TOK completes $76M chip chemical plant in Pyeongtaek, Korea
The Japanese supplier built the high-purity chemical facility to serve Samsung and SK hynix directly, with commercial operations scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027.
Semiconductors & AI Hardware
RSSMemory, foundry, equipment and materials across Korea, China and Japan — and the export rules that bound them.
SK hynix denies US memory fab deal with Intel at Ohio site
The South Korean memory maker refuted reports of leasing space at Intel's New Albany facility, while Seoul noted any HBM transfer…
Korea signs uranium and nuclear pacts with Kazakhstan in Seoul
The 13 bilateral pacts signed Sept. 15 target uranium from the top global producer and establish a joint critical metals…
MediaTek debuts first 2nm mobile AP built on TSMC N2P node
The Dimensity 9600 Pro leapfrogs Qualcomm to secure TSMC nanosheet capacity, cutting multicore power consumption by up to 61%…
Hanmi Semiconductor Wins Tool Order for Musk's Terafab PlantMembers
The South Korean packaging toolmaker secures its first supply contract for Elon Musk's Texas AI fab, though formal regulatory…
Japan, Uzbekistan agree to refine critical minerals locally for export
A bilateral memorandum between TMK and Mitsubishi targets tungsten, molybdenum and lithium processing to reduce Tokyo's reliance…
SK hynix taps TSMC for 3D DRAM logic, diverging from Samsung in 2026
The memory maker is outsourcing peripheral circuit fabrication to Taiwanese foundries, challenging Samsung Electronics' vertical…
Pentagon backs Elmet with $450 million for tungsten capacity
The equity commitment funds domestic processing plants and a Nevada mine restart to curb reliance on China, which controls…
China Gas buys US LNG from Venture Global under 20-year pact
The 0.5-million-tonne annual purchase expands the Chinese distributor's contracted volume from Louisiana export terminals to 2.5…
China and South Africa advance battery mineral refining pact
Beijing seeks overseas processing hubs to bypass Western trade barriers as Pretoria demands that refiners add value to its 37%…
TSMC revenue rises 53% on AI demand to record NT$514 billion
The Taiwanese contract chipmaker reached NT$514.81 billion in August sales as advanced-node orders widened its global foundry…
AMD Reaffirms TSMC Alliance While Evaluating Rival Foundries
The chip designer projected an AI market of up to $3 trillion by 2030, keeping its wafer volume anchored at TSMC while conducting…
DeepSeek cuts AI memory use 75%, rattling global chipmakers
The Chinese startup compressed key-value cache memory in its DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash model, erasing up to 3.5% of market value at…
OpenAI denies Samsung foundry deal for custom AI processors
A clarification follows Seoul executive remarks on joint chip work, keeping TSMC as primary fabricator while preserving Samsung…
TSMC Reaffirms 2028 Target for 1.4nm Chips at Taichung Fab
Taiwan's park authority moves Fab 25 completion to April 2027, but the foundry giant leaves its commercial A14 manufacturing…
SK hynix and foundries advance hybrid bonding for AI silicon in 2027
TSMC tasks Asian suppliers with developing five-micrometer microbumps while Samsung and SK hynix prepare direct copper…
CXMT beats SK hynix and Micron in DRAM margin at 87.59% gross rate
A second-quarter gross margin of 87.59% propelled the Chinese memory maker past foreign rivals as heavy domestic demand and…
TSMC widens High-NA EUV alliance to build 12-inch photomasks by 2031
The foundry expanded supplier partnerships on Sept. 10 to establish larger reticle formats with ASML, targeting a 40% scanner…
Axcelis Invests $35 Million in South Korea Equipment Plant
The Massachusetts-based toolmaker will construct a 200,000-square-foot facility in Pyeongtaek to supply ion implanters directly…
Honda invests in Niron Magnetics for rare-earth-free magnets
The Japanese automaker joined US venture backers to scale iron nitride production in Minnesota, aiming to insulate its electric…
Kioxia Rejects SK hynix Flash Alliance to Guard SanDisk Ties
Chief Executive Hiroo Ota ruled out three-way manufacturing talks, citing antitrust barriers and an existing $31 billion…
SMIC narrows foundry gap with Samsung as Q2 sales surge 20%
The Chinese chipmaker captured 5.4% of the global market with $3.0 billion in quarterly revenue, trailing Samsung by just 0.5…
Korea and France sign nuclear fuel and strategic tech pact
The bilateral agreements secure Western uranium enrichment for Korean reactors, establish high-level civil nuclear talks and back…
Samsung opens Yokohama chip packaging lab to rival TSMC lead
The $280 million research site secures Japanese state subsidies to integrate domestic materials suppliers into Samsung's backend…