semiconductor

Goldman Sachs' research report on August 23 pointed out that the forecast for wafer front-end equipment (WFE) for 2026 to 2028 has been raised to $150 billion, $218 billion, and $281 billion, which is an increase of 6%, 17%, and 35% respectively compared to previous forecasts. The adjusted year-on-year growth rates for the next three years are 36%, 45%, and 29%, while the previous expectations were 28%, 32%, and 12%.Goldman Sachs believes that DRAM and advanced process foundry are the main short-term drivers. In the DRAM sector, capital expenditure forecasts for Samsung and SK Hynix have been raised by 22% and 19% respectively, with HBM4 mass production driving demand for etching, deposition, and other equipment; in the foundry sector, TSMC's annual capital expenditure has been revised up by $8 billion, and the N2 process is entering the mass production ramp-up phase. NAND and logic/others (including Terafab) will take over in the medium term, and the approximately $16.8 billion initial phase equipment investment promised by SpaceX and Tesla has been included in the WFE forecast.Goldman Sachs is bullish on global semiconductor equipment stocks, with a focus on recommending Applied Materials, Lam Research, ASML, Tokyo Electron, ASMI, BESI, Lasertec, and Ebara.

According to the Economic Daily, semiconductor silicon wafers have seen a significant price increase for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, covering the full range of specifications including 6-inch, 8-inch, and 12-inch, with an increase starting at 10%. Industry insiders believe this is the first price adjustment in over three years, and major Taiwanese silicon wafer suppliers such as GlobalWafers, TSMC, and Hejian are expected to see improvements in revenue and profitability.GlobalWafers stated that recent demand in some end markets has gradually improved, inventory adjustments in the supply chain are healthier than in the past, and market signals are more positive than last year, but prices still depend on the product, specifications, and customer situations. TSMC mentioned that under cost pressures and demand support, they have begun communicating price adjustments with customers, and operations in the second half of the year are expected to outperform the first half. Hejian indicated that they are actively negotiating price adjustments with customers and continuing to promote advanced packaging and related products.Industry analysis suggests that this round of price increases mainly reflects the rebound in chip demand driven by AI, with increased usage in advanced and mature processes, allowing the upstream silicon wafer industry to gradually feel the recovery. Currently, the negotiation progress varies among factories and customers, with some 12-inch polished wafers already subject to new quotes with double-digit percentage increases, and discussions for 8-inch and 6-inch products are also moving in a similar upward direction.

SK Hynix (SKHY.O) stated in a document that it has not yet decided whether to build semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Japan. The company responded to media reports regarding its potential factory construction in Japan.SK Hynix stated: "To enhance the competitiveness of the memory chip business, the company is evaluating various options, including the establishment of additional production bases, but no decisions have been made as of now." The company said it would further disclose relevant information when specific details are confirmed, or within one month after the release of this report.

Micron Technology's CEO announced the establishment of Micron Research Labs, planning to invest $10 billion, with an investment cycle measured in decades. The lab will bring together customers, suppliers, academia, government, and the broader semiconductor ecosystem, dedicated to breaking through existing technology roadmaps and exploring future possibilities.Micron stated that this move reflects a long-term commitment to early innovation. The company's team has accumulated over 62,000 patents. Micron Research Labs will join Micron's investment layout of over $250 billion in U.S. manufacturing, expected to create more than 90,000 American jobs, covering fabs, engineers, technicians, apprentices, suppliers, and communities.Micron emphasized that current decisions will determine who can lead the future AI economy, and the future of AI in the U.S. will be built on memory manufactured in the U.S., produced by Micron.

According to BeInCrypto, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated at a semiconductor manufacturing plant near the company's headquarters in Boise, Idaho, that memory has become a strategic infrastructure in the AI era, and the growth in AI-driven demand will permanently reset the economic logic of this cyclical industry. In terms of financial data, Micron's revenue for the third quarter reached $41.46 billion, a significant increase from $9.3 billion last year, with a gross margin rising to 84.6%, and it is expected that the gross margin for the fourth quarter will further increase to about 86%.On the supply side, the demand from data center customers is about 150% of the supply that Micron can commit to, indicating a significant gap. Mehrotra also listed autonomous vehicles, robotics, and AI consumer devices as sources of incremental demand in the future.

