August 7, 2026

Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 35.1% from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026 Global semiconductor sales surged to $403.3 billion in Q2 2026, up 35.1% from Q1, while June sales reached $134.5 billion, rising 123.6% year over year. Strong demand across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and China keeps the industry on pace to top $1.5 trillion in 2026. Semiconductor Industry Association

Sponsor Premier Semiconductor Packaging Event 3 days featuring 5 technical tracks, 100 exhibitors, panels, posters, professional development, along with strong industry engagement. Keynotes from Qualcomm, Marvell, and Cerebras. IMAPS 2026 on September 28. IMAPS

18 Chinese Enterprises Accelerate Positions in Glass Core Substrate Market Tech giants are accelerating TGV glass substrate development for AI chips as Intel, BOE, Samsung Display, and Corning expand investments. Glass promises faster interconnects, denser packaging, and better thermal performance, with broader adoption expected after 2030. TrendForce

Revolutionizing IC Packaging with High-Density RDL Technology Amkor's S-SWIFT packaging technology addresses advanced IC packaging challenges through an embedded trace RDL process, providing higher bandwidth die-to-die interconnects for AI, HPC, and data center applications with improved reliability. Technical Paper

Sponsor SB²® Solder Ball Jetting: Fast, Clean, Reliable Achieve fast, precise, and clean solder ball placement with SB²®—ideal for flip chip, reballing, and advanced packaging from wafer to panel level. Learn More. PacTech

AMD buys chip startup that hardwires AI models into its silicon AMD is acquiring AI inference startup Taalas to expand beyond GPUs and strengthen its AI systems portfolio. The deal adds custom inference chip technology to AMD's roadmap, supporting faster, lower-cost AI workloads while enhancing its rack-scale infrastructure strategy. CNBC

AI Chip Startup Taalas Acquired by AMD AMD acquired AI inference startup Taalas, bringing its team into its AI division to strengthen inference technology. The deal boosts AMD's strategy for faster, model-specific AI chips and expands its ability to compete with Nvidia in high-performance AI inference solutions. EE Times

Sponsor Number 1 in bond testers Sigma is the best bond tester the market has to offer. It comes with game-changing automation capabilities for operator-free loading, testing, and analyzing. Learn more. xyztec

Technical Papers A New Optical Ball Grid Array Package Development for Automotive Optical Sensor Automated X-Ray Metrology: Enhancing Quality and Efficiency in Wafer and Panel-Level Applications Alpha Particle Emissions: An Overlooked Risk for Soft Errors in Advanced Packaging Revolutionizing IC Packaging with High-Density RDL Technology EOTPR Fine pitch probing for die-to-die interconnect failure analysis in chiplet devices Die-on-Tab for Compound Semiconductors: Enabling Advanced RF Power Systems Package Assembly Design Kits: The Future of Advanced Package Design MORE TECHNICAL PAPERS

Sponsor OntosIS Atmospheric Plasma System The ONTOS Plasma Head is available for integration into third party equipment. The Plasma Curtain is available in several widths to enable optimization of the gas consumption on smaller devices. Ontos Equipment Systems

Winbond to expand Kaohsiung fab Winbond will expand its Kaohsiung fab starting in 2027, adding DRAM capacity and adopting EUV lithography to capitalize on booming AI memory demand. The company expects persistent supply shortages, higher memory prices & continued earnings growth throughout AI memory supercycle. Taipei Times

GlobalFoundries' Growth Makes the Case for a U.S. Photonics Buildout GlobalFoundries delivered strong second-quarter growth as surging AI data center demand fueled revenue and accelerated its silicon photonics expansion. Supported by a proposed $300 million U.S. award, the company is boosting optical capacity, connectivity and future margins. EE Times

Sponsor Automotive chips need materials that DO NOT fail We asked semiconductor specialists what defines the future of automotive packaging. Reliability, thermal management, and sustainability topped the list. Free Research Report. Henkel AG & Co.

Beyond the Fab: Building Europe's Next Generation of Semiconductor Champions Europe must broaden its semiconductor strategy beyond manufacturing by investing in chip design, IP, product companies, and talent. Building a stronger innovation ecosystem will create global chip champions, boost technological sovereignty, and secure long-term industry leadership. EE Times

Separating The Chaff From The Wheat: Focusing On Only The RDC Violations You Care About Modern SoCs make reset domain crossing (RDC) verification increasingly complex, generating thousands of false violations. An STA-aware approach isolates true metastability risks, eliminates verification noise, reduces debug time, and speeds design sign-off while preserving reliability. Semiconductor Engineering

Sponsor Highly Thermally & Electrically Conductive TLPS via Filing Paste New filing highlights advanced sintered metal paste enabling faster installation, superior heat dissipation, higher conductivity, and reliable thermal drain performance without long processing cycles. Ormet TLPS

AI: Friend And Foe For Chip Security AI is reshaping chip security by helping engineers detect vulnerabilities while creating new risks through opaque models and autonomous agents. Experts urge continuous validation, cross-layer monitoring, data sharing, and lifecycle security to counter evolving AI-driven cyber threats. Semiconductor Engineering

As Space Gets Connected, Security Gets Critical Commercial lunar and Mars missions are accelerating development of secure space networks. NASA's LunaNet, RF, optical links, edge computing, and zero-trust security will enable high-speed communications while protecting satellites, rovers, and future deep-space missions. Semiconductor Engineering

Sponsor Dedicated Tool for Process Development Advanced plating capability at Uyemura Tech Center: Process Development, UBM, pilot production. ENIG, ENEPIG, EPIG/EPAG, RAIG immersion gold; all substrates. On-site analysis. Uyemura

The Next Big Chip Failure May Be A Security One Chip security experts urge teams to embed security from the earliest design stages, making it a core engineering requirement. Early planning, hardware roots of trust, AI-assisted verification, and regulatory compliance reduce risk, improve resilience, and avoid costly redesigns. Semiconductor Engineering

Sponsor Safely Remove Underfilled BGAs Without Damaging the Circuit Board Learn how cold precision milling techniques enable the removal of underfilled BGAs while minimizing risk to components, circuit traces, and board integrity. Circuit Technology Center