Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 4-10-26.
DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: Passenger car retail sales in China totaled 1.65M units in March, down 15.1% Y/Y but up 59.4% M/M, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). This marks the sixth consecutive month of Y/Y declines, suggesting the market remains in a phase of inventory digestion. Despite the broader weakness, NEV penetration remained resilient at 51.5% of retail sales, up 0.3% Y/Y. NEV retail sales totaled 848K units, down 14.4% Y/Y but up 82.8% M/M. Within that, BEV sales reached 568K units, down 12.1% Y/Y and up 104.3% M/M, while PHEV sales declined 18.8% Y/Y but increased 50.5% M/M. Notably, NEV exports remained strong, totaling 349K units, up 144% Y/Y and accounting for 50.2% of total passenger car exports..
Headlines:
Auto/Transportation
- BYD launches ~20 Canadian dealerships as Ottawa allows 49K Chinese EVs annually, according to Bloomberg
- Hyundai reroutes ships around Africa amid Hormuz blockage, expands Savannah plant to hybrids and Waymo robotaxis
- Kia delays SDV launch to 2028 and slashes 2030 EV target 20%, while hiking investment plans 30% to $28B
- Mercedes-Benz 1Q sales fall 6% to 419.4K vehicles as China plunges 27%, offsetting US and Europe gains
- Stellantis in advanced talks with Leapmotor to build Opel-branded EV at Zaragoza, targeting 50K units annually by 2028, says Reuters
- Tesla developing new compact EV SUV smaller and cheaper than Model Y, built in China, according to Reuters
- US new-vehicle average transaction prices rise 3.5% Y/Y in March for fourth consecutive month of accelerating gains, says Cox
- VW to halt US production of its top-selling EV model in 2026
- Windrose makes first US delivery of its $285K long-haul EV truck to Texas logistics firm
Datacenter
- Meta signs $21B CoreWeave deal through 2032, adding to September’s $14.2B agreement and securing early access to Nvidia’s next-gen Vera Rubin chips
- Ingrasys and Ramon.Space partner to co-develop orbital data center infrastructure as Taiwan’s ICT supply chain eyes space computing, says DigiTimes
Industrial
- Airbus 1Q deliveries fall 16% Y/Y to 114 jets, hampered by fuselage panel and engine supply issues
- Kia plans to deploy Boston Dynamic’s Atlas robot in Georgia plant by 2029, says Bloomberg
- Kuka pivots investment to US and Asia as European factories lag on AI adoption, per Bloomberg
- US fast-charging network grows 34% Y/Y in 1Q as Iran War-driven gas prices reignite EV demand, according to Bloomberg
Semiconductors
- SEMI projects global 300mm fab equipment spending to surge 18% to $133B in 2026, hitting $172B by 2029, according to SEMI
- Amazon eyes third-party chip sales as AWS silicon unit hits $20B annual run rate
- Anthropic explores designing its own AI chips as run-rate revenue surpasses $30B in 2026, as reported by Reuters
- ASML faces potential DUV tool sales and servicing ban in China under proposed US legislation
- Broadcom signs deal with Google to develop next-gen custom AI chips through 2031, adds Anthropic computing capacity pact
- Foxconn 1Q revenue jumps 30% Y/Y to $66.6B on AI demand, but company flags geopolitical risks
- Global chip sales hit $88.8B in February, up 61.8% Y/Y, with full-year 2026 on track for ~$1T, according to SIA
- Intel in talks with Google and Amazon for advanced AI chip packaging, with customer commitments reaching several billion dollars, WIRED reported
- Intel joins Musk’s Terafab project with SpaceX and Tesla to produce 1T watts of annual compute
- MediaTek and Qualcomm cut 4/3nm wafer orders at TSMC by 10-15% as Chinese smartphone demand weakens, according to DigiTimes
- Nexperia China cuts ties with Dutch wafer supply, targeting full domestic sourcing by 2H26, says SemiMedia
- Blackwell to capture over 70% of Nvidia’s high-end GPU shipments in 2026 as Rubin delays weigh on mix, according to TrendForce
- Samsung projects 1Q operating profit of ~$38.7B, an eightfold jump Y/Y, as AI chip demand drives prices higher
- SiFive raises $400M led by Nvidia and Atreides at $3.65B valuation to develop data-center CPU designs
- SK Hynix in final stages of negotiating 3-year DDR5 supply deal with Microsoft, in talks with Google on HBM and DRAM, per Korea Economic Daily
- Taiwan chip industry backs nuclear restart and urges government to build helium and LNG stockpiles over Middle East supply risks
Consumer
- Apple’s foldable iPhone hits engineering snags that could push shipments back by months, according to Nikkei Asia and Bloomberg