LG Display, the world's leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it plans to make an investment in new OLED technologies at the trillion-KRW level to enhance its technological competitiveness and growth foundation. The company's board met on June 17 and approved an investment of KRW 1.26 trillion in new OLED technologies to secure a leading position in the display market.

It will focus on infrastructure development, including facilities for applying new OLED technologies. The investment period has been set for approximately two years, from June 17, 2025, to June 30, 2027. This investment is part of LG Display's mid- to long-term capital expenditure (CAPEX) plan, and efforts to improve the company's financial structure will continue independently of it.

How NVIDIA's AI factory platform balances maximum performance and minimum latency, optimizing AI inference to power the next industrial revolution. When we prompt generative AI to answer a question or create an image, large language models generate tokens of intelligence that combine to provide the result. One prompt. One set of tokens for the answer. This is called AI inference. Agentic AI uses reasoning to complete tasks. AI agents aren't just providing one-shot answers. They break tasks down into a series of steps, each one a different inference technique. One prompt. Many sets of tokens to complete the job.

The engines of AI inference are called AI factories—massive infrastructures that serve AI to millions of users at once. AI factories generate AI tokens. Their product is intelligence. In the AI era, this intelligence grows revenue and profits. Growing revenue over time depends on how efficient the AI factory can be as it scales. AI factories are the machines of the next industrial revolution.

During a recent Gigabyte Nan-Ping factory tour, members of the media/press encountered trays of brand-new bare motherboards and graphics cards. HWCooling's Jan Olšan noticed the presence of a not-yet-launched RDNA 4 product. Fortunately, the manufacturer granted photo access (two examples are below). A full report outlined multiple products and production pipelines, but Olšan's scoop serves as a nice preview of things to come. We anticipate TechPowerUp's W1zzard de-shrouding of numerous custom Radeon RX 9060 XT designs, early on next month. Prior to the publication of comprehensive evaluations, HWCooling's article provided an early insight: "a wild Radeon RX 9060 XT appears…take note of the graphics card in the top-right corner of the first lot of PCBs—this is likely the first publicly shown PCB of the Radeon RX 9060 XT, which, technically speaking, may still be under NDA. So enjoy this privileged look at the exposed Navi 44 chip."

Olšan linked the factory specimen to a freshly revealed design: "the card will go on sale June 5, with reviews a day earlier. Its design matches AMD's official renderings, and its identity is further pointed at by the unusual three display connectors. This should be the PCB for the Gaming version of the card, or more specifically, the Gaming OC model with three fans. The cooler will significantly overhang the PCB, with a pass-through window under the last fan." Last week, the TechPowerUp team spent hands-on time with Gigabyte's premium Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC SKU. Prior to Computex 2025, product registration information pointed to the Taiwanese manufacturer readying Gaming OC 16 GB and 8 GB variants. Curiously, the company's RDNA 4 custom card portfolio is represented by a lone ultra-premium AORUS ELITE flagship option and various triple-fan Gaming OC models.

The wait is over! Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure, the cozy-meets-complex blend of automation and real-time strategy, is out now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, delivering its complete and most polished version yet. Developed by Massive Miniteam and published by HandyGames, Oddsparks invites players to explore strange fantasy worlds, tame the terrain, and build sprawling logistics systems using a delightful crew of Sparks, tiny, oddball helpers that carry, craft, clean, and even defend your base.

From towering trains to botanical production lines, from base defense battles to sandbox-style customization, Oddsparks 1.0 is automation unleashed.

Marvell Technology, Inc., a leader in data infrastructure semiconductor solutions, today announced it is teaming with NVIDIA to offer NVLink Fusion technology to customers employing Marvell custom cloud platform silicon. NVLink Fusion is an innovative new offering from NVIDIA for integrating custom XPU silicon with NVIDIA NVLink connectivity, rack-scale hardware architecture, software and other technology, providing customers with greater flexibility and choice in developing next-generation AI infrastructure.

The Marvell custom platform strategy seeks to deliver breakthrough results through unique semiconductor designs and innovative approaches. By combining expertise in system and semiconductor design, advanced process manufacturing, and a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor platform solutions and IP—including electrical and optical serializer/deserializers (SerDes), die-to-die interconnects for 2D and 3D devices, advanced packaging, silicon photonics, co-packaged copper, custom high-bandwidth memory (HBM), system-on-chip (SoC) fabrics, optical IO, and compute fabric interfaces such as PCIe Gen 7—Marvell is able to create platforms in collaboration with customers that transform infrastructure performance, efficiency and value.

