The global mobile communication standard is rapidly advancing toward 6G. Facing the next-generation technology race, Ericsson Taiwan president David Chou noted that Taiwanese manufacturers hold advantageous positions in customer premises equipment (CPE) and chip supply chains. However, he advised Taiwan to accelerate its transition to a standalone (SA) 5G network architecture to prepare for future developments.

These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of Dec 29 - Jan 4.

South Korea's leading telecom operator SK Telecom (SKT) has introduced A.X K1, a 500-billion-parameter AI model developed under a national AI initiative to establish a foundational platform for the country, highlighting SKT's efforts to align AI technology with national strategy and industrial applications.

Asus announced on January 2, 2026, that it will not release any new smartphones this year, effectively suspending a mobile business the Taiwanese hardware giant has sustained for more than 20 years without ever achieving profitability.

As AI server and semiconductor companies look set to close out a profitable 2025, recent Chinese military encirclement exercises and live-fire drills around Taiwan have once again highlighted the island's geopolitical tensions. US President Donald Trump has stated that China doesn't want to invade Taiwan.

Asustek Computer has confirmed it will not launch any new smartphones in 2026, effectively scaling back its mobile device business. At the same time, the company emphasized that after-sales support, maintenance, software updates, and warranty services will continue as normal. The move comes amid intensifying global competition and supply chain challenges, with the company redirecting efforts toward emerging products like drones and smart glasses.

Smartphone distributors in Taiwan have recently said they are no longer able to obtain Asus handsets through local agents and claimed they had received information indicating that Asus's smartphone unit would operate only through December 31, 2025, after which the company would stop launching new smartphone products.

Taiwanese networking companies are broadly optimistic about returning to growth in 2026 as an AI-driven expansion moves beyond chips and servers into network transmission layers, and Wi‑Fi 7 device penetration is expected to rise significantly. The outlook reflects rising demand for higher-capacity switches and consumer broadband upgrades.

Demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is crowding out production capacity for consumer memory. Despite capacity expansions by major memory makers, including Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix, the supply of HBM for AI servers remains tight, and the demand from large chipmakers is difficult to satisfy immediately. IC distributors report that lead times from memory manufacturers have now extended to 52 weeks. With priority allocation given to large clients, almost no stock is available. Both distributors and customers must now pay upfront and wait in line for delivery.

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) announced on December 31, 2025, that its CHT Trust Root CA has completed a six-month systematic overhaul and top-level comprehensive review, achieving an organizational performance and compliance governance upgrade. The enhanced measures have received third-party validation and successfully passed the international WebTrust for Certification Authorities (WebTrust for CA) independent audit. The audit report has also been recognized by browser vendors, leading to CHT's formal application on December 29, 2025, to join Google Chrome's default root certificate trust list.