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May 03, 2026
 

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Debby Wu
Chen Li-ming, a former Tokyo Electron employee, arrives at the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court for a verdict in a trade secrets case involving Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Tokyo Electron¡¯s Taiwan unit, in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2026
Former Tokyo Electron staff gets decade in jail for TSMC breach
Taiwan's Intellectual Property and Commercial Court also handed out jail sentences on four others and fined Tokyo Electron's local unit.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.¡¯s plant in Kumamoto Prefecture. The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia and Apple has decided to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fabrication plant in the prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2026
TSMC plans major upgrade of Japan chip plant in win for Takaichi
The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia and Apple has decided to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fabrication plant in Kumamoto.
Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia, speaks at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 6.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2026
Nvidia¡¯s Huang plans to visit China as he works to reopen market
The U.S. is loosening export restrictions on AI processors, but on the Chinese side, government officials are deciding how many of the chips to let in.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported the alleged theft to the authorities this year, triggering a probe that¡¯s cast a spotlight on the sensitive nature of chipmaking technology.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 2, 2025
Taiwan charges Tokyo Electron in TSMC secrets theft case
The development escalates a dispute involving two Asian linchpins of a chip industry increasingly vital to national and economic security.
Nintendo is asking its manufacturing partners to ramp up output of its Switch 2 console, counting on demand to persist over the coming holidays and into the new year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2025
Nintendo aims to make 25 million Switch 2 units by end of March
Nintendo¡¯s future hinges on the $450 Switch 2 being a success, and the company more than doubled marketing spending around its June launch to ensure it gets off to a fast start.
A worker waters the site of a rare earth metals mine in Nancheng county, in China's Jiangxi province, in January 2011.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
The world¡¯s chip supply chain is bracing for fallout from China¡¯s rare-earth curbs
The restrictions represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry.
SoftBank is scouting a number of potential data center sites to serve as a flagship for Stargate, weighing their access to water, power and telecom networks.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2025
Foxconn to operate SoftBank¡¯s Stargate AI server site in Ohio
SoftBank will supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies will make AI data center-related equipment.
Tokyo Electron's Kyushu head office in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture. Chip industry veterans say they see no clear reason for Tokyo Electron to engage in an act of intellectual property theft and risk its relationship with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world¡¯s largest contract chipmaker.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2025
TSMC trade secrets leak puts Tokyo Electron in hot seat
The Japanese supplier of chipmaking tools is struggling to address the potential fallout after a former employee was implicated in the case.
Taiwan has arrested six people on suspicions of stealing trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. after the chipmaker reported a number of former and current staff to authorities.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025
Taiwan arrests six in probe of TSMC chip technology leak
The chipmaker had reported a number of former and current staff to authorities on suspicion they illegally obtained core technology.
Pierre Chen, founder and chairman of Taiwan's Yageo, says his company would keep Shibaura Electronics¡¯s most advanced technology in Japan if it successfully buys the Japanese firm.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2025
Taiwan¡¯s Yageo plans to keep Shibaura¡¯s AI technology in Japan
Yageo is facing off against Nintendo supplier Minebea Mitsumi in its bid for Shibaura and is offering ?6,200 for each Shibaura share.
TSMC¡¯s plan to build a second factory in Kumamoto Prefecture is key to Japan¡¯s ambitions to regain leadership in semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025
TSMC flags delays in Japan expansion while U.S. plans advance
The sudden influx of workers from TSMC¡¯s first plant is already bogging down rural infrastructure in Japan.
A Huawei Ascend AI chip. The U.S. Commerce Department had said in a statement last week that it was issuing guidance to make clear that the use of the Huawei chips is a breach of the U.S. government¡¯s export controls.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2025
China says U.S. warnings on Huawei chips undermine their recent trade talks
The U.S. Commerce Department's warnings specify that the use of Huawei Ascend chips amounts to a breach of the U.S. government¡¯s export controls.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with C.C. Wei, chief executive of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., at a news conference in Washington on March 3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 19, 2025
Tariff threats spur TSMC¡¯s Taiwan peers to seek U.S. expansion
Taiwanese electronic firms' migration of manufacturing to the U.S. has accelerated from previous years as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens more trade barriers.
