TSMC: Bubble, what bubble? - Asian Tech Roundup

Plus: The Netherlands takes control of Chinese chipmaker Nexperia and Laos prepares to disconnect its crypto miners

Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at TSMC’s epic quarter, the international furore caused by the Dutch takeover of Nexperia, apparently at US behest, and Laos’s plans to unplug its crypto miners.

According to TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, the AI boom is far from over. TSMC’s latest earnings report and strategic moves point to continuing confidence in the massive demand for advanced semiconductors.

TSMC reported a 39% year-over-year profit increase in profits in the last quarter, smashing analyst expectations, while revenue hit a record NT$990 billion ($32 billion), driven by the insatiable demand for AI chips.

At the same time, the company’s CEO C.C. Wei announced new process nodes for its Arizona fabs and an accelerated timeline for its N3 Node in America. All of this despite geopolitical tensions and uncertainty brought by US tariffs and Chinese threats over rare earth exports – plus, of course, fevered speculation about when the AI bubble is going to burst. But will it? Not everyone thinks so.

Chief market analyst Kate Leaman of broker AvaTrade described TSMC’s performance as a “crystal clear” indicator that the AI boom is “structural, not cyclical”, and that TSMC is the pivotal player. “If you want to play in the AI arms race, you go through Taiwan,” she noted, highlighting TSMC’s dominance in the semiconductor supply chain.

TSMC is obviously betting big on the continued demand high quality chips, including 2nm technology and advanced packaging. Meanwhile, competitors like Nvidia, Intel and AMD are following suit. Then again, what else are they going to do?

Australia

• Australian Clinical Labs has been fined A$5.8 million (US$3.8 million) for cybersecurity failures in a 2022 cyberattack that affected 223,000 patients. Source
• Asset manager Macquarie has said that its sale of Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion is not a sign that the global datacentre boom has peaked. Source

China

• The Dutch government has taken control of Chinese-owned Netherlands-based chipmaker Nexperia aiming to safeguard the supply of semiconductors to Europe. China is displeased and Nexperia's owner Wingtech says it will take legal action. Source
• Tim Cook says Apple will increase investment in China, even as trade tensions increase. Chinese regulators green flagged the release of the iPhone Air next week. Apple still makes the majority of its phones in China. Source
• US-China relations took a turn for the worse after what looked like a more emollient tone coming from President Trump last weekend. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant claimed China’s economy was weakening and that it wanted to “pull everybody else down with them.” Source
• China has mobilised border control agents to block the import of Nvidia AI chips to force local companies to use Chinese-made silicon. According to the FT at least $1bn worth of Nvidia’s top AI chips were smuggled into China between May and August. Source
• A campaign that compromised an ArcGIS system and turned it into a backdoor for more than a year undetected has been attributed to a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group called Flax Typhoon, which is also tracked as Ethereal Panda and RedJuliett.
• China’s Ministry of Commerce issued an order blacklisting a Canadian research firm TechInsights which specialises in chip industry analysis by designating it as an “Unreliable Entity.” The ban is thought to be retaliation for TechInsights revealing that Huawei still uses foreign components in its chip manufacturing process. Source
• Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has told the Chinese industry minister that he plans to boost Apple investment in China. Source
• China’s efforts to attract scientific and tech talent via its K-visa programme has caused a backlash among domestic techies. Source

India

• Wipro grew by 1.8% year-on-year in the last quarter, more than expected owing to strong activity in the Asian and American communications businesses. Source
• Google is making a $15 billion investment to set up a 1-gigawatt data centre and AI hub in India, it's largest investment in India to date. The investment will take place over the next five years. Source
• Investors will be scrutinising the performance of two huge IPOs on the Indian stock market, LG Electronics India and Tata Capital. Recently some international investors have been favouring China over India, but a strong performance could change that. Source
• India's second-largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has partnered with IBM to offer IBM services through its recently launched cloud platform. Source
• Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX has announced that Coinbase has agreed to invest which gives it a valuation of $2.45 billion. Source
• Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder of Indian social network Koo, which collapsed last year, has returned with a photo-sharing app called PicSee. Source

Japan

• The Japanese government is developing a strategy to support domestic AI development to avoid overdependence on foreign firms for national security. Source
• Chipmaker Renesas is looking to sell its timing division four around $2 billion, sources say. A sale could attract other chipmakers including Texas Instruments and Germany's Infineon, according to Reuters. Source
• The Japanese government has warned OpenAI to refrain from infringing copyright, given the Sora 2 model’s ability to generate videos based on copyrighted characters from animes and games, several examples of which have been appearing on social media. Source

Taiwan

• TSMC raised its full-year revenue forecast because of the AI boom, just after posting a record profit. Source
• Taiwan has said its chipmakers will not be adversely affected by any Chinese restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals. Source
• The Taiwan National Security Bureau said that Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwan government departments have increased by 17% so far this year compared to 2024, reaching an average of 2.8 million per day. Source

South Korea

• Samsung Electronics on Tuesday projected a 32% rise in third-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, its highest profits for three years. Source
• Samsung is to tie employee pay incentives to the company’s share price in an effort to boost retention and demonstrate confidence in its memory and AI chip products. Source
• South Korea is mulling whether to allow Google Maps and Apple Maps to operate in high resolution the country. Currently street-level maps are banned for national security reasons. Source

Elsewhere in Asia:

• Singapore: Singapore will introduce a new Online Safety Commission that will have the authority to order social media platforms to block harmful material. The proposal is part of a new online safety bill. Source
• Cambodia: US and UK authorities have drawn up sanctions against the Cambodia-based operators of slave-labour-operated scam factories based in Myanmar, including seeking to recover $14 billion in bitcoin. Source
• North Korea: Google says it has observed North Korean hacking group UNC5342 using EtherHiding – an approach that involves embedding malicious code in a smart contract on a blockchain such as Ethereum - since February 2025. Source
• Laos: Laos is planning to disconnect the country’s cryptocurrency miners next year as it seeks to divert electricity into datacentres, EVs and minerals refining. Source