International Perspective · August 18, 2026
① Applied Materials Posts Record Q3 FY2026 Revenue of $9.12B, Raises Full-Year Outlook as AI Demand Offsets China Slide — Applied Materials reported Q3 FY2026 (quarter ended Jul 26, 2026) record revenue of $9.12B with GAAP gross margin of 50.3%, and raised its FY2026 revenue outlook (guided Q4 sales of ~$10.3B); management noted AI-related demand remains strong while China revenue share continued to slip. (Applied Materials IR)
② TSMC Board Approves $29.44B Capital Budget for 2nm/1.4nm and CoWoS Expansion — TSMC's board (Aug 11, 2026) approved capital appropriations of ~US$29.44B for installation/upgrade of advanced-node capacity (2nm/1.4nm), expansion of advanced packaging (CoWoS) to ease AI-chip packaging bottlenecks, plus mature-node and fab infrastructure build-out; the company also posted Q2 2026 profit up 77% YoY. (Focus Taiwan (CNA) / TSMC)
③ NVIDIA Formally Enters Full Mass Production of Spectrum-X Ethernet Photonics (CPO) Switching Platform [详见中文版] — NVIDIA announced (Aug 14, 2026) that its Spectrum-X Ethernet Photonics platform has entered full mass production — the industry's first CPO-based Ethernet switch — reducing laser count ~4x, power ~5x, and improving mean-time-between-failure ~10x versus pluggable optics. (NVIDIA / TrendForce)