Electronics production growth accelerating, says SI

What happened

Semiconductor Intelligence reports that growth in electronics production has been accelerating in 2026. Three-month-average change versus a year ago for U.S. electronics production was 8.1% in August 2026, continuing an accelerating trend since October 2025; Japan moved from a 1.5% decline in January 2026 to a 17.6% increase in August 2026; the EU 27 moved from a 10.5% decline in January 2026 to 16.9% growth in July 2026. Taiwan showed three-month-average year-over-year growth over 100% for most months of 2026, with production more than doubling in 2026, driven largely by demand for Nvidia AI modules; TSMC manufactures the ICs and other Taiwanese companies assemble the ICs and other components into modules. In August 2026, three-month-average year-over-year change was 71% for Thailand, 40% for Vietnam, 22% for Malaysia, 18% for South Korea, and 17% for China; India was up 14% in July 2026. Despite the manufacturing strength, according to IDC, PC shipments in Q3 2026 were down 20% year-over-year and smartphone shipments were down 22%; for the full year 2026, IDC projects PC shipments will decline 11.3% and smartphones will drop 13.9%. The declines are primarily due to shortages and pricing of memory: AI applications are driving huge demand for memory and pushing up prices for both DRAM and flash memory, with memory costs in 3Q 2026 up 350% from a year ago according to IDC. The source states the AI boom is behind the high growth rates in electronics and semiconductors, while AI demand is resulting in declines in other electronics markets.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: Electronics Weekly · 10/22/2026 · View original source