Microchip Technology Inc of Chandler, AZ, USA has launched the POL-05-20S-T, a radiation-tolerant point-of-load (POL) converter, designed to address the demanding power requirements of space processing applications. The new device uses gallium nitride (GaN) power devices to deliver up to 20A of output current with high efficiency and power density, and is added to the company's space power portfolio. The source does not state any price or supply change.
radiation-tolerant GaN point-of-load (POL) converterMicrochip Technology IncSemiconductor Today
Samsung Electronics has reportedly completed development of next-generation 4F² DRAM technology and is aligning commercialization with customer requirements. Meanwhile, China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) prepares to introduce server memory using the architecture by the end of 2026. The competing timelines have raised questions about whether China's memory industry is closing the technology gap with South Korean manufacturers.
4F² DRAMserver memorySamsung Electronics, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT)DigiTimes Asia
IBM and Siemens have announced a research collaboration to advance IBM's 3D nanostack transistor architecture, targeting the design and manufacturing challenges of future angstrom-scale semiconductors. The partnership will combine IBM's semiconductor research with Siemens' electronic design automation (EDA), simulation and lithography expertise to help move the technology closer to commercial production. This is a research collaboration, with commercial production a goal rather than an achieved result; the source does not state the cause or a specific timeline.
3D nanostack transistor architectureIBM, SiemenseeNews EuropePartnership/M&A
On October 13, Huawei unveiled the detailed architecture of its Kirin 9050 Pro chip for the first time at its Lianqiu Lake research center in Shanghai, outlining advances in LogicFolding and hybrid bonding technologies. Xu Songyu, head of wireless terminal chip product management at Huawei's semiconductor business, said the company now sees a sustainable development path for Kirin processors over the next decade. This is a technology architecture unveiling and roadmap outlook; the source contains no price, capacity or supply-demand data.
Kirin processorsKirin 9050 Pro chipHuaweiDigiTimes Asia
Siemens announced a strategic investment in and exclusive global partnership with Skeleton Technologies, a specialist in high-power energy storage systems. Under the agreement, Siemens plans to integrate Skeleton's supercapacitor technology into its electrical infrastructure offering to help operators manage the increasingly demanding power requirements of AI workloads, expanding its AI data center infrastructure portfolio. The source discloses the agreement only; no investment amount, timeline, or evidence of implementation is provided.
supercapacitor technologyhigh-power energy storage systemsSiemens, Skeleton TechnologieseeNews EuropePartnership/M&A
Japan plans to invest up to $21 billion with GlobalFoundries to build two 300mm semiconductor fabs in Malta, New York. An initial investment of approximately $10 billion will accelerate construction of the first 300mm fab, expected to come online in 2029 with an annual capacity of about 900,000 300mm wafers; a second fab would require a further ~$10 billion and provide similar capacity. Together the fabs would add significant new US manufacturing capacity and are expected to create about 27,000 construction and ecosystem jobs and more than 1,000 high-skilled manufacturing jobs in New York’s Capital Region. The investment is part of a US‑Japan deal under which Japan will invest $550 billion in the United States in exchange for the US lowering tariffs on Japanese cars and other imports from at least 25% to 15%. The project remains in the planning stage.
The Power Transmission & Distribution (PT&D) business vertical of Indian multinational Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has secured multiple Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) orders in India and abroad worth over USD 1 billion for strengthening power transmission infrastructure and enabling renewable energy evacuation. In Saudi Arabia, PT&D won orders in the 380 kV transmission and substation segments; in the UAE, the business won an order for constructing 132/11 kV substations and associated cabling works; and in the domestic market in India, it secured an order from a leading private sector developer for setting up a transmission system comprising transmission lines and substations in Visakhapatnam in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The source does not state any semiconductor component price or supply change.
Micron Technology on October 15 opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) in Taichung, its second advanced assembly and test facility in Taiwan. The plant expands the company's packaging and testing capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) as AI demand grows and HBM supply tightens. The source does not state the specific amount of capacity added.
