LG Energy Solution (LGES) is weighing whether to expand into the US defense supply chain as the EV market remains sluggish and the company broadens into energy storage systems (ESS). The possible move has drawn attention because LG Group has long stayed away from defense businesses since its split with LIG Group.
Chinese commercial rocket maker LandSpace plans to relaunch its reusable Zhuque-3 booster within six months, after the vehicle successfully completed a vertical landing on land in its second test flight last week. The company said the milestone marks not only a technical breakthrough but also the starting point for building a system for inspection, maintenance and reuse, as China's reusable rocket sector accelerates commercialization.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has approved Geely-backed Zhejiang Geespace Technology to conduct a two-year commercial satellite Internet of Things (satellite IoT) trial, making it the first privately owned Chinese company authorized to advance such services and signaling a further opening of China's satellite communications market to private-sector players.
Russia's space agency Roscosmos has again delayed development of its first reusable rocket, Amur SPG, with its first launch now reportedly delayed until 2031. That would be five years later than the original concept and three years beyond Russia's public timeline from spring 2026.
The tactical drone market is entering a turning point in which legacy platform suppliers and software-driven startups are competing head-on while also seeking new roles through collaboration. Janes, citing industry sources in Europe, the Middle East and North America, said startups including Anduril, Helsing, Quantum Systems and Stark Defence are accelerating their push into the market and have already caused clear disruption to the tactical drone supply chain, though it is still too early to call the market saturated.
Aerospace Industrial Development (AIDC) is cautiously optimistic about business momentum in the second half of 2026 as Taiwan's drone policy becomes clearer and defense work stays solid. Senior Vice President Hwai-Sheng King said the company has more than NT$100 billion (approx. US$3.1 billion) in orders on hand across defense, civil aviation, and technology services over the next five years, while it also pushes into the space satellite field, advanced composites, and structural parts.
Speaking at DIGITIMES' "AI on Chips: Semiconductor Industry Outlook Forum," MediaTek senior director Bor-Sung Liang said AI development is shifting from individual large language models (LLMs) toward collaborative teams of AI agents with different roles and capabilities. He also revisited the seven-layer AI architecture he previously proposed, contrasting it with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's five-layer "cake."
The US commercial space sector is entering a phase in which launching more rockets is no longer the only test of industrial scale. As flight cadence rises and multiple providers push toward higher throughput, the more difficult constraint is increasingly the infrastructure surrounding each mission.
Autonomous driving technology is maturing, and a future in which cars entirely drive themselves is quickly approaching in the rearview mirror. Yet safety and trust remain crucial barriers to overcome before fully autonomous driving becomes a reality, and a key part of this is the "eyes" of the car.
The aerospace industry's pursuit of lighter structures has long centered on advanced alloys, composites and additive manufacturing. But as aircraft and spacecraft shed weight, another manufacturing challenge becomes harder to ignore: the interface between the materials themselves.
Aircraft and spacecraft may be judged by thrust, payload capacity, and range, but the German Industry Solutions Session held at Automation Taipei 2026 on August 20 suggested that some of aerospace manufacturing's most consequential advances are taking place somewhere far less visible: inside connectors, bonded joints, laser-processed surfaces, dispensing paths, and robotic assembly cells.
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