The recent Taiwan-US tariff agreement, establishing a reciprocal 15% tariff rate under the most-favored-nation (MFN) principle without stacking, marks a significant development for Taiwan's traditional manufacturing sectors, particularly the machinery industry. The resolution has been welcomed as a move toward restoring fairer competition with key rivals like Japan and South Korea, although concerns about exchange rate volatility persist.
"Physical AI"—the fusion of artificial intelligence with machines that move, sense, and act in the real world—emerged as a defining theme at CES 2026, where Chinese robotics companies made a particularly forceful showing. Dozens of humanoid robots were on display, underscoring how quickly China is moving to translate AI advances into physical form.
Cyber attackers are already taking action even though Q-Day may still be several years away. Society must act now to prevent quantum threats.
Tesla aims to shorten its in-house AI chip design cycle to one generation every nine months, targeting rivals Nvidia and AMD. However, industry analysts highlight automotive safety verification and software stability as the biggest bottlenecks.
Following the conclusion of the Taiwan-US tariff framework, industry attention centers on how Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision), a leading electronics manufacturer, will recalibrate its operations and strategy. Despite Foxconn's lack of an official statement, experts note that the company typically maintains a cautious stance on major trade policy changes, awaiting comprehensive details and execution guidelines before announcing its corporate responses.
The recent US-Taiwan tariff agreement has minimal effect on servers' original design manufacturers (ODMs), as server products were excluded from both previous reciprocal tariffs and the semiconductor-related Section 232 tariffs. Industry insiders say that rather than tariffs, customer preferences drive production decisions, with most companies now manufacturing in the US primarily to meet customer requirements.
The global AI boom is pushing electronics supply chains to their limits. While shortages of advanced chips and memory have drawn most attention, a less visible constraint is emerging: high-end electronic-grade glass fiber cloth, a core reinforcement material used in chip substrates and printed circuit boards (PCBs).
Server ODM Quanta Computer is aggressively expanding production, with the expectation that capacity will double again by the end of 2026. Quanta's Executive Vice President and Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT) General Manager Mike Yang said that not only will manufacturing capacity increase, but the engineering staff responsible for R&D will also expand from nearly 3,000 people to an additional 500-800 employees.
Apple and Google have entered an AI technology partnership reportedly worth as much as US$5 billion, according to industry sources cited by the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Apple may pay roughly US$1 billion annually to use a customized Gemini model developed by Google, which runs on Apple's own servers to maintain user privacy.
The escalating global energy transition and intensifying industrial rivalry have elevated power infrastructure security to a national defense-level strategic concern, with a focus on energy transmission efficiency rather than mere generation capacity. Experts warn that bottlenecks in ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission, particularly in 345 kV cables, are now decisive factors shaping industrial competitiveness and the global digital economy landscape.
Industry speculation about collaboration between optics manufacturers and semiconductor companies to bolster their silicon photonics (SiPh) capabilities is gaining ground. Following Largan Technology chairman Enping Lin's comments during a recent earnings call, Asia Optical chairman I-Jen Lai confirmed that Asia Optical is also a potential participant in this trend.
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