Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's whirlwind visit to Japan in mid-July extended well beyond product announcements and public appearances. Alongside a joint event with gaming giant Sega Corporation, Huang used the trip to promote what he has repeatedly described as Nvidia's next major AI frontier—physical AI—sparking renewed discussion across Japan's industrial sector about the country's role in the emerging technology.

Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are reshaping their growth strategies as the global auto market enters a low-growth era, with profitability under pressure and EV demand slowing. Instead of chasing volume, the three German automakers are focusing on multi-powertrain platforms, deeper AI integration, and cross-border partnerships.

BMW Group has appointed Benjamin Nagel as managing director of BMW Group's importer markets in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, effective Sept. 1, 2026. He will succeed Raymond Tan Chor Ann, who will become managing director and CEO of BMW Group Malaysia.

Xpeng is transforming into a physical AI supplier over the next 10 years, with robotaxi, humanoid robots, and flying cars as its three core product lines, chairman Xiaopeng He told Automotive News. The company also aims to move beyond the carmaker label and adopt a Tier 1 supplier model, working with operating partners around the world to build a business model that can be replicated globally.

Sumitomo Chemical plans to begin mass production of a halide-based solid electrolyte in Japan as early as fiscal 2028, positioning the material as a potentially lower-cost option for all-solid-state batteries while seeking performance comparable with leading sulfide-based electrolytes, Nikkei reported.

China is dismantling the tax shelter that helped build the world's largest battery industry, and the move looks less like a one-off revenue measure than the opening of a broad campaign to force consolidation across its clean-energy supply chains — with consequences that reach from Chinese carmakers to global energy-storage buyers.