Palomino Laboratories Inc, an AI interconnect technology company based in Goleta, CA, USA, has received its first commercial purchase order (PO) from a strategic hyperscaler customer. The PO includes a statement of work (SOW) for the delivery of high-performance gallium nitride (GaN) micro-LED chips for optical interconnect applications within AI infrastructure.
GaN micro-LED chipsPalomino Laboratories IncSemiconductor Today
Volvo Cars plans to cut around 2,500 jobs globally, including around 2,000 in Sweden, after posting an adjusted operating loss of SEK 3.7 billion in the third quarter. Revenue fell 23% to SEK 66.9 billion. The measures will be fully in effect by the end of 2027, with indirect costs expected to be almost 25% lower than in 2024. The company will coordinate manufacturing and purchasing more closely with Geely and expand its common supplier base with Geely Group.
Siemens announced a new collaboration with Nvidia to develop adaptive AI-powered manufacturing capabilities that combine industrial software, Siemens' Digital Twin technology and Nvidia Cosmos to accelerate production planning, inspection preparation and optimization. The collaboration combines Siemens' Teamcenter software for product lifecycle management (PLM) and Process Preparation X with Nvidia Cosmos to create a new AI-powered workflow for PCB inspection, helping electronics manufacturers prepare and optimize automated optical inspection (AOI) processes before physical production begins, Siemens said. Mark Hindsbo, executive vice president operations software at Siemens, said that connecting the Digital Twin to the shop floor and AI improves both line productivity and product quality. Rev Lebaredian, vice president, Physical AI Simulation at Nvidia, said that by combining Siemens' industrial software and manufacturing expertise with Nvidia Cosmos, synthetic images of good and defective boards can be generated to prepare inspection virtually, helping manufacturers bring new products into production faster. This is an announcement of a collaboration; it remains at the announced stage and no concrete implementation results are reported.
Researchers at the Technical University of Munich and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur published a study titled 'Self-Heating and Parasitic Effects in Multi-Tier CFET Design.' The abstract states that the study examines the impact of self-heating effects (SHEs) and middle of line (MOL) and back-end of line (BEOL) induced parasitics on multi-tier CFET design, in which multiple nanosheet devices are vertically stacked. This is a technical research publication; it does not involve any price, capacity, or supply-demand change.
Atomera, a semiconductor transistor materials and technology licensing company, has entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with IQE to bring high-performance, cost-effective RF GaN to market. The collaboration combines Atomera's recently announced application of Mears Silicon Technology (MST) to silicon substrates for RF GaN with IQE's compound semiconductor epitaxy expertise. Under the agreement, the companies will collaborate to demonstrate GaN epitaxy on Atomera's MST-enabled silicon wafers, with an initial focus on RF GaN-on-silicon applications and the aim of demonstrating best-in-class linearity and loss for high-volume RF markets. The project will center on the production and testing of MST-enabled GaN-on-silicon wafers, with the goal of rapidly developing the best achievable material and making samples available for foundry, IDM and fabless customer engagement. The companies anticipate a multi-cycle development process and the JDA leaves room to expand the work, both to further refine RF GaN and to pursue other GaN use cases including power electronics. This is a signed development agreement covering a planned development effort, with no production or commercialization results yet.
LS Eco Energy said in a regulatory filing on Oct. 26 that it plans to invest 64.9 billion won in a new medium-sized ultracapacitor (UC) cell production facility at its Vietnamese subsidiary, LS Cable & System Vietnam (LSCV), targeting AI data centers. The company also approved a 35 billion won capital increase in LSCV to finance part of the investment, equivalent to about 54% of the total facility spending. The facility will be built on unused land within LSCV's existing factory in Vietnam, with mass production scheduled to begin in April 2027 and facility investment expected to be completed by the end of June that year. LS Eco Energy aims to generate approximately 150 billion won in annual revenue from its ultracapacitor business by 2030. The Vietnam facility is intended to support LS Materials' growing overseas orders: on Oct. 13, LS Materials signed an ultracapacitor supply agreement worth approximately $51.5 million with a US hydrogen fuel cell company and is negotiating additional supply contracts. LS Eco Energy will manufacture ultracapacitors as an OEM using technology owned by LS Materials, and plans to reduce production costs by taking advantage of Vietnam's relatively low labor and utility expenses while considering further investment depending on additional orders.
