A former researcher at Samsung Electronics was sentenced to seven years in prison on April 22 by a South Korean court for leaking core semiconductor trade secrets to a Chinese competitor. The case highlights how chip-making technology is increasingly regarded by governments as a national security asset under strict protection.

Shenzhen has brought online what project materials describe as China's first 14,000P, 10,000-card AI computing cluster built around a fully domestic technology stack, marking a new stage in the country's push to reduce reliance on foreign hardware and software in large-scale model training.

IBM opened fiscal year 2026 on a high note. The company reported strong first-quarter results, driven by software momentum, a record mainframe surge, and its best first-quarter free cash flow in a decade.

Following the recent smuggling indictment involving Supermicro co-founder Wally Liaw and others, Nvidia has significantly upgraded its global supply chain monitoring practices in recent months, according to an industry source. Already maintaining high visibility over customer lists, Nvidia now enforces stricter controls on shipments and transshipment processes, prompting multiple suppliers to expand their legal teams to comply with the intensified audits.

Taiwanese manufacturers have increasingly expanded globally in recent years, especially under the Taiwan-US tariff agreements that have cemented US investments. This shift in manufacturing geography is set to pose new operational challenges for Taiwanese firms.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving beyond pilot projects to large-scale deployment in manufacturing, but many Taiwanese firms remain constrained by data, infrastructure, and investment gaps—challenges that could determine their competitiveness in the next industrial era.

Analysts said IBM continues to show stable underlying revenue growth supported by artificial intelligence adoption and hybrid cloud demand. Its unchanged full-year outlook and softer software performance, however, may limit near-term upside expectations.

Apple Inc. announced that John Ternus, Vice President of Hardware Engineering, will succeed Tim Cook as CEO in September, following Cook's 15-year tenure. The transition marks a pivotal moment as Apple navigates converging pressures from AI transformation and global operations, presenting a leadership test that spans technology, governance, and geopolitics.

Lam Research delivered a strong start to 2026, with first-quarter 2026 results exceeding expectations and reinforcing confidence in a semiconductor upcycle increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence demand. Revenue reached US$5.84 billion, up 24% year over year, while margins and earnings also came in above guidance.

Apollo Power is targeting the behind-the-meter energy storage market in Taiwan through a partnership with Tesla to deploy the latter's Megapack enterprise-level energy storage systems (ESS), coupled with Apollo Power's proprietary software technology and power dispatch platform. Beyond its first corporate project at Phison Electronics, Apollo Power has received strong backing from major shareholders including Shihlin Electric (SEEC), Phison, and Gigabyte, and is positioning itself to become a leading energy solution provider for AI computing centers.

Google Cloud Next 2026 kicked off on April 22 in Las Vegas, with Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian declaring that the experimental phase of artificial intelligence is over. Nearly 75% of Google Cloud customers are already using AI in production environments, he said, adding that the key challenge now is scaling AI deployment across entire enterprises.