As artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the global semiconductor race—and as commercial space activity heats up—the idea of moving chip fabrication into orbit is edging from science fiction toward technological reality.
With the 3GPP Release 19 standard nearing its freeze and SpaceX's Starship poised to slash launch costs, direct-to-device (D2D) satellite communication is emerging as the telecom industry's next major arena of competition.
In recent years, the global space industry has entered an unprecedented period of acceleration, driven in large part by the rapid expansion of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. Chief among them is SpaceX's Starlink network, which is swiftly reshaping the world's communications infrastructure.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has dismissed concerns that the company's rapid expansion of its proprietary artificial intelligence infrastructure threatens Nvidia's market dominance. He argued that global demand for AI compute is growing fast enough for multiple chipmakers to prosper.
The Taiwan Space Union (TSU) recently convened a Satellite Science Workshop, where participants noted that the high cost of space research and development has led to a shift in government space policy toward mission-driven goals, leaving limited room for science-led initiatives. Taiwan's updated Phase III 2.0 national space program, they said, is now anchored even more tightly to two priorities: national security and industrial development.
The Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) of Taiwan says the global aerospace sector is facing twin pressures: robust market demand and the push toward net-zero carbon emissions. These forces are driving two key priorities: high-speed production and structural lightweighting—trends that are boosting the prospects for thermoplastic composites. Meanwhile, the rise of eVTOL aircraft and drones is accelerating the adoption of these advanced materials.
As global demand for AI computing power surges, conventional ground-based data centers are increasingly constrained by limits in energy supply and cooling capacity.
Taiwan successfully launched its first FORMOSAT-8A (FS-8A) satellite, nicknamed the "Zeppelin," on November 29, accompanied by five domestically developed CubeSats that also entered orbit. The CubeSats include Bellbird-1, Black Kite-1, and TORO-2, created through the Taiwan Space Agency (TSA)'s NewSpace accelerator program by Tron Future Tech, Rapidtek Technologies, and Pyras Technology, as well as Lilium-2 and Lilium-3, jointly developed by NCKU, NTU, NTUST, and TKU, with support from the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).
SpaceX's Transporter-15 rocket carried the satellite, code-named FORMOSAT-8A (FS-8A), at 2:44 a.m. Taipei time on Nov. 29 and was deployed into its planned orbit at 5:04 a.m.
Honda, long known for its automobiles and motorcycles, is steadily extending its engineering ambitions beyond Earth's surface. Nearly a decade after the HondaJet entered commercial production in 2015, the Japanese manufacturer has marked another aerospace milestone: the successful launch and landing of a reusable micro-rocket in Hokkaido on June 17, 2025.
