Zero One Daily Intelligence Brief — May 18, 2026

Samsung's 18-day strike threatens AI memory as SK bets KRW1.17tn on FOPLP

Top Market Signals

Samsung's 18-day strike clock starts May 21

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) and its largest labor union are heading into final talks Monday before a planned 18-day work stoppage beginning May 21 that South Korea's prime minister has called a national-scale economic risk.

According to Reuters reporting via Liberty Times, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said in an emergency cabinet meeting that the strike would cost the economy roughly KRW1tn per day in lost output, with one industry estimate placing the upper bound at KRW100tn if hydrofluoric-acid materials must be scrapped during the stoppage. Samsung accounts for 22.8% of South Korea's exports and 26% of the KOSPI's weighting, employing 120,000 people across 1,700 suppliers.

The dispute centres on bonus formula. The union is demanding the cap on profit-sharing be removed and 15% of operating profit be paid out as bonus, written into the labour contract; management has offered 10% plus a one-off top-up. Bloomberg reported separately that the parties are returning to the negotiating table for what the government has framed as a last chance.

Our 27 Apr 2026 Blade flagged this exact date in What to Watch, noting an 18-day stoppage by roughly 40,000 workers as a tightening risk for AI memory. The pattern has now escalated in two ways: the worker count has risen to about 45,000 in subsequent coverage, and the central labour committee is being prepared to invoke emergency arbitration powers under Article 76 of the Trade Union Act, which would suspend strike action for 30 days. AD HOC News reporting in the prep pool says SK Hynix has separately recruited about 200 Samsung memory engineers during the bonus dispute, compounding the talent leakage.

Linked stocks: 005930 KS, 000660 KS, MU US, 2330 TT

Sources: 避免三星罷工 南韓不排除緊急仲裁, Bloomberg, 勞資談崩、政府觀望　三星半導體站上命運十字路口

SK Group's KRW1.17tn FOPLP bet forms Taiwan-Korea triangle

SK Group (parent of SK Hynix, 000660 KS) is committing KRW1.17tn (about NT$25bn) to fan-out panel-level packaging glass substrate, with about KRW589.6bn directed to US subsidiary Absolics for a three-year mass-production plan, positioning Korea as the third corner of a TSMC-Innolux-SK Hynix packaging triangle that has formed over the past two weeks.

According to Economic Daily News reporting, SKC, SK Group's materials arm, will raise the KRW1.17tn through a rights offering. Absolics is a 2022 joint venture between SKC (70.1%) and Applied Materials that runs what the paper describes as the world's first dedicated glass-substrate plant for advanced packaging, in Covington, Georgia. The fundraise is the largest single financing in the history of the glass-substrate segment.

Glass substrate replaces traditional silicon wafer with a square glass panel. The change reduces wafer-edge waste, breaks the physical limits of organic carrier and silicon interposers, and lets a single panel carry more chips than a round wafer. TSMC has formally named its panel-packaging architecture CoPoS, for Chip-on-Panel-on-Substrate, with industry sources targeting 2028 volume.

Our 11 May 2026 Blade flagged Innolux's (3481 TT) FOPLP win with TSMC at Longtan after the SpaceX qualification. Today's SK Group commitment extends the same architecture eastward. Innolux has already pushed monthly chip-first FOPLP output to over 40 million units, a 10x ramp, and is running at full utilisation with capacity validated for RDL-interposer work on large chips. Glass-processing names 正達 (3149 TT) and TPK-KY (3673 TT) sit downstream as substrate suppliers; TPK is targeting trial production in 3Q26 and volume in 2027 on through-glass-via tooling.

Linked stocks: 000660 KS, 2330 TT, 3481 TT, 3149 TT

Sources: SK 海力士集團押寶新技術 面板級封裝鐵三角成形, 迎 AI 浪潮 台積、群創、SK海力士打造面板封裝鐵三角, 面板級封裝夯 正達、TPK 也有好處

India breaks into commercial foundry with Tata-ASML US$11bn Dholera fab

Tata Electronics and ASML (ASML NA) signed a memorandum of understanding in the Netherlands on 16 May to equip India's first front-end 300mm fab in Dholera, Gujarat, a US$11bn project that will license process technology from Taiwan's Powerchip (PSMC, 6770 TT) and target 50,000 wafers per month at full capacity.

