Qualcomm Launches AI R&D Center in Vietnam to Focus on Smart Device Innovations

At today's Q1 earnings briefing, SMIC Co-CEO Zhao Haijun stated that, based on client demand and orders on hand, the company was more optimistic about its overall operations this year compared to the previous quarter. This was mainly because: first, strong demand from artificial intelligence for supporting chips directly drove undersupply in the company's power supply management chip capacity; second, the "siphon effect" of AI outside China led consumers, IoT and other clients to seek capacity in mainland China, resulting in order backflow; third, AI also spurred demand for new applications such as ToF, EVs and robotics, with domestic companies actively expanding their markets; fourth, industry chain localisation demands drove demand for domestically produced logic, networking and other chips; fifth, the effect of price increases and, as previously mentioned, clients stockpiling in advance due to concerns over undersupply.

Samsung Electronics' South Korea union said on Friday that the tech giant had proposed resuming talks without any preconditions. This came days after government-mediated negotiations over wages and bonus packages broke down. The union said it was willing to hold talks after June 7, but maintained its plan to strike starting May 21; the strike could disrupt production operations at the world's largest memory chip maker. Samsung Electronics issued a statement confirming its proposal to hold unconditional talks, but did not immediately provide further comment. The Samsung union had said on Thursday that it would be willing to sit down for negotiations if the company could submit a detailed proposal addressing the union's demands before 01:00 GMT Friday (9 a.m. Beijing time).

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