Research
Coverage of technology companies, semiconductor supply chains, battery technology, and growth markets across Asia-Pacific.
TSMC's Capex Pivot: Why Deferring $410M Machines Could Be the Smartest Move in Semiconductors
TSMC is redirecting capital from $410M High-NA EUV tools toward packaging infrastructure. In an AI cycle constrained by CoWoS, not transistors, this may be the highest-ROI allocation decision in semiconductors.
Read More →EarningsVEON 2Q26 Results: Digital Reaches 27% as Revenue and EBITDA Guidance Rise
Group revenue rose 17.0% YoY to US$1,271m and management raised both guidance ranges, to 15-18% on revenue and 9-12% on EBITDA. Digital reached 26.9% of group revenue at a 36.1% margin, and the 4.4pp fall in group EBITDA margin is almost entirely a US$45m provision release in the year-ago base.
Read More →EarningsKyivstar 2Q26 Earnings: Guidance Raised Again as Cash Conversion Improves and Digital Holds Above 21%
Revenue grew 19.3% YoY to US$339m and management raised guidance for a second consecutive quarter, to 14-16% USD revenue growth. Equity free cash flow rose 32.2% to US$104m on capex at 17.3% of revenue, and digital held 21.7% of revenue on a much harder comparison.
Read More →WeeklyThe Blade Weekly: NVIDIA Lines Up US$625bn of AI Financing in a Single Week
NVIDIA stacked four financing commitments totaling about US$625bn in one week, from OpenAI's Ohio lease to Hut 8's full Texas campus, while Quanta raised US$2.2bn in Asia's largest tech GDR and MediaTek lifted its 2027 AI ASIC share target to 15-20%.
Read More →EarningsMacronix 2Q26 Earnings: Gross Margin Reaches 64.4%, from 15.6% a Year Ago
Macronix reported 2Q26 revenue of NT$19.1bn, up 181% YoY, with gross margin reaching 64.4% against 15.6% a year earlier. Net income of NT$7.7bn reversed a year-ago loss, NAND including eMMC scaled to 43% of sales, and management announced an incremental NT$15.8bn capex budget for advanced capacity.
Read More →PreviewMacronix 2Q26 Preview: Did Margins Keep Pace With a Quarter That Nearly Tripled?
Monthly filings already put Macronix 2Q26 revenue at a record NT$19.12bn, up 181% YoY, and first-half revenue has passed all of 2025. The 30 July release shows how much of the memory price surge reached margins, after a five-week selloff took the shares down 36% from their June peak.
Read More →PreviewDelta Electronics 2Q26 Preview: Margins and the 800V Ramp Decide a Quarter Whose Record Revenue Is Already Filed
2Q26 revenue is already reported at a record NT$183.3bn, up 48% YoY on AI data-center power and cooling demand. The 30 July release and analyst meeting turn on gross margin against the record 37%, second-half orders and capex, and the 800V power ramp.
Read More →PreviewASE 2Q26 Preview: Monthly Filings Already Put Revenue Above the Guided Range
Taiwan monthly filings put ASE's 2Q26 revenue at a record NT$191.1bn, up 26.7% YoY and above the guided 7-9% QoQ range. The 30 July release turns on gross margin against the guided band, the full-year LEAP guide of over US$3.5bn, and AI order-allocation commentary.
Read More →WeeklyThe Blade Weekly: AMD Wins the First 2GW AI Rack Order Outside NVIDIA
AMD committed up to US$5bn to Anthropic against an order for up to 2 gigawatts of MI450 accelerators, the first training-scale commitment to a rack that is not NVIDIA's, while NVIDIA prepaid Amkor US$1.5bn to move AI packaging onshore.
Read More →SemiconductorsTSMC 2Q26 Earnings: Full-Year Growth Guided to Slightly Above 40%, Ahead of the Street
TSMC beat every guided line in 2Q26 and raised FY26 revenue growth guidance to slightly above 40% in US dollar terms, above pre-print consensus, with the capital budget lifted to US$60-64bn and US$100bn more committed to Arizona.
