March 3, 2026 press releases from Kia America confirm the momentum: **February sales hit 66,005 units**, up **4%** year-over-year from February 2025's 63,303. This marks a **new February record**, extending Kia's streak of monthly highs after a record-breaking 2025 (852,155 annual units) and strong January 2026 (64,502, up 13%). Hybrids delivered the biggest surge—**best-ever February** for the segment, up **53%** YoY—while seven models posted gains: Telluride (+37%, all-time monthly high at 13,198), Carnival (+31%), K5 (+21%), Niro (+20%), Seltos (+14%), Sportage (+6%), and K4 (+3%). Carnival, Sportage, and K4 each notched best-ever Februarys, with Sportage leading volume at ~13,901 units. Hyundai Motor America mirrored the strength with **65,677 units** (+6% YoY), a February record driven by SUVs ( Tucson , Santa Fe) and electrified vehicles (hybrids +79%, EVs +6%). Combined Hyundai-Kia group sales remain powerhouse, but Kia edged Hyundai for the **second straight mont...
Semiconductor Burn-In Orders Surge: Trio-Tech $2.5M Deal Signals 2026 Chip Shortage Relief or New Bottleneck?
On March 4, 2026, Trio-Tech International (NYSE MKT: TRT) announced a significant win: an initial **$2.5 million production order** for advanced burn-in services from a leading automotive integrated device manufacturer (IDM). This IDM supplies critical semiconductor components to major global automakers, and the program—focused on high-reliability automotive chips—will ramp in phases throughout 2026. Trio-Tech is investing in capacity expansion, workforce training, and process controls to meet stringent automotive standards, marking its deeper entry into the safety-critical automotive reliability market. Burn-in testing stresses chips under extreme conditions (heat, voltage) to weed out early failures, ensuring long-term reliability in vehicles—crucial for ADAS , powertrains, infotainment, and EVs where a failure could be catastrophic. Trio-Tech's proprietary systems excel here, and this deal builds on the company's Q2 FY2026 momentum (82% revenue growth to $15.6M, driven by...