Zero One Daily Intelligence Brief — May 8, 2026

Hyperscalers NOW offer to fund SK Hynix as TSMC tightens CoPoS supply chain against Intel

Top Market Signals

SK Hynix funding offers signal capacity scarcity

SK Hynix (000660 KS) is fielding offers from multiple global technology companies to fund dedicated memory production lines and even purchase ASML (ASML NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools on its behalf, per Reuters reporting Friday confirmed by six sources.

EUV is the highest-precision lithography used to print circuits on silicon wafers, and a single tool costs several hundred million US dollars. The fact that customers are now offering to buy them outright for SK Hynix tells us how tight the supply situation has become. Three of the six sources specifically corroborated the EUV-funding offers.

One proposal targets the Yongin Phase 1 fab currently under construction, slated as a DRAM-led facility. SK Hynix has stayed cautious. Bilateral customer-funded deals risk locking the company into below-market pricing in exchange for stable revenue, and as one source put it, "available capacity right now is essentially zero, there is no spare capacity to dedicate to any specific customer."

This expands a pattern flagged in our 13 Apr 2026 Blade, when Nanya Technology (2408 TT) closed a NT$78.7 billion (~US$2.5 billion) private placement that brought SK Hynix subsidiary Solidigm, SanDisk Technologies, Kioxia, and Cisco aboard with a combined 10.19% stake. That deal was four strategic partners taking direct equity in a Taiwan DRAM maker. Today's offers to fund SK Hynix capacity and EUV equipment are the same playbook one rung up, scaled to the world's most strategic HBM supplier. The throughline: memory has moved from cyclical commodity to strategic asset, and customers are now negotiating capital and equipment positions in supplier capacity rather than only buying chips.

The signal is the willingness, not the deal terms. When hyperscalers are willing to fund equipment, not merely sign multi-year offtake, it confirms the memory super-cycle has shifted from a pricing event to a capacity event. Structural shortage now extends into 2028 per the latest CSP capex disclosures. SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) and Micron (MU US) all confirmed they are negotiating multi-year supply agreements but declined to disclose terms. The implication for HBM and high-end DRAM pricing is straightforward: bargaining power sits with the seller for the foreseeable future.

Linked stocks: 000660 KS, 005930 KS, 2408 TT, ASML NA

Sources: 搶占AI晶片供應 科技巨頭爭相向SK海力士提投資方案, DigiTimes, Investing

TSMC's CoPoS exclusivity locks Intel out

TSMC (2330 TT, TSM US) has imposed exclusive-supply agreements on Taiwan equipment and materials vendors building its CoPoS next-generation advanced-packaging line, per a DigiTimes scoop, in a move explicitly aimed at blocking Intel (INTC US) and Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) from following.

CoWoS (chip-on-wafer-on-substrate) is TSMC's current advanced-packaging platform; CoPoS (chip-on-panel-on-substrate) is the next-generation version that swaps 12-inch round wafers for large square glass or sapphire panels as the redistribution-layer carrier. Square-panel area utilization can hit roughly 95% versus the much lower utilization of round wafers, lifting capacity per panel substantially.

The trigger is Intel restarting its Malaysia advanced-packaging expansion. Several Taiwan vendors with TSMC vendor codes have already received Intel orders, and TSMC is moving to seal off CoPoS before its multi-year R&D investment leaks across. The exclusivity terms bar suppliers from supplying CoPoS-related technology to any other customer for several years past production ramp.

CoWoS capacity itself is exploding: from roughly 10,000 wafers per month in 2022, to 70,000 by 2025, to 130,000 to 140,000 by end-2026. The CoPoS pilot line sits at Caiyu Longtan; pilot ramp moves to Chiayi AP7 in 2027; equipment orders are not expected until late 2027, with mass production ramping in 2030. TSMC also plans CoPoS at one of its two Arizona advanced-packaging fabs (P2).