AI is creating value for everyone—from researchers in drug discovery to quantitative analysts navigating financial market changes. The faster an AI system can produce tokens, a unit of data used to string together outputs, the greater its impact. That's why AI factories are key, providing the most efficient path from "time to first token" to "time to first value." AI factories are redefining the economics of modern infrastructure. They produce intelligence by transforming data into valuable outputs—whether tokens, predictions, images, proteins or other forms—at massive scale.

They help enhance three key aspects of the AI journey—data ingestion, model training and high-volume inference. AI factories are being built to generate tokens faster and more accurately, using three critical technology stacks: AI models, accelerated computing infrastructure and enterprise-grade software. Read on to learn how AI factories are helping enterprises and organizations around the world convert the most valuable digital commodity—data—into revenue potential.

Pioneer has quietly confirmed that it has ended production of internal and external Blu-ray optical disc drives (ODDs), for computers. Rumors about the cessation of manufacturing activities emerged earlier this month; with a small number of Japanese news outlets publishing reports. Days later, an official company statement turned up in a low-key manner—via the brand's Japanese web portal. As of late April, shares of the Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing (PDDM) subsidiary were transferred to Shanxi Lightchain Technology Industrial Development Co., Ltd. Pioneer's optical disc-related businesses is now owned by the giant (Chinese) Shanxi Group. Commenting on shifting market conditions, a Pioneer Japan representative stated: "while we are moving forward with selection and concentration, centered on our car electronics business, we have come to the decision that it is preferable to advance the optical disc business with a new partner, rather than remaining within our group."

The Pioneer IT Japan webstore is due to close on May 30; as disclosed in a mid-April bulletin. In addition, NotebookCheck highlighted the complete lack of optical drive stock for North American webshop customers. At the time of writing, Pioneer's official Amazon.com presence still offers a small selection of portable slimline models. A chunkier external premium option—the BDR-X13U-S BDXL Blu-ray recorder—was launched only six months ago, so the firm's sudden change of heart is quite surprising. What Hi-Fi? noted that Pioneer's AV/home cinema division has not released any new 4K Blu-ray player products since 2019. Three months ago, Sony shuttered its last optical media factory, in Japan—signalling an end of an era. The vast majority of consumers have turned their backs on physical formats; instead favoring digital/streaming channels. In a refreshing (early 2025) PR piece, Verbatim and I-O DATA expressed their (joint) commitment to producing high-quality optical discs.

NVIDIA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have announced partnerships to transform the country into a global powerhouse in AI, cloud and enterprise computing, digital twins and robotics. During a state visit today with U.S. President Donald Trump and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang said that the effort will harness sovereign AI infrastructure and expertise to propel Saudi Arabia to the ranks of global hyperscale AI leaders. "AI, like electricity and internet, is essential infrastructure for every nation," Huang said. "Together with HUMAIN, we are building AI infrastructure for the people and companies of Saudi Arabia to realize the bold vision of the Kingdom."

"Our partnership with NVIDIA is a bold step forward in realizing the Kingdom's ambitions to lead in AI and advanced digital infrastructure," said Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN. "Together, we are building the capacity, capability and a new globally enabled community to shape a future powered by intelligent technology and empowered people."

In the last few weeks, Intel rolled out two new performance‑enhancing presets for its Core Ultra 200S "Arrow Lake" processors: Intel Performance Optimizations (IPO) and the factory‑approved 200S Boost overclocking profile. Independent benchmarks shared by a BiliBili user reveal that IPO delivers a slightly stronger uplift in gaming performance compared with 200S Boost. Testing centered on a Core Ultra 7 265K paired with DDR5‑8000 memory and a GeForce RTX 5090D. Seven modern titles were measured at 4K with DLSS enabled where supported. Three system presets were compared: a baseline with XMP‑enabled DDR5‑8000, Intel's 200S Boost, and Intel IPO. Under 200S Boost, Intel ramps the chip's Die‑to‑Die (D2D) fabric from 2.1 GHz to 3.2 GHz and the Next‑Generation Uncore (NGU) fabric from 2.6 GHz to 3.2 GHz, while maintaining factory CPU clock speeds. By contrast, IPO takes a more holistic approach: P‑core and E‑core boost clocks rise to 5.4 GHz and 4.9 GHz (from 5.2 GHz/4.9 GHz), the ring bus ticks up to 4.0 GHz (from 3.8 GHz), and memory is overdriven to DDR5‑8400 with tightened timings.

