TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei disclosed at the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call that the foundry is collaborating with a customer on next-generation LPU development —a remark that stopped short of naming Nvidia— but that supply chain observers widely read as signaling TSMC’s intent to compete for the inference chip business currently manufactured by Samsung.

TSMC laid out its capacity expansion plans and advanced node progress at its first quarter 2026 earnings call. Chairman C.C. Wei reaffirmed Taiwan as the primary base for leading-edge production, citing close coordination with its research and development teams.

Taiwanese drone manufacturer Thunder Tiger Group is developing a domestic version of the Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, modeled on systems deployed by the US in recent conflicts, as it seeks to build a cost advantage through manufacturing scale.

Passive component manufacturer Yageo held its first-quarter 2026 online earnings call on April 15, reporting strong financial results. Company CEO David Wang said that robust demand from applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) boosted sales of both standard and specialty products. Combined with the gradual impact of price increases, this drove significant growth in revenue and profits for the quarter, exceeding previous projections.

China’s smartphone market contracted in the first quarter of 2026, but stronger-than-expected demand for premium devices from Huawei and Apple helped cushion the decline and reshape industry priorities.

TSMC posted a record profit of NT$572.48 billion (US$18.06 billion) in the first quarter of 2026, marking another high in overall performance. For the second quarter of 2026, TSMC guided revenue between US$39 billion and US$42 billion, up 8.6% to 17% sequentially, or NT$1.236 trillion to NT$1.331 trillion at NT$31.7 per US dollar. Gross margin is forecast at 65.5%–67.5%, with operating margin at 56.5%–58.5%.