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Sep 18
High-end GPUs may be slowing China's AI compute expansion
China's wide gap in token costs stems largely from domestic companies' difficulty in accessing Nvidia high-end GPUs, forcing them to squeeze more value from each token to recoup costs. But supply-chain sources say the scale of China and US AI compute investment may actually be roughly comparable, despite US hyperscalers' far larger 2025 capex.
Power grids can't keep pace with AI data center boom in EU, US
Sep 19, 07:20
According to supply chain players, most AI data center cost models used by analysts in both China and the West only count electricity consumption when estimating the cost of AI data centers or tokens, but do not take into account the cost of power generation, transmission, or grid infrastructure. As a result, actual AI data center build-out costs vary greatly by country and region, due to the vast differences in power mix, grid capacity, and energy policies.

MediaTek's new Dimensity 9600 Pro puts agentic AI at the center of its flagship smartphone strategy, supporting on-device mixture-of-experts (MoE) models with up to 30 billion parameters. Vivo, among the first Chinese handset makers to adopt the platform, has followed with an expanded AI software stack spanning BlueLM, BlueLM Copilot, and a system-level BlueLM Harness.

Ams OSRAM is pushing its optical force sensor line into robotic hands on the argument that incumbent piezoelectric solutions cannot hold a reading, and it is using automotive qualification as the entry credential.
Compal Electronics is buying out the shares of its listed networking arm, Compal Broadband Networks (CBN), in a cash deal that will end CBN's public listing and give Compal full control of a router and gateway business it wants to pair with its edge AI hardware.
Corning, the US glass substrate supplier, will raise prices for its yen-denominated display glass substrate products by 15% or more worldwide starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to industry sources. The company confirmed the move amid persistent cost pressure across the electronics supply chain.
China's AI data centers are confronting a severe chip access bottleneck, with the cost of producing tokens shaped less by model design than by geopolitics, according to a recent Caijing analysis. The report said restricted access to high-end GPUs has become the most critical cost burden in China's AI era.

CoreWeave launched a debt sale worth US$3 billion in convertible bonds, which would allow buyers to turn their bonds into shares. The neocloud, which has sharply ramped up its infrastructure spending over the past year, has secured a growing customer base but faces concerns over financial sustainability amid intense competition and fears of an AI slowdown.

King Charles III has stepped into the intensifying debate over artificial intelligence, urging executives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic to keep AI under human control and ensure the technology serves people and the planet.

The question facing China's "AI agent phone" category is no longer whether a model can drive a smartphone. It is whether the apps will let it. Judging by the first mass-produced device to try it, the answer is mostly not yet.
Taiwan's central bank left interest rates unchanged on the 17th, saying inflation remains manageable and the economy is still growing steadily. The decision came as the US Federal Reserve's rate hike drew criticism from President Donald Trump.
Taiwan's Central Bank said on the 17th that the success or failure of AI monetization will determine its long-term economic benefits and impact on financial markets. It urged Taiwanese companies to accelerate AI adoption as it weighed the effects of AI development on the macroeconomy and financial stability.