DIGITIMES ICT: PC, CE news

Home Tech ICT PC, CE

Thursday 22 January 2026

China rolls out trade-in subsidies again to support ICT device sales

Despite forecasts of a decline in sales of ICT products, including smartphones and notebooks, by 2026 due to memory supply shortages, China is introducing new purchase subsidies to sustain consumer demand. The government aims to bolster the market with trade-in incentives following policy measures implemented in early 2025.

Thursday 22 January 2026

AI PC battle heats up as Nvidia and MediaTek join forces

Despite uncertain macroeconomic trends and rising memory prices with constrained supply, PC brands, suppliers, and research firms remain pessimistic about 2026 PC demand. However, competition in the AI PC segment is intensifying rapidly.

Thursday 22 January 2026

Why Sony finally let go of TVs

Sony Group has decided to spin off its TV business and place it into a joint venture controlled by TCL, marking the company's formal retreat from a segment that once defined Japan's consumer-electronics prowess. The move underscores Sony's strategic pivot toward higher-margin businesses—gaming, music, and film—while reflecting a broader, decades-long withdrawal by Japanese firms from mass-market home appliances.

Thursday 22 January 2026

Commentary: In Bravia's handover, can TCL keep Sony's premium promise?

Sony Corporation and TCL Technology have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture that will take over Sony's home entertainment business, including TV and audio product R&D, manufacturing, operations, and after-sales services. The new entity is expected to begin operations as early as April 2027, effectively placing the future of the Bravia brand under TCL's operational control.

Thursday 22 January 2026

Taiwan advances second-phase quantum strategy, betting on hybrid computing and global partnerships

Taiwan's government is moving its quantum technology development program into a second phase, centered on building a national-level heterogeneous hybrid computing platform that integrates high-performance computing (HPC) with quantum computing (QC). Based in southern Taiwan, the system is intended to accelerate real-world applications through international cooperation, leveraging the country's strong semiconductor manufacturing expertise.

Thursday 22 January 2026

Commentary: post-CES global expansion strategies for Chinese brands like TCL and Lenovo

CES 2026 made it clear that Chinese brands are entering the global consumer electronics industry through concrete operating results. Its leaders are no longer stopping at exposure but are beginning to pursue deeper brand building and market management. From TCL Electronics' plans to form a joint venture with Sony, to Lenovo operating CES almost on par with top-tier international brands, what these moves reflect is not simply an effort to amplify marketing presence. It is a test of whether companies have the product strength, supply chains, and long-term investment capacity required to support global expansion.

Thursday 22 January 2026

EMS watch: The year AI servers broke the EMS rankings

The global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and original design manufacturing (ODM) sector posted significant revenue growth in 2025, fueled primarily by expanding generative AI infrastructure.

Wednesday 21 January 2026

OpenAI sets 2026 as year for practical AI adoption, eyes hardware debut and new revenue streams

OpenAI has designated 2026 as a year for "practical adoption" of AI, signaling a strategic push to accelerate AI deployment across high-value sectors such as healthcare, scientific research, and enterprise applications. The company is simultaneously exploring diversified revenue streams, including advertising, subscriptions, and licensing models.

Wednesday 21 January 2026

US tariff easing slows supply chain shift to Southeast Asia

The US has finalized reciprocal tariffs with several countries, but supply chain sources say customer attitudes toward relocation vary. While server supply chains moving to North America continue to gain momentum, the pace of consumer electronics production shifts—such as notebooks relocating to Southeast Asia—has clearly slowed. The main reason is that increased costs from relocation are now close to the tariffs paid when producing in China, reducing the incentives to move.

Wednesday 21 January 2026

Bravo iDeas enters AI toy market with emotional AI companion integrating LLMs

AI technology company Bravo iDeas announced on January 20 that it is entering the AI toy market with an emotional AI toy that combines AI chips with large language models (LLMs). The toy features a character-driven AI architecture that enhances interaction by delivering intelligent conversations and emotional engagement aligned with each character's persona.

Wednesday 21 January 2026

Google Chromebook aims for steady 2026 shipments despite memory supply challenges

Supply chain sources report that Chromebook shipments have stabilized under Google's support. Despite facing a memory market turmoil, Google has set a full-year shipment target of 19.5 million units for 2026, matching 2025 levels. Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek remain optimistic about Chromebook demand and continue launching new platforms to expand their market share.

Wednesday 21 January 2026

Intel recruits Qualcomm GPU chief to lead future AI PC efforts

Intel has poached Eric Demers, a veteran GPU architect, known for developing Qualcomm's proprietary Adreno GPU architecture. Demers will become Intel's senior vice president of GPU engineering. This suggests that even though Intel has long been unable to compete with Nvidia and AMD in the GPU market, it still hopes to strengthen its own GPU capabilities.

Tuesday 20 January 2026

ASUS chairman lays out 'All In AI' strategy under global trade headwinds

At its year-end celebration on January 16, ASUS held a confident tone amid a turbulent global outlook. Jonney Shih, the company's chairman, told employees that despite mounting uncertainty from international tariffs and geopolitical tensions heading into 2025, the company had delivered what he described as a "solid report card," crediting strong execution and organizational cohesion.

