TSMC Sets Up Advanced Packaging Hub in Kaohsiung

Advanced Micro Devices crossed the $1 trillion market capitalization mark for the first time on Monday, with shares surging 9.9% amid a broader tech-stock rally. The milestone caps a September in which CEO Lisa Su sat at President Trump's table during the state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping, two seats from Trump and next to Elon Musk, and rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange with first lady Melania Trump. AMD stock is up 193% year to date, far outpacing Nvidia's 22% gain. The chipmaker beat Wall Street expectations across the board for the second quarter, posting record non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.66 against consensus estimates of $1.61, with total revenue up 50% year over year to a record $11.5 billion and data center revenue more than doubling to $6.7 billion. AMD projected second-half 2026 server CPU revenue to grow 80% year over year and 70% in 2027, and expects data center revenues to more than double in 2027 with AI GPUs growing well over 100%. The company also unveiled its next-generation Instinct MI450 Series GPUs and 6th Gen EPYC Venice CPUs for its Helios rack-scale AI systems, alongside deals for Microsoft to deploy Helios across Azure AI services beginning in the second half of 2026 and for Anthropic to deploy up to 2 gigawatts of Instinct MI450 GPUs beginning in the first half of 2027, a deal that could be worth tens of billions of dollars over time, with AMD committing to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic.

Forecasts from 12 private think tanks and other institutions for the Bank of Japan's September National Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises, or Tankan, to be released on the 1st of next month, were all in by the 25th. The average forecast for the business conditions diffusion index, which gauges corporate sentiment, stands at plus 26 for large manufacturers, a 4-point improvement from the previous June survey. The dominant view is that demand related to artificial intelligence and semiconductors will lift sentiment, and this would mark the sixth consecutive quarter of improvement for manufacturers. While industries producing equipment and materials related to semiconductor manufacturing, such as electrical machinery and production machinery, are analyzed as performing well, it has been pointed out that automobiles may act as a drag due to sluggish growth in export volumes. The average forecast for large non-manufacturers is 36, down 1 point from the June survey, with many companies expecting flat or slightly worse conditions due to weak inbound demand and rising costs such as fuel and labor expenses. Based on this Tankan, the Bank of Japan plans to analyze risks such as higher crude oil prices and AI-driven upward pressure on prices, and to look for the timing of an additional interest rate hike.