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Thursday 5 March 2026
State 'Big Fund' backs humanoid robotics with US$362M Galbot investment

China's embodied AI and humanoid robotics sector is drawing fresh investment, with two major financing deals signaling accelerating commercialization

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Thursday 5 March 2026
Coex welcomes AW 2026, accelerating AI-driven industrial transformation
Asia's leading manufacturing AX expo, The Smart Factory + Automation World (AW) 2026, has commenced, taking place from March 4-6, 2026, at Coex in Seoul, South Korea. The event will occupy the entire Coex venue and mark the largest edition in the show's history. Under the theme, "Autonomy, the Driver of Sustainability," AW 2026 is signaling a shift from a traditional smart factory and digital transformation (DX) focused exhibition to a next-generation industrial platform centered on AI and humanoid-driven autonomous manufacturing
Thursday 5 March 2026
AW 2026: Asus outlines edge AI strategy for smart city deployments

ASUS IoT is redefining the urban landscape by positioning itself as the high-performance backbone for modern smart cities, using edge AI and machine learning to transform infrastructure into proactive, life-saving networks. At Automation World (AW) 2026, ASUS said that by deploying edge computers and intelligent sensors, it facilitates real-time traffic management, automated emergency response, and energy-efficient smart poles. This is all while navigating the complex regulatory and privacy landscapes of global markets. ASUS's approach targets 40% reductions in crime, 20% shorter commutes, and 15% lower greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. It is clear the company is preparing for a counterstereotypical future of smart cities, where "intelligence" may even adopt new meanings

Thursday 5 March 2026
Suzuki to acquire Kanadevia's solid-state battery business to strengthen EV technology
Suzuki Motor Corporation said it will acquire the all-solid-state lithium-ion battery business of Japanese engineering firm Kanadevia Corporation, as the automaker steps up development of next-generation battery technology for electric vehicles (EVs)
Thursday 5 March 2026
Commentary: HBM hybrid bonding race heats up, but memory makers slow to adopt
Competition in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) market is intensifying, prompting equipment makers such as Hanwha Semitech and Semes to accelerate development of hybrid bonding tools for HBM production. These newer entrants aim to challenge the thermal compression bonding (TCB) equipment segment dominated by Hanmi Semiconductor. Industry observers, however, say significant technical and cost barriers remain before hybrid bonding can be adopted at scale
Thursday 5 March 2026
AI's power problem: US tech giants seek grid solutions while China builds energy edge

On March 4 local time, the White House will host a signing ceremony that could influence the direction of global AI competition. Technology and AI leaders, including Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, xAI, Oracle, and OpenAI, are scheduled to gather in Washington to sign the Ratepayer Protection Pledge

Thursday 5 March 2026
Beyond EMS: Lens Technology ships PCIe 5.0 enterprise SSDs, moves into AI data center storage

Lens Technology said SSDs assembled for enterprise NVMe storage supplier DERA have entered mass shipment at its facility in the Xiangtan Economic and Technological Development Zone, marking the company's expansion into the high-end data center storage supply chain

Thursday 5 March 2026
Glass fiber shortage hits IC substrates, MGC follows Resonac with 30% CCL price hike

Demand from Nvidia and Apple has intensified shortages of high-end glass fiber cloth used in IC substrates, driving broad price increases for related materials and squeezing profit margins for copper clad laminate (CCL) suppliers. Japanese materials makers have recently taken the lead in raising prices, shifting rising costs downstream to customers and end markets

Wednesday 4 March 2026
Chinese fabless AI chipmakers report sharp revenue growth with divergent profitability in 2025
Two of China's leading AI chip developers, Moore Threads and Cambricon Technologies, reported strong revenue expansion in 2025, supported by rising demand for AI computing power. However, their profitability trajectories diverged, reflecting different stages of commercialization and investment intensity
Wednesday 4 March 2026
Samsung expands AI chip push with Pyeongtaek P5 and Texas foundry ramp

Samsung Electronics is accelerating the expansion of its Pyeongtaek semiconductor campus in South Korea, aiming to establish the site as a core production base for next-generation AI memory. The company's fifth fabrication plant, P5, is scheduled to begin operations in 2028 and will support the long-term supply of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM used in AI servers and data-center infrastructure, according to Yonhap and Munhwa

Wednesday 4 March 2026
FitTech seeks enforcement to recover over US$43 million and CNY30 million from Sanan subsidiaries
LED equipment manufacturer FitTech announced it has filed compulsory enforcement applications with local Chinese courts to recover more than US$43.29 million and CNY30.37 million (approx. US$4.42 million) from two subsidiaries of Sanan Optoelectronics, saying the move follows unpaid arbitration awards
Wednesday 4 March 2026
TSMC dominates global foundry rankings while four Chinese players enter top 10
ChipInsights data shows the combined revenue of 29 pure-play foundries worldwide reached CNY1.149 trillion in 2025, up 25.46% year-on-year and exceeding the CNY1 trillion mark for the first time in the industry's history
Wednesday 4 March 2026
Hisense leads 100-inch TV shipments as Chinese brands surge in 2025
The global flat-panel TV market continues to see shifting sales shares, with Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics maintaining overall leadership. However, Chinese brands like TCL and Hisense are rapidly closing the gap, breaking into the top five TV sellers worldwide
Wednesday 4 March 2026
Strait of Hormuz closure threatens China auto exports, triggers 15-25% cost surge
Following US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy and shipping flows. The move has lifted prices for petrochemical feedstocks, synthetic rubber and plastic components, creating 15-25% raw material cost pressure for automakers and compressing margins
Wednesday 4 March 2026
SmartSens raises CIS prices 10-20% for Samsung, Nexchip output on memory cost pressure

China-based CMOS image sensor (CIS) supplier SmartSens Technology has notified customers of price increases, stating that from March 1, 2026, prices for its smart security and AIoT product lines will rise by 10% or 20%, depending on the upstream wafer foundry manufacturing the products

Wednesday 4 March 2026
South Korean startups propose charging hubs as AI computing resources, battery-free smart cities
South Korea's vibrant startup ecosystem is advancing the country's smart city ambitions through AI-driven infrastructure. Uniqconn—a CES 2026 Innovation Awards Honoree—and Warp Solution have proposed blueprints for distributed AI infrastructure and battery-free smart cities, respectively, aiming to address massive national computing demands and reduce maintenance costs for urban traffic sensors