Read More →WeeklyThe Blade Weekly: Intel Pulls Chip Orders Back From TSMC to Its Own Leading-Edge Fab
Intel moved most of its flagship chip work back from TSMC's 2nm to its own 18A fab, TSMC raised its full-year guide past 40%, and memory's supply signals held even as SK Hynix sold off.
Read More →PreviewWinbond 2Q26 Preview: The Street's Full Year Needs Monthly Revenue 22% Above June's Record
Winbond is expected to report 2Q26 results on 5 August. Quarterly revenue is already public at NT$59.8bn, up 56% QoQ, on reported monthlies. The release's new information is the margin print and the pricing outlook; the street's FY26E implies second-half monthly revenue 22% above June's record.
Read More →SemiconductorsNanya's Shortage Extends Through the Second Half
Nanya posted record 2Q26 revenue of NT$82.55bn (+68% QoQ) at a 79.5% gross margin, and guided the third quarter to improve further, refuting the sequential decline consensus had modelled.
Read More →AI HyperscalersAlphabet 2Q26 Preview: Cloud Demand Outruns Capacity as Capex Doubles to About US$185bn
Alphabet reports 2Q26 on 22 July. Google Cloud grew 63% in the first quarter with demand still ahead of capacity, and the 2026 capex guide has doubled to US$180-190bn. The print tests how fast that spending is converting to revenue.
Read More →SemiconductorsASML 2Q26 Preview: Consensus Sits at the Top of the Full-Year Guide
ASML reports 2Q26 on 15 July. Street revenue of EUR40.0bn for the year sits at the top of the EUR36-40bn guide, and the print arrives without the quarterly bookings number the market used to lean on.
Read More →SemiconductorsTSMC 2Q26 Preview: A Record June Lands 2Q Revenue at the Upper End of the Guide
TSMC reports 16 July. With a record June now in, 2Q26 revenue of NT$1,270.4bn (about US$40.1bn) lands at the upper end of the guided band. The open question is whether management lifts the full-year growth guide.
Read More →WeeklyThe Blade Weekly: Micron, Apple and AMD Start Funding Their Suppliers
Chip buyers moved from ordering capacity to financing it, memory margins set records on flat shipments, and SK Hynix raised US$26.5bn in the largest US listing by a foreign company.
Read More →WeeklyThe Blade Weekly: Memory's Big Run Wobbles, But Other Supply Chain Shortages Keep Broadening
Taiwan's memory leaders reversed after GigaDevice warned prices had peaked and a US suit alleged DRAM collusion, but the AI shortage kept broadening into passives, wafers, power and packaging.
Read More →TelecomConnection Without Coverage: Kyivstar's Starlink Leap and the Hybrid Future of Mobile
Kyivstar launched Starlink Light Data nationwide: standard 4G phones now run Viber, WhatsApp and Google Maps via satellite where there is no tower. What it means for Ukraine and the hybrid future of mobile.
Read More →SemiconductorsTechChain Insights Q&A: Himax's Silicon Photonics Powering Nvidia's Next Generation Chips
A Q&A with Himax management on its co-packaged optics (CPO) entry — the precision optics it makes inside the fiber array unit (lenses, prisms, V-grooves), built on 15 years of nanoimprint wafer-level optics, with Gen 1 shipments expected from 2H26.
Read More →Taiwan TechAnime Goes Global: Demon Slayer's Record Year and Where It Leaves CTW
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is the highest-grossing anime film ever, and anime now earns more abroad than in Japan. Where that leaves CTW, a browser-first games platform built for the global fan.
Read More →TelecomKyivstar 1Q26 Results: Wartime Capex Likely Peaked, Digital Expansion Ahead of Expectations
1Q26 capex intensity fell to 20.9% on a revised FY26E guide of 21–24% (from 23–26%). Digital revenue tripled to 20.9% of total. Telecom EBITDA margin expanded 1.1 p.p. YoY to 56.4%.
