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May 19
Chipmakers rejoice as Googlebook entry heats up AI PC race
Google's announcement for the upcoming Googlebook, which tightly integrates Gemini features, signals that it is no longer limiting its PC strategy to the Chromebook line and is pushing into a higher-end product tier in the AI PC era. Chipmakers, including Intel on the x86 side and Qualcomm and MediaTek on the Arm side, are also joining the race, further intensifying competition in the AI PC market.
ASML expects its first advanced semiconductors made using next-generation High-Numerical Aperture (High-NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment to ship within months.
Apple's new Chief Hardware Officer, Johny Srouji, has launched a reorganization of the company's device development division. The move shifts executive responsibilities over core product design to accelerate future hardware cycles. According to Bloomberg, the changes integrate the previously independent domains of hardware engineering and hardware technologies under a single leadership structure. The realignment is part of a broader succession plan, following Apple's announcement that John Ternus — longtime senior vice president of hardware engineering — will become Chief Executive Officer on September 1, 2026.
SpaceX plans to follow through with its acquisition of Cursor, which provides AI coding tools, 30 days after the space company launches its IPO. The deal, worth US$60 billion, would shore up SpaceX's recently acquired xAI unit, whose Grok models are reportedly considered to be behind those of competitors Anthropic and OpenAI.
Alibaba Cloud has unveiled the Zhenwu M890, a new proprietary AI training and inference chip developed by its semiconductor subsidiary T-Head Semiconductor, as the Chinese cloud group accelerates its push into full-stack AI infrastructure for the agentic AI era.
Tech Forum 2026: AI server racks push liquid cooling into mainstream
May 20, 15:34
META Green Cooling Technology (MGC) president Clyde Chu said Nvidia's chip roadmap shows that cooling requirements are doubling in less than a year, with the NVL72 rack based on the Vera Rubin architecture, expected in the second half of 2026, requiring 130-140 kW of cooling capacity per rack. By 2027, the Vera Rubin Ultra platform could push single-rack power consumption to 200-300 kW.
Microsoft's data center expansion in India represents the continuation of a strategic regional investment trajectory, updating previously announced capital commitments rather than introducing new funding. The company is accelerating infrastructure deployment in India's fast-growing AI market, where it competes with Alphabet and Amazon for dominance in cloud services and artificial intelligence.
Physical AI is set to reshape autonomous driving and robotics. At the DIGITIMES Tech Forum 2026, held ahead of COMPUTEX 2026, analysts said advances in perception, decision-making, and motion control are opening new doors across industries.
AI camera demand is being propelled by enterprise digital transformation, smart healthcare, and cross-border collaboration, turning cameras from simple video recorders into intelligent sensing endpoints with far-reaching implications for suppliers across the optics and semiconductor ecosystem.
Xiaomi warns memory costs could push flagship phone prices past CNY10,000 (approx. US$1,468) in 2026, a development that would affect global consumers as higher-capacity models become more expensive and manufacturers adjust portfolios. The company also withheld an ultra-thin, Apple Air-style device after concluding trade-offs would harm battery life and camera performance.
Recent media reports say Google is set to team up with Blackstone to form a new cloud computing leasing company, with Blackstone as the main shareholder. The new venture aims to build about 500 MW of computing capacity by 2027, most of it using Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), a move industry watchers say supports Google ASIC partners such as MediaTek, Broadcom, and TSMC.
Quanta Cloud Technology announced that its subsidiary QMN purchased a 10-year right-of-use asset for a California facility lease for US$61.71 million to support expanding manufacturing capacity for AI servers and other operations in the US. The transaction was disclosed as part of the firm's ongoing expansion of US manufacturing, where the company has grown its California campus to more than 20 buildings.