 totalSemiWiki
According to Wccftech, at the 2026 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, Intel — which is expanding its silicon photonics capabilities as demand for high-bandwidth optical interconnects grows across AI and high-performance computing (HPC) — claimed to be the only high-volume foundry capable of supplying 300mm indium phosphide (InP) silicon photonics at scale to the broader industry; the technology is intended to support next-generation near-package optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO). The source notes that conventional InP substrates are generally limited to 150mm (6-inch) wafers, with 3-inch and 4-inch formats still widely used, and that InP crystals are brittle, grow slowly, and present defect-control challenges, limiting laser chip output per wafer and slowing capacity expansion; Intel integrates InP-based laser technology into its 300mm silicon photonics manufacturing platform, aiming to improve production efficiency and scalability. Per TrendForce, NVIDIA has begun shipping its Spectrum-X CPO switches to select partners (developed jointly with TSMC using its Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUPE) technology), Broadcom continues limited shipments of its 51.2 Tb/s Bailly CPO switches, and at OCP 2026 showcased its third-generation Tomahawk 6-Davisson CPO switch with 102.4 Tb/s of switching capacity and 200 Gbps per channel; TSMC plans to begin production of its COUPE-on-substrate solution in 2026, targeting twice the power efficiency and a tenfold reduction in latency compared with board-level pluggable optics. Per ijiwei, Zhongji Innolight has established a dedicated CPO production line and begun small-volume production of 800G CPO optical modules; some customers have placed orders, with shipments potentially beginning in 2027 and broader adoption expected in 2028, and in September 2026 Huawei introduced its NPO-based Ascend 960 supernode for large-scale AI training and inference. TrendForce states that testing remains a key obstacle to CPO mass production: while optical alignment times have fallen to seconds or less, complete testing of a single photonic integrated circuit (PIC) can still take more than 100 seconds, shifting the bottleneck toward testing speed and cost; TrendForce expects 2027 to be a pivotal year for integrating CPO testing systems, with 2028 a critical period for assessing readiness for large-scale production.