ultracapacitor (UC)medium-sized ultracapacitor cellLS Eco Energy, LS Cable & System Vietnam (LSCV) and 3 totalThe ElecCapacity Change
Related manufacturers
LS Eco Energy, LS Cable & System Vietnam (LSCV), LS Materials
Singapore-based LFP battery recycling company NEU Battery Materials announced the oversubscribed close of its USD 7.6 million funding round, co-led by Shift4Good and SGInnovate, with participation from new investors including Lotus Singapore Group and M7 Holdings, as well as existing backers such as Paragon Ventures I. The funding comes off the back of NEU's newly commissioned 1,300-ton-per-year Singapore factory. The capital will support the planned ramp-up of producing battery-grade lithium from LFP feedstock such as cathode production scraps and end-of-life black mass, and the company's international expansion; CEO Bryan Oh said the funding will catalyse the scale-up and deployment of its modular LFP recycling technology.
Iron Device, a fabless mixed-signal semiconductor company, disclosed in a regulatory filing on Oct. 23 that CEO Park Ki-tae purchased 125,000 shares of the company on the open market, equivalent to about 0.9% of its total outstanding shares. Park, the company's largest shareholder, increased his holdings to 2.8 million shares, raising his ownership stake to 20.01%. He said the current share price does not fully reflect the company's intrinsic value and future growth potential, prompting his open-market purchase. The share purchase is an actual, completed transaction. As background, the company has built a portfolio of power management ICs (power ICs) for next-generation compound power semiconductors and plans to use these products to expand into humanoid robots, next-generation mobility and AI data centers; it began mass production of its SMA6533 high-performance gate driver IC for gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors in the third quarter, and is supplying samples of driver IC chips for humanoid robot joint actuators to several global customers, with revenue contribution expected next year. Iron Device reported consolidated revenue of approximately 10.4 billion won in the first half of this year, surpassing its full-year 2025 revenue of 10.1 billion won, while its net loss for the period narrowed about 33% from a year earlier to 1.681 billion won.
Fabless semiconductor company Global Technology said at the second Auto Semicon Korea 2026 (ASK 2026), held at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Pangyo on Oct. 21, that it has begun its first mass production of automotive semiconductors in collaboration with Hyundai Mobis. The product entering mass production is the ID804 smart light-emitting diode (LED) multi-chip module (MCM) for automotive interior ambient lighting; the package integrates three red, green and blue (RGB) LED chips with a control chip and has been selected for use in Hyundai Motor and Kia vehicles. Hyundai Mobis provided the product specifications and validation requirements, while Global Technology designed the chip to meet those standards. CEO Kim Min-sun said the company established itself in the high-barrier automotive semiconductor market thanks to Hyundai Mobis' ASK ecosystem and active cooperation, and will expand its portfolio into power, communications and displays based on the first mass-produced product. The company established an evaluation framework based on AEC-Q100 and AEC-Q102-003 and incorporated ISO 26262 from the initial design stage. Based on the ID804, it is developing an integrated semiconductor handling power supply and signal communications as well as a next-generation CAN communication chip, and is jointly developing automotive display backlight driver chips with Hyundai Mobis; the two companies plan to cooperate in expanding into overseas markets.
