Semiconductors & AI Chips Weekly Briefing

May 8, 2026

AMD and TSMC post strong financial gains as the industry scales AI networking and infrastructure amidst intensifying global trade scrutiny and more.

• AMD reported strong first-quarter 2026 financial results with revenue reaching $10.3 billion, a 38% year-over-year increase driven primarily by a 57% surge in its data center segment. ^{12345678910111213}
• NVIDIA announced a major strategic partnership with Corning to expand U.S. optical fiber production, alongside collaborations with IREN for 5 GW of infrastructure and ServiceNow for autonomous desktop AI agents. ^{14151617181920}
• TSMC reported April 2026 revenue of NT$410.73 billion, reflecting a 17.5% year-over-year increase, while also making progress on its Arizona expansion and entering an image sensor partnership with Sony. ^{21222324252627}
• The U.S. government is investigating a suspected smuggling scheme involving billions of dollars' worth of NVIDIA chips routed through Thailand to bypass export restrictions to China. ²⁸²⁹
• Major industry players including NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom, and Intel collaborated with OpenAI to detail the Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC) protocol to improve networking efficiency for large-scale AI factories. ^3031323334
• ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet addressed export controls and joined other European tech leaders in calling for reduced regulation and better policy support to maintain the continent's global competitiveness. ^35363738
• Other notable developments include AMD's launch of Instinct MI350P PCIe cards for enterprise inference, record quarterly revenue of $1.49 billion for Arm, and Samsung's validation of AI-driven 5G Power Class 1 technology with Qualcomm. ^394041424344

Sources

1. AMD Q1: The Rally Has Only Started Seeking Alpha
2. Even after reporting $10.3 billion in Q1 revenue, AMD can't avoid sting of the memory supply crisis Yahoo Finance
3. AMD's Su explains what's behind massive forecast change as stock roars 15% on earnings CNBC
4. Advanced Micro (AMD) Soars to All-Time High as AI Bolsters Profits by Nearly Double Yahoo Finance
5. AMD Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Rise on Data Center Demand Yahoo Finance
6. AMD's revenue jumps 38 percent from last year as Q1 data center sales hit $5.8 billion. The Verge
7. AMD Earnings: Server CPU Demand Is Skyrocketing Morningstar
8. Stock Market Today, May 6: AMD Surges After Q1 Beat and Strong Q2 Data Center Outlook The Motley Fool
9. AMD's stock rises on surging demand for CPUs and GPUs for AI workloads SiliconANGLE
10. AMD Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Markets Insider
11. AMD reports Q1 2026 financial results AMD
12. AMD forecasts quarterly revenue above expectations as AI chip demand stays strong Reuters
13. AMD Stock Surges on Agent-Driven Data Center Demand The Wall Street Journal
14. NVIDIA announces strategic partnership with IREN Nvidia
15. Corning partners with Nvidia to expand US fiber optic output for AI growth Reuters
16. Nvidia, Corning partner on massive optical fiber deal that may be a game changer... CNBC
17. Nvidia announces partnership with Corning Nvidia
18. NVIDIA Deepens Enterprise AI Role With ServiceNow Project Arc Launch Yahoo Finance
19. ServiceNow launches desktop AI agent with NVIDIA security By Investing.com Investing.com
20. NVIDIA and ServiceNow partner on autonomous AI agents Nvidia
21. TSMC's sales grow slowest in months even as AI buildout persists The Edge Singapore
22. TSMC announces April 2026 revenue TSMC
23. TSMC and Sony sign MOU for image sensor partnership TSMC
24. TSMC eyes bigger US investment; Arizona chip expansion accelerates DIGITIMES
25. TSMC celebrates topping ceremony for third Arizona fab TSMC
26. Here are 3 ways that TSMC is transforming north Phoenix The Indianapolis Star
27. TSMC taps wind power as AI chip demand soars, Taiwan feels energy crunch Ars Technica
28. US suspects Nvidia chips smuggled to Alibaba via Thailand, Bloomberg News reports Reuters
29. A $2.5 Billion Smuggling Scheme Used Hair Dryers to Hide Nvidia GPUs. Now, Super Micro's CEO Is Speaking Out Inc.
30. Nvidia’s MRC: When 'just Ethernet' isn’t enough for gigascale AI - SiliconANGLE SiliconANGLE
31. OpenAI partners with Microsoft, AMD, Broadcom, Nvidia, and Intel researchers to detail the Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC) protocol to help scale compute Techmeme
32. NVIDIA announces Spectrum-X Ethernet with MRC Nvidia
33. AMD advances AI networking with MRC AMD
34. Broadcom announces Multi-path Reliable Connections (MRC) for AI networking Broadcom
35. ASML CEO Says Jensen Huang Totally Right On Exporting Products With An Eight-Generation Gap— Denies Top Chip ... Yahoo Finance
36. ASML's exclusive EUV machines make it Europe's most valuable firm NewsBytes
37. ASML top man rings the alarm bell: only 1% of our revenue comes from Europe Dutch IT Channel
38. ASML CEO co-signs opinion piece urging European tech action ASML
39. AMD launches Instinct MI350P PCIe GPUs AMD
40. AMD launches AI-targeted PCIe cards for current servers Network World
41. AMD puts out new slottable GPU for AI-curious enterprises The Register
42. AMD Instinct MI350P: ultra-fast AI accelerator as a PCI Express card heise online
43. Arm delivers record Q4 FYE26 revenue Arm
44. Samsung and Qualcomm validate 5G Power Class 1 on vRAN Samsung