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| SK Hynix boosts R&D amid high-bandwidth memory demand |
3/17/2026 |
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SK Hynix invested $4.4 billion in research and development in 2025, a 35% increase from 2024, driven by demand for high-bandwidth memory amid the global AI boom. The company also reported a record operating profit of $32 billion, surpassing Samsung Electronics for the first time.
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| MacBook Neo Is Apple’s Most Repairable Laptop |
3/17/2026 |
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The MacBook Neo includes several upgrades that improve its repairability, according to iFixit's teardown review. These include the end of Apple's controversial 'parts pairing' practices, a screw-in keyboard, and more direct keyboard replacement options.
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| Rohm and Toshiba in talks about merging their power semi units |
3/16/2026 |
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Rohm and Toshiba are in discussions to merge their power semiconductor divisions to defend against low-cost Chinese competitors. Each company holds about 2.5% of the power semiconductor market. The talks follow Denso's proposal to acquire Rohm, and the merger could involve Denso taking over both Rohm and Toshiba's power semiconductor businesses.
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| Chip industry faces helium shortage after Qatar shutdown |
3/16/2026 |
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QatarEnergy's helium production facility at Ras Laffan has remained offline for nine days since Iranian drone strikes, removing 30% of the global helium supply. The disruption has raised concerns for South Korea's chip industry, which relies heavily on helium from Qatar to cool silicon wafers during fabrication. At the same time, SK Hynix has diversified its helium supplies and secured sufficient inventory, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. does not anticipate a significant impact.
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| Center for chip manufacturing in space |
3/13/2026 |
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The UK Space Agency and SpaceForge have launched the $17-million National Microgravity Research Center at Swansea University's Center for Integrative Semiconductor Materials to develop advanced semiconductor materials in microgravity. SpaceForce plans to grow ingots in space, resulting in purer, more uniform crystals than those produced on Earth, especially for semiconductor materials.
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| Denitrification process takes on semiconductor wastewater |
3/12/2026 |
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Samsung Electronics and Ecolab Water have jointly filed a patent for a semiconductor wastewater treatment system that uses a denitrification process to reduce nitrogen levels by more than 30%. The technology, which uses a three-stage process to convert nitrates into nitrogen gas, also lowers processing costs and minimizes sludge and odor.
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| NAND price leaps 50% overnight |
3/12/2026 |
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Phison’s inventory rose from NAND price leaps 50% overnightNT$35.6 billion to NT$50 billion between the end of 2025 and the last day of February 2026, supported by a loan of US $400-500 million.
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| Japan looking for $250bn semi output by 2040 |
3/11/2026 |
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The Council for Japan’s Growth Strategy, chaired by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (pictured), has produced a plan be implemented in the sumner which includes a target of having $250 billion in domestic chip output by 2040, reports the Nikkei.
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| TI integrates TinyEngine NPU into MCU family |
3/11/2026 |
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Texas Instruments has introduced a family of real-time microcontrollers featuring the TinyEngine neural processing unit. This family of Arm Cortex-M33-based MCUs is designed for predictive maintenance and adaptive motor control, improving latency and power efficiency by offloading AI-based algorithms.
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| Global Smartphone Average DRAM Hits Record 8.4GB in 2025 |
3/10/2026 |
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Global average smartphone DRAM reached 8.4GB in December 2025, up from 7.4GB in December 2024, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research’s Handset Model Sales Tracker. OEMs largely kept memory configurations stable throughout 2025 instead of increasing the capacity across portfolios.
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