Tom's Hardware, citing ASML's press release, reports that Powerchip is licensing 28nm, 40nm, 55nm, 90nm and 110nm nodes to the Dholera plant, with Powerchip also providing design and construction assistance under an agreement finalised with Tata Electronics in 2024. The fab will produce power-management ICs, display drivers, microcontrollers, and high-performance-computing logic for automotive, mobile, AI, and communications customers. Civil construction is reported at roughly 50% complete, with trial production still targeted for later this year despite a redesign forced by soft, saline soil conditions.

India's federal government is covering 50% of eligible project costs through the India Semiconductor Mission, and Gujarat state provides subsidised land, reduced power tariffs and stamp-duty exemptions inside the Dholera Special Investment Region. Tata's total Gujarat semiconductor commitment, including a separate plant, runs to about US$14bn across eight government-backed projects.

The strategic read is that India now has a credible front-end project on a fixed timeline with a Tier-1 European equipment supplier, a Taiwanese process partner, and a state-level subsidy stack large enough to compete for downstream packaging anchors. The current value of the work to Powerchip is in licensing fees and construction-services revenue rather than chip output, but it builds India a second cluster of foundry know-how alongside its existing Micron (MU US) packaging operation in Sanand.

Linked stocks: ASML NA, 6770 TT, MU US, 2330 TT

Sources: Tom's Hardware, 塔塔揪艾司摩爾開先鋒 打造印度前段製程晶圓廠, 塔塔電子攜手艾司摩爾 打造印度首座晶圓廠

TSMC's COUPE-on-Substrate enters 2H26 production

TSMC (2330 TT) has formally scheduled its Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUPE) on substrate architecture for 2H26 volume production, extending its CoPoS panel-packaging program into optical co-packaging and expanding the ABF substrate winner set to Kinsus (3189 TT), Unimicron (3037 TT) and Nan Ya PCB (8046 TT).

Per CommercialTimes reporting on the recent TSMC tech-symposium disclosure, the COUPE-on-Substrate solution sits between traditional CoWoS and full panel-level packaging by embedding the photonic engine on the substrate next to the GPU. The same article notes that AI GPU and ASIC substrates consume five to ten times more ABF film than traditional CPU substrates because the substrates are larger and have more layers. Kinsus is already qualified into NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform, which positions it ahead of peers on the COUPE ramp.

NVIDIA's parallel deepening with Corning, also flagged in the same article, signals that hyperscalers and AI accelerator vendors are racing to lock optical-component capacity the way they did CoWoS and HBM in prior cycles. The supply chain expectation is for long contracts, prepayments and strategic stakes to start appearing at the high-end ABF substrate suppliers if COUPE-on-Substrate becomes the default Vera Rubin and follow-on packaging.

Our 8 May 2026 Blade reported TSMC's CoPoS exclusivity against Intel; today's COUPE-on-Substrate ramp is the optical co-packaging extension of the same architecture, and it brings ABF substrate alongside the optical engine into the same scarcity bucket as CoWoS interposer once was. The next 12 months of advanced-packaging tightness is unlikely to be a CoWoS problem and is more likely to be an ABF substrate plus optical-engine problem.

Linked stocks: 2330 TT, 3189 TT, 3037 TT, 8046 TT

Sources: ABF載板迎CPO整合戰場

NVIDIA 1Q26 earnings set the AI capex bar on May 21

NVIDIA (NVDA US) reports 1Q26 results before the open on 21 May Taipei time, with consensus at US$78.8bn revenue and US$1.77 EPS; Goldman Sachs sees about US$2bn upside to revenue, and UBS lifted its target to US$275 ahead of the print.

According to CommercialTimes summarising Wall Street notes, Goldman's James Schneider models 2Q26 revenue at US$87.7bn versus consensus US$86.6bn and 2Q26 EPS at US$2.07, about 6% above consensus. UBS's Timothy Arcuri's US$275 price target is anchored to 19x 2027 estimated earnings. Schneider attributes the upside to continued hyperscaler capex; Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are jointly expected to spend more than US$700bn on AI equipment and data-centre infrastructure by year-end.

The market is also reading SanDisk's recent US$5.9bn quarterly revenue print, which beat consensus, as confirmation that demand across the AI server stack remains healthy rather than just GPU-specific. The gating variable for sentiment, per Economic Daily News, is whether CEO Jensen Huang lifts the existing US$1tn FY26 data-centre revenue target and whether he gives meaningful new colour on the Vera Rubin ramp, which is currently expected to begin volume in 3Q-4Q26.

