Taiwan boosts 2026 budget for 5 trusted industries, semiconductors and AI in spotlight

National Development Council (NDC) minister Chun-Hsien Yeh has pointed out that shifting global geopolitical risks are disrupting supply chains. To adapt, Taiwan aims to seize the AI trend by advancing its “five trusted industries” that are closely linked with AI development. The government’s strategy includes promoting 10 major AI infrastructure projects to generate over NT$15 trillion (US$462 billion) in output value, driving nationwide industrial upgrades through AI commercialization and integration toward becoming a smart nation.

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Nvidia defends GPU lead as Google TPU gains traction in AI chip market

Nvidia has asserted that its graphics processing unit (GPU) platform remains a full generation ahead of its competitors, responding to increased attention on Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip sector. The company emphasized that GPUs provide greater versatility and performance than specialized ASIC chips like the TPU.

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China submits 96 papers to top chip design conference, nearly double US and South Korea

The International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) will take place from February 15 to 19, 2026, in San Francisco, US, with MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai delivering the opening keynote on semiconductor innovation amid the AI era. The conference highlights a surge in submissions and shifting geographic leadership in integrated circuit (IC) design research.

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Commentary: ASML hit by explosive spy allegations, testing limits of semiconductor neutrality

Dutch lithography leader ASML is facing an unprecedented wave of scrutiny after the publication of a new book, De belangrijkste machine ter wereld (“The Most Important Machine in the World”). The release has thrust the company into a debate unlike any it has previously encountered, sharply contrasting with the cooperative, ASML-endorsed narrative presented a year earlier in Focus – The ASML Way.

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DDR4 supply crunch pressures margins for industrial and consumer electronics

The ongoing shortage of memory chips is sending ripples through the industrial-computer, networking, and consumer-electronics sectors, raising costs and straining profit margins. Several networking companies acknowledge that tight DDR4 supply has become a structural issue, affecting nearly all product lines. Analysts and executives warn that gross margins could come under sustained pressure through 2026, prompting firms to negotiate with customers to share the burden of rising costs.

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Kumamoto pushes for third TSMC plant with packaging, R&D focus

Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura visited TSMC’s headquarters in Hsinchu on November 24, 2025, as part of a semiconductor investment promotion event in Taipei, saying the chipmaker remains strongly interested in expanding in Japan. The visit included talks with senior TSMC executives overseeing investments and industry-academia cooperation and marked Kimura’s second trip to TSMC this year.

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