CONNECT WITH US
Thursday 2 July 2026
Supermicro: We are cooperating with Taiwan, not under investigation

Supermicro has pushed back against media characterizations of this week's events in Taiwan, saying the company is a cooperating party in the investigation rather than a target, and that misconduct, if any, lies with individual employees who have been suspended pending the outcome of the case.

Thursday 2 July 2026
Singapore files additional fraud and money laundering charges in Nvidia-linked server case

Singapore authorities have filed additional fraud and money laundering charges against four individuals and brought fresh charges against four companies, as part of an investigation linked to the movement of servers that may have contained Nvidia artificial intelligence chips subject to US export controls. The case has been reported by multiple outlets, including CNA, The Straits Times, and Reuters.

Thursday 2 July 2026
Nvidia and nuclear energy startup Valar test microreactor to power AI data center
Nuclear energy startup Valar Atomics said on July 1 it is partnering with Nvidia to develop a small data center in Utah, an effort the companies say will demonstrate how computing facilities needed for artificial intelligence can conserve water.
Thursday 2 July 2026
China ICT vendor H3C enters new AI server chapter after Unisplendour leadership reset

Unisplendour has reset its leadership as H3C, its core ICT subsidiary, enters a tougher phase in China's AI infrastructure buildout. Demand for servers, cloud systems, and computing networks is rising, but US chip controls continue to restrict China's high-end AI server supply chain.

Thursday 2 July 2026
AI server probe pulls back the curtain on the evolving journey of Taiwan's motherboard industry

An ongoing investigation into alleged AI server smuggling has once again put Taiwan's motherboard industry under the spotlight. Veteran motherboard maker Albatron Technology has become a focal point after its general manager, Alex Lu, and an employee of Super Micro Computer (Supermicro) were detained without visitation rights as part of the investigation.

Thursday 2 July 2026
SoftBank leads Japan's sovereign AI push, with Foxconn eyeing the compute backbone

Japan's sovereign AI push is moving from policy ambition to industrial buildout, with SoftBank-backed Noetra at the center, and Foxconn emerging as a likely infrastructure partner. Backed by substantial public funding, the program signals Tokyo's intent to treat compute capacity, data centers, and domestic control over AI systems as strategic priorities.

Thursday 2 July 2026
Meta's alleged turn from AI buyer to seller raises new questions about AI spending, returns, and competition
Meta Platforms' reported interest in selling excess AI computing capacity has stirred debate over whether the company is seeking a new way to monetize heavy infrastructure spending or signaling a larger shift in competition across cloud computing and AI services. The Bloomberg report pressured several AI infrastructure stocks and raised fresh questions about supply, demand, and valuation.
Thursday 2 July 2026
LG Electronics creates robot business center to scale physical AI and robotics supply chain
LG Electronics announced the creation of a robot business center to accelerate its physical AI and robotics efforts, the company said. The new organization will consolidate development, supply chain and manufacturing resources and will report directly to the chief executive, signaling that robotics is a core growth area following the unveiling of the CLOiD home robot at CES 2026.
Thursday 2 July 2026
Samsung exec calls for nuclear expansion to support Gwangju fab plan

Samsung Electronics' plan to build two new semiconductor fabs in Gwangju is turning South Korea's southwest chip push into a test of whether the country can deliver enough power, water and permits to support a second major production base outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

Thursday 2 July 2026
AI server demand drives MiTAC to expand in Taiwan, Vietnam, and California
MiTAC Holdings' subsidiary, MiTAC Computing Technology, has won strong demand from US cloud customers, driving a sharp rise in orders and a global expansion plan from Asia to North America starting in 2025. With new capacity set to come online in 2026 and additional North American output in the second half of the year, the company expects a clear uplift in operations.
Thursday 2 July 2026
General-purpose server shipments surge, boosting Taiwanese connector makers
Agentic AI demand is driving major US cloud providers such as Google and Amazon to expand data centers, lifting global server shipments and triggering a new wave of orders for Taiwan connector makers. DIGITIMES Research expects worldwide server shipments to grow more than 19% in 2026, approaching 20 million units.
Wednesday 1 July 2026
OpenAI engineers claim to discover way to cut inference costs in half
OpenAI engineers claim to have figured out a way to halve the costs of inference using its models, according to The Information. The development comes as AI model developers are seeking to raise their models' token efficiency during a time when enterprise users are being saddled with enormous AI-usage bills.
Wednesday 1 July 2026
Albatron GM detained in Nvidia-linked Supermicro smuggling probe as firm moves to install acting chief

Taiwan's Keelung prosecutors detained Albatron Technology general manager Kevin Lu on Tuesday on suspicion of smuggling Supermicro AI servers to restricted markets, putting one of Taiwan's most active authorized distributors of American tech brands at the center of a US export control enforcement case.