NVDA shares have priced in much of the optimism, with seven straight up days through 14 May for a cumulative gain of about 20%; the 15 May pullback of 4.4% has not changed buy-side positioning into the print. Read-throughs that would matter most: a stronger 2Q26 guide than the Street's US$86.6bn, a raised FY26 data-centre target, or any new capex-return commentary like a buyback expansion.

Linked stocks: NVDA US, 2330 TT, 3017 TT, 3661 TT

Sources: 輝達Q1財報 華爾街叫好, 輝達財報看多 分析師看好釋出強勁展望

Intel opens advanced-packaging sales push as Group X wins tooling orders

Intel (INTC US) is now actively pitching its advanced-packaging capacity to other fabless chip vendors after back-end yields stabilised above 90%, with Advantest (6857 JT), Teradyne (TER US) and Taiwan equipment supplier Group X Engineering (群翊, 6664 TT) named as the main tooling beneficiaries.

Per Economic Daily News reporting, Intel's packaging yield gains came from organisational changes that accelerated process flow, with long-standing back-end test-equipment partners already in place. Group X had earlier indicated readiness on both front-end and back-end advanced packaging equipment for the new glass-substrate small-form-factor work, which aligns with TSMC's CoPoS roadmap as well as Intel's EMIB-T platform. The same article notes Intel is pursuing a multi-billion-dollar annual advanced-packaging business plus ASIC orders.

Our 4 May 2026 Blade reported the 90% EMIB-T yield as Google considered direct TPU sourcing; our 11 May 2026 Blade then flagged Apple's foundry win. Today's news is the first commercial extension of those datapoints: Intel approaching multiple fabless customers, with Taiwan equipment supplier Group X named alongside Advantest and Teradyne as tooling order beneficiaries. The path from one yield disclosure to a credible second-source advanced-packaging hub runs through three layers of suppliers: back-end test equipment, PCB and ABF substrate partners adapting to silicon-interposer material changes, and packaging-line carriers. All three are now visibly engaged.

The strategic read for the broader Asia packaging stack is two-sided: Intel becoming a credible advanced-packaging alternative diversifies customer concentration risk for the Taiwan substrate and equipment ecosystem, but it also adds price discovery for capacity that has been priced as a TSMC monopoly. The bigger near-term lift goes to suppliers with dual TSMC and Intel qualifications, which Group X is among.

Linked stocks: INTC US, 6664 TT, 6857 JT, TER US

Sources: 群翊大咬先進封裝商機 搶攻英特爾崛起利多, 英特爾先進封裝大躍進 群翊跟著吃香喝辣

先聲 First Word — Exclusives from Chinese-Language Sources

TSMC anchors iVR as AI/HPC packaging block; AP Memory and Chipbond named as partners

TSMC formally named the integrated voltage regulator (iVR) as a strategic AI/HPC packaging block at its 2026 Taiwan tech symposium, citing AP Memory (6531 TT) S-SiCap silicon capacitors as the in-package decoupling element and Chipbond (精材) as a back-end test partner for CoWoS-class packaging that incorporates iVR. AP Memory and Chipbond both moved on the disclosure; iVR shortens the power delivery path to the chip and lifts conversion efficiency by 20-30%, important as AI accelerators move toward kilowatt-class per-chip power, including NVIDIA's 800V HVDC architecture. (18 May 2026) Source: AI、高速運算系統整合技術躍上檯面 台積挺 iVR 愛普、精材衝

Foxconn one of three applicants for Taiwan's first BOO AI compute centre

Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (數位發展部, MoDA) closed applications on 14 May for the first Build-Own-Operate AI compute centre tender. The MoDA confirmed three applications were received; DigiTimes reports Hon Hai (2317 TT, Foxconn) is among them, with the firm having flagged strong interest in building a large AI compute facility. The MoDA will run a qualification and feasibility review before awarding. The BOO structure means the operator owns and operates the facility, with state tax incentives attached, anchoring Taiwan's first domestically backed sovereign-AI compute build. (18 May 2026) Source: 爭取大型AI算力中心租稅優惠　台3家業者向數發部遞件

Macquarie initiates Hon Precision and Wangsi with about +71% upside on AI test

Macquarie Securities initiated coverage on the Taiwan semiconductor-test segment with Outperform ratings on Hon Precision (7769 TT) at NT$11,800 and on Wangsi (旺矽) at NT$7,950, framing AI accelerator complexity as a multi-year demand cycle for back-end test equipment. Hon Precision currently trades at NT$6,895, implying about +71% upside; the call comes alongside expectations of Vera Rubin test-socket volume and continued ASIC test-equipment demand. (18 May 2026) Source: 鴻勁、旺矽 麥格理按讚

Top Movers

Largan Precision (3008 TT) rose 34.0% over the week to NT$3,445 (+9.89% on Friday), with smart-glasses coverage ahead of Google I/O on 19 May and named exposure to AR/VR optics for Meta, Google and Samsung product lines as the supporting narrative.

