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Aug 6
Unitree's impending IPO draws Meituan and Tencent as investors

Chinese robotics company Unitree is entering a critical stage in its initial public offering. The IPO is expected to raise about CNY4.2 billion (approximately US$622 million), while the company's post-listing valuation could range from CNY40 billion to CNY50 billion. It would become the first company on China's A-share market whose primary investment theme is humanoid robotics.

SpaceX's earnings call — the first since its IPO disclosure — beat expectations on Aug 4, but the line that moved markets wasn't a revenue figure.

Elon Musk's ambitions across AI, robotics and space infrastructure are moving into a new phase following the unveiling of Terafab, an ambitious semiconductor manufacturing complex designed to secure the compute capacity required by Tesla, SpaceX and xAI.

AI-driven demand for advanced packaging is giving old-generation panel fabs and equipment new value. As Taiwan's panel makers accelerate the phaseout of LCD capacity at the 5.5 generation and below, they are splitting into two tracks: selling factories to foundries and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers, or keeping lines in-house to develop fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP), through-glass via (TGV), redistribution layer (RDL), and glass core technologies.

Microsoft has opened its India South Central cloud region in Hyderabad, expanding local capacity for customers in one of the world's fastest-growing digital markets. The move could matter well beyond India, giving global enterprises more options for sovereign-ready AI, regulated workloads, and lower-latency cloud services in Asia's second-largest internet economy.

The government-organized 2026 Taiwan Innotech Expo (TIE) will open in Taipei on September 17, with the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Future Tech Pavilion set to showcase the latest research achievements that are ready for proof-of-concept validation and technology licensing. This year's exhibition will spotlight six priority areas: AI applications, semiconductors, precision health, space technology, disaster prevention technology, and net-zero technology.

Wistron has secured new AI server customers, including enterprise accounts Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Lenovo Group, as well as a reported cloud services provider (CSP) order from Oracle, underscoring Taiwan ODMs' growing role in AI server manufacturing as demand surges and production becomes more complex.

From smartphones and smartwatches to emerging AI glasses, electric vehicles, autonomous driving systems, and the rapidly expanding drone industry, batteries have become the indispensable power source behind virtually every next-generation technology. More than just the "heart" of these products, batteries have also become one of the world's largest strategic growth markets.

Inventec said notebook shipments will soften in the third quarter after customers pulled in orders during the first half, lifting volumes above expectations, while server shipments are set to keep rising. The Taiwanese electronics maker reported that it shipped 1.6 million notebook units in July, down from 2.4 million in June, and expects third-quarter notebook shipments to fall by a single-digit percentage from the second quarter.

South Korean internet giant Naver is accelerating its move into defense AI after falling short in the country's independent AI foundation model race, seeing the sector as its next growth engine. Through Naver Cloud, the company has set up a dedicated defense AI team and dispatched field engineers into military systems for customized deployments.

Chicony Electronics reported stronger second-quarter earnings on August 5 as demand from the commercial market outpaced consumer spending. The Taiwanese electronics maker said higher-end products such as smart video conferencing systems and gaming keyboards helped improve its profit mix even as DRAM-related cost pressure remained a drag on end-market demand.

Chinese optical transceiver suppliers are trying to calm investors after reports that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may restrict new China-made data-center components, threatening a supply chain central to global AI infrastructure.