IPO's D2D and NGU fabrics run at 3.1 GHz due to power-and-thermal headroom trade-offs. Across the board, IPO edged out 200S Boost by roughly 2% in average frame rates and 1% in the 1% lows. In Forza Horizon 5, IPO delivered 274 FPS versus 269 FPS on 200S Boost, with 1% lows of 198 FPS (+1 FPS). Cyberpunk 2077 saw a 3% jump to 297 FPS average and a 6% gain in 1% lows. Total War: Warhammer III's averages climbed 6%, while 1% lows rose 9% under IPO. The most pronounced advantage appeared in Counter‑Strike 2 (tested at 1080p), where IPO boosted averages by 16% and 1% lows by 20 %. Watch Dogs: Legion also benefited, with an 8% average and 9% low‑end uplift. These results suggest that IPO's balanced tuning of CPU cores, ring bus, interconnects, and memory yields consistent, measurable gains over the simpler fabric‑focused 200S Boost profile. Intel has yet to greenlight the IPO's broader rollout beyond its initial OEM launch in China, but these early figures hint at meaningful real‑world improvements for Arrow Lake gamers.

LG unveiled the Dream Factory, a hub for the production of FC-BGAs (Flip Chip Ball Grid Arrays), the company's next-generation growth engine, to the media for the first time and announced it on the 30th April.

In 2022, LG Innotek announced its plans to launch a business producing FC-BGAs, high-value semiconductor substrates. To build the Dream Factory, the company acquired LG Electronics' Gumi 4 Factory and began full-scale mass production in February 2024.

As enterprises increasingly adopt AI, securing AI factories—where complex, agentic workflows are executed—has never been more critical. NVIDIA is bringing runtime cybersecurity to every AI factory with a new NVIDIA DOCA software framework, part of the NVIDIA cybersecurity AI platform. Running on the NVIDIA BlueField networking platform, NVIDIA DOCA Argus operates on every node to immediately detect and respond to attacks on AI workloads, integrating seamlessly with enterprise security systems to deliver instant threat insights. The DOCA Argus framework provides runtime threat detection by using advanced memory forensics to monitor threats in real time, delivering detection speeds up to 1,000x faster than existing agentless solutions—without impacting system performance.

Unlike conventional tools, Argus runs independently of the host, requiring no agents, integration or reliance on host-based resources. This agentless, zero-overhead design enhances system efficiency and ensures resilient security in any AI compute environment, including containerized and multi-tenant infrastructures. By operating outside the host, Argus remains invisible to attackers—even in the event of a system compromise. Cybersecurity professionals can seamlessly integrate the framework with their SIEM, SOAR and XDR security platforms, enabling continuous monitoring and automated threat mitigation and extending their existing cybersecurity capabilities for AI infrastructure.

AMD is said to be gearing up to sell its AI server assembly facility in the U.S., and it's drawing a lot of interest from Taiwanese OEM manufacturers and others. Bloomberg reports that Compal and Wiwynn are leading the charge in the bidding, with U.S. electronics company Jabil also in the mix. Interestingly, Inventec and Pegatron, who were once contenders, have pulled out. AMD is looking to speed up the sale process, asking for bids on a short timeline and aiming to finalize the deal by the end of the quarter, with a price range of $3-4 billion. This potential sale comes just months after AMD acquired the facility as part of its $4.9 billion purchase of ZT in March, which included the assembly plant and about 1,500 employees.

Industry experts suggest that AMD's decision to sell is a strategic move to avoid competing with its own clients in manufacturing. Meanwhile, the top bidders seem ready to expand their U.S. manufacturing capabilities. Compal is exploring North American expansion for server production, with Texas emerging as the prime location candidate due to its robust power infrastructure. Meanwhile, Wiwynn has already secured a foothold in the region, having announced the acquisition of a Texas factory in February specifically to establish server manufacturing operations.

TSMC is speeding up its plans to grow worldwide, the company's Chairman, C.C. Wei is announcing they'll start building their third and fourth fabs in Arizona later this year. This comes after TSMC finished constructing the second Arizona plant while the first fab started volume production in Q4 2024. TSMC wants to open its second factory about six months earlier than planned due to increasing customer demand. The first factory will make 4 nm chips, the second will target 3 nm chips, and the newer ones will work on even smaller N2 and A16 nodes. This rapid expansion is part of TSMC's additional $100 billion investment to build five more semiconductor plants and a research center in the U.S. In total, TSMC will invest $165 billion in the United States.

