ASML has recently announced a significant breakthrough in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology, successfully increasing the power of its light source from 600 watts to 1,000 watts. This advancement is expected to enhance chip production capacity by 50% by 2030, enabling major Semiconductor manufacturers like TSMC and Intel to significantly boost production to meet the growing demand in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC).

SHENZHEN, February 12, 2026 — The Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology has issued the “Artificial Intelligence+ Advanced Manufacturing Action Plan (2026–2027)”, marking a strategic shift in the city’s AI and Semiconductor policy. For the first time, the plan officially supports emerging chip architectures such as in-memory computing and compute-in-memory (CIM) processors, targeting AI applications in smartphones, intelligent robots, and autonomous vehicles. It emphasizes the development of high-performance SoC control chips and promotes domestic alternatives in core AI components.

Hua Hong Semiconductor (01347.HK; 688347.SH) today announced its fourth quarter and full-year results for 2025. Fourth-quarter revenue reached US$659.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 22.4% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 3.9%, setting a new record high; gross margin was 13.0%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points year-on-year; full-year revenue was US$2.4021 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.9%; gross margin was 11.8%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points year-on-year; the company's average capacity utilization rate for the year reached 106.1%, a leading level among wafer foundries, reflecting strong market demand and the company's robust operational efficiency.

On February 11(local time), Micron CFO Mark Murphy stated at a Semiconductor conference held by Wolfe Research that the company has achieved mass production and commenced customer shipments of HBM4. In response to recent speculation that Micron may be excluded from NVIDIA's HBM4 supply chain, Micron denied expectations that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix would divide the entire HBM4 supply volume. Murphy further indicated that Micron's HBM4 shipments are steadily increasing in the first quarter of this year, which is one quarter earlier than the timeline projected during the December 2024 earnings call. The company’s entire 2026 HBM production capacity is already sold out. HBM4 production yields are progressing according to plan, while Micron's HBM4 product delivers performance exceeding 11 Gb/s.

On February 11, 2026, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced at a symposium on the growth strategy of core AI Semiconductor companies that it plans to invest 4.5 trillion won (approximately 21.6 billion yuan) to build a 12-inch 40nm process wafer fab. This aims to address the shortage of foundry capacity for domestic fabless companies and support their R&D and commercialization. Simultaneously, the government will collaborate with Samsung Foundry to provide IP sharing and MPW services, establish a 2 trillion won (approximately 9.6 billion yuan) special account, invest 1 trillion won (approximately 4.8 billion yuan) over the next five years to promote AI Semiconductor development, and cultivate professional talent outside the Seoul metropolitan area, comprehensively strengthening the competitiveness of the Semiconductor industry.

Among them, Semiconductor exports increased by 137.6% year-on-year, reaching $6.73 billion, accounting for 31.5% of total exports, which is 12.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

SMIC has released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025. In this quarter, the company achieved revenue of $2.489 billion, marking a 4.5% quarter-over-quarter increase compared to Q3 2025, and a 12.8% year-over-year growth compared to Q4 2024. Gross profit for the quarter amounted to $478 million, a decrease of 8.5% QoQ and 4.2% YoY, with a gross margin of 19.2%, down 2.8 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 3.4 percentage points from the same period last year.

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a leading global Semiconductor foundry, recently announced its January 2026 revenue figures, marking a solid start to the new year. According to the data, UMC achieved revenue of NT$20.862 billion (approximately US$668 million) in January 2026, an 8.2% increase compared to the previous month and a 5.33% increase compared to the same period last year, achieving double-digit growth both monthly and year-on-year.

On February 7th, Qualcomm announced the successful completion of the tape-out process for 2nm chip in India and showed wafer samples to the public. The breakthrough marks a significant milestone in Qualcomm's global Semiconductor technology roadmap and highlights India's central role in Qualcomm's strategic development. The design that completed tape-out is expected to be used in Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 processor and Snapdragon X Elite 3 chip, powering flagship Android smartphones by the end of 2026. Furthermore, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Indian Electronics and Information Technology, indicated that the next step for India is to establish domestic 2nm wafer fabrication plants.

On February 6th, Macronix announced its January 2026 revenue of NT$3.017 billion, a 14.6% increase from the previous month's consolidated revenue of NT$2.632 billion. This continued the previous recovery trend, demonstrating strong resilience and growth potential.

According to South Korean media outlet ZDNetKorea, global Semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics is considering raising prices for some advanced process technologies in its foundry business, primarily targeting the currently high-demand 4nm and 8nm processes, with an average increase of around 10%.

According to South Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics has officially restarted its investment in the NAND flash memory production line at its P4 plant in Pyeongtaek, with related production equipment beginning to be moved into the plant.

The results significantly exceeded the previous record set in 2024. The annual revenue increased by more than 30 trillion won while the annual operating profit nearly doubled year-on-year, marking the highest annual performance in the company’s history.

Samsung Electronics employs a 4nm process for HBM4 logic dies. The chip development and mass production are handled by the System LSI division and the Foundry division within the Device Solutions (DS) business unit. Furthermore, Samsung has been confirmed to be designing logic chips for custom HBM using a 2nm process.

Micron expects this acquisition to contribute to meaningful DRAM wafer output beginning in the second half of calendar 2027.