Counterpoint Research's latest report showed that global smartphone shipments sank 11% in the second quarter, hitting the lowest level since 2013, as prolonged memory chip shortages pushed up handset prices and suppressed demand.

During the period, iPhone shipments of Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) grew 3%, giving the company a global market share of 20%. Samsung regained the top spot with a 24% market share and recorded the strongest growth among the top five brands, driven by robust sales of its flagship Galaxy S26 series. XIAOMI-W (01810.HK) ranked third with a 12% market share, followed by OPPO (11%) and vivo (8%).
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Due to substandard product quality, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) may stop cooperating with VGT (02476.HK) after evaluation, involving order amounts of RMB5 billion, according to market talks.

VGT issued an announcement to clarify that recent online rumors regarding the company's products, market share and project progress were seriously inconsistent with facts. The company emphasized that it is a long-term strategic partner of leading domestic and overseas AI clients, and has always regarded quality and safety as its lifeline while strictly managing operations according to client standards.

VGT stated that demand for AI-related PCB products remains strong, with orders on hand continuing to grow, while production and shipments are operating normally. Orders from major clients continue to increase, and the company has maintained close communication with core clients. Iterative products jointly developed through cooperation are progressing smoothly, while some clients have already released long-term demand projections for 2027 to 2028. Management expressed full confidence in subsequent production operations and profit realization.

The group said false rumors spread through online platforms and WeChat groups have adversely affected its reputation and normal business operations, seriously misleading investors. The company will reserve the right to pursue liabilities through legal channels.
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Iran announced the indefinite closure of the Strait of Hormuz, while the US military attacked Iran for the fourth time within a week, sending international oil prices up more than 3%.

Futures for the three major US stock indices were mixed. DJIA futures edged up 6 points, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures lost 0.35% and 1.15%, respectively. South Korean stocks plunged 9%, while US chip and memory stocks came under pressure in pre-market trading. Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) dived 5.5% pre-market. Sandisk Corporation (SNDK.US), Western Digital Corporation (WDC.US) and Seagate (STX.US) shed 4.8-7% pre-market. Marvell Technology, Inc. (MRVL.US), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD.US), Intel Corporation (INTC.US), QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM.US) and NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) faded 1.9-3.1% pre-market.

Major Asia-Pacific stock markets generally declined today (13th). China's three major A-share indices closed down between 2.1% and 3.5%. Hong Kong stocks gained 38 points, or less than 0.2%, to close at 24,213 points, with turnover of HKD309.515 billion. Japan's Nikkei closed down 1,315 points, or 1.9%, at 67,242. South Korea's Kospi closed down 669 points, or 8.95%, at 6,806, marking a more than two-month low and triggering the seventh circuit breaker this year. Samsung Electronics plunged 10.7%, while SK Hynix tumbled 15.4%, marking the stock's biggest single-day decline on record. SK Hynix ADR, which was listed in the US last Friday, closed at USD168.01, 12.8% above its offer price. UBS previously issued a report recommending buying SK Hynix ADR while short-selling its listed South Korean shares.

European stocks were mixed in early Monday trading. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.2% to 639.82. The UK's FTSE 100 edged down 0.1% to 10,486. France's CAC dipped 0.15% to 8,326. Germany's DAX added 0.1% to 25,087. Italy's FTSE MIB hiked 0.1% to 52,660. Spain's IBEX 35 sank 0.2% to 19,352.
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Samsung Foundry Chief Engineer James Kim said Samsung Electronics has completed the design of Tesla (TSLA.US)'s AI5 autonomous driving system chips, which will adopt Samsung's latest 2-nm process technology and are expected to begin production soon at its Texas foundry plant.

The chips are currently in the tape-out stage, marking the finalization of the design and the start of engineering sample production.
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Lei Jun, founder of XIAOMI-W (01810.HK), said Xiaomi Auto will enter the European market next year. Earlier reports said Xiaomi hired Dieter Lorenz, former Senior Manager of Delivery Operations for Central Europe at Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US), in April as the company's head of European delivery and logistics.

Furthermore, Lei revealed that the new-generation SU7 became the best-selling sedan priced above RMB200,000 in June.

XIAOMI-W last stood at HKD25.92 today (13th), up 0.31%, with trading volume of 114 million shares and turnover of HKD2.986 billion.
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SK hynix Inc. (SKHY.US) was listed on Nasdaq last Friday (10th), closing at USD168.01, 12.8% above its offering price. SK hynix Inc. CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said the global memory chip industry will face the most severe supply shortage in history in 2027. Despite the company's aggressive capacity expansion, memory demand is expected to continue exceeding the company's production capacity over the next decade.

He said that from a supply perspective, next year will be the worst year in the industry's history, as customer demand continues to grow while the company's production capacity remains limited. The US, Japan and SE Asia remain candidate locations for future wafer fabrication investments, and the company will prioritize locations capable of providing sufficient land, electricity, water resources and skilled labor at competitive manufacturing costs.
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Tashan Technology, the first global haptic simulation partner of NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US), recently completed a B-round financing worth several hundred million RMB.

Investors in this round included JOYSON ELEC (00699.HK), Taiping Innovation, AUX, PENGLING (300375.SZ), Lavender Hill Capital Partners (LHCP), and other industry investors. Existing shareholders DOWSTONE TECH (300409.SZ) and BeFor Capital also made additional investments.

Founded in 2017, Tashan Technology was jointly established by core teams from Tsinghua University, the University of Manchester and other global senior R&D teams. In 2025, the company completed its A3-A5 financing rounds, attracting participation from 15 leading cross-sector investors.
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Meta Platforms, Inc. (META.US) plans to begin production of its AI chip codenamed "Iris" starting in September, Reuters, citing an internal memo, reported. The chip is Meta's fourth-generation Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA).

Meta hopes to use the chip to enhance AI performance on its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms. The memo showed that testing of the chip took only six weeks and no major issues were identified.

The chip was designed by Meta based on its own requirements, with Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US) providing design assistance, while manufacturing is handled by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSM.US).

For Meta, the main purpose of developing in-house chips is to supplement existing GPU resources, reduce AI infrastructure costs, and lessen dependence on NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD.US).
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Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is expected to meet NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang in the US later this month, aiming to expand cooperation in semiconductor and AI investment plans, South Korean media reported.

Lee is reportedly arranging a meeting with Huang in Silicon Valley. The increasingly close cooperative relationship between Samsung and NVIDIA is expected to become a key topic.

Initial cooperation between the two sides mainly focused on Samsung's memory chips and NVIDIA's GPUs, but has now expanded into the foundry business. Samsung is producing Groq 3 language processors for NVIDIA under contract.
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SK Hynix's US ADR will debut on Friday (10th), and it is reportedly more than seven times oversubscribed.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will attend the Nasdaq listing celebration ceremony, where he and the company's management team will share SK Hynix's mid- to long-term development strategy, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Chey said earlier this year that the market still views SK Hynix as a company producing general-purpose memory chips, and hence the company's market cap has yet to reflect its value.

During Chey's US visit, he is also expected to meet senior executives from global tech giants including NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) and Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US).
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