Besides its US operations, TSMC keeps pushing forward with its worldwide manufacturing plans. Wei dismissed rumors of setbacks at the company's upcoming Kumamoto plant in Japan. He confirmed that their first fab started mass production in late 2024, achieving excellent yields. They plan to begin building a second Japanese facility this year, once the infrastructure is ready. The company's European expansion in Dresden is also on track, with strong backing from both the European Commission and the German federal government. They broke ground at the Dresden site in August 2024 as Europe's first FinFET-capable dedicated foundry operation.

ADLINK Technology Inc., a global leader in edge computing, proudly announces that its newly released EMP-520 Series industrial compact box PC has been recognized for its excellence, securing the Best-in-Show award in the Computer Boards, Systems, Components & Peripherals category at embedded world 2025. It was selected for its innovative design, user-centric features, and exceptional performance in industrial environments.

Smart, Reliable, and Efficient Industrial Computing Solution
Designed to meet the needs of modern industrial applications, the EMP-520 Series delivers high computing performance with minimal maintenance, helping businesses maximize productivity and reduce downtime. Powered by Intel 14th Gen Core processors, it ensures energy-efficient operation, making it ideal for high-demand environments that require continuous, reliable computing. Supporting four simultaneous 4K video outputs and EDID emulation, users can achieve seamless visual performance. The compact design enables easy integration into space-constrained environments while ensuring reliable operation in mission-critical applications.

NVIDIA is working with its manufacturing partners to design and build factories that, for the first time, will produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. Together with leading manufacturing partners, the company has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test NVIDIA Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas. NVIDIA Blackwell chips have started production at TSMC's chip plants in Phoenix, Arizona. NVIDIA is building supercomputer manufacturing plants in Texas, with Foxconn in Houston and with Wistron in Dallas. Mass production at both plants is expected to ramp up in the next 12-15 months. The AI chip and supercomputer supply chain is complex and demands the most advanced manufacturing, packaging, assembly and test technologies. NVIDIA is partnering with Amkor and SPIL for packaging and testing operations in Arizona.

Within the next four years, NVIDIA plans to produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the United States through partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn, Wistron, Amkor and SPIL. These world-leading companies are deepening their partnership with NVIDIA, growing their businesses while expanding their global footprint and hardening supply chain resilience. NVIDIA AI supercomputers are the engines of a new type of data center created for the sole purpose of processing artificial intelligence—AI factories that are the infrastructure powering a new AI industry. Tens of "gigawatt AI factories" are expected to be built in the coming years. Manufacturing NVIDIA AI chips and supercomputers for American AI factories is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and drive trillions of dollars in economic security over the coming decades.

Hey Module Makers, and welcome to a special edition of the Modulus Dev Log! We've got big news: the Modulus demo is officially live! If you've been waiting to dive into our factory automation sandbox, now's the perfect time to jump in, start optimizing, and let those conveyor belts roll. But today, we're not just celebrating the demo launch, we're also taking a look back at how Modulus has evolved throughout development. From early prototypes to the design choices that shaped the demo, we're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to bring a game like this to life. As well as introducing you to some of the team.

Award-winning developer Happy Volcano (You Suck at Parking, The Almost Gone) and publisher Astra Logical are proud to announce the first-ever demo for Modulus, a factory automation game where players build every piece from the ground up with building-block modules. Cut, color, stamp, and assemble these modules to design an impressive factory with your own creative twist. There are no fixed recipes in Modulus. Players produce each construct from the very modules they manufacture, resulting in a highly personalized approach to factory-building. Witness these structures rise and construct in real time, with each block becoming a visible part of the design. The more complex the buildings, the more advanced the modules must become.

A monitoring adapter prototype for NVIDIA's problematic 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 power connectors has surfaced in Asian markets, potentially offering RTX 5090 owners a stopgap solution amid ongoing concerns about thermal issues and power delivery weaknesses. The prototype features a circuit board with individually routed +12V lines through shunt resistors, enabling precise current measurement across each power line while maintaining ground and sense pin functionality. The adapter incorporates voltage monitoring capabilities and an apparent alarm function designed to trigger during overload conditions. A USB port is present on the board for user-accessible data output to a custom display. Notably, the current design iteration appears to omit temperature monitoring functionality, focusing exclusively on current distribution metrics.

