Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 10-23-26.
DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: S&P reported the Eurozone flash manufacturing PMI decreased to 52.4 in October from 52.9 in September, remaining in expansion for the ninth consecutive month, with both production and new orders growing at a slower rate M/M. Germany’s flash manufacturing PMI rose to 54.2 from 53.9, remaining in expansion as slower new order and production growth was offset by a near-stabilization in employment and longer supplier lead times. The US flash manufacturing PMI increased slightly to 56.0 from 55.9, marking the fifteenth straight month of expansion, as the strongest new order growth in 4.5 years was partially offset by slower production growth M/M.
Headlines:
Auto/Transportation
- Audi overhauls China leadership as sales fall amid intensifying EV competition from local brands
- BYD announces it is seeking permits to double Brazilian plant capacity to 600K vehicles annually as demand outstrips production
- Chery signals openness to US automaker partnerships as it preps Canada brand launch early next year, Reuters reported
- Chery expects overseas-manufactured vehicles to exceed 50% of exports this year, rising to 70% by 2030, as reported by Reuters
- GM announces 3Q operating profit rose 22% Y/Y on pickup strength as commodity and tariff costs mount
- GM announces plans to expand eyes-off autonomous driving from Cadillac Escalade IQ to pickups and large SUVs
- Tesla announces end-2026 target for first Cybercab customer sales as NHTSA probes federal manual-control compliance
- Toyota plans to convert all 50 models to software-defined vehicles by 2030 using its Arene platform, as reported by Nikkei Asia
- US new-vehicle affordability worsens in September as average transaction price nears record and monthly payment hits highest since December 2023, per Cox Automotive
Datacenter
- Global datacenter spending more than doubling to $2.1T by 2028 on AI buildout, according to Bank of America
Semiconductors
- Arm-based server CPUs poised to take 30% of market by 2027 as AI inference reshapes x86 dominance, according to TrendForce
- ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent reportedly order over $35B of Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 GPUs as China AI compute shortage deepens, per Reuters
- Infineon announces expansion of Nvidia GaN power partnership to co-develop 800V DC intermediate bus converters for 1MW AI racks
- Intel begins tool installation at Arizona Fab 62, targets end-2028 start as datacenter CPU demand rises
- MediaTek’s Google TPU v9 shipments may slip to 1Q28 after design revisions while ByteDance reportedly nearing deal as second ASIC customer for MediaTek, Commercial Times reported
- Micron Taiwan union announces one-day strike over bonus and profit-sharing dispute at DRAM and HBM hub
- Qualcomm announces performance-based global job cuts following annual employee reviews, with notifications starting in November, as reported by Reuters
- Samsung and SK Hynix reportedly upgrading China NAND fabs to over 200 layers to fend off YMTC, per Reuters
- Samsung Electro-Mechanics reportedly secures $2.8B from Tesla and Nvidia to build FC-BGA substrate lines for AI chips, as reported by Maeil Business Newspaper
- Terafab announces target for 3Q28 volume chip production for SpaceX and Tesla JV aimed at 1TW of annual AI and robotics compute
- Texas Instruments announces 4Q revenue guidance above expectations on industrial chip recovery and AI datacenter momentum
- US Commerce Department announces $389M in R&D awards to four companies for power semiconductors and ultra-high-purity quartz
Consumer/Other
- Global smartphone shipments fall 22% Y/Y in 3Q26 as AI-driven memory crisis forces record decline, IDC reported
