China has established a new state-owned enterprise, National Data Group, headquartered in Xiong'an, Hebei province. Ding Xuexiang, a vice-premier of the State Council, attended its inauguration on October 20.

The US imposed sanctions on five Chinese entities tied to ex-Google engineer Linwei Ding for theft of trade secrets. The action follows his conviction for stealing confidential AI technology from Google, apparently to benefit Chinese firms.

SpaceX has spent two decades proving that hardware once considered too complex, too capital-intensive, or too dependent on entrenched suppliers could sometimes be pulled in-house. Its Q3 earnings call suggests the company now wants to test that philosophy on perhaps the hardest manufacturing problem of all: advanced semiconductor production.

The AI infrastructure race is increasingly becoming a contest over who can turn electrical capacity, cooling systems, and hardware into usable compute the fastest.

Supermicro expects quarterly revenue and gross margin to exceed its earlier guidance, citing stronger demand for AI platforms and a more favorable customer and product mix. The October 20 update comes as investors question the financing behind the AI data center expansion.

Taiwan's export orders totaled US$114.21 billion in September 2026, up US$11.25 billion, or 10.9%, from the previous month, according to data released by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on October 20. After seasonal adjustment, orders rose 1.1%. Compared with September 2025, export orders increased US$42.87 billion, or 62.4%, while growth in New Taiwan dollar terms reached 69.5%.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang urged German businesses to embrace AI at an industry summit in Berlin on October 19, aiming to revive the economy and modernize industry. Huang specifically called on Germany's automotive and industrial machinery sectors to adopt physical AI by leveraging the country's extensive manufacturing data and expertise.

Intel has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a waiver to the US ban on advanced foreign robots, citing worries that its machines will not receive equipment updates, which could hinder its ability to produce semiconductors in the US. The request comes after the US banned imports of foreign-made robots in July.

Chief Telecom broke ground on a new AI data center at the Central Taiwan Science Park on the 20th, committing approximately NT$3.3 billion (US$101.7 million) to a facility expected to begin operations in the second half of 2028. The project is intended to extend the company's data center growth, as its Lianyun AI Intelligent Data Center is projected to reach full capacity in 2027.

DeepSeek is reportedly working closely with Huawei to influence the design of its future AI chips, a link reportedly closer than typical supplier-customer relationships. The collaboration shows the growing ties between two of China's largest technology firms to sidestep Nvidia.

Nvidia's South Korea representative said the company's Vera CPU already has customers in South Korea and that collaboration with LG Electronics on humanoid robots is expected to deliver results soon. Speaking at KES 2026, Soyoung Jeong outlined Nvidia's role in the shift toward AI agents and physical AI.

UK neocloud provider Nscale is set to lose Microsoft as the anchor tenant at its Loughton data center in Essex, after delays in power availability disrupted plans to support AI computing services. The UK's National Grid reportedly told Nscale that sufficient electricity for the site may not be available until after 2030.

FIC Global chairman Leo Chien said the PC market continues to suffer from memory shortages, with a meaningful recovery unlikely in the second half of 2026. However, some industrial PC (IPC) businesses, particularly those in maritime-related applications, have begun to recover from their lows.

Malaysia wants data center investors to bear the cost of transmission upgrades required by their projects, tying investment decisions more closely to local grid readiness. New applications are already assessed against local grid capacity planning, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, while Wood Mackenzie identifies transmission and distribution readiness as an increasingly important constraint on growth in Johor.

Google Quantum AI said on October 15, 2026, that it has shown "magic state cultivation" working in practice on its Willow processor, reducing errors about 40-fold compared with uncultivated states. The result, published in Science, is a crucial step toward scaling quantum computing to practical use.

Taiwanese electronics makers are deepening their presence in Mexico's Chihuahua state, drawn by surging US demand for AI servers, officials and business leaders told a seminar in Taipei on October 19. The pace of foreign investment is driven by the state's access to the US market, even as Chihuahua seeks to transition from a manufacturing base into a research and design hub.

The 2026 OCP Global Summit, held from October 12 to 15 in San Jose, California, highlighted a shift from open server hardware to open AI infrastructure. Rack-scale standardization is now expanding into system-level co-design for AI factories.

China's precision manufacturing giant Lens Technology is expanding into AI server infrastructure through a proposed US$25 million acquisition of a controlling stake in PMG International, gaining access to server rack manufacturing and liquid-cooling technologies. The transaction marks a further diversification beyond the company's established consumer electronics and automotive components businesses.

Taiwan-based iBase Solution is expanding from industrial computers (IPCs) and energy storage into liquid-cooled prefabricated modular data centers, targeting AI infrastructure construction and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts. The company aims to leverage its energy storage expertise, system integration capabilities, and customer relationships to capture opportunities in power, cooling, and data center development as global AI investment grows.

OpenClaw is drawing renewed attention after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang endorsed the open-source AI agent framework as a foundation for future technology, especially robotics. His remarks also highlighted the security challenges of autonomous systems, including behavioral drift, and Nvidia's efforts to contain agents through sandboxing, permissions, monitoring, and hardware-based controls.

Artificial intelligence data-center expansion is intensifying a global race for electricity, as cloud providers increasingly prioritize how quickly power can be secured over cost and decarbonization. As grids struggle to keep pace with computing growth, companies are considering on-site generation, batteries, and direct-current systems to speed deployment while managing emissions and efficiency.

TECO Electric and Machinery chairman Morris Li said the company has entered the final stage of testing its modular data center (MDC) solution. The company is targeting opportunities in the artificial intelligence (AI) data center market and seeks to help customers complete construction projects in nine months.

SEMI's latest 12-inch fab outlook projects double-digit annual growth in equipment spending from 2026 through 2029, with forecasts revised upward from its previous edition. However, Clark Tseng, senior director of market intelligence at SEMI, said external constraints involving funding, electricity, and politics are emerging as potential downside risks. He added that this could prevent the AI-driven expansion from overheating.

Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has opened applications for the country's second five-year quantum technology program lasting from 2027 to 2031, with international collaboration being a main focus.

TECO Electric and Machinery participated in Energy Taiwan on October 14, showcasing its smart microgrid solutions and outlining the future development of its power and energy business group.