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Feb 10, 10:27
Memory cost pressures lead ODMs to adopt cautious 2026 outlook for notebook shipments
Notebook ODMs reported mixed January 2026 shipment results, with Quanta declining year-over-year while Wistron and Inventec showed growth. The industry expects a first quarter seasonal decline and overall 2026 shipments to face challenges due to memory shortages and price hikes.
AUO posted a net profit for full-year 2025, reversing previous losses, and anticipates quarterly revenue increases throughout 2026 despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties, including tariffs, memory shortages, and price hikes, as well as geopolitical tensions.
Renesas Electronics recorded its first net loss in six years in fiscal 2025, reflecting weak demand for automotive semiconductors and a limited contribution from AI-related products. The company is recalibrating its strategy, with India and China positioned as key pillars in its recovery roadmap.
Acer reported consolidated revenue of NT$21.077 billion (approx. US$668.4 million) for January 2026, marking a 39.8% year-over-year increase and setting a post-pandemic record for the month. Key operational highlights included notebook sales rising 50.6%, desktop PC revenue up 41.9%, gaming and esports-related products growing 53.4%, and commercial product revenue surging 63.4%.
Power semiconductor maker Panjit International is positioning itself to capitalize on the booming demand from AI data centers, targeting fast growth in AI, cooling, and power supply markets. The company expects shipments of its hot-swap products to surge in 2026, with AI-related products accounting for up to 15% of sales this year. Currently, Panjit has secured design wins with two major cloud service providers (CSPs), and is seeking to win orders from additional customers while laying out plans for next-generation hot-swap technology.
South Korean IoT startup NUCODE is leveraging ultra-low-power communication technology to streamline hardware development and bridge the gap between prototyping and mass production. The company, which has already drawn interest from industry leaders Nordic Semiconductor and Infineon Technologies, is now pivoting toward Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem with a strategic focus on Realtek as its primary partner.
Anthropic's quiet move to secure massive computing capacity marks a strategic escalation that could reshape competition among leading AI labs, intensifying pressure on rivals such as OpenAI and raising the stakes in the global race to control AI infrastructure.
Asustek Computer Inc. reported group revenue of NT$67.936 billion (US$2.15 billion) for January 2026, a 2.55% decline from December 2025 but a 79.97% increase year over year.
PCB giant Zhen Ding Technology (ZDT) reported that despite the traditional consumer electronics off-season in the first quarter of 2026, strong demand for advanced AI products propelled server, optical communication, and IC substrate sales to grow over 60% year-over-year. This surge set new monthly records and pushed January revenue to an all-time high.
Alphabet is tapping global debt markets at an unprecedented scale to bankroll its aggressive AI expansion, signaling how far Big Tech is willing to go to secure computing power, data centers, and cutting-edge chips.

Taiwan's server supply chain is entering what suppliers expect to be its strongest first quarter on record. ODMs, including Quanta, Wistron, Inventec, Wiwynn, Foxconn, and MiTAC, reported high double-digit year-over-year revenue growth in January 2026, with Wistron and Wiwynn achieving triple-digit expansion. Suppliers expect first-quarter demand to remain above seasonal norms, driven by concurrent strength in AI and general-purpose servers.

Wingtech Technology said a dispute with Luxshare Precision over the transfer of its India business asset package has entered international arbitration, while the rest of its major asset divestment has been completed without litigation.