Samsung Ventures and Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, have invested in US-based Flexcompute, backing simulation technology designed to predict semiconductor packaging deformation before manufacturing. The source does not state the investment amount or funding round. The investment comes as increasingly complex AI chips create new challenges in managing thermal stress, warpage, and manufacturing yields. The event is the completed investment; it involves no capacity or price change.
Delta Electronics unveiled its prefabricated solid-state transformer (SST) DC power solution at Energy Taiwan 2026 on October 14, targeting power efficiency, deployment speed and supply resilience in AI data centres, AI factories and energy-intensive manufacturing. The system integrates SSTs, DC/DC converters and control technology.
solid-state transformer (SST)DC/DC convertersDelta ElectronicsDigiTimes Asia
Genius Electronic Optical, a leading manufacturer of optical lenses and precision optical components, announced on October 15 that it had formed a strategic partnership with 3M, a global technology and innovation giant, to jointly advance the development, manufacturing, and capacity expansion of optical communications solutions. The partnership includes a US$150 million investment from 3M. This was announced on October 15; the announcement itself does not prove that the investment or capacity expansion has been implemented.
Vietnamese technology group FPT is lining up a second Japanese distribution channel for its in-house power chips. If realized, the move would carry Vietnamese-designed semiconductors beyond Japan and into Southeast Asian and Indian markets through a Toyota Group trading network, involving a unit of Toyota Tsusho. The source does not state whether any agreement has been signed; the matter remains at the courtship/planning stage.
According to EE Times Asia, in the context of SEMICON West 2026, NVIDIA and industry partners are applying accelerated computing and AI agents to chip simulation, process optimization, inspection and fab automation, and NVIDIA is expanding its GPU libraries for AI-driven semiconductor manufacturing accordingly. The source does not specify product names, timelines or quantitative data; this is an industry technology update with no direct price impact for procurement or trading.
Reported on October 15, 2026: TSMC CEO C.C. Wei highlighted the company's ability to mass-produce 5x reticle-size packaging with strong yields, a feat he says rivals have yet to match, and signaled TSMC could step in if rival providers, including Intel's EMIB, struggle to meet customer demand. TSMC is doubling down on advanced packaging despite its own CoWoS capacity constraints, with 9x solutions under development and 14x on the horizon. According to an Anue report in August, TSMC Vice President of Advanced Packaging Technology and Service Jun He said the company's 5.5x reticle-size CoWoS technology has already entered high-volume production, with yields exceeding 98% for multiple AI customers and reaching as high as 99% for some; advancing one generation per year, TSMC expects to scale up to 14x reticle-size packaging by 2029, according to Anue. Wei also reportedly expects the next-generation A14 (1.4nm-class) process to become larger than N2 on stronger customer engagement, slated for risk production in 2027 and high-volume manufacturing in 2028. Intel is reportedly accelerating its 14A roadmap: CEO Lip-Bu Tan is reportedly targeting risk production as early as 1Q27, while Intel's official timeline remains more conservative, with internal 14A products planned for 2H27 and high-volume manufacturing in 2028. According to a July TechPowerUp report citing KeyBanc, Intel reportedly plans to manufacture 80–90% of its upcoming Nova Lake compute tiles internally, reversing an earlier dual-source strategy under which TSMC's N2 process was expected to handle 60–70% and Intel's 18A the rest. Wei stressed that the foundry treats all customers equally, whether IDMs or fabless designers, while factoring their internal manufacturing capacity into its own capacity planning.
Lite-On Technology is showcasing an 800 VDC power architecture, NVIDIA Vera Rubin-compatible power racks and integrated liquid-cooling systems at the 2026 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit. The portfolio is designed to help data-center operators improve power efficiency, manage rising AI rack densities and integrate backup power with thermal management. This is a product showcase announcement; the source does not state the cause of any price or supply movement.
