In 2025, rising geopolitical tensions reshaped global technology and manufacturing, boosting Southeast Asia as a key hub for data centers, advanced manufacturing, and AI. The Johor-Singapore Economic Zone enhanced cross-border integration, strengthening Singapore's "Singapore+1" strategy, while Johor emerged as a major data center cluster amid sustainability concerns

Ola Electric Mobility said it has begun scaling up deliveries of its S1 Pro+ electric scooter powered by the 4680 Bharat Cell across several southern Indian states, according to a press release filed with stock exchanges on December 28, 2025

India's first wave of OSAT facilities is moving from capacity announcements to competitive positioning, with some domestic players now benchmarking themselves against established backend hubs rather than solely against local peers

South Korea's battery equipment industry has secured a series of large orders tied to India's rapidly expanding battery manufacturing investments, marking a long-awaited breakthrough after months of intense competition with Chinese suppliers, according to Ddaily, TheElect, and Nate

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers now hold nearly 30% of the Indian EV market, marking a significant shift amid New Delhi's consideration of easing investment restrictions. This development follows years of protective policies and high tariffs designed to shield domestic players such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra from foreign competition

Japanese firms like Rohm and AOI Electronics built partnerships with Indian partners. Foxconn is mimicking its strategy in China, setting up a factory city in India

Samsung Electronics is prioritizing artificial intelligence adoption, local manufacturing, and consumer financing in India, foregoing an initial public offering for its local business. The company aims to strengthen its footprint in one of its most important growth markets through internal expansion and strategic investments

AST SpaceMobile has launched its largest satellite, BlueBird 6, marking a key step toward providing 4G and 5G broadband directly to standard smartphones worldwide and accelerating the company's plans to build a global space-based cellular network, according to Bloomberg, Business Wire, and Investor's Business Daily

Rohm and Tata Electronics said they have entered into a strategic partnership to establish semiconductor manufacturing operations in India, targeting both domestic and overseas markets, as the two companies seek to expand their presence amid growing efforts to localize chip supply chains

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, better known as Foxconn, is rapidly expanding its manufacturing footprint in India, hiring tens of thousands of workers at a new iPhone plant near Bengaluru and laying the groundwork for what sources familiar with the project describe as a factory-city model similar to those it previously built in China, according to the Economic Times

India and New Zealand said they have concluded negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA), marking one of India's fastest trade deals with a developed economy since talks were launched in March 2025, according to a statement issued by India's Ministry of Commerce

India's tightening AI governance rules are no longer just shaping compliance strategies. They are beginning to influence where artificial intelligence workloads are deployed, pushing sensitive applications toward India-hosted and on-premise infrastructure

AOI Electronics, a Japan-based semiconductor assembly and test provider, has entered into a business alliance with India's Kaynes Semicon Private Limited and Japan's Mitsui to support the establishment of a semiconductor back-end processing business in India

India is bolstering its semiconductor ecosystem through strategic overseas acquisitions, potential integration into Apple's supply chain, and specialized domestic manufacturing, while navigating delays in major facility ramp-ups

India is emerging as one of the most important global markets for artificial intelligence, driven by rapid adoption of large language models, a vast digital user base, and some of the world's lowest mobile data costs. According to the Economic Times, citing analyses by Bank of America (BofA), and usage data cited by Reuters, India has become the largest market by daily active users for AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity, underscoring its growing influence on how AI products are deployed, tested, and refined