Selected Topics

Selected Topics cover various major fields of the technology industry, including the semiconductor industry, green energy, and terminal devices. These specially selected reports focus on major industries, allowing readers to quickly grasp the technological advancements and trends in each field.

SLC NAND Price Surge: Global Capacity Gap & Substitution Wave in 2H 2026

As memory giants realign capacity toward high-value advanced processes, mature node capacity faces severe compression. This structural shift has caused severe shortages in legacy chips, compelling industrial and automotive customers to adopt SLC as an alternative amid critical MLC deficits. Under the twin pressures of demand spillover and supply disruptions, SLC prices are expected to witness an explosive, structural rally in 2H, shifting the market dynamics from shipment-driven to price-driven.

Si-Cap Embedded Packaging Rises for AI: Technical Routes and Competitive Landscape

As AI chips require increasingly stable power delivery, Si‑Cap (silicon capacitors) and their embedded/integrated packaging have become an important technological development direction, and key companies have successively announced silicon‑capacitor‑related plans, including SEMCO, which on April 14th 2026 announced plans to expand AI packaging production lines in Vietnam to produce Si‑Cap embedded substrates, and then in May revealed it had secured a long‑term contract of about US$1 billion from a major North American customer, and Analog Devices, which on May 19th 2026 announced a cash acquisition of the US Si‑Cap company Empower for US$1.5 billion in order to enter the AI supply chain. This report mainly provides an in‑depth analysis of (1) the technical background of Si‑Cap, (2) the technological differences among major Si‑Cap vendors (Murata, SEMCO, AP Memory, Empower, TSMC, Samsung, Intel), and (3) the embedded/integrated Si‑Cap packaging requirements in the AI era, with the aim of explaining the technical principles of Si‑Cap, the reasons for growing demand, and the competitive landscape among existing vendors.

Key AI Components – Fiberglass Cloth

The surge in demand for AI chips and high-speed servers is driving the demand for high-end fiberglass cloth. However, constrained by technical barriers, equipment bottlenecks, and yield challenges, the release of new capacity remains slow, resulting in a persistent supply-demand imbalance for critical materials. Consequently, high-end products are expected to remain in short supply in the short term.

2026 Outlook: Global Semiconductor Supply Chain Diversification and Materials Strategy

Global semiconductor supply chains are shifting from efficiency to resilience amid escalating export controls, driving manufacturing diversification. Governments race to subsidize domestic ecosystems, while China pursues dual-track strategies; material self-sufficiency remains a lasting challenge.

Cascading Shortages in Consumer DRAM: How Capacity Pivots Fuel Legacy Node Adoption

Driven by AI infrastructure, major DRAM makers shift capacity to advanced nodes, tightening mature processes. To secure supply and control costs, brands downgrade to older generation consumer DRAM, shifting shortages from DDR4 down to DDR2 and boosting prices. Taiwanese suppliers pivot strategies accordingly, reflecting a persistent global structural DRAM shortage.

2026 Trends: Memory for New AI Inference Demand

In January 2026, NVIDIA introduced the CMX Context Memory Storage Platform, managed by the BlueField‑4 DPU, to extend the memory hierarchy between local SSD and shared storage and address the massive KV cache storage demands of the AI inference era. In addition, NVIDIA and Arm have successively launched CPU racks to meet the CPU requirements of agentic AI, creating an incremental market for CPU RAM. This report provides an in‑depth analysis of: (1) memory demand in AI inference; (2) SSD POD demand driven by KV cache offloading; and (3) CPU RAM demand driven by agentic AI. The goal is to explain why memory capacity needs are expanding in the AI inference era, review current solutions, and outline the future structure of emerging memory demand.

Power Integrity Upgrades in AI Servers: Evolving Roles of Silicon Capacitors and MLCCs

The need for power integrity in AI servers is extending from the board level directly into the package. This shift is driving a transition in capacitor technology, moving beyond a sole reliance on traditional multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) toward a layered, complementary approach utilizing both silicon capacitors and MLCCs. While MLCCs remain the primary components for system-level decoupling, filtering, and voltage regulation across PCBs, VRMs, power shelves, and power modules, silicon capacitors offer distinct localized advantages. Their thin profile, low equivalent series inductance (ESL), excellent high-frequency characteristics, and stable capacitance under DC bias and temperature fluctuations make them ideal for near-die decoupling around GPUs, ASICs, HBMs, and within advanced packages. As AI accelerators increasingly adopt chiplets, HBM stacking, and high-power packaging, silicon capacitors are poised to become vital complementary components for package-level power integrity in AI and HPC applications.

AI Servers Absorbing LPDRAM Capacity, Signaling Tight Supply as the New Norm

Beyond full-rack solutions, NVIDIA is also actively promoting its standalone Vera CPU to capture the AI inference market. However, given the LPDRAM supply bottleneck, NVIDIA has decided to reduce the memory module capacity on its next-generation platforms to ensure shipment volumes align with market share targets. As AI applications continue to expand, the AI server ecosystem has the potential to become the single largest outlet for global LPDRAM, surpassing smartphone applications.

Mature Memory Structural Shortage: Price Plateau Era Arrives - 2H26

Capital shifts to high-performance chips have squeezed mature processes, triggering structural shortages in high-reliability memory. As value revaluation outpaces volume growth, market revenue surges. The industry enters a price plateau, shifting competition to supply stability and long-term contract management.
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[News] TSMC A14 Validation Nears 90% of Target; Customer Interest Builds Ahead of 2028 Mass Production
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[News] TSMC A14 Validation Nears 90% of Target; Customer Interest Builds Ahead of 2028 Mass Production
[News] TSMC Welcomes Intel’s EMIB for More Market Flexibility; CEO Jokes About Memory Makers’ Margin Boom
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[News] TSMC Welcomes Intel’s EMIB for More Market Flexibility; CEO Jokes About Memory Makers’ Margin Boom
[News] TSMC Boosts Arizona Investment by US$100B, Plans 4 More Fabs for 2nm and Advanced Packaging
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[News] TSMC Boosts Arizona Investment by US$100B, Plans 4 More Fabs for 2nm and Advanced Packaging

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