AP Memory (6531 TT) climbed 23.4% over the week to NT$1,080 (+2.86% on Friday), coinciding with TSMC's formal naming of integrated voltage regulators as an AI/HPC packaging block and AP Memory's S-SiCap silicon-capacitor product as the in-package decoupling element.

Innolux (3481 TT) advanced 22.8% over the week to NT$36.10, on continued FOPLP narrative including the SK Group glass-substrate bet that anchored the Taiwan-Korea panel-level packaging triangle today.

Winbond Electronics (2344 TT) rose 21.0% over the week to NT$129.50 (down 3.36% on Friday), against a broader Taiwan memory rally that the prep pool flagged as one of the top three-name groups for institutional fund buying including UMC and Yageo.

Ambiq Micro (AMBQ US) rose 59.7% over the week to US$70.57 (down 3.72% on Friday), with edge-AI inference narrative driving the post-IPO move; 127 article hits over the week suggests sustained coverage rather than a single catalyst.

POET Technologies (POET US) climbed 45.8% over the week to US$15.97 (down 22.4% on Friday), with the silicon-photonics narrative supporting the move ahead of TSMC's COUPE-on-Substrate 2H26 ramp; the Friday pullback brings the move into the watch zone.

AMD (AMD US) fell 6.8% over the week to US$424.10 (-5.69% on Friday), as the AI rally rotated; no AMD-specific catalyst was identified in today's articles, with the move tracking the broader Philadelphia Semiconductor Index pullback of more than 4% on Friday.

Compeq Manufacturing (2313 TT) fell 7.1% over the week to NT$235.50 (-4.07% on Friday). No specific company-level catalyst was identified in today's articles; the move runs counter to the strong PCB and ABF substrate narrative from the TSMC CPO/CoPoS theme and the Vera Rubin substrate winner list.

Key Themes

• AI memory squeeze tightens before Samsung's strike begins Samsung's 18-day strike from 21 May threatens to redirect HBM orders to SK Hynix; the labour ministry can invoke emergency arbitration under Article 76 to suspend strike action for 30 days.
• FOPLP becomes a Korea-Taiwan arms race SK Group commits KRW1.17tn to glass-substrate FOPLP capacity through Absolics in Georgia, building Korea's first commercial-scale answer to the TSMC-Innolux CoPoS work already running at Longtan.
• India enters commercial foundry with US$11bn Tata-ASML Dholera fab Powerchip is licensing 28-110nm nodes, with civil construction at about 50% completion and the federal government covering half of eligible project costs.
• TSMC's optical co-packaging cycle lifts ABF substrate beyond CoWoS COUPE-on-Substrate enters 2H26 production, with AI GPU substrates consuming 5-10x more ABF film than CPU substrates; Kinsus already qualified into Vera Rubin.
• Intel turns 90% yields into a sales push Intel approaches multiple fabless customers post-Apple deal, with multi-billion-dollar annual advanced-packaging order book opening to Advantest, Teradyne and Taiwan's Group X.

What to Watch

• Samsung labour strike start (21 May) 18-day work stoppage by about 45,000 Samsung Electronics workers; emergency-arbitration intervention by the central labour committee is the swing variable on whether the stoppage actually begins.
• NVIDIA 1Q26 earnings (21 May, before US open) Consensus US$78.8bn revenue and US$1.77 EPS; the bar is whether Jensen Huang lifts the US$1tn FY26 data-centre target and gives Vera Rubin volume colour for 3Q-4Q26.
• Google I/O 2026 keynote (19 May, Taipei early hours 20 May) Gemini 3.5 or 4.0 unveiling expected alongside Android XR smart-glasses progress; supply chain read-through to TSMC, MediaTek, Largan, Foxconn, Quanta, Wistron and Inventec on AI ASIC and optics demand.