Semicon Briefing

Samsung Electro-Mechanics has entered into a multi-year strategic partnership with NVIDIA and is jointly investing in dedicated ABF-FC-BGA substrate manufacturing capacity in Sejong and Busan – first deliveries starting in 2026. The deal addresses a critical bottleneck in the AI chip supply chain below the GPU level and strengthens Samsung's position in the booming AI packaging market.

Samsung is adopting TSMC's CoWoS packaging technology for NVIDIA's next generation of HBM memory chips to serve exploding AI demand. Two direct competitors are cooperating technologically – an unusual move that underscores capacity bottlenecks in the advanced packaging segment.

Toronto-based AI chip startup Tenstorrent has closed a $1.5 billion funding round and employs 200 people in Canada alone. The round signals continued strong investor interest in NVIDIA alternatives in AI chip design and strengthens the ecosystem beyond established giants.

Navitas Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NVTS) officially completed its merger with Claros Inc. on October 6, 2026, and unveiled a new strategic direction under the 'Navitas 2.0' label. The closing solidifies Navitas' position in the GaN/SiC power semiconductor market for AI data centers and EV applications.

On October 16, 2026, China proposed export controls on 40 technologies – including AI chips, memory chip design, solar polysilicon, and biomedicine – as a direct countermove to years of US restrictions. This marks a new escalation level in the tech trade war with potentially far-reaching impacts on global supply chains.

A Fortune analysis featuring expert commentary shows that US export controls have not stopped China's semiconductor self-development but rather accelerated it – Beijing built an independent ecosystem that replaces Western chips for many applications. The strategic effectiveness of previous US restriction policies is thus fundamentally called into question.