Read More →TelecomVEON 1Q26 Results: Digital Revenue Surge & New Spectrum Win Show VEON in Pole Position
Digital revenue hit US$303m in 1Q26 (+57.7% YoY), 25.2% of group. Management raised the digital-revenue target to 50%+ of total by end-2029E and lifted FY26E revenue guidance to 11–14% YoY (from 9–12%).
Read More →SemiconductorsAmbiq Micro (AMBQ US) 1Q26: Beat, Raise, and a Year Pulled Forward on the Edge AI Thesis
1Q26 revenue grew 59.3% YoY to US$25.1m, exceeding guidance. Management guided 2Q26 to US$31–32m (~75% YoY) and pulled non-GAAP breakeven into 2H27 or early 2028. Over 80% of units shipped ran AI on-device.
Read More →SemiconductorsNanya Tech Q1 2026: Legacy DRAM Squeeze Confirmed, and Three NAND Rivals Just Bought Equity to Secure Supply
Nanya's 67.9% gross margin on non-HBM DRAM — with volume down and prices up >70% QoQ — is the cleanest external data point yet on how the AI capex cycle is reshaping the memory stack. Three NAND rivals and Cisco just bought equity to lock in supply.
Read More →Battery & EnergyAmerica's Achilles Heel — Battery Cells for Drones
The U.S. has 200 GWh of battery cell manufacturing — and almost none of it can power a drone. The pouch cells that define modern warfare are made almost entirely in China.
Read More →SemiconductorsTSMC's Global Manufacturing Strategy: From Taiwan to Arizona and Beyond
A strategic analysis of TSMC's geographic diversification, the $100 billion U.S. investment, and why Taiwan will remain one generation ahead in leading-edge nodes.
Read More →SemiconductorsThe Technology Behind AI's Packaging Revolution
An accessible deep dive into CoWoS, HBM stacking, and chiplet architectures—the packaging technologies enabling AI infrastructure and why mastering them has become essential for semiconductor leadership.
Read More →SemiconductorsCoWoS Capacity and the AI Supply Chain Constraint
Quantifying the advanced packaging supply-demand gap, why capacity is harder to scale than wafer fabs, and when relief might arrive for AI chip customers facing allocation constraints.
Read More →SemiconductorsHow Intel Lost Manufacturing Leadership to TSMC
For four decades, Intel defined semiconductor manufacturing excellence. Then, in less than a decade, that leadership evaporated. An examination of the strategic decisions that led to this historic reversal.
Read More →SemiconductorsThe 2nm vs. 18A Technology Gap: Can Intel Catch Up?
TSMC's 2nm yields have reached production-ready levels while Intel's 18A remains below 50%. What the data reveals about realistic timelines for Intel's manufacturing recovery.
Read More →SemiconductorsThe HBM Competitive Landscape in 2026: Who Leads, Who Lags
SK Hynix defends its lead, Micron has caught up as a credible second source, and Samsung struggles with qualification. A detailed look at competitive positioning as HBM4 enters volume production.
Read More →SemiconductorsHow HBM Is Reshaping Traditional Memory Markets
The trade-offs memory makers face between HBM and conventional DRAM, how capacity allocation decisions are tightening traditional supply, and what AI-driven demand means for the broader memory industry.
Read More →Taiwan TechBig Tech's TSMC Dependency: The Custom Silicon Arms Race
From Apple's full-stack silicon strategy to OpenAI's chip ambitions, how every major technology company's custom semiconductor program depends on the same Taiwanese manufacturer.
Read More →Taiwan TechTaiwan's Semiconductor Ecosystem: Why Replication Has Failed
China, the U.S., and Europe have invested hundreds of billions in semiconductor capability. None has replicated Taiwan's ecosystem. An examination of what makes the island's chip cluster distinctive.
Read More →AI, Semi, and Digital Infrastructure Signals
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