Imported electric vehicles captured more than half of South Korea's new electric passenger-car registrations during the first nine months of 2026, marking the first time the share of domestically made models fell below that threshold. About 258,000 new electric passenger cars were registered from January through September, with imported vehicles accounting for 51.3%, or approximately 132,000 units, according to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association cited by Money Today and Seoul Economic Daily.

Anthropic's IPO filing does more than outline the economics of a rapidly scaling AI company. Its risk disclosures show frontier AI developers becoming increasingly exposed to governments that act not only as regulators, but also as customers, procurement authorities, export-control gatekeepers and national-security actors.

SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has selected investment sites in Malaysia and plans to invest US$50 billion in technology, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. Following investments in the US and Europe, the group is expanding its AI infrastructure strategy into Asia.

More than half of China's AI token usage is reportedly concentrated in short dramas and video generation, but ByteDance's Doubao has disputed the figure, saying video-generation models account for only about 10% of overall computing resources. The conflicting estimates highlight the difficulty of assessing AI compute consumption and its commercial value.

Fujifilm Electronic Materials is expanding its advanced semiconductor materials footprint in South Korea by increasing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist capacity in Pyeongtaek and expanding chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry production in Cheonan. The investments will deepen local support for customers including Samsung Electronics as AI and advanced-process demand grows.

Malaysia has approved its first export of unprocessed rare earths under a new regulatory framework, with the shipment intended for research and development, although officials did not identify the recipient.

South Korean telecommunications provider SK Telecom (SKT) has reportedly established Hy-TF, a task force dedicated to AI collaboration with SK Hynix, to upgrade its digital-twin and data-platform businesses and develop new B2B services.

China’s semiconductor and electronics supply chains are reporting a wave of price increases, from Goke Microelectronics raising quotes for hybrid-packaged memory products to Hygon considering higher CPU and deep computing unit (DCU) prices. The moves reflect rising costs for raw materials, components, and upstream supplies, but whether they can help China escape deflationary pressure remains uncertain.

Vietnam's first wafer fab may miss its 2027 trial-production target, Reuters reported on October 26, citing concerns about project execution and equipment procurement. Developer Viettel, however, says the project remains on schedule.

Fine M-Tec has rejected claims that components it supplied contributed to reported display damage in Apple's first foldable iPhone, saying the issue involves multiple components and precision mechanisms. The dispute could affect perceptions of the South Korean supplier even as analysts forecast growth from expanding foldable device demand ahead.

Japan plans to provide about JPY100 billion (US$634.1 million) over four years to support mass production of next-generation perovskite solar cells, seeking to establish a domestic manufacturing base before China further widens its lead in the emerging technology, according to Nikkei Asia.

HCLTech and Japan's Rapidus have inaugurated development centers in Bengaluru and Hubli, India, expanding their semiconductor engineering collaboration across Asia. The facilities will support advanced chip work, while a planned talent pipeline could connect Indian engineers with Rapidus' manufacturing ambitions in Japan, highlighting the cross-border partnerships shaping semiconductor supply chains.

India's smartphone shipments fell 20% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, reaching a decade low as higher memory costs pushed device prices up. The downturn highlights affordability pressures for consumers and could prompt manufacturers to raise prices, reshape portfolios, and rely on premium segments globally.

India's semiconductor drive has largely been led by New Delhi, which selects projects for large central incentives while state governments add their own packages of land, infrastructure and financial support. Tamil Nadu is now giving semiconductor investors another route.

South Korean optics maker Optoelec is seeing growing interest from AI data center customers as it seeks to expand its wafer-level optics (WLO) business into high-speed optical communications, a market where Taiwanese suppliers are already moving toward commercial production.