Semiconductor News 20260507

In today’s semiconductor news, we report on the explosive growth of the semiconductor market, driven by a surge in AI infrastructure investment, and the resulting supply chain dynamic: global semiconductor sales jumped to nearly $300 billion in the first quarter of 2026, and AMD reported record demand growth in CPUs for data centers to record financial results. In addition, SpaceX has filed plans for a massive $55 billion “terrafab” AI semiconductor plant in Texas, among other off-the-charts investments. On the other hand, the memory supply gap is expected to continue beyond 2028 due to a surge in cloud capital investment, and companies are now in a state of upheaval as they are forced to secure supply capacity and respond to next-generation technologies, such as TSMC’s factory upgrade and VIS’s consideration of new fabs.

Main News

1. AMD Reports Record Q1 Results on Surging Demand for CPUs for Data Centers
   AMD, Inc. announced record financial results for the first quarter of 2026, driven strongly by a surge in demand for CPUs for AI and data centers. In response, the company raised its forecasted CAGR for server CPUs to more than 35 percent, reaching $120 billion by 2030, and is now a major player in the AI infrastructure market alongside NVIDIA, with CPUs once again poised to return to the market’s leading role.
2. With Cloud CapEx Exceeding $725 Billion, Memory Supply Gap to Continue Beyond 2028
   It has been reported that accelerated global AI infrastructure building has led to over $725 billion in capex spending by cloud service providers. This explosive demand growth will not be able to keep pace with the production of high-capacity memory and next-generation standard products, indicating that a serious memory supply gap is expected to continue beyond 2028. Memory manufacturers are rushing to increase production, but there are growing concerns that the imbalance between supply and demand will be prolonged.
3. SpaceX Files for $55 Billion Factory in Texas for Musk’s ‘Terrafab’
   SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, has submitted an application to build a semiconductor factory in rural Texas that will cost an order of magnitude more than $55 billion. The massive project, known as Terrafab, is intended to provide the company with its own manufacturing capacity for next-generation chips needed for its space business and AI development. It is attracting attention as an unprecedentedly ambitious move by a technology giant to directly build its own hardware infrastructure.
4. TSMC Upgrades Taiwan Fab to 4nm, Also Advances 1.4nm Prototype Production
   Taiwan TSMC, the world’s largest foundry, is reportedly upgrading its 28/22nm process fabs, including Fab 15A in central Taiwan, for the highly demanded state-of-the-art 4nm process In addition, TSMC is also upgrading its next-generation 1.4nm process fabs. In addition, it has emerged that Phase 2 prototype production on the next-generation 1.4nm technology may begin in the third quarter of 2027, ahead of the original schedule. In order to meet the exploding demand for AI, the Company is rapidly upgrading its production system and introducing new technologies.
5. Global Semiconductor Sales Surge to Nearly $300 Billion in Q1 2026, Reaching $1 Trillion by Year’s End
   Global semiconductor sales in the first quarter of 2026 reached nearly $300 billion, marking a sharp increase, according to several research reports. If the market continues at this pace, the global chip market is expected to reach an unprecedented $1 trillion by the end of this year. The numbers confirm that the semiconductor industry is riding the wave of an unprecedentedly huge super-cycle.
6. VIS Considering Establishment of Second 12-inch Fab in Response to Tight Production Capacity, Enters CoWoS Network
   VIS, a TSMC-affiliated foundry, is reportedly considering establishing a second 12-inch fab in response to strong demand from the AI boom and tight production capacity. VIS has also newly entered the supply chain for CoWoS, an advanced packaging technology, through its Singapore interposer fab supported by TSMC. The Group as a whole is accelerating its efforts to strengthen its supply network in order to expand its back-end process capacity, which is essential for the implementation of advanced chips.
7. NVIDIA and Corning Announce Long-Term Partnership to Strengthen U.S. AI Infrastructure Manufacturing
   NVIDIA and Corning, a leading glass and materials science company, have announced a long-term partnership to strengthen AI infrastructure manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. The partnership aims to jointly develop and supply next-generation foundation materials essential for AI chip performance and advanced The goal is to jointly develop and supply next-generation base materials that will be essential for packaging It is a strategic collaboration that will drive the creation of a semiconductor ecosystem in the U.S. and address the growing demand for computational infrastructure from the fundamental hardware materials level.
8. Second Generation MRDIMM Standard Looms as CPU Bandwidth Demand Rises, Memory Giants Accelerate Promotion
   As the data processing power of CPUs for AI and high-performance computing increases dramatically, JEDEC is moving closer to developing a second generation MRDIMM standard that will dramatically raise memory bandwidth, which is a bottleneck The JEDEC is close to developing a second-generation MRDIMM standard that will dramatically increase memory bandwidth, the bottleneck. In preparation for the standardization of this next-generation memory module, memory giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix of South Korea are also accelerating their development and market launch preparations, and a generational shift in memory technology that fundamentally supports data center performance is in full swing.
9. GlobalWafers Warns of Tight 12-Inch Wafer Supply, Offers 2026 Recovery
   Silicon wafer giant GlobalWafers reported weak results for the most recent quarter due to increased costs from facility expansion, but offered a clear recovery path for the market through 2026. In particular, the company warned that the supply of 12-inch wafers, which are essential for manufacturing AI semiconductors and cutting-edge processes, will be even tighter in the future. Strong downstream demand for chips is also putting strong pressure on production capacity in the upstream basic materials wafer market.
10. Semiconductor Core Technology Leakage to China Uncovered in South Korea; Huge Real Estate Purchase Revealed
    In South Korea, a case has been uncovered in which a gang illegally leaked the country’s top-level semiconductor technology to a Chinese company. The revelation that the suspects had purchased a luxury building worth 11 billion won in the Gangnam area with the huge amount of money they received in return for selling the technology has sent shockwaves through society. Behind the fierce global development competition, the risk of industrial espionage and leakage of core technologies using huge rewards as bait has become a serious threat to the nation’s economic security.

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