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Mar 4
Nvidia's multi-year deals with Lumentum and Coherent could accelerate silicon photonics commercialization
Nvidia has signed multi-year, non-exclusive agreements with US-based Lumentum Operations LLC and Coherent that include long-term procurement commitments worth billions of dollars and priority access to high-end lasers and optical networking products. Industry observers say the deals could shift optical transmission from a supporting connectivity role to a central driver of AI computing capacity.
Amid the intensifying global race in generative AI, Alibaba founder Jack Ma recently appeared alongside senior executives at Hangzhou Yungu School to address the technology's rapid evolution. Ma bluntly said that AI's technological capabilities are iterating on a "weekly" basis, warning that society's preparedness is struggling to keep pace.

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.

Taiwan is exploring regulatory measures to manage the rising electricity demand from AI computing infrastructure, even as the government rolls out incentives to accelerate the sector's development.

Sony is preparing to pull back from its 6-year experiment with day-later PC releases and refocus on PlayStation 5 exclusivity for its biggest single-player titles, according to Bloomberg, marking a significant strategic reversal for the Japanese gaming giant. The move would represent a return to a long-standing strategy that helped Sony dominate previous console cycles.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he does not expect the company's investment in OpenAI to reach US$100 billion and suggested the recent US$30 billion equity commitment may be the last such round before OpenAI's public listing.

In recent weeks, Taiwanese IC design companies have indicated during earnings calls that advance stocking across the IT industry has been notable. The typical off-season has remained relatively active, largely driven by expectations of memory shortages and price increases, as well as concerns that component costs could rise in the near term. Industry players generally believe the pull-in demand will likely balance out between the first and second halves of 2026, suggesting that the traditional seasonal cycle of weak and peak periods may largely be absent this year.

China has set a more flexible economic growth target for 2026, Premier Li Qiang said in the government work report delivered on March 5 and carried by Xinhua News Agency. The gross domestic product growth goal is between 4.5% and 5%, with consumer price index inflation expected to be around 2%, a range that marks a cautious shift from previous years' more definitive "around 5%" target.

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.

Broadcom's pivot to shipping complete AI racks — not just chips — will be a meaningful operational shift but one the company says is already priced into its margins and strategic plans, executives told investors on the firm's earnings call for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Management framed the move as an extension of long‑running customer partnerships and supply‑chain positioning rather than a risky new business line.
On March 4, Broadcom told investors its Tomahawk family is a key competitive advantage as customers build larger AI clusters. Management highlighted Tomahawk 6 — which it described as the industry's only 100-terabit-per-second switch introduced in the last year — as a first-to-market product that hyperscalers are adopting for high-bandwidth cluster interconnects. The company said that the combination of switching performance and early availability has helped it "capture demand from hyperscalers" regardless of whether those customers run XPUs or GPUs.
Broadcom on Monday detailed progress across its custom AI XPU roadmap, saying deployments with five major customers are advancing and that a sixth — OpenAI — is set to begin volume XPU use in 2027. Management framed the programs as deep, multi‑year partnerships tied to large gigawatt‑scale capacity plans and said Broadcom has secured the supply chain to support the ramps through 2028.