According to a report by Infomax under the Korea Herald, SK Hynix is advancing its plan to build a semiconductor factory in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, with an investment scale of hundreds of trillions of Korean won. SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won recently visited the area personally. Miyagi Prefecture is one of the three major semiconductor industry bases supported by the Japanese government.The report states that this factory will be an overseas production base added by SK Hynix outside of its clusters in Yongin, South Korea, and Hunan, China, aimed at meeting the ongoing tight global supply and demand situation for memory. If the plan materializes, SK Hynix will become the third foreign semiconductor company to establish a factory in Japan, following Micron and TSMC. The report points out that due to ongoing pressure from the United States for South Korean companies to increase investments in the U.S., this investment in Japan may further intensify U.S. pressure, while the Japanese government's subsidy policy is also an important consideration. SK Hynix has not officially responded to this news. Previously, on August 20, SK Hynix announced a 40 trillion won share buyback cancellation plan.

According to Reuters, citing informed sources, Samsung Electronics has raised prices for some new advanced foundry service orders by up to 15%, due to a surge in demand for AI chips leading to tight capacity. The company has long lagged behind TSMC in the foundry sector. Demand from Chinese customers is particularly strong, but Samsung must prioritize serving U.S. customers and reserve some capacity to support its own chip production, making it unable to take on all orders. Affected by U.S. export restrictions on advanced chip equipment to China, Chinese companies are increasingly reliant on overseas foundries, with some Chinese customers accepting the maximum price increase.Informed sources stated that Samsung raised the prices for the 4nm (SF4) process in July, with price increases of 10% to 15% for Chinese and U.S. customers, and 5% to 10% for Taiwanese customers; the price for 5nm (SF5) wafers increased by 10% to 15%, nearly 10% higher than the older 8nm process. The SF4 production line at the Pyeongtaek factory has been operating at full capacity since the end of last year, producing logic chips for customers like Qualcomm and providing basic bare chips for Samsung's own HBM. Analysts point out that after TSMC's advanced capacity was fully booked, customers turned to Samsung and Intel, giving Samsung room to raise prices.Samsung's foundry business has been continuously losing money since 2022, but the company expects to quickly turn a profit driven by improved utilization rates, yield improvements, and rising prices. Foundry revenue in the second half of the year is expected to grow by double digits year-on-year, with advanced processes accounting for more than half, and AI and high-performance computing applications accounting for over 30%. Companies like Tesla, Apple, Broadcom, and NVIDIA have already reached relevant cooperation agreements with Samsung, and Google is also in talks to use the SF4 process.

Park Chang-min from Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Research Institute's Foundry Process Development Team stated at the "2026 Next Generation Lithography + Patterning Academic Conference" that the company plans to apply High-NA EUV technology starting from the 1-nanometer (A10) process, aiming for mass production around 2030. Samsung is currently still using the existing 0.33 NA EUV multiple patterning scheme for processes at 2 nanometers and below, with plans to achieve mass production of 1.4 nanometers by 2029, and then advance to 1 nanometer.High-NA EUV will increase the lens numerical aperture (NA) from 0.33 to 0.55, providing higher resolution, which can simplify ultra-fine processes that originally required multiple patterning into single patterning, helping to reduce manufacturing costs, improve production efficiency, and enhance design flexibility. However, this technology is highly challenging, equipment is expensive, and it requires simultaneous upgrades in supporting material technologies. Park Chang-min expects that the 1.4 nanometer and 1 nanometer processes will still primarily use 0.33 NA EUV multiple patterning, after which High-NA patterning will become the core technology of the new generation processes.

According to Bloomberg, former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI fund Situational Awareness has splurged $400 million this week to support a private company, which is the semiconductor manufacturing startup Source Foundry. It is reported that VC giant Sequoia Capital has also provided support for this startup. So far, representatives from Situational Awareness and Source Foundry have not responded to requests for comments, while Sequoia Capital has declined to confirm the hedge fund's investment situation.It is reported that Source Foundry is dedicated to developing a semiconductor manufacturing process that is simpler, cheaper, and faster than existing methods, aiming to bridge the widening gap between the demand for AI computing power and the capacity expansion of chip manufacturing. Analysts believe that Leopold Aschenbrenner's large-scale investment reflects the ongoing strong demand in the market for new chip manufacturing technologies, as AI developers' demand for computing power is increasing day by day. However, this investment also reveals that Situational Awareness has formed a highly concentrated risk exposure before facing significant financial pressure due to severe fluctuations in its publicly held technology positions.

On July 29, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed letters of intent with seven companies, totaling up to $874 million, to support seven "post-GPU era" underlying technology routes such as CPO, ferroelectric memory, and 3D packaging in the form of equity investments. This marks a shift in the U.S. chip strategy from "capacity reshoring" to "technology route selection."The seven companies and their technology directions include: GlobalFoundries (CPO silicon photonic integration, $300 million), Kepler Computing (ferroelectric 3D memory, $245 million), Multibeam (multi-electron beam direct-write lithography and advanced packaging, $140 million), Extropic (thermodynamic sampling unit TSU, $75 million), Thintronics (ultra-low loss dielectric materials, $50 million), Aeluma (large-size phosphorus-free optoelectronic device substrates, $30 million), and OBSIDIA (hardware zero-trust chip anti-counterfeiting, $34 million). All companies are required to provide non-controlling minority equity to the U.S. government.This move shows that the funding usage of the CHIPS Act is shifting from subsidizing wafer fabs to directly holding equity in cutting-edge technology companies with national capital, in order to secure rule-making authority in the post-Moore era.

