As 2024 comes to a close, the global technology industry is looking forward to new opportunities in 2025. The rapid implementation of generative AI (GenAI) technologies has led to an influx of new applications, while the electric vehicle (EV) market is poised for significant developments in the new year.
The development of AI models in China has progressed at an impressive pace, with a proactive embrace of open-source strategies in recent years. These efforts have not only garnered significant attention from the global AI community on platforms like Hugging Face but have also led to the adoption of Chinese-developed open-source models by prominent research teams, including those from Meta and Stanford University.
Technology companies are actively seeking new ways to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, leading to the emergence of AI agents, which are not only able to generate content but are also able to take action based on the information they gain from their environment.
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and global economic policies impacting the electronics industry as the new year begins, demand for semiconductors, AI servers, and related components remains strong. The industry's performance is expected to be further enhanced by increased demand for smartphones and notebooks throughout 2025.
Taiwan's National Development Council (NDC) has refined its Employment Gold Card policy, benefiting over 10,000 individuals, and is now seeking to attract digital nomads by significantly easing visa requirements.
DeepSeek, an emerging AI company, has launched DeepSeek-V3, the first version of its new open-source model series. According to official data, this model outperforms other leading open-source models such as Alibaba's Qwen2.5-72B and Meta's Llama-3.1-405B across multiple evaluations, approaching the capabilities of prominent closed-source models like GPT-4 and Claude-3.5-Sonnet in several domains.
Leading PCB manufacturer Zhen Ding has received approval to set up an AI park at the Southern Taiwan Science Park. The company is expected to invest NT$2 billion (US$61 million) to establish a hardboard production line and R&D center, targeting high-end PCB demands from clients in the AI server sector, with production anticipated to commence in the second half of 2025 at the earliest.
As artificial intelligence (AI) has been in bloom in recent years, Nvidia has achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing a market capitalization of US$3 trillion for the first time in 2024. Throughout this year, Nvidia has actively invested in AI, including participation in startup financing and acquisitions, on par with other tech giants.
Taiwan's major motherboard and graphics card manufacturers are capitalizing on opportunities in the AI server sector, with projected operational growth in 2025, according to industry sources.
Machining parts and chassis maker Jinpao Precision Industry (JPP) expects robust growth in 2025 from AI server cabinets and aerospace-related orders. Due to the surge in AI server-related orders, the company has set up a new production facility in Thailand to meet sustained demand into 2025. Furthermore, due to the shift from air cooling to liquid cooling, JPP expects its clients to begin adopting next-generation AI server cabinets in 2025, which will in turn further boost operations for the company.
Quanta Computer is positioned to maintain its leadership in the AI sector, according to Barry Lam, chairman of the Taiwan-based ODM company. Building on AI advancements, he expects the production of AI supercomputers to commence in 2025, marking a significant milestone for the company.
Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group Holding, has recently slashed prices on its visual language model Qwen-VL by more than 80%, as price wars continue to rage in China's large language models (LLMs).
Tesla's ambitious humanoid robots initiative, first unveiled during its AI Day in 2021, is approaching a crucial milestone. Elon Musk's Optimus robot, designed to handle mundane, repetitive, and hazardous tasks, is set to enter limited production in 2025, with thousands expected to debut at Tesla factories. This development marks a significant step forward in humanoid robotics, an industry now attracting major players worldwide.
Xiaomi is reportedly in the process of constructing a massive GPU cluster to significantly invest in artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (LLMs). According to a source cited by Jiemian News, Xiaomi's LLM team had already established 6,500 GPU resources at its inception.
Major Chinese technology companies have unveiled their strategic goals for 2025, with plans spanning from electric vehicle sales to artificial intelligence innovations. Tech giants Xiaomi, Baidu, and Huawei have outlined their vision for the year ahead, signaling transformative changes and challenges facing China's technology sector.
The advancement of technology has laid the foundation for the electronic and digital transformation of healthcare, further promoting the introduction and application of smart solutions. With the gradual easing of related regulations, many ICT companies are increasing their investments, hoping to ride the wave of change in the medical industry and expand their operational reach while diversifying their business strategies.
Growing demand for artificial intelligence semiconductors is reshaping the global chip industry, but South Korea's ambitions to capture market share face significant hurdles despite the sector's explosive growth potential.
Tesla executive Jeff Lutz clarified on social media that the Dojo chip is not directly used in electric vehicles (EVs) or the Optimus robot but instead provides computational support for AI training, further enhancing the performance of full self-driving (FSD) technology. Observing the four key puzzle pieces in Tesla's AI system offers insight into Musk's grand AI plan.
Perfect Corp, a leading provider of AI and AR beauty technology, has acquired Wannaby Inc., a Farfetch-owned startup, in a deal with undisclosed financial details. This acquisition aligns with Perfect Corp's strategy to integrate cutting-edge technologies and broaden its portfolio into high-growth fashion sectors, including footwear, handbags, and apparel.
Alibaba Group agreed to sell its shares in Sun Art Retail Group to private equity firm DCP Capital, unloading another high-profile physical commerce asset to focus on its core online business.
Building on the prior exploration of Foxconn's management philosophy and the advantages of its new policies, this DIGITIMES feature delves into the company's growth trajectory, the hurdles encountered by Chairman Young Liu, and his forward-looking strategies to overcome them.
The Chinese AI model DeepSeek has gained global popularity recently, bringing attention to a figure dubbed the "genius AI girl" Fuli Luo, born post-1995.
The IC design industry has seen demand in 2024 vary starkly across different applications: cloud AI-related demand continued to grow month by month, while the edge device sector was fraught with uncertainty throughout the year, going through a series of up and downs in a manifestation of the pessimistic outlook for the sector held by many in the supply chain.
Leading OSAT firm ASE has teamed up with leading substrate makers, major AI server manufacturer Pegatron, and others to develop an AI visual inspection system, aimed at accelerating digital transformation across the supply chain and improving production line efficiency.