800 VDC power architectureNVIDIA Vera Rubin-compatible power racksintegrated liquid-cooling systemsLite-On TechnologyDigiTimes Asia
Beth Keser, SEMI's vice president of technology coalitions, now forecasts that glass substrates will enter the market around 2028, two years earlier than her previous forecast of around 2030. She said the rapid expansion of AI and data center chip package sizes is accelerating the adoption of glass substrates, as package dimensions are growing too quickly for the industry to wait until around 2030. This is an industry forecast, not an achieved market entry.
Topco Scientific (TSC) is evaluating a new base in Boise, Idaho, and plans to strengthen its local technology, engineering, and supply chain capabilities to pursue memory and advanced-process opportunities. The company already operates service bases in Phoenix, Arizona, and Dallas, Texas. The source links this plan to the US entering a fresh wave of chip manufacturing expansion and Micron ramping up advanced memory investment. The event remains at the evaluation/planning stage and is not a confirmed implementation outcome.
According to Reuters, citing sources, SK hynix is reportedly seeking U.S. approval to expand chip production in China via its U.S. subsidiary Solidigm, which aims to install additional equipment in unused space at the NAND flash facility in Dalian, China — specifically Mod B, a fabrication space completed in 2023 whose equipment installation was left unfinished due to the memory market downturn — as a condition for investing in a U.S. facility, with the expanded operations helping fund a new NAND manufacturing plant in the U.S.; Solidigm is also reportedly considering an initial public offering as early as next year to raise additional capital. However, SK hynix told Reuters that equipment installation at Dalian's Mod B facility is proceeding in consultation with and under authorization from the U.S. government, and that it is not seeking to expand capacity at Mod B; Solidigm declined to comment. As background: in September 2025, the U.S. Commerce Department revoked special authorizations that had allowed SK hynix and Samsung to receive U.S. chipmaking equipment at their Chinese facilities without individual export licenses, saying it would continue allowing shipments needed to maintain existing operations but did not intend to approve exports for capacity expansion or technology upgrades; in December 2025, Washington granted annual approval for U.S. chipmaking equipment shipments to Samsung and SK hynix's Chinese facilities for 2026, per Yonhap News, though Reuters reports the authorization for the Dalian plant limits equipment quantities and approval for additional U.S.-made equipment and technology in 2027 has yet to be issued. Per The Bell, access to advanced etching equipment is particularly important as NAND makers increase stacked layers, and using older tools can require additional processing steps, reducing productivity and raising manufacturing costs; per Reuters, the Dalian NAND facility uses equipment from major U.S. suppliers including Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA.
NAND flashSK hynix, Solidigm and 3 totalTrendForcePolicy/Regulation
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology published a technical paper titled “Revealing New Leakage Paths in GAAFETs using Predictive First-Principles Simulations.” The abstract notes that GAAFETs are emerging as successors to FinFETs and are central to continued scaling at advanced semiconductor nodes, despite their improved…
On October 14, 2026, TDK Corporation (TSE:6762) announced worldwide distribution availability of its InvenSense PositionSense, a two-chip nine-axis sensor solution that integrates TDK's lowest-power 6-axis SmartMotion IMU, a 3-axis magnetometer based on tunnel magneto resistance (TMR) technology, and on-chip sensor fusion and calibration software, targeting positioning accuracy and navigation for wearables, robotics, drones, mobile devices, and other Physical AI applications. The solution is offered in four hardware configurations: ICM-45608 + ICT-15318 (I2C/SPI/I3C support at 1.8V VDDIO, 16g/2000dps Accel/Gyro full-scale range); ICM-45608 + ICT-15312 (I2C/SPI support at 1.2V VDDIO, 16g/2000dps); ICM-45689 + ICT-15318 (extended ±4000 dps gyroscope and ±32 g accelerometer full-scale range, I2C/SPI/I3C at 1.8V VDDIO); and ICM-45689 + ICT-15312 (±4000 dps/±32 g, I2C/SPI at 1.2V VDDIO). This is a product availability announcement; the source does not state the cause.