At the startup expo COMEUP 2025 that took place in Seoul last week, Taiwan's emerging companies, including Infinitix and SurveyCake, showcased plans to deepen their footprint in South Korea's growing AI and consumer markets. Led by the National Development Council (NDC) and local startup communities under the Startup Island Taiwan brand, these firms aim to leverage South Korea's vibrant tech ecosystem for expansion

Luxshare Precision Industry is accelerating efforts to diversify its business mix as it seeks to reduce its heavy reliance on Apple-linked consumer electronics, even as that segment remains the company's largest revenue contributor. Financial data show consumer electronics accounted for 79% of Luxshare's revenue in the first half of 2025, down from a peak of 88% in 2020 and 85% in 2023, signaling a gradual but deliberate rebalancing

For decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has pursued scale: more parameters, more data, more GPUs. That approach delivered rapid breakthroughs but also revealed hard limits in power consumption, cost, and accessibility. In China, a different path is taking shape, one that looks beyond silicon scaling laws to the human brain itself

From December 12 to 14, the 2025 Global Developers Pioneer Summit (GDPS) and international embodied AI skills competition took place in Shanghai, spotlighting China's rising humanoid robot scene. The GDPS 2025 opening ceremony on December 13 featured a landmark collaboration between AgiBot and Unitree, marking their first joint stage performance

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has aggressively expanded into the electric vehicle (EV) market in recent years, with its EV business showing strong performance and cumulative deliveries surpassing 500,000 units. The company also achieved the annual sales target set by founder Lei Jun ahead of schedule. However, alongside rapid sales growth, Xiaomi has recently faced a series of safety-related incidents, bringing renewed scrutiny to its vehicle safety and management processes

China's BOE Technology is rapidly advancing its 8.6-generation IT OLED production, signaling an aggressive push to close the gap with South Korean rivals. Reports indicate the company has begun procuring equipment for the second phase of its B16 production line, including the third and fourth lines, marking a strategic acceleration in scaling manufacturing capacity

In 2025, Shanghai hosted two AI conferences that spotlighted its tech advantages and featured the Global Developer Pioneers Summit (GDPS) 2025 competition, which emphasized practical AI solutions for industry and rescue operations

As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and large model training rapidly increase computing power density, artificial intelligence (AI) data centers are entering a new phase where energy efficiency and thermal management have become decisive factors

French semiconductor IP vendor Dolphin Semiconductor said its collaboration with HCLTech reflects growing demand for pre-optimized, platform-based system-on-chip development, as energy costs, time-to-market pressure, and design complexity rise

Baidu confirmed on December 7, 2025, that it is evaluating the spin-off and listing of its AI chip unit, Kunlunxin. This announcement came just one day before the US permitted H200 chip exports to China. Baidu cautioned that the plan is subject to regulatory approval and not guaranteed, tempering initial market enthusiasm

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong has returned to South Korea after a week-long business trip to the US. Lee reportedly met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Austin, Texas, with senior executives of Samsung's foundry division also present. It is also rumored that Lee met with AMD CEO Lisa Su to discuss HBM supply and foundry orders using advanced 2-nanometer process technology. These efforts are considered tactics to help Samsung regain leadership in AI semiconductors

Samsung Electronics is close to finalizing negotiations with Nvidia to supply more than 30% of its sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) for 2026, aiming to regain market share after setbacks with HBM3E

The global market for OLED display panels is entering its seasonal peak in the second half of 2025, and South Korea's leading panel makers—Samsung Display and LG Display—are emerging as the biggest beneficiaries of renewed demand for high-end smartphones. Analysts say shipments and revenue are set to accelerate, with the fourth quarter of 2025 likely to mark a record-breaking period for the industry

Samsung Electronics has reportedly stabilized the performance of its 12-layer high-bandwidth memory, a development that could allow the company to expand shipments to Google's artificial intelligence accelerators as competition intensifies in the market for advanced memory used in AI chips, according to South Korean media

Escalating US-China tech rivalry and the politicization of the supply chain are accelerating a structural transformation in the global semiconductor equipment sector. While the US and its allies use stringent export controls to reshape the advanced node industry order, China's semiconductor industry is aggressively pursuing self-sufficiency across equipment, materials, and processes to mitigate reliance on foreign suppliers