Samsung's major AI chip contract with Tesla has sparked heated discussions, with Elon Musk pledging to personally step in to help Samsung improve production efficiency while hinting at an even higher contract value.

MetaAge, a subsidiary of Qisda, reported consolidated revenue of NT$5.87 billion (US$197.5 million) for the second quarter of 2025, representing growth of NT$1.45 billion year-over-year. Net profit attributable to the parent company was around NT$25 million. The revenue increase was driven by a rise in short-term urgent orders amid global tariff tensions, exchange rate shifts, and cost volatility. The company's overseas branch, Brainstorm, also contributed strongly to the quarter's results.

Meta posted strong second-quarter 2025 earnings, fueled by gains in AI-powered advertising. However, the company is ramping up its long-term investment in superintelligence, pushing costs significantly higher. It raised its full-year capex forecast to between US$66 billion and US$72 billion, with the midpoint representing an increase of about US$30 billion compared to 2024. Meta also signaled similar levels of capital investment in 2026 as it builds out massive compute infrastructure, including the Prometheus and Hyperion clusters, to support the development of next-generation AI models.

Meta delivered a solid second quarter with revenue and profit surging on strong advertising performance. However, rising AI infrastructure spending and a slower revenue growth outlook for the rest of the year tempered investor enthusiasm.

Microsoft reported robust fiscal fourth-quarter results, driven by a surge in Azure sales and cloud momentum. Better-than-expected margins and disciplined capital investment supported confidence in the company's AI-led growth strategy.

Microsoft has admitted to a French Senate hearing that it cannot guarantee data sovereignty. Even if data is stored on servers in Europe, the US government can still access it under the CLOUD Act, raising renewed concerns about dependence on American cloud providers.

Delta Electronics inaugurated its new Smart Manufacturing Innovation Center on July 25, 2025, a comprehensive facility designed to support the global shift toward decentralized production and centralized management. The new facility aims to bolster industrial automation capabilities by offering an all-in-one service for machine operation, technical testing, and certification in a real-world industrial setting.

The US and China have each unveiled comprehensive AI action plans that position the technology as a pivotal element in national defense and foreign policy, effectively creating two major global AI camps. These strategies focus on competition for influence over third-party countries, where open-source AI models may play a decisive role.

AI agents promise to perform complex tasks autonomously, but until they can fully replace human efforts, Information Security Service Digital United (ISSDU) believes human-machine collaboration is the most pragmatic approach to safeguarding cybersecurity.

OpenAI is reportedly preparing to release its next-generation large language model, GPT-5, as early as early August, incorporating capabilities from its "o" series models for the first time. The update will come in Standard, Mini, and Nano variants, according to sources cited by The Verge.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made a surprise appearance at a US Federal Reserve regulatory meeting, stating that AI will completely reshape social structures. He predicted that AI would fully replace jobs, including customer service, and warned that AI could exacerbate fraud risks, urging relevant industries to be on guard.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said AI is "positively impacting every part of the business," citing growing adoption of Gemini models, momentum in agentic AI, and strong user engagement with smart glasses. He also highlighted deepening ties with OpenAI and reinforced plans to raise 2025 capex to support surging AI infrastructure needs.

On July 23, Alphabet Inc. reported robust second-quarter 2025 financial results, marked by double-digit revenue growth and a sharp increase in capex. The company posted revenue of US$96.43 billion, up 14% year-over-year, and operating income of US$31.27 billion, maintaining an operating margin of 32%. The standout figure, however, was Alphabet's capital spending, which surged 70% year-over-year to US$22.45 billion, signaling aggressive investment to support its expanding artificial intelligence and cloud businesses.

Apple has released a technical report detailing its 2025 Apple Intelligence language models, providing insight into the architecture of its on-device and cloud-based systems, as well as its approach to data sourcing and multilingual optimization. The company underscores that all data used for training its AI models was obtained legally and in accordance with web crawling protocols.

South Korea's largest technology platforms are facing scrutiny over inadequate cybersecurity investments following a major breach at SK Telecom, with data showing Naver and Kakao employ fewer security specialists than industry peers.

OpenAI and Oracle Corp. announced they will develop 4.5 gigawatts of additional US data center capacity in an expanded partnership, furthering a massive plan to power artificial intelligence workloads.

Naver, South Korea's leading internet company, is set to launch ThingsBook, a new social networking platform targeting the North American market. Unlike Instagram and other image-driven platforms, ThingsBook will center on user-generated content (UGC) organized around personal interests, combining the longform depth of Naver Blog with a more curated, hobby-based feed.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, will hold a Made by Google hardware event on August 20, 2025, in New York. The event will feature new products and is expected to include a key meeting between Foxconn chairman Young Liu and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, with growing speculation about possible partnerships in electric and autonomous vehicles.

Traditional protection mechanisms are no longer sufficient to address the needs of cyber-physical systems (CPS) that are becoming ubiquitous, with Taiwan-based CHT Security eyeing the strong potential of this market.

A major power shift is underway in the global industrial landscape. Once dominated by financial and energy giants, especially in the early 2000s, the world's top companies by market capitalization are now being overtaken by tech leaders. In particular, Nvidia's market cap surged past US$4 trillion, underscoring a broader shift in global economic leadership, from traditional industries and mobile-era tech to the disruptive forces of AI.

Once hailed as China's rising AI star, DeepSeek is now facing a period of waning momentum. However, the company's founder and CEO, Liang Wenfeng, might soon benefit from an expected restart in Nvidia's exports of H20 chips to China, potentially providing a crucial boost.

Taiwan's manufacturing sector faces major challenges from tariff shifts, currency changes, and production relocations. At the Global Taiwanese Business Economic Forum on July 16, iKala CEO Sega Chang highlighted how China's shift from manufacturing to exporting software and services has reshaped competition for Taiwanese manufacturers.

Taiwan-based iKala is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), with plans to file for listing on Taiwan's innovation board in 2026. The company's co-founder and CEO, Sega Chang, announced the strategy at a recent event on July 16.

Meta is turbocharging its bet on artificial intelligence, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealing plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in building large-scale AI infrastructure. However, not everyone sees the endless potential of the area, with some market watchers questioning whether the sector is overheating.

JKoPay, Taiwan's second-largest digital payment platform, maintained normal operations despite parent company Jiekou Financial Technology facing court-ordered asset seizures in July 2025 over a NT$3.6 billion equity dispute with Taisun Group.