On May 18, according to CLS (China Lion Securities) report, the wave of semiconductor price increases has spread to the power management IC (PMIC) sector. Major players such as MPS and Richtek plan to raise quotes from June to July, while Anpec and Silergy have also begun price negotiation discussions. This is expected to improve the industry’s profitability in the second half of the year.
The current price hikes are mainly driven by rising costs in wafer foundry and packaging/testing segments, following earlier increases in MCUs and driver ICs. Most product categories are trending upward, though increases are generally modest, mostly in single digits. Anpec revealed that cost pressure will fully emerge from July, with adjustments ranging from 0% to 15%. Silergy has started price negotiations with customers. ZhiXin, meanwhile, is taking a wait-and-see approach and will cancel its previous strategy of small quarterly price reductions.
On May 8, IDC forecasted that total semiconductor revenue will reach $1.29 trillion in 2026, representing a 52.8% year-on-year increase. AI infrastructure has become the structurally dominant market, with data center semiconductor revenue projected to hit $477.1 billion in 2026. Capital expenditures by the four tech giants are expected to rise 70% year-on-year to approximately $600 billion.
Memory revenue is projected to grow from $226 billion in 2025 to $594.7 billion. DRAM revenue will reach $418.6 billion, up 177%, with HBM capacity already locked in through 2026. NAND flash revenue will hit $174.1 billion, up 138.5%.
While mobile phone and automotive markets face cost pressures and macroeconomic headwinds, edge AI is creating new demand. IDC predicts semiconductor revenue will reach $1.75 trillion by 2030.
On May 21, the Economic Daily News reported that Nanya Technology has made a breakthrough with Nvidia’s latest Vera Rubin platform. Its LPDDR5X low-power memory products are reportedly undergoing validation at TSMC’s Arizona fab, focusing on compatibility for AI server main memory supply chains and advanced packaging/testing. After completing advanced packaging at TSMC, the products will enter the shipment stage.
At a shareholder meeting, Nanya Technology President Pei Ing Lee acknowledged for the first time that the company is collaborating with “more than one” international AI firm. The core product under validation, LPDDR5X, is increasingly important for next-generation AI platforms as power consumption of AI servers escalates, making low-power architectures a critical direction.
On May 21, semiconductor industry media SemiMedia reported that Samsung Electronics and its union reached a tentative agreement just one hour before a planned strike, easing concerns over global semiconductor supply chain disruptions.
The dispute centered on wages and performance bonuses for semiconductor employees. After negotiations broke down on May 20, the Korean Ministry of Labor intervened to broker a breakthrough. President Lee Jae myung criticized certain union demands as excessive.
The agreement maintains the existing year-end bonus and introduces a new incentive structure for the semiconductor division: when operating profit exceeds a threshold, 10.5% of the surplus performance will be distributed in the form of company stock over 10 years, with 40% allocated equally and 60% based on performance. Memory division employees will receive an average bonus of about 600 million KRW this year, along with an average pay raise of 6.2%. Union members will vote on the agreement from May 22 to 27, and it will take effect if more than half approve.
On May 19, the Economic Daily News reported that high memory prices and supply chain hikes in semiconductors have led some phone makers to scale back mid-to-low-end models. However, budget-conscious buyers remain, driving a booming after-sales repair and refurbished phone market in southern China. This has led to better-than-expected sales of display driver ICs (DDICs) in the first half of the year.
The after-sales repair and refurbished phone market is expected to exceed 400 million units in 2025, benefiting Taiwanese DDIC suppliers such as Sitronix, FocalTech, and Fitipower. Recently, the market landscape for after-market driver ICs has shifted, as some Chinese players have exited, allowing others to increase market share. Due to rising packaging/testing and wafer foundry costs, price adjustments for after-market ICs have been relatively smooth, enabling costs to be passed on to consumers. The early stock-up effect seen in Q1 has continued into Q2.
On May 21, the Economic Daily News cited TrendForce, which noted that the top five North American CSPs are expected to see total AI training compute power increase by more than 56% yoy, while AI inference compute power will surge 122% yoy. The firm forecasts AI server shipments to grow by over 28% in 2026, impacting the U.S. fab expansion plans of ODMs such as Hon Hai, Quanta, and Wistron.
TrendForce estimates that high-end training servers will still dominate AI server shipments in 2026, accounting for about 55%, though inference servers will take the lead in the medium to long term. Nvidia is expanding its AI inference solutions; beyond training, its GB/VR systems are also designed to support inference workloads.
The top five CSPs together will have capital expenditures exceeding US$770 billion in 2026, up nearly 87%yoy. Total AI inference compute power is expected to grow by about 122% in 2026, significantly higher than training growth, reflecting Nvidia’s strong focus on AI inference performance in its hardware and software systems — particularly in the new GB300 and VR200 rack-scale solutions.
TrendForce expects severe global 2.5D packaging capacity shortages may ease slightly by 2027, when TSMC’s CoWoS capacity will grow by over 60%.
