Taiwanese integrated circuit (IC) design firms report that passing on costs to customers will likely continue through 2027 as upstream foundry and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) price hikes take shape.

The global artificial intelligence landscape is witnessing an accelerating divide. While Silicon Valley grapples with escalating safety debates and regulatory friction, Chinese tech developers are rapidly deploying lightweight models and domestic chips. Simultaneously, European players are stepping up to claim AI sovereignty through open-weight models designed for critical enterprise infrastructure.

Chinese AI company Z.ai is expanding its overseas commercialisation through Amazon Bedrock, with AWS adding GLM-5.3 on October 6 and sharing revenue with Z.ai based on model usage.

SpaceX's Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time on its 14th test flight and deployed 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. Whereas the previous 13 flights primarily focused on orbital testing, Flight 14 marked a further step into operational orbital missions.

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is poised to raise more than CNY80 billion (approx. US$11.9 billion) in its latest funding round, as it builds capital ahead of a potential domestic initial public offering (IPO).

India is joining the top tier of Asia Pacific data center markets with a stock of facilities designed for a fraction of the power AI hardware draws. That gap is turning the country's build-out into a race for liquid cooling, power equipment, and high-density designs, not just floor space.

Huawei is backing near-packaged optics (NPO) rather than co-packaged optics (CPO) for its next-generation AI infrastructure, arguing that NPO offers a better balance of cost, manufacturability, reliability and serviceability as optical interconnects move deeper into large-scale AI clusters.

The global household cleaning robot market grew by double digits in 2025, making it a key area for smart home development and intense competition in smart home devices. After filing for bankruptcy at the end of 2025 and completing its restructuring in January 2026, US-based robot vacuum maker iRobot is targeting the Taiwanese market.

Dassault Systèmes is pitching its virtual twin software as the link between India's chip design base and the factories and packaging plants now being built under the country's semiconductor mission. The French industrial software company is offering tools that simulate production before anything is built, as the government's Semicon 2.0 program widens support beyond fabrication to design, research, and talent.

Thailand's industrial landscape may shift further toward China as global supply chains continue to move across Southeast Asia. More broadly, the trend highlights how lower costs, trade realignment, and investment incentives are reshaping manufacturing networks, while also raising questions about local supply chains, land use, and economic dependency.

India's young chip industry is becoming a contest among the world's largest semiconductor equipment makers, with Canon the latest to declare its interest. The race remains at an early, positioning stage, however, and has so far produced few confirmed orders.

Japan's Rapidus is widening its semiconductor push with help from four Malaysian IC design firms, a move that could strengthen chip-development support for customers worldwide. The partnership underlines how Malaysia is emerging as a key design hub, linking Japanese ambitions with global supply-chain and AI-chip demand.

Chinese display makers have raised LCD panel prices as global TV makers head into the holiday season, raising costs for TV makers worldwide. BOE chairman Yanshun Chen is expected to visit South Korea in October 2026 and meet Samsung Electronics president Tae-moon Roh, with supply volumes and pricing set to dominate talks.

Chunghwa Telecom's New Taipei operations division and the New Taipei City Fire Department signed a memorandum of understanding on October 6 to promote drone-based emergency blood transport. The pilot will use New Taipei's north coast and mountain routes as a testbed for an air logistics system aimed at improving emergency medical supply delivery in remote areas.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) has secured another major AI server order, signing a KRW290 billion (about US$216 million) contract to supply multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) to an undisclosed global customer throughout 2027. The deal is its sixth disclosed long-term supply agreement this year.