June 11, 2026

Global Semiconductor Equipment Billings Increased 14% Year-Over-Year in Q1 2026 SEMI reports global semiconductor equipment billings rose 14% year over year to $36.55B in Q1 2026, with 1% quarter over quarter growth. AI-driven investment in leading-edge logic, DRAM, and advanced packaging fuels record first-quarter momentum. SEMI

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Samsung May Announce New Gwangju Advanced Packaging Base by End-June Amid Capacity Expansion Samsung Electronics plans an advanced packaging plant in Gwangju, marking its first packaging base in 35 years and major fab start in 11 years, as it expands HBM capacity, hybrid bonding transition, and global testing investments across Korea and Vietnam. TrendForce

RAIG Minimizes Corrosion, Allows Higher Gold on ENEPIG Paper describes a mixed reaction RAIG electrolyte that minimizes galvanic corrosion and allows higher ENEPIG gold thicknesses, enabling robust designs and world-class quality on target with minimal variation. Technical Paper

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TSMC reports record revenue of NT$417 billion TSMC posted a record NT$416.98 billion in May revenue, surpassing its previous monthly high and rising 30.1% year over year. Strong demand lifted revenue to NT$1.96 trillion in the first five months of 2026, keeping the chipmaker on pace for record quarterly sales. Taipei Times

Jensen Huang is talking up his suppliers, and it is worrying Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's bullish comments on AI, semiconductor supply chains and tech stocks have energized investors in Taiwan and South Korea. Critics warn the optimism could fuel speculative buying and overstretched valuations, calling for more measured guidance. Taipei Times

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Technical Papers 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 Novel Molded FCBGA Package Platform For Highly Reliable Automotive Applications MORE TECHNICAL PAPERS

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Taiwan did not 'steal' US technology Taiwan's semiconductor industry grew through legally structured technology transfers from U.S. firms in the 1970s, not theft. Pioneer Hu Ding-hua said transparent agreements and international standards guided the IC pilot factory, helping establish Taiwan's global chip leadership. Taipei Times

Startup Ricursive to Create an End-to-End AI Model for Chip Design Ricursive, founded by former Google AlphaChip leaders, raised $335 million to develop an AI chip design platform. The startup helps customers build workload-optimized custom chips, boosting efficiency over standard solutions without requiring in-house semiconductor expertise. EE Times

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Massive AI Storage Demand Creates a New Memory Wall AI is reviving the decades-old "Memory Wall" challenge as soaring LLM memory demands outpace DRAM and HBM capacity growth. Despite past performance advances, memory technologies now face mounting cost, energy, heat, and scalability pressures that threaten future AI expansion. EE Times

AI-Driven Memory Shortage Upends IT Budgets The AI infrastructure boom is creating acute DRAM and NAND shortages, straining enterprise budgets while boosting memory makers' profits. Strong cloud-provider demand lifted first-quarter 2026 NAND revenue 83.7%, driven by higher prices rather than increased output. EE Times

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Samsung, SK hynix weigh Gwangju packaging plants to bolster Korea AI chips Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are evaluating investments in advanced semiconductor packaging facilities in the Gwangju–South Jeolla region. The move aims to support the growing AI chip market while easing power and water constraints facing the region's semiconductor cluster. Chosun Biz

Building Multi-Agent Systems For ASIC Flows ChipAgents researcher Kexun Zhang says AI orchestrators speed complex problem-solving by assigning specialized roles and clear objectives to multiple agents. Coordinated agentic AI improves task decomposition, boosts efficiency and helps solve engineering-scale challenges. Semiconductor Engineering

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PCIe Benefits From AI, Despite Scaling Protocols PCIe continues to strengthen its role in AI infrastructure despite the rise of specialized AI scaling networks. Ongoing performance gains and growing interest in CXL, which builds on PCIe, are expanding their use in data centers and next-generation AI systems. Semiconductor Engineering

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