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Mar 17
Foxconn eyes steady growth in 2026 with 5-year AI transformation plan
Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) achieved record-high profits and cash dividends in 2025. Foxconn chairman Young Liu stated that the company's growth momentum will continue in 2026, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. The company is also simultaneously launching the next phase of its five-year AI-centered transformation plan.
The US Army has signed a sweeping corporate contract with defense tech startup Anduril Industries, valued at up to US$20 billion over 10 years. Covering software, hardware, infrastructure, and related support services, the deal underscores the Pentagon's aggressive push to integrate Silicon Valley technologies and innovations for military modernization.
OpenAI has appointed new leadership to oversee its Stargate computing initiative as the company pivots its infrastructure strategy away from building its own data centers and toward leasing capacity from cloud providers, according to people familiar with the matter, as reported by The Information.
Jensen Huang's "five-layer cake" model for AI is a tidy recipe: energy, chips, infrastructure, models, applications — stacked in order. Applied to China, the cake looks polished on top. Pull it apart, though, and the middle layers are still underbaked.
Syscom Computer Engineering showcased an "AI mobilization" theme at the 2026 Smart City Expo, integrating physical service robots with intelligent digital workers and presenting the technology as a core operational force for enterprises. The company described this integration as marking the arrival of "enterprise digital workers" — entities designed to function alongside human staff and reshape business models.

China is tightening scrutiny over domestic companies seeking to list in Hong Kong, signaling a shift in how one of the market's most entrenched offshore listing structures is treated. The move targets the long-standing "red-chip" model, widely used by Chinese firms to raise capital abroad, and reflects Beijing's growing concern over capital outflows and regulatory opacity.

The 2026 Smart City Summit & Expo features an AI robot application zone, jointly planned by the Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance, the Tainan City Government, and the Special Interest Group. The zone will gather more than 15 domestic robot manufacturers to showcase components, systems, and applications.
Apple launched the MacBook Neo in March 2026, featuring an Arm-based A18 Pro processor, with pricing starting at US$599 and US$499 for students. Supply chain sources warn that surging memory costs driven by AI demand are squeezing consumer electronics margins and threatening a sharp downturn in global device shipments.
Apple's recently launched affordable MacBook Neo has been found to use MediaTek's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips instead of Broadcom or Apple's own N1 chip, according to teardown reports. Industry insiders assess that Apple likely made this decision to reduce costs while buying time to improve its in-house N-series chip specifications.

Intel on March 17 launched its Core Ultra 200HX Plus series mobile processors, expanding its high-performance lineup for gaming, content creation and workstation applications. The new series includes the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus, featuring architectural refinements and support for a new Binary Optimization Tool aimed at improving native performance in select workloads.

Oppo is preparing to cushion its smartphone business against rising component costs, particularly memory, after reaching annual shipments of around 100 million units. The company is deploying a mix of procurement, product, and market strategies to sustain growth in 2026 while strengthening its position in the premium segment.
Japan's 25th Smart Energy Week is taking place in Tokyo, where HD Renewable Energy (HDRE) showcased three major solutions: energy storage integration, electricity trading, and charging operations. The company stated that its target in the Japanese market is to develop 3 GW, and that its Helios 50MW storage project in the Hokkaido region has already begun trading on the electricity market.