Memory capital spending is being pulled upward by AI demand. SEMI expects 300mm memory equipment investment to exceed $50bn in 2026, with DRAM and 3D NAND spending rising sharply.
SEMI will centre its materials conference on AI-era semiconductor constraints. The programme covers materials, packaging, quantum devices, manufacturing scale-up, and supply resilience.
Micron and Anthropic are linking AI infrastructure to memory architecture. Their agreement covers HBM, DRAM, SSDs, supply, and workload-level optimisation.
IBM has demonstrated sub-one-nanometre chip technology using a nanostack architecture. The research targets future gains in logic density, SRAM scaling, and energy efficiency.
Imec has demonstrated ferroelectric memory advances for future AI systems. The work targets density, voltage, endurance, and three-dimensional integration as AI compute architectures increase pressure on memory systems.
Air Liquide will invest nearly €200m in Korean semiconductor infrastructure. The project will supply high-purity gases and compressed air for SK hynix’s HBM packaging and testing facility.
Semiconductor revenue reached $319bn during the first quarter of 2026. Omdia’s figures show an exceptional memory rebound, with DRAM and NAND nearly doubling as AI infrastructure demand reshapes chip-market growth.