International equipment suppliers already on the CoPoS list include KLA (KLAC US), Tokyo Electron (8035 JP), Applied Materials (AMAT US), Disco (6146 JP), Canon (7751 JP) and Camtek (CAMT US). Around ten Taiwan vendors are also engaged. TSMC is reportedly watching Inpaq and Sanstars closely; Sanstars's Balance Film addresses the panel-warpage problem and has been internally validated. Both suppliers have been approached directly by Intel and OSATs, and the test of TSMC's exclusivity demand is whether suppliers accept it under that pressure.

The strategic read is that TSMC is not merely defending current CoWoS share, it is locking up a closed ecosystem one generation early. Intel and Samsung's stated path to closing the AI-packaging gap was to leapfrog at the next node. Exclusivity makes that economically very hard.

Linked stocks: 2330 TT, INTC US, KLAC US, AMAT US

Sources: 從封口令到「獨供令」！傳台積電嚴控CoPoS供應鏈, DigiTimes

Phison net income +1,230% YoY on NAND tightening

Phison Electronics (8299 TT) reported 1Q26 net income of NT$15.18 billion, +227.8% sequentially and roughly +1,230% YoY, with gross margin jumping to 61.3% from 30.9% a year ago, and April monthly revenue running +236.6% YoY.

The numbers are the most extreme single-quarter swing in any focused-coverage company today. 1Q26 revenue: NT$40.97 billion, +79.7% QoQ, +196% YoY. Gross margin: 61.3% versus 41.7% in 4Q25 and 30.9% in 1Q25, a 30.4-point YoY expansion. Operating margin: 36.2% versus 14.6% the prior quarter, +27.8 points YoY. EPS: NT$68.8.

Phison is a NAND-controller and SSD-solution specialist. The mechanism is twofold: NAND contract pricing has tightened sharply on AI-storage demand, and Phison's product mix has skewed to enterprise and AI-server SSD modules where contract pricing has risen even more. Margin expansion this large is not normally achievable through mix alone, which confirms NAND contract pricing has reset structurally rather than cyclically.

The board separately approved disposal of 3,800 lots of Apacer Technology (8271 TT) common stock at a minimum NT$170 per share, expecting more than NT$500 million in disposal gains. Small but worth flagging: Phison is consolidating its capital structure rather than diversifying into adjacent module names, signaling management views their core NAND-module business as the highest-return use of capital.

The read-across: every NAND-adjacent name in our coverage operates in the same pricing environment. Phison's margin print is the cleanest tell.

Linked stocks: 8299 TT, 4967 TT, 2451 TT, SIMO US

Sources: 群聯財報／首季 EPS 高達68.8元 獲利年增逾12倍, 群聯4月營收202.07億元年增率高達236.63%, 群聯擬賣宇瞻3,800張 估處分利益約逾5億元

Sony and TSMC form Kumamoto image-sensor JV

Sony Semiconductor Solutions (parent: Sony, 6758 JP) and TSMC (2330 TT) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for a Kumamoto-based joint venture covering next-generation CMOS image sensor (CIS) development and production, with Sony holding majority equity and operating control.

The JV will operate research-and-development and production lines at Sony's new Koshi, Kumamoto site in Japan. CIS is the silicon that converts light into a digital image. The dominant application is smartphone cameras, but the next decade of demand growth is being driven by automotive (advanced driver-assist, lidar fusion) and robotics (machine vision). Sony has been the global CIS leader for years; TSMC has historically been a process partner. The JV moves them to a structural co-investor.

Sony specifically framed the JV's strategic objective as Physical AI, meaning AI applications operating in the physical world rather than purely on cloud-based language tasks. Both vehicles and robots are sensor-fusion-heavy systems where image-sensor performance is a binding constraint.

For TSMC, the read-across is that the company is not standing still on specialty foundry. Even as it locks up advanced-logic capacity for AI accelerators, it is establishing structural majority positions adjacent to Sony's IP in CIS, deepening the moat in a market where Samsung Electronics has struggled to displace Sony for years. The JV is still subject to a binding final agreement and standard transactional conditions, including Japanese-government support. Investment is described as "phased per market demand," implying cautious ramp rather than blank-check capacity expansion.