Chief among the worries surrounding DeepSeek is the fact that it collects and stores data in servers in China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025
DeepSeek¡¯s AI restricted by ¡®hundreds¡¯ of companies in days
Companies have worked to block access due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards.
The French headquarters of Huawei Technologies in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris in 2020. Companies that maintain business ties with Huawei could lose access to work for the Pentagon, which committed nearly $460 billion on contracts in fiscal 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 10, 2024
Huawei suppliers to face further U.S. limits under defense bill
The bill's language effectively bars Pentagon contractors from selling chips and the equipment for making or designing them to Huawei or its affiliates.
Huawei¡¯s struggles reflect how years of U.S. sanctions have scored initial success at freezing Chinese technology advancements at current levels, and deprived its national champions of the chance to graduate to the next level.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 20, 2024
China¡¯s chip advances stall as U.S. curbs hit Huawei AI product
Huawei's hurdle has implications for China's broader ambitions, suggesting the country will lag further behind the U.S. in 2025 when newer chips emerge.
Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has halted shipments to a client after discovering semiconductors delivered to them found their way into Huawei products.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 24, 2024
TSMC cuts off client after discovering chips sent to Huawei
It¡¯s unclear whether the TSMC client was acting on Huawei¡¯s behalf, or where it¡¯s based.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. campus in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on July 16. The incessant demand for electricity that the artificial boom is placing on chipmakers such as TSMC has made opposition to nuclear power harder to maintain.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2024
Taiwan signals openness to new nuclear tech amid surging AI power demand
Premier Cho Jung-tai's comments underscore what appears to be a shift by a government that has opposed using nuclear power for safety reasons.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has pledged to build three advanced plants in the U.S. state of Arizona with total investments exceeding $65 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2024
TSMC¡¯s foreign investments are good for Taiwan, official says
TSMC is the world¡¯s biggest contract chipmaker, with Apple and Nvidia relying on it for their most important products.
TSMC had said it would make 3nm chips at the second factory, which is expected to be more advanced than the first in Arizona, but on Thursday, it said that incentives from the U.S. government would help determine how advanced the tech inside will be.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 19, 2024
TSMC¡¯s second factory in Arizona delayed as U.S. grants remain in flux
Site will start operations only in 2027 or 2028, instead of the chipmaker's earlier guidance of 2026.
Yen soars as Japan intervenes after issuing 'final' warning
Pedestrians walk past a stock quotation board showing the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Thursday.
New Zealand officials reject statue remembering 91²Ö¿â comfort women
A statue symbolizing former South Korean comfort women in Seoul
Japan secures enough petroleum-derived naphtha to last into 2027
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a government meeting on the Middle East on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
Japan mum on yen intervention, heavy on jawboning, ahead of long holiday weekend
The yen was back in ?150-to-the-dollar territory after reports of intervention by the Japanese government.
Not even Japanese bathhouses are immune from shocks of Iran war
The interior of Ume-no-yu, a public bathhouse in the city of Nagano. Soaring oil prices driven by the war in the Middle East are threatening to deal a final blow to a storied Japanese institution: the sento, or traditional public bathhouse.
For tourists in Japan¡¯s outdoor sports scene, safety is not guaranteed
Each winter, countless tourists flock to Japan's famous snow-covered mountains, but a lack of top-down regulation on the country's outdoor sports industry can make certain activities unnecessarily risky.
¡®Sashiko¡¯ needlework artisan says craft is about 'the stories behind the stitching'
Traditional Japanese needlework has exploded in popularity, but a book from a third-generation artisan aims to bring more context to the craft's newfound popularity.
Tennis trailblazer Kei Nishikori announces his retirement
Kei Nishikori, who has won 12 titles on the ATP Tour and climbed as high as No. 4 in the world rankings, on Thursday announced his retirement.
Japanese fried chicken with a Southern twist
A buttermilk-inspired marinade gives a rich umami flavor to your fried chicken.
Documentary captures the long echo of Fukushima's nuclear disaster
Toru Yamada¡¯s documentary ¡°At the Triangle Intersection,¡± which delves into the lingering impact of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, follows Tetsu (center), the matriarch of the Watanabe family, her son, Takemasa (right) and her daughter-in-law, Shigeko.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
Can AI replace a priest? Japan¡¯s temples and shrines are testing the limits.
By Alex K.T. Martin

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