automotive interior ambient lighting LED multi-chip modulepower supply and signal communications integrated semiconductor (in development)automotive CAN communication chip (in development)Global Technology, Hyundai Mobis and 4 totalThe Elec
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Global Technology, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Motor, Kia
According to industry sources on Oct. 23, Dowoo Insys is developing ultra-thin glass (UTG) protective cover windows for rollable OLED displays used in automotive center information displays (CIDs) and entertainment screens, in cooperation with a major South Korean automotive electronics company. The product protects the OLED panel surface; rollable displays that extend and retract require flexible protective glass, for which plastic films have been used. Development is understood to be at an intermediate stage, with an industry source saying it is about halfway complete; in addition to the protective glass, the OLED panel and the extend-retract mechanism must also be developed, and the components must be integrated into a finished product after performance verification. If development proceeds as planned, commercialization could take place between the second half of 2027 and 2028; actual adoption in vehicles will depend on automakers' decisions. The company is also considering a separate equipment investment, since automotive rollable glass differs from smartphone UTG in size and processing requirements and requires dedicated equipment; Vietnam is among the potential production locations, while its second factory under construction in Vietnam is intended for smartphone UTG production and is separate from the proposed automotive investment. Background: Dowoo Insys began mass production of UTG for foldable smartphones in 2019, adopted in Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold series through Samsung Display, and in 2021 developed 14-inch S-shaped curved glass for automotive CIDs. Of the company's 85.7 billion won in revenue in the first half of 2026, UTG accounted for 82.6 billion won, or approximately 96%, with production and deliveries concentrated around new smartphone launches causing significant seasonal fluctuations. The company recently converted its exclusive supply agreement with Samsung Display into a three-year long-term agreement (LTA), and the automotive glass project is its first collaboration with another customer since the contract change. Automotive products are made in smaller volumes but can command relatively higher supply prices, particularly for premium vehicles, though development is technically demanding and adoption in production vehicles can take considerable time. The source does not state the cause.
ultra-thin glass (UTG) for automotive rollable OLED displaysDowoo InsysThe Elec
Intel confirmed on Oct. 22 local time that construction and equipment installation are underway at Fab 62 on its Ocotillo campus in Arizona, with plans to begin operating the facility by the end of 2028; the fab is expected to use the company's 1.4-nanometer-class Intel 14A process. Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and chief technology and operations officer of Intel Foundry, said Fab 62 will be the sixth high-volume manufacturing facility at the Ocotillo campus. Intel began constructing Fab 52 and Fab 62 in 2021; Fab 52 was completed in 2023 and has been mass-producing chips on the Intel 18A process (combining RibbonFET and PowerVia technologies) since late 2025. Intel's $28 billion plant in New Albany, Ohio, recently installed its first major roof truss; originally scheduled for completion in 2025, it is now expected to be completed in 2030 due to funding difficulties. Intel also plans to be the first in the industry to deploy High NA-EUV lithography equipment in mass production at its Oregon facility, carries out large-scale advanced packaging production in New Mexico, and has begun construction on a new mask manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, California.
SK Hyper, SK Telecom's AI data center subsidiary, has begun efforts to attract large-scale external investment, targeting completion of its first funding round by the end of 2026 or early 2027. According to a Bloomberg interview with CEO Jung Suk-geun on Oct. 23, the company is discussing financing options for AI data center development in South Korea with global technology companies and financial investors. SK Hyper plans to secure 15 gigawatts (GW) of data center capacity in South Korea by 2035 and aims to begin operating an initial 5GW in phases starting in 2029, with further expansion depending on market demand; Jung estimated the cost of developing the initial 5GW at approximately 462 trillion won ($350 billion). The specific investment structure and cost-sharing arrangements remain under discussion, and the company plans additional financing over the subsequent three to four years after the first round, with actual investment amounts and the pace of spending to be adjusted according to demand. Jung also raised the possibility of generating revenue from 2027, two years before the targeted start of operations at the first-phase data centers in 2029, though the company has not disclosed specific revenue-generating businesses or projected revenue figures. SK Hyper is an AI data center business development company established by SK Telecom in July, responsible for securing sites, building substations, attracting customers and commercializing projects; SK Telecom owns 100% of SK Hyper and has committed to investing 750 billion won in the subsidiary by 2030. SK Telecom CFO Park Jong-seok said during the company's second-quarter earnings announcement in August that SK Telecom intended to minimize its direct investment burden while retaining control over large-scale data center projects, using investments from strategic partners and project financing. The source notes the 15GW development plan remains a long-term business proposal; the company has not disclosed binding investment commitments from external investors or specific financing structures for individual data centers, and the pace of future expansion is expected to depend on securing power supplies, development sites and corporate customers, as well as the prospects for recovering investment costs.
