AI chip and data center suppliers continue to announce capacity expansions and stronger earnings in response to surging AI demand, even as concerns grow over the sustainability of the AI boom. Murata, Ibiden, Sumitomo Electric, and Toto are among the companies investing to expand production, while Kioxia reported a sharp increase in profits driven by AI-related demand.

Metaage, a subsidiary of Qisda, posted consolidated revenue of approximately NT$19 billion (US$583 million) for the first three quarters of 2026, up 17% from NT$16.2 billion in the same period of 2025, as enterprise IT infrastructure, software, and cloud businesses expanded. The company is targeting AI infrastructure and cloud opportunities in 2027.

Although robots received less coverage at Foxconn's 2026 Hon Hai Tech Day (HHTD 26) than in 2025, the company demonstrated the confidence of a global manufacturing leader by looking beyond the humanoid, bipedal form factor. Instead, it highlighted industrial and medical robots, supply-chain partners, and physical intelligence technologies to show how different robotic platforms can serve specialized industries.

Apple is committing more money to research and securing supplies while reducing cash spending on fixed assets, a combination that shows how its AI ambitions and component shortages are reshaping investment. Its November 2 results reveal both a deliberate push into new capabilities and the growing financial burden of keeping devices and services available.

Geopolitical tensions, volatile crude oil prices, and tightening sustainability requirements are reshaping the global chemical industry, creating new challenges and opportunities for Taiwan's specialty chemicals sector. Against this backdrop, the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) forecasts that Taiwan's specialty chemicals output will reach NT$185.7 billion (US$5.7 billion) in 2026, up 10.9% from 2025, partly driven by higher oil prices pushing up specialty chemical prices.

Apple said the main supply constraint in its fiscal fourth quarter 2026, ended September 26, was the availability of leading-edge process capacity for its in-house chips. It said the constraint is easing as more of its products move to 2nm technology.

Apple's recent entry into the smart display market, the US$299 HomeView, was designed to anchor the modern smart home ecosystem. However, the product arrives amid strong competitive pressure, regional usability hurdles, and AI challenges. These ongoing software and AI bottlenecks are directly impacting Apple's future roadmap, most notably delaying the company's ambitious robotic smart display, internally known as project J595 and widely referred to as the HomeView Ultra.

Malaysia is attaching tougher conditions to its data center boom, pairing a newly approved renewable energy quota with stricter screening of power and water requests and pressure on operators to supply more of their own electricity.

Surging demand for optical communications driven by AI and data center expansion has prompted Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries to accelerate production capacity expansion for indium phosphide (InP) substrates.

Nvidia will showcase its expanding partnerships with South Korean companies at AI Day Seoul, where Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will present semiconductor development cases using Nvidia AI technologies. LG Electronics and Doosan Robotics will demonstrate robotics technologies, while SK Telecom (SKT), Naver Cloud, and Coupang will discuss the development and operation of AI data centers and infrastructure.