These monitoring solutions merely detect rather than resolve the fundamental design issues reportedly affecting NVIDIA's high-end graphics cards. NVIDIA has maintained silence regarding the reported thermal issues and power supply inconsistencies affecting their flagship GeForce RTX 5090 cards despite growing user concerns about connector safety and performance stability. The emergence of third-party monitoring solutions proves the demand for greater transparency regarding power delivery characteristics, particularly for cards operating at extreme power limits. The RTX 5090, with its factory power limit of 600 W, represents the most power-hungry GPU, getting its massive power through a single 12V-2x6 connector interface.

Last month, Sony Japan announced an upcoming retirement of Blu-ray Disc media and other physical media formats. On January 23, the company's Recording Media department addressed its "valued customers" via a short press release. At some point in February (2025), production of "Blu-ray Disc media, MiniDiscs for recording, MD data for recording, and MiniDV cassettes" will cease. Reports from late January suggest that the Recording Media division's last factory will face closure in the coming weeks, signalling the end of commercial supplies. Additionally, Sony disclosed that no "successor models" will be released. Naturally, fans of optical media formats did not welcome Sony's announcement regarding the retirement of these products.

Rival manufacturers have taken the opportunity to offer their fares—fresh news reports have pointed to an interesting Verbatim Japan office-issued press release. The Taiwanese storage specialist and I-O Data pushed out a joint statement, assuring that they: "will live up to the trust of customers through stable supply and continued sales of optical discs in the Japanese market." The two companies appear to be seizing the moment, but their announcement did not name or shame Sony: "the domestic optical disc market is currently at a major turning point, with some manufacturers withdrawing from manufacturing and sales businesses and other trends that are shrinking the supply system. Under these circumstances, Verbatim Japan is working closely with I-O DATA to continue to provide high-quality optical discs to the Japanese market, with stable supply as its top priority."

Silicon Box, a global leader in advanced semiconductor packaging and system integration, welcomes the European Commission's approval of approximately €1.3 billion for its new manufacturing facility in Italy. The project, representing a total investment of €3.2 billion, will create 1,600 high-skilled jobs and establish Europe's most advanced semiconductor packaging facilities.

The investment supports the EU's strategic goal to produce 20% of the world's semiconductors by 2030 and marks Silicon Box's first expansion beyond Singapore. With its proprietary large format panel-level process lines, the factory can scale up the packaging of chips 6 to 8 times more than traditional wafer-level packaging.

The EUV lithography machine from ASML ordered by Rapidus is expected to arrive in Japan in mid-December, according to information from Nikkei cited by TrendForce. This marks the first deployment of EUV technology in Japan, an important step for the country's semiconductor industry as it seeks to establish itself as a major player. Rapidus is currently building a factory in Chitose, Hokkaido, and plans to start mass production of 2 nm chips in 2027. The company also plans to purchase several EUV devices if the 2-nanometer chip production is successful, and intends to build a second production facility specifically for 1.4 nm chips. To support these operations, ASML will establish a service center in Chitose City.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang hinted at the possibility of outsourcing AI chip production to Rapidus. As of October, construction progress on the Rapidus facility, which began in September 2023, is up to 63% and remains on track. In addition to Rapidus, Micron's Hiroshima plant is scheduled to install EUV equipment in 2025, allowing for mass production in 2026. JASM, a TSMC subsidiary in Japan, plans to integrate EUV lithography with a second wafer plant in 2027 that will have a 6 nm production line.

Intel has plans to expands its chip packaging and testing operations in Chengdu, China. The company will put $300 million into Intel Products (Chengdu), as stated in a WeChat post by Chengdu's Reform and Development Commission, and reported by TrendForce. Intel announced its Chengdu plant in August 2003 as a semiconductor chip packaging and testing facility in the Chengdu Hi-Tech West Zone. The first phase began in February 2004 with the construction of a chipset factory, which was completed and put into production by the end of 2005. The second phase commenced in August 2005 and was completed in October 2006. By 2007, the packaging and testing facility was fully operational, handling Intel's most advanced processors.

Since its launch in 2003, Intel's Chengdu plant has handled over half of the packaging and testing for Intel's laptop processors. Even with rising US-China tensions, China remains Intel's biggest market making up 27 percent of its total income last year. The announced expansion will increase the packaging and testing ability of server chips and will add a new "customer solutions center." This center aims to make the supply chain more effective, give more support to Chinese customers, and speed up response times. Intel's Chengdu site plays a key role in the company's global supply chain, benefiting from the area's "favorable" business climate, CEO Patrick Gelsinger said during his visit last year.

