Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta are expected to spend more than US$720 billion on capital expenditures in 2026 to build out AI infrastructure, nearly three times the level of two years ago. Investors are watching closely to see when the spending will begin generating returns.

The expanding artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom is exposing risks tied to financing and returns, with US regulators warning that a failure of AI growth expectations could trigger shocks across financial markets and the broader economy.

The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) released Taiwan's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for October 2026 on November 2, showing continued expansion, with the outlook remaining optimistic. Notably, customer inventories in the manufacturing sector have stayed excessively high for two consecutive months, while the backlog of orders index fell to its slowest pace of expansion since January 2026.

Apple reported record September-quarter revenue of US$114.5 billion for its fiscal 4Q26 ended September 26, 2026, up 12% YoY, supported by strong iPhone and Mac sales and an all-time high in Services revenue. The results lifted full-year revenue to a record US$478.8 billion, up 15% from fiscal 2025.

Apple enters the holiday selling season with stronger demand for its core products, but its latest results show that expanding sales do not automatically translate into faster operating profit growth. Record September-quarter iPhone revenue and an all-time high for Services supported the business as research spending increased and tariff refunds helped reported margins.

Marvell Technology's agreement to buy Lumentum Holdings would give the custom chip designer its own supply of indium phosphide (InP) lasers, one of the scarcest components in AI data center networking, and make it one of the few suppliers spanning both the electrical and optical sides of the link. The deal positions Marvell more directly against Broadcom as connections inside AI clusters move from copper toward optics packaged alongside processors and switches.

Humanoid robots and self-driving cars were hard to miss at South Korea's Future Innovation Tech Expo (FIX 2026) in Daegu. But some of the less flashy technologies on display were just as interesting.

Samsung Electronics is reportedly in talks with Japanese motor maker Nidec to jointly develop robot motors as the South Korean company expands its humanoid robotics business and pushes to automate its factories.

Nuvoton expects its baseboard management controller (BMC) business to grow faster in 2027 than in 2026, driven by strong AI demand, higher orders from existing customers, and new customers entering mass production. The company said new customers, including cloud service providers (CSPs) and startups, will expand its BMC shipment base.

As edge AI applications and AI agents move toward real-world deployment, industrial control and embedded processors are undergoing a structural upgrade in computing capabilities.

Taiwan became Thailand's third-largest trade partner in the first half of 2026 as AI growth and geopolitical shifts accelerate Taiwanese investment in the country, Taiwan Representative to Thailand Peter Lan said. Around 200,000 Taiwanese businesspeople are now based in Thailand, with the pace accelerating under the China+1 trend.