AI数据中心容量AI data center capacitySK Hyper, SK TelecomThe Elec
Infineon said on Oct. 21 local time that it is expanding its collaboration with Nvidia on 800V direct current (DC) power conversion technology for AI data centers, and will supply gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors and control solutions for devices that step down 800V to intermediate voltages used by server boards — high-voltage intermediate bus converters (HV IBCs). The initiative builds on a partnership announced in 2025, which focused on protection circuits for 800V server racks. Infineon supports configurations that step down 800V to 50V, 12V and 6V, and will supply an integrated IBC system solution combining its GaN power semiconductors, PSoC Control C3 controllers and EiceDRIVER product family. Infineon said its technology can achieve switching frequencies of up to 1MHz. Nvidia is developing an architecture that delivers 800V DC directly to server racks, alongside conventional AC and low-voltage DC approaches. The source states that growing GPU power consumption, with per-rack power reaching megawatt levels, is driving interest in 800V DC systems. This is an announced supply arrangement and does not confirm completed shipments or production.
GaN power semiconductorsHV IBC (high-voltage intermediate bus converters)PSoC Control C3 controllersInfineon, NvidiaThe ElecPartnership/M&A
Researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo, Yokohama National University, AIST, and the Photonics Electronics Technology Research Association (PETRA) published a technical paper titled “Reduced-DSP 200G/λ Low-Voltage Slow-Light Silicon Modulator Enabled by Built-In EO Equalizer.” The abstract excerpt states that multi-Tb/s optical interconnects for artificial intelligence data centers necessitate high-speed, energy-efficient, and compact transceivers, but that conventional silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators have related limitations (the excerpt is truncated with an ellipsis). The research achieved a reduced-DSP 200G/λ low-voltage slow-light silicon modulator with a built-in EO equalizer, reaching 200 Gb/s PAM4. This is a published research paper and technology-advancement background item, not a price movement or supply-demand event; the source does not state any cause or commercialization timeline.
silicon photonic modulatorsilicon Mach-Zehnder modulatorInstitute of Science Tokyo, Yokohama National University and 4 totalSemiconductor Engineering
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Institute of Science Tokyo, Yokohama National University, AIST, Photonics Electronics Technology Research Association (PETRA)
Mivium, Inc., a US-based materials technology company in Fremont, California co-founded in 2022 by Eric Tsai (CEO), stated in an interview that it produces submicron gallium nitride (GaN) powder and has just published independently characterized results. The announced material is phase-pure hexagonal wurtzite GaN in a 300 to 500 nanometer range with uniform distribution and faceted morphology, confirmed by independent third-party characterization using SEM, EDS, XRD, XPS, GDMS and ICP-MS. The company is US-based and has raised more than $10.5 million. Target applications are crystal growth, substrate development and thin-film work; the company states it is not a wafer or device company and does not assume its powder drops into every epitaxy flow, with fit being application-specific. The same platform extends to other wide bandgap materials, including gallium oxide and boron nitride. On thin films, Mivium has completed initial in-house GaN deposition work derived from the powder platform, but describes it as early-stage R&D. The interview cites demand from AI power, EVs and RF pulling on upstream supply, and customer concerns about batch-to-batch repeatability and supply; these are company statements. The source does not report any price change, capacity change or supply-demand event.
SICC reported revenue of CNY 1.559 billion for the first three quarters of 2026, up 40.22% year on year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of CNY 27.2162 million, up 2,330.24% year on year. Third-quarter revenue reached CNY 646 million, up 102.89% YoY, and net profit totaled CNY 85.8329 million. 8-inch silicon carbide (SiC) substrates accounted for more than 50% of revenue in the third quarter. The growth is attributed to structural shifts in downstream demand, including rising adoption of 800V high-voltage platforms in new energy vehicles and AI server power supplies.
