The shortage of indium phosphide (InP) lasers that feed AI data center optics is lengthening, not easing. Lumentum now says its capacity is spoken for into early 2029, and its largest customers are starting to share the financial risk of building more. The shift points to a bottleneck in AI networking at a handful of laser chipmakers, whose new capacity takes years to bring online.

A former iPhone display factory in Mobara, Japan, is set for a new role in the semiconductor supply chain, with Shinko Electric Industries planning to convert the site into a production base for semiconductor package substrates used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is betting on physical AI as part of a multibillion-dollar growth plan to modernize factories, address labor shortages, and expand robotics across shipbuilding, aerospace, and healthcare. The move signals how one of Japan's major industrial groups plans to compete in a global market where automation is increasingly central to productivity, resilience, and long-term growth.

CyberTAN Technology is moving into the fast-growing AI data center switch market, joining Marvell Technology on a new 3nm Pallas 1.6T platform. The effort underscores rising global demand for high-speed networking, while tight chip supply and cooling demands remain key hurdles for operators and customers worldwide.

French AI startup Mistral has launched a public preview of Mistral Large 4 (ML4), a 1-trillion-parameter AI model whose weights are scheduled for public release in late October 2026, saying its performance can rival some Chinese open-weight models.

The US International Trade Commission's (USITC) decision on October 9 to investigate 20 suppliers of AI server power systems, most of them Taiwanese or Chinese companies and their affiliates, adds a patent front to a series of US measures in 2026 that reward companies for building AI hardware in America and raise the cost of shipping it in from Asia.

Taiwan's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is projected to reach 11.05% in 2026, a 39-year high, driven by its technological advantage in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and high-performance computing (HPC), and boosting government tax revenue. Consequently, Taiwan's Executive Yuan outlined plans on October 8 to distribute NT$10,000 (approx. US$313) in cash handouts to the public via an "AI dividend" with the first recipients potentially receiving payments as early as January 26, 2027, before the Lunar New Year, subject to budget approval.

Largan Technology said on October 8 that demand for new smartphone models weakened in September and that its newly completed automated plant will be used entirely for fiber array units, or FAUs, for co-packaged optics applications. The optical lens maker said the move comes as customers are asking it to deliver the finished FAU product directly.

Aker Technology said AI and electric vehicle demand are driving faster shipments, with automotive products accounting for 51.88% of sales in the first half of 2026. The quartz component maker also said its 312.5MHz product is scheduled to sample in the fourth quarter of 2026.

MAtek, a leading semiconductor testing company, reported September 2026 revenue of NT$569 million (approx. US$17.8 million), up 12.31% year-over-year. Revenue for the first nine months reached NT$4.765 billion, rising 16.99% year-over-year, while third-quarter revenue climbed 16.14% year-over-year to NT$1.697 billion, a record for the period.