Tuesday 20 January 2026

HTC highlights security and enterprise deployment as keys for AI glasses growth

As generative AI (Gen AI) and sensing technologies mature, AI glasses are evolving from standalone wearables into a new generation of human-computer interaction interfaces. Featuring first-person perspective, scene recognition, and hands-free operation, these devices are seen as an ideal extension of smartphones with the potential to disrupt mainstream mobile hardware design.

Tuesday 20 January 2026

Exclusive: Nvidia targets 2026 launch for Windows on Arm notebook

Nvidia is expanding its data center business while advancing personal and edge AI computing platforms, outlining a product roadmap that spans the current N1 and N1X series through the next-generation N2 and N2X platforms.

Tuesday 20 January 2026

Rising memory prices threaten consumer electronics growth, squeezing smartphone, notebook, and TV markets

Memory price increases are significantly affecting consumer electronics, with smartphones and notebooks facing the greatest challenges, while TVs experience milder but still notable impacts. The surge in memory costs is not only driving up production expenses but also compressing profit margins for vendors and system integrators globally.

Tuesday 20 January 2026

Memory price surge reshapes China's PC assembly market with renewed interest in older platforms

In early 2026, global memory prices continued their steep climb, intensifying cost pressures on the consumer electronics industry. This trend has sparked a notable shift in China's PC assembly sector, particularly in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei district, where demand for older-generation systems using DDR3 memory and Intel's sixth- to ninth-generation Core processors has resurged.

Monday 19 January 2026

Apple-Google AI partnership could reshape voice assistant market, valuing up to US$5 billion

Apple and Google have entered an AI technology partnership reportedly worth as much as US$5 billion, according to industry sources cited by the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Apple may pay roughly US$1 billion annually to use a customized Gemini model developed by Google, which runs on Apple's own servers to maintain user privacy.

Monday 19 January 2026

India roundup: Acer bets on growing PC penetration

Acer and Lenovo are optimistic about India's consumer electronics sector as the global market slows due to rising memory prices.

Sunday 18 January 2026

Apple and Google partnership on Gemini AI model signals major shift in Siri's personalization and privacy approach

Apple has officially confirmed a strategic collaboration with Google to use the Gemini AI model to enhance Siri and other Apple Intelligence features. The two tech giants have revealed limited details about the arrangement, with internal sources shedding light on key aspects of the cooperation that carry broad implications for Apple's AI development and competitive positioning.

Friday 16 January 2026

Quanta says AI industry faced three major waves in 2025, sees strong growth over next 2-3 years

Quanta Computer held its year-end banquet on the evening of January 15, 2026, during which company chairman Barry Lam highlighted three major waves that hit 2025. He named the tariff war, the all-out battle over artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and sweeping changes in AI server design as key challenges. Despite this, Quanta was still able to meet all customer requirements, with both revenue and profits reaching record highs. He added that the AI boom will not be limited to 2026, but is expected to continue surging over the next two to three years.

Thursday 15 January 2026

Samsung India business outlook brightened by AI and connected home offerings

Samsung Electronics is projecting a "positive and bright" business outlook for India in 2026, citing improving consumer sentiment and stronger spending momentum, according to JB Park, president and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia. Speaking on the sidelines of CES 2026, Park said the company plans to expand its artificial intelligence ecosystem across appliances, mobile devices, and other premium consumer electronics in the country.

Thursday 15 January 2026

Large-scale shipments unlikely for Samsung as 130-inch Micro RGB TV faces polarizer issues

At CES 2026, Samsung Electronics revealed the R95H, the world's first 130-inch Micro RGB TV, highlighting its integration of AI in R&D, product development, and user experience. The 130-inch Micro RGB TV uses micron-scale red, green, and blue LEDs as independent light sources and features the Micro RGB AI Engine Pro for color control. It incorporates a narrow bezel design to reduce visual distractions and integrates Vision AI Companion (VAC) technology, enabling cross-device operations such as sending information to The Freestyle's new devices or kitchen appliances.

Thursday 15 January 2026

Jorjin integrates US and Europe supply chains to target smart glasses

Dan Cui, head of US business development at Jorjin Technology, stated that as a designer and system integrator for various augmented reality (AR) devices, the company must continuously seek new technologies, components, and suitable partners to build systems and products that best meet the needs of the company, its clients, and end users. Jorjin's Enovix products, featuring 100% active silicon batteries with very high energy density, are particularly suited for boosting device power, especially for always-on AI devices.

Thursday 15 January 2026

Llvision focuses on real-time translation over full-featured smart glasses

Despite AR devices and smart glasses moving towards more specialized and precise vertical applications, Chinese startup Llvision is moving in a different direction. CEO Fei Wu said that the future of smart glasses is not tied to all-in-one functionality, but rather depends on accurately addressing users' specific needs. He expects that as technology matures, smart glasses could gradually replace smartphones within the next five years, becoming the primary interface for human-AI interaction.

More PC, CE coverage