Taiwan's leading NAND controller and storage solution provider, Phison Electronics Corp., recently announced that its enterprise SSD brand Pascari has partnered with US space data company Lonestar Data Holdings on the award-winning Freedom Mission, a milestone project highlighting the rising strategic importance of secure and resilient data storage in the AI era.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on X that the AI5 chip design is "almost done and AI6 is in early stages," with AI7, AI8, and AI9 "aiming for a 9-month design cycle." Musk stated that the AI5 chip achieves performance comparable to Nvidia's Hopper with a single SoC configuration, and with a dual-SoC configuration, it rivals Nvidia's Blackwell, while maintaining lower cost and pricing. He said that the AI5's development faced challenges, with Musk himself working consecutive weekends for months with minimal days off.

Mouser Electronics, a global authorized distributor of electronic components and industrial automation products, added 63 new manufacturers to its line card in 2025, further increasing the range of components available to design engineers and purchasing professionals. The distributor also introduced more than 40,000 new part numbers over the year.

Corning and Meta Platforms have agreed to a multiyear deal valued at up to US$6 billion to supply optical fiber, cable, and connectivity solutions for Meta's US data center expansion. The agreement aims to support Meta's applications, technologies, and AI infrastructure needs.

Lightmatter is hosting its Tech Day in Taiwan on January 28, 2026, following the announcement of strategic partnerships with Global Unichip Corp. (GUC), Cadence Design Systems, and Synopsys. The company is positioning itself to advance AI infrastructure and accelerate the commercialization of co‑packaged optics (CPO) solutions.

"There will never be one like me," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang proclaimed recently in an interview, a bold assertion of his singular journey from novice founder to titan of the AI revolution.

Following the resolution of tariffs between Taiwan and the US, market concerns are expected to ease, leading to clearer procurement signals from end users and fostering optimism that the machine tool industry will recover from recent downturns. Industry experts indicate that this development is likely to result in a structurally driven rebound rather than a short-term uptick.

The optical film industry is undergoing significant upheaval as disruptions in the red supply chain force manufacturers to rethink their business models. Taiwan-based Efun Technology has adopted a "low volume, high quality" strategy, focusing on specialized products such as water-blocking films and satellite space-environment protective films. Water-blocking films are projected to become a major revenue contributor by 2026, while protective films for satellites have already secured manufacturing contracts with a US low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite customer.

The chip resistor supply chain is seeing another round of price hikes as major passive component manufacturers Yageo and Walsin Technology initiated the first wave. Taiwanese firm Ta-i Technology has officially notified customers of a price adjustment effective February 1, 2026, citing volatile upstream metal raw material costs that have pushed thick film resistor production expenses beyond manageable levels.

DIGITIMES recently tracked the 2025 revenues of the world's top 20 EMS/ODM companies, with nine Taiwanese firms making the list, including Foxconn, Wistron (including Wiwynn), Quanta, Pegatron, Compal, Inventec, Accton, Qisda, and Universal Scientific Industrial (USI) listed in China.

The largest annual artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem event, AI EXPO Taiwan 2026, is confirmed to take place from March 25-27, 2026, at the Taipei Expo Dome. Compared to previous years, this edition will collaborate internationally with AI EXPO Korea, AI+ Power Hong Kong, and Tech Week Singapore to create a global exhibition zone, showcasing Taiwan's leadership in international AI technology exchange.