This is an interview with AJ Cooper, Co-Founder and CEO of Itera. Itera developed the first-of-its-kind 'fluid' circuit board, which uses liquid metal on glass substrates and electrowetting to rewire itself in real time, redrawing traces to match a new design in under a minute, aiming to compress the traditional PCB prototyping validation cycle (the source says it compresses a months-long process into days). Cooper holds a PhD in electrical engineering; his career included developing semiconductor equipment for GlobalFoundries, infrared night vision processes for FLIR, co-founding luxury smartwatch company Olio, and hardware roles at Uber and Lyft. Itera operates an electronics-as-a-service model with secure U.S.-based testing centers where customers get remote access to their 'Configurable Twin.' The source states that a top 5 global auto OEM and defense neoprimes have reserved Itera's production capacity, and that the company is talking with hyperscalers and chipset manufacturers; it also cites $50 billion spent annually on hardware development and validation. No specific component price movement, capacity cut or production halt is mentioned in the article.
Victor Lopez, Co-Founder and CTO of RaiderChip with over 20 years of experience in FPGA and ASIC design, gives an interview about the company. RaiderChip is a European fabless semiconductor company founded in 2024, developing a proprietary NPU architecture to bring Generative AI directly to edge devices; its business model combines chip development with licensing the NPU architecture as IP for integration into third-party SoCs. The technology targets Transformer inference, with strongest application areas in robotics, automotive, and industrial automation. The company is currently moving towards the tape-out of Kairós, its first-generation chip (a plan in progress, not yet completed); in the meantime it offers demonstrations on an FPGA-based NPU prototype that supports more than 50 models and is available for evaluation under a non-disclosure agreement. The company also presented a robotics demonstration: robots and their physics are simulated in MuJoCo, Google DeepMind's physics simulator, while the intelligence runs on real hardware, the Kairós FPGA-based NPU prototype; a speech recognition model transcribes instructions, a four-billion-parameter reasoning model interprets objectives and plans movements as a timed sequence of velocities, and all ten models, including speech recognition, reasoning, and robotic control policies, execute concurrently on a single NPU, locally and in real time, without any cloud connection. Lopez also cites customer concerns about technological sovereignty and strategic dependence on a small number of international suppliers of advanced technologies, noting recent geopolitical tensions and export restrictions on advanced hardware.
This is an interview with Lisa Spelman, CEO of Cornelis. She brings more than 20 years of experience across AI, cloud, enterprise infrastructure, data center operations, product strategy, and go-to-market leadership; before joining Cornelis she served as Corporate Vice President at Intel, where she led the Xeon Products and Solutions business within the Data Center & AI Group. At Cornelis she focuses on improving system utilization and reducing networking bottlenecks for AI infrastructure. The interview states: Cornelis is working on the third generation of its high-performance networking platform, with more than 50 OEM and ODM design wins; it is deployed in over 500 datacenters, including new large-scale deployments at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and the Texas Advanced Computing Center; and this month it announced the Active Compute Fabric, which adds programmable RISC-V cores at every hop across every NIC and switch to accelerate collectives, KV cache, and MoE routing, built on open standards (UALink and ESUN for scale-up, Ultra Ethernet for scale-out). The source does not state the cause; this is a background interview with no reported price, capacity, or supply-demand change.
PNT said on Oct. 23 that it will participate in C-TOUCH & DISPLAY SHENZHEN 2026 and FILM & TAPE EXPO 2026, scheduled for Oct. 27–29 in Shenzhen, China, to showcase its high-speed, high-precision roll-to-roll equipment and web handling technology targeting China's display and functional film markets. PNT plans to identify local customers, expand opportunities for equipment orders, assess equipment demand among local companies, and pursue discussions on new equipment supply contracts. The article notes that Chinese manufacturers are expanding production capacity for related materials, particularly those used in high-value-added products such as foldable and automotive displays. This is a participation plan and prospective contract discussions; no confirmed supply contract has been reported.
roll-to-roll equipmentoptical films for displaysindustrial functional materialsPNTThe Elec