Taiwan’s printed circuit board (PCB) industry is set for robust growth in 2025, supported by strong demand from AI servers amid a weakening traditional smartphone market. The Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) highlighted that despite external uncertainties such as exchange rate fluctuations and tariff negotiations, the sector benefits from price hikes driven by tight supply of high-end materials, leading to increases in both volume and prices.

Honda Motor Company announced on Wednesday that it would suspend or reduce production at several factories in Japan and China starting late this month, the latest sign that a global scramble for automotive semiconductors continues to haunt the industry’s recovery.

Intel has completed acceptance testing of the industry’s first commercial high-NA EUV lithography system with a numerical aperture of 0.55, the ASML Twinscan EXE:5200B, laying the foundation for mass production of its 14A process node. This milestone marks the transition of high-NA EUV technology from research and development verification to high-volume manufacturing (HVM), enabling wafer throughput of 175 per hour and reinforcing Intel’s efforts to reclaim leadership in advanced semiconductor processes.

On December 17, Rapidus announced a new suite of AI-based semiconductor design tools under its Rapidus AI-Assisted Design Solution (Raads), aimed at supporting the company’s Rapid and Unified Manufacturing Service (RUMS) concept. The technology will be rebranded as Rapidus AI-Agentic Design Solution, with multiple tools scheduled for release starting in 2026. Customers will receive the tools alongside a process design kit (PDK) and reference flows.