Last year, Micron unveiled plans to construct a cutting-edge DRAM factory in Hiroshima, Japan. However, the project has faced a significant two-year delay, pushing back the initial timeline for mass production of the company's most advanced memory products. Originally slated to begin mass production by the end of 2025, Micron now aims to have the new facility operational by 2027. The complexity of integrating extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) equipment, which enables the production of highly advanced chips, has contributed to the delay. The Hiroshima plant will produce next-generation 1-gamma DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) designed for generative AI applications. Micron expects the HBM market, currently dominated by rivals SK Hynix and Samsung, to experience rapid growth, with the company targeting a 25% market share by 2025.

The project is expected to cost between 600 and 800 billion Japanese yen ($3.8 to $5.1 billion), with Japan's government covering one-third of the cost. Micron has received a subsidy of up to 192 billion yen ($1.2 billion) for construction and equipment, as well as a subsidy to cover half of the necessary funding to produce HBM at the plant, amounting to 25 billion yen ($159 million). Despite the delay, the increased investment in the factory reflects Micron's commitment to advancing its memory technology and capitalizing on the growing demand for HBM. An indication of that is the fact that customers have pre-ordered 100% of the HBM capacity for 2024, not leaving a single HBM die unused.

According to the report from Volksstimme.de, Intel has delayed its Magdeburg fab construction until 2025 due to difficulties in acquiring suitable land. The company had initially planned to begin construction in 2024, but the process has been slowed significantly due to the availability of suitable land. The Magdeburg plant is a significant investment for Intel, with the company planning to invest around €30 billion in the facility. The plant is expected to create thousands of jobs and play a crucial role in the company's European expansion plans. However, the delay in construction is likely to impact these plans and may result in a longer timeline for the plant's completion.

The delay is attributed to the difficulty in finding suitable land for the plant. Intel's original plan of producing a factory on the land concluded that there was humus-rich black soil up to 40 cm in the ground, which would get removed for usage by agricultural fields in Germany. However, now the top layer of black soil, which needs to be excavated, is measured up to 90 cm in depth, which doesn't allow fab construction to start and requires the removal of the soil in order to satisfy the safety regulations. This useful soil has to be extracted first before being "contaminated" with concrete and other types of foundation soils like gravel. The state of Saxony-Anhalt postponed the construction until the required soil was removed and regulations were met. This will supposedly happen by the end of 2024, and construction will start in 2025.

Malaysia is firmly positioning itself as a hub for semiconductor investment, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stating the country aims to attract over $100 billion in investment into the industry. This aligns with recent trends in the region, such as China's announcement of a massive $47.5 billion investment fund or Micron's plans to build a new chip factory in Hiroshima, Japan by the end of 2027.

As a major player accounting for 13% of global chip testing and packaging, Malaysia has benefited from strong investments by Intel ($7 billion for an advanced packaging plant) and Infineon ($5.4 billion to expand its power chip plant). The country now hopes around 10 local companies will make substantial investments in new facilities focused on chip design and advanced packaging. To support this goal, the Malaysian government plans to allocate $5.3 billion in fiscal backing, along with tax breaks and subsidies. It is targeting these investments to generate revenues between $210 million and $1 billion for the semiconductor industry in Malaysia.

At 07:58 local time, Taiwan was rocked by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake on the east coast which was felt nationwide and as far as to the southeastern parts of China and southern Japan. It caused some major damage in the east coast city of Hualien where the epicentre of the quake was located, as well as surrounding areas. The earthquake reportedly left nine people dead and over 900 people injured islandwide. TSMC, UMC, PSMC and Innolux all halted some of their production lines in the Hsinchu Science Park on the west coast of the island, although this is said to have been as a preventive step, rather than caused by actual damage from the earthquake.

All the above-mentioned companies also evacuated their staff from their factories due to the intensity of the quake, as it reached a magnitude of around four or five almost island wide. The semiconductor manufacturers are all inspecting their fabs now to make sure none of the equipment was damaged by the earthquake. Innolux also has a factory in the southern city of Kaohsiung and has reported that it has suspended production in Hsinchu, but that production in Kaohsiung wasn't affected. Local media in Taiwan hasn't made any mention of the likes of Micron or other chip manufacturers, but it's likely that the situation is similar, since all of these companies are located in the same areas on the island. Aftershocks have continued throughout the day and there's a risk for further big earthquakes to follow in the coming days.Images courtesy of the Taiwan Central Weather Administration (CWA).

Update 15:11 UTC: Updated with an official statement from Micron below.