Linked stocks: 2330 TT, 6758 JP, 005930 KS

Sources: Sony 與台積電初步達成下一世代影像感測器策略合作協議, Bloomberg, Reuters

NVIDIA takes equity in IREN, locks 5GW deployment

NVIDIA (NVDA US) committed up to US$2.1 billion in equity to IREN (IREN US) as part of a 5GW AI infrastructure partnership, with a separate US$3.4 billion cloud agreement taking 60MW at IREN's Texas Sweetwater campus and IREN granting NVIDIA a five-year right to acquire up to 30 million shares at US$70 per share.

The 5GW headline is the structural piece. Sweetwater is currently a 2GW campus; the partnership commits to scaling that meaningfully above 2GW and into adjacent geographies. IREN previously signed a US$9.7 billion cloud agreement with Microsoft (MSFT US) in 2025, so Texas is now a multi-anchor site. IREN traded up roughly 9% after-hours on the announcement.

This sits alongside last week's confirmation that the four largest US hyperscalers' combined 2026 capex now exceeds US$700 billion. The IREN deal is structurally different in two ways: NVIDIA is taking equity directly rather than just selling chips, and the partnership wraps GPU supply, factory architecture and operating know-how into one bundle. Neocloud, meaning Nvidia-chip-based GPU-rental businesses competing with hyperscaler cloud, has now received its largest single endorsement.

NVIDIA is increasingly comfortable underwriting capacity it does not own, on the assumption that compute demand will outrun any single hyperscaler's capex schedule. IREN benefits from cheaper-than-public-market financing in exchange for share dilution and a structural NVIDIA partnership. For the Taiwan supply chain (Foxconn, Wistron, Quanta, Wiwynn), the read is that AI-server bill-of-materials demand keeps expanding into multi-anchor neocloud campuses, not just the top-four hyperscalers' fleets.

Linked stocks: NVDA US, IREN US, 2317 TT, 6669 TT

Sources: 輝達砸660億元投資IREN 瞄準德州大型AI園區, Nvidia, Stocktitan

先聲 First Word — Exclusives from Chinese-Language Sources

Vanguard International Singapore fab full-loaded by 2028

Vanguard International (5347 TT) chairman Leuh Fang said Friday that AI demand is "essentially carrying the entire semiconductor industry on its own" and the Singapore Phase 1 fab will reach full utilization in 2028, ahead of original guidance. Vanguard is a tier-2 specialty foundry, and its loading curve is one of the cleanest reads on whether AI demand has spilled fully to mature-process and specialty silicon. It has. (8 May 2026) Source: AI需求強到「一人救全村」！世界先進方略：新加坡廠進度有望超前

Alchip North-American 3nm AI accelerator ramps 3Q26

Alchip (3661 TT) chairman Sean Shen said operations will accelerate substantially as a key North American customer's 3nm AI accelerator enters volume shipment in 3Q26, with "very strong" sequential growth expected through 4Q26 and a 2nm AI-accelerator project expected to tape out by year-end. The customer is widely understood to be a hyperscaler ASIC, and the H2-loaded ramp profile is the company's known model. (8 May 2026) Source: 世芯法說會／第2季業績開始增溫 下半年爆發

Taiwan April exports US$67.6 billion, +39% YoY, ICT-led

Taiwan's Ministry of Finance reported April exports of US$67.6 billion, a record-second monthly print and +39% YoY, with ICT and audio-video products at US$30.6 billion and electronic components at US$22.8 billion, both also record-second monthly highs. Pull-through is the signal: what we read at the company level (TSMC April +17.5%, Phison April +236.6%, Winbond April +182.2%, Wistron April +112%) is now showing up in country-level merchandise data. (8 May 2026) Source: 4 月出口 676.2 億美元，創歷年單月次高紀錄