According to Gate market data, as of the close, the China-Korea Semiconductor ETF (513310) had a total trading volume of 23.7 billion, marking the third highest record in history. The highest record was 25.9 billion on July 29, 2026, and the second highest was 24 billion on July 21, 2026. This ETF tracks the China Securities Korea Exchange China-Korea Semiconductor Index, with the top two holdings being Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.Today, the South Korean KOSPI index closed up 3.76%, with SK Hynix rising 5.8% and Samsung Electronics rising 2.5%.

According to Gate market data, Intel (INTC.O) has increased by 10%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is currently up by 6.2%.

According to Gate market data, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 5% during the day. Among them, Arm (ARM.O) increased by 11.5%, Marvell Technology Group (MRVL.O) rose by 11%, Intel (INTC.O) increased by more than 7%, and Micron Technology (MU.O) rose by 6.7%.

According to Reuters, informed sources say that Changxin Storage is considering building a second 12-inch DRAM wafer fab in Beijing's Yizhuang and is negotiating financing with the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone and several state-owned technology companies. The company is seeking at least 60 million yuan (approximately 8.9 million USD) in support, but negotiations are still in the early stages, and the scale and structure of the financing may be adjusted.The proposed factory will be located at the site of Changxin Storage's existing DRAM wafer fab in Beijing. The planned production capacity and total investment for the project have not yet been determined, while building a fab capable of producing advanced DRAM typically requires over 10 billion USD. Currently, Changxin Storage operates two 12-inch DRAM wafer fabs in Hefei and one in Beijing, each with a monthly production capacity of about 100,000 wafers. Changxin Storage is also building new factories in Shanghai and Hefei, and once the related projects are fully operational, the company's monthly production capacity could double to over 600,000 wafers.This expansion comes as demand for storage chips is driven by AI infrastructure, data centers, and consumer electronics entering an upward cycle. The company completed an 8.6 billion USD IPO last month, marking the largest fundraising for a semiconductor company listed in mainland China, and its stock price has risen by 13% since going public. Changxin Storage is currently the fourth largest DRAM manufacturer in the world, but Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron together still account for nearly 90% of the global market share in the first quarter. Beijing and Shanghai are also providing funding and other support to Changxin Storage to gain economic and strategic benefits from its expansion.

According to Gate market data, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index nearly erased its intraday gains, which had previously risen by about 5%. SanDisk (SNDK.O) fell by about 7%, Micron Technology (MU.O) dropped over 4%, and SK Hynix (SKHY.O) declined over 2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index is currently down about 0.2%.

According to South Korean media reports, Doosan Group has signed an agreement with SK Group to acquire semiconductor wafer manufacturer SK Siltron. With the completion of this transaction, Doosan is expected to further enhance its competitiveness in the semiconductor industry based on its core businesses in energy, machinery, and more.Doosan Group's holding company "Doosan" disclosed on the 31st that it has signed a share purchase agreement with SK Group to acquire 70.6% of the shares held by SK in SK Siltron, with a transaction amount of 2.3 trillion won.However, the 29.4% stake personally held by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is not included in this acquisition. SK Siltron is the only semiconductor silicon wafer manufacturer in South Korea, ranking third in the global market share based on 12-inch wafers. Last year, SK Siltron's corporate valuation exceeded 5 trillion won.

The trading of technology and semiconductor-related assets is active, with multiple semiconductor-themed tokens on Gate gStocks experiencing significant price increases. According to the latest data from Gate, the SanDisk 2x Long ETF token (SNXXG/USDT) has risen by 63.71% in the last 24 hours, currently priced at $11.368, making it the leading gStocks asset in terms of price increase. Meanwhile, the AXT Semiconductor token (AXTIG/USDT) has performed well, rising by 52.97% in the last 24 hours, currently priced at $58.13; the Micron Technology 2x Long ETF token (MUUG/USDT) is currently priced at $27.91, with a 24-hour increase of 41.46%. As the market attention on the semiconductor industry continues to heat up, Gate gStocks is expanding its global stock tokenization asset ecosystem, providing users with more diversified market participation opportunities.

According to Gate market data, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is currently up over 6%, expected to achieve the largest single-day increase in more than a month.At the same time, the Nasdaq Composite Index's increase has expanded to 2%.