Foxconn chairman Young Liu said at a media briefing following Hon Hai Tech Day (HHTD 26) on October 30 that the long-term AI industry trend remains intact, but the overall market will develop in a K-shaped pattern in 2027, with AI data center-related industries on the upswing and other sectors moving in the opposite direction. Foxconn expects to continue growing at a double-digit rate next year.

This week’s coverage highlights intensifying competition and capacity constraints across the global semiconductor industry. Taiwan faces debate over whether public R&D funding should prioritize universities and talent development. Micron workers receive unusually large bonuses amid unresolved labor negotiations. India is expanding state-level semiconductor incentives, while KLA reportedly considers local manufacturing. Memory shortages may persist through 2030, and SK Hynix is investing beyond memory. Server CPU demand is projected to surge, with AMD potentially surpassing Intel in revenue.

Samsung Electronics has never had more capital at its disposal. The company reported operating profit of KRW89.5 trillion (approx. US$67 billion) in the second quarter of 2026 and KRW107.4 trillion in the third, when its operating margin reached approximately 55%. Samsung became the first technology company worldwide to post quarterly operating profit exceeding KRW100 trillion. The company is benefiting enormously from the memory boom, but its dependence on the industry has also deepened.

Lite-On Technology reported record net profit for the third quarter of 2026 as demand for AI infrastructure boosted its cloud and power businesses. The Taiwanese electronics supplier posted consolidated revenue of NT$57.4 billion (US$1.8 billion), up 9% quarter-over-quarter and 28% year-over-year, while executives said AI-related revenue had exceeded 30% of the company's year-to-date total.

Nvidia's robotics partnerships in South Korea are moving beyond initial agreements, with LG Electronics beginning partial operations at its robot-training Data Factory and LG Innotek expanding cooperation on sensing technologies. Hyundai Motor Group, another Nvidia partner, has also outlined new steps toward building AI infrastructure for robotics and autonomous driving.

South Korean companies showcased humanoid robot components, dual-arm machines, and autonomous driving systems at FIX 2026 in Daegu, offering a look at how developers are bringing automation into factories and transportation. The technologies ranged from robotic hardware under development for manufacturing applications to an autonomous taxi service already carrying paying passengers.

Taiwan Mobile (TWM) said its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service is expanding beyond e-commerce checkout to travel, pet care, and other consumer scenarios, driven by the growth of atypical employment and rising demand for flexible payments. The service, branded "OP Pay," had 49.9% more cumulative users as of the end of September 2026 than at the end of September 2025.

Ibiden on October 29 raised its fiscal 2026 forecast, projecting consolidated net profit to rise 40% year-over-year to JPY89 billion (US$563 million) and revenue to increase 36% to JPY565 billion. The company also announced an additional JPY151 billion in capital investment to expand advanced IC packaging substrate capacity for generative AI servers and CPUs.

Japan’s Renesas Electronics expects strong demand for AI data centers, industrial applications, and automotive semiconductors to drive 2026 revenue to JPY1.6668 trillion (US$10.55 billion), up 26.4% year-over-year, with its operating margin rising to 33.2%, according to its third-quarter 2026 earnings report.

China's listed memory module makers, whose results offer an early read on how the global memory upcycle is reaching the country's storage supply chain, reported net profit gains of more than 300-fold at the top end for the first nine months of 2026. Yet several of the largest players also posted sharp sequential profit declines in the third quarter, suggesting the windfall from low-cost inventory meeting surging contract prices is narrowing.

Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast aims to make India one of its two largest markets alongside Vietnam, Tapan Ghosh, CEO of VinFast Asia, told Nikkei Asia in an interview published on October 28. The Nasdaq-listed company expects Asia, including Vietnam, to account for 90% of its global sales by 2030.

BYD reported rising profits for the third quarter of 2026, but its performance fell short of analysts' forecasts. The result stems from the challenges China's automakers face, navigating price wars at home while pushing to expand to higher-margin overseas markets.

KLA Corporation, the US maker of semiconductor inspection and metrology equipment, is evaluating a manufacturing foray in India and is considering one or two applications under the country's Semicon 2.0 incentive scheme, The Economic Times reported on October 29, citing people familiar with the developments. KLA did not respond to the newspaper's queries.

South Korean AI chip developers HyperAccel and Rebellions are moving beyond standalone accelerators to develop integrated data center systems, seeking to combine domestic processors, memory, and networking technologies into infrastructure capable of handling different AI workloads at lower cost.