Qisda President Cally Ko said future infrastructure supporting autonomous physical AI would evolve beyond simply providing connectivity and power to also deliver sensing, computing, and autonomous dispatching capabilities. She also disclosed that the company's commercial drones had already secured orders and entered production, while its quadruped robots were expected to be unveiled publicly in early 2027.

Elon Musk recently confirmed the possibility of a merger between SpaceX and Tesla, signaling an ambition to redefine competition in the AI era beyond individual products and technological advantages toward integration across the entire industrial value chain, encompassing semiconductors, energy, computing, communications, and autonomous systems.

NXP Semiconductors' latest results point to a business gaining from more complex vehicle electronics and industrial computing, while its emerging data center operation offers another route to growth. The next test is whether those opportunities can sustain demand as the company adds manufacturing capacity and customers weigh their inventory needs.

NXP Semiconductors is heading into 2027 with management arguing that its growth now rests on several structural drivers rather than a cyclical rebound. On the company's October 27 earnings call, executives said software-defined vehicles (SDV), AI at the industrial edge and data center control systems would sustain double-digit revenue growth next year.

Tesla's automotive business weakened in the third quarter of 2026 as lower average vehicle prices and battery shortages pressured revenue and profit, while the company accelerated investment in artificial intelligence and its autonomous vehicle strategy. Total revenue was flat, automotive revenue fell 3% year-over-year to US$20.56 billion, and net income declined 4% to US$1.7 billion.

Imported electric vehicles captured more than half of South Korea's new electric passenger-car registrations during the first nine months of 2026, marking the first time the share of domestically made models fell below that threshold. About 258,000 new electric passenger cars were registered from January through September, with imported vehicles accounting for 51.3%, or approximately 132,000 units, according to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association cited by Money Today and Seoul Economic Daily.

Expanding investment in AI data centers is putting pressure on memory supply and demand across the automotive industry. As semiconductor companies prioritize high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and server products, automotive memory faces rising prices and tighter supplies, making automakers' direct procurement, long-term partnerships, and in-house chip design increasingly strategic.

German automakers maintained overall sales in the US during the third quarter, but that momentum came mainly from gasoline-powered vehicles. In the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi face three challenges: falling sales, a shrinking BEV market and diverging brand performance.

South Korean autonomous delivery company NT1 plans to begin assembling Chinese-designed delivery vans locally in 2027, gradually adding Korean-made components as it seeks approval to operate the vehicles on public roads.

South Korean automotive supplier SL is considering deploying its mobile dual-arm robot at a US factory in 2027 or 2028, potentially marking the system's first overseas deployment, a company representative said in an interview with DIGITIMES at FIX 2026 in Daegu on October 24.

South Korean vehicle engineering company KAR plans to develop a monitoring system for the electronic controls it installs in autonomous vehicles, seeking recurring maintenance revenue as the country expands robotaxi trials.