Wednesday 1 July 2026
China's price war cuts humanoid robot hand costs in half — but precision parts resist

Competition in China's humanoid robot market is driving down prices for dexterous hands and other key parts, with implications for suppliers and buyers worldwide. Rapid product cycles are forcing cost cuts, while technical barriers, especially in high-precision components, continue to shape which manufacturers can compete globally.

Wednesday 1 July 2026
Amazon's new US$1 billion division aims to embed AI engineers in clients' teams

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is rolling out a new engineering division aimed at helping companies move beyond experimenting with artificial intelligence and start running it at the core of their operations.

Wednesday 1 July 2026
AI chip startup Rebellions' acquisition of SqueezeBits signals push beyond hardware

South Korean AI chip designer Rebellions said on June 30 that it is acquiring AI inference optimization company SqueezeBits, as part of an effort to become a full-stack AI infrastructure provider rather than a chip designer alone.

Wednesday 1 July 2026
Schneider Electric to acquire industrial AI firm Cognite for US$3.1B

Schneider Electric, the French energy management and automation giant, announced that it has agreed to acquire Cognite, a Norwegian industrial data and AI software company, in an all-cash deal valued at US$3.1 billion. The deal is meant to reinforce the former's software line-up as it positions itself for a future of AI-powered industrial automation.

Wednesday 1 July 2026
Taiwan's connector makers head into 2H26 on AI demand, but face rising costs and supply constraints
AI-driven demand is expected to keep Taiwan's connector industry on a growth trajectory in the second half of 2026, with AI servers, data centers and high-speed interconnects continuing to underpin investment. Yet a combination of component shortages, elevated raw material prices and product transition costs is making the outlook less straightforward, raising questions over margins and the pace of shipments.
Tuesday 30 June 2026
Samsung Electro-Mechanics targets AI server growth with MLCC talks, substrate push

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is in final-stage talks to supply multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) to a major US cloud provider for AI servers, while also expanding substrate production capacity and securing a separate silicon capacitor contract, according to Korean media reports and company statements.

Tuesday 30 June 2026
Taiwan's Chief Telecom says raid over alleged AI server smuggling has no financial impact

Chief Telecom Inc. said a June 29 search by prosecutors and investigators over an alleged illegal smuggling case involving high-end AI servers bound for Hong Kong, Macau, and China has not materially affected its finances or operations. The case highlights growing global scrutiny of AI hardware supply chains and data center controls.

Tuesday 30 June 2026
New GPU and ASIC platforms to drive stronger server shipments in 2H26

The AI infrastructure order boom is spilling into the second half of 2026, and server supply-chain players are turning increasingly upbeat about demand as Nvidia Vera Rubin, AMD Helios, AWS Trainium 3, and Google TPU all move into mass production.

Tuesday 30 June 2026
Networking demand stays resilient in 3Q26, but component shortages and price hikes cloud outlook
The networking industry is entering its traditional third-quarter peak season, with demand remaining robust in 2026 as AI infrastructure upgrades and the adoption of Wi-Fi 7 continue to drive orders. However, tightening supplies and rising prices for memory, passive components, and other key parts are beginning to disrupt customers' procurement schedules, emerging as one of the industry's most significant variables for the second half of the year.
Tuesday 30 June 2026
Analysis: Will 3Q26 be peak season? Cloud AI stands alone; demand signals become distorted
As the electronics industry enters the second half of 2026, it is approaching what has traditionally been the peak season for demand. However, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have disrupted normal business cycles across many applications, making seasonal patterns far less predictable. According to industry sources, this season is particularly uncertain. Rising component prices and supply shortages have made downstream procurement behavior and end-market consumption patterns more difficult to predict than in the past. Demand signals that the industry once relied upon have become distorted.
Tuesday 30 June 2026
Nvidia, Firmus partner on Indonesia AI infrastructure project

A new partnership between Nvidia and Firmus aims to expand access to advanced AI computing for customers worldwide, including AI-native companies, enterprises, and independent software vendors. The deal underscores how demand for large-scale AI infrastructure is reshaping global technology markets, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tuesday 30 June 2026
Honda, GM, and Ford redirect capacity to energy storage as EV demand slows

Honda Motor has begun producing data-center batteries at an Ohio factory originally built to supply electric vehicles, as automakers and battery suppliers seek new uses for capacity while EV demand cools.