• TrendForce’s latest report has revealed that wafer foundry utilisation during H2 2025 has remained more resilient than originally thought. Several factors are contributing to this, including the postponed US semiconductor tariffs, low inventory at IC vendors, the peak smartphone season, and ongoing high demand for AI. These conditions have prevented the expected decline. Some foundries are even poised to perform better in Q4 than in Q3, prompting many industry players to consider increasing prices for specialised process platforms like BCD and power-related nodes.
• AI server peripheral ICs continue to drive incremental orders in foundries, even taking capacity that was initially allocated for consumer chips. Inventory levels for industrial control chips have also decreased to healthy levels, prompting manufacturers to restart restocking efforts.
• With the shift to next-generation heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), the HDD industry is moving through a challenging period. A substantial investment in new production lines has resulted in these costs being passed on to customers with the average price per GB increasing for the first time in years from $0,012 to $0,016, a change of 30%.
• The rapid expansion of AI server demand has forced global cloud service providers (CSP) such as Google, AWS, Microsoft, etc., to boost their investments in NVIDIA’s rack-scale GPU solutions and in-house AI ASIC design. Total CAPEX from the top eight CSPs is expected to surpass $420 billion in 2025, a 61% YoY increase.
• Currently the main deployment targets for CSPs are NVIDIA’s GB200 and GB300 systems and this is likely to continue into the new year. However, CSPs are set to shift from GB300 racks to NVIDIA’s new Rubin VR200 rack platform in the latter half of 2026.
• NAND Flash prices have increased against previous forecasts, largely due to HDD shortages and the subsequent move to QLC enterprise SSDs. Sandisk were first to announce a 10% increase. Other manufacturers are expected to follow suit with prices increasing between 5 and 10%.
• The global satellite IoT communications market continues to grow with the global satellite IoT subscriber base set to reach 32,5 million by 2029. The subscriber base surpassed 5,8 million in 2024. Only about 10% of the Earth’s surface is covered by terrestrial signals providing a huge opportunity for satellite companies to provide infrastructure for applications in agriculture, asset tracking, maritime, and oil and gas industry.
Companies
• STMicroelectronics has announced that Rias Al-Kadi, general manager of the company’s range and connectivity division, has joined the board of directors of the FiRa Consortium, the industry body dedicated to advancing secured fine ranging and positioning ultra-wideband (UWB) technology. ST is actively driving the development the IEEE 802.15.4ab amendment, building upon previous UWB enhancements to further improve system performance and expand UWB’s application scope.
• Mobile network operator Rain has just zero-rated the digital content of 23 South African public benefit organisations (PBOs), including Nal’ibali and ECD Connect, making critical educational and social support resources freely accessible to low-income users.
• Mouser Electronics and igus have announced a global distribution agreement for their range of industrial and automation products. Their product portfolio includes flexible cables, robotic components, motor control, and sensors, all aimed at improving technology, reducing costs, and enhancing durability in a wide range of industries, including machine tooling, automotive manufacturing, food and beverage packing, medical and lab equipment, and smart agriculture. The igus ReBeL cobot, cost-effective and lightweight robotic arms featuring up to six degrees of freedom, are now also available through Mouser.
• Mouser has also entered into a distribution agreement with Quantic Evans to distribute their high-energy density capacitors for demanding mission-critical applications. The company’s hybrid capacitors serve the aerospace, energy, and communications markets.
• Investment in AI ASIC design is not slowing down. Google has partnered with Broadcom on the TPU v7p (Ironwood), an optimised platform for training set to replace its TPU v6e. AWS is prioritising its Trainium v2 chips with a liquid-cooled rack version expected to be available before year-end, with the company’s ASIC shipments having more than doubled recently. Microsoft, on the other hand, has fallen behind in shipments due to last minute design changes to its ASIC platform.
• The 2026 Africa Energy Indaba to be held in Cape Town during March 2026 has announced the EV Forum, an official side event dedicated to exploring the fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) market across Africa. The forum will bring together policymakers, industry leaders, investors, and innovators to discuss opportunities, challenges, and the future of electric mobility on the continent.
Technologies
• According to global energy think tank, Ember, renewable energy has overtaken coal as the world’s leading source of electricity. The growth in solar and wind generation during 2025 was enough to meet the extra electricity demand, even helping to slightly reduce the numbers for coal and gas usage. However, it was the developing countries led by China that drove the clean energy charge, while established rich nations like the US and much of the EU relied more than ever on fossil fuels.
• The demand for AI storage caused by the need for real-time data access and rapid processing of large data sets has accelerated the replacement of HDDs with NAND Flash suppliers shifting towards high-capacity SSDs. Although large capacity HDDs are still usable, their notable supply shortage has forced the hand of many data centres to upgrade to SSDs. This has resulted in NAND Flash manufacturers to increase production of ultra-high-capacity SSDs including 122 TB and 245 TB models.
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