Apple will lower commission rates charged on digital purchases in the China App Store, reducing the standard fee for in-app purchases and paid apps from 30% to 25%, according to reports in Chinese media citing company disclosures

Optiemus Electronics Limited (OEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Optiemus Infracom Limited, has entered a manufacturing agreement with Ai+ Smartphone and NxtQuantum Shift Technologies India Private Limited to produce mobile phones, tablets, IoT devices, and advanced wearable products in India

China's advanced materials sector has made new strides. China National Building Material Group (CNBM) unveiled a domestically developed T1200-grade ultra-high-strength carbon fiber at the JEC World 2026 composites exhibition in Paris, stating it has achieved production capacity at the hundred-ton scale

As renewed Middle East conflicts compound post-pandemic chip shortages and tariff barriers, multiple overlapping risks are disrupting global vehicle supply chains and making them increasingly difficult to resolve

Global headlines may proclaim a fully autonomous era, but AW 2026 told a different story. The show made clear that robots are not yet fully autonomous — a fact obscured by modern robotics coverage. The industry is heading in the right direction, but independent operation remains out of reach. A surprising number of robots were teleoperated via controllers. Those left unsupervised often struggled with basic environmental navigation

India's traditional PC market reached a record 15.9 million shipments in 2025, rising 10.2% year over year, according to IDC. Strong enterprise demand, rising adoption of AI-enabled notebooks, and robust notebook sales drove the market to its highest annual volume ever

The ongoing Middle East conflict is disrupting global oil and natural gas supplies and triggering an energy crisis that has pushed up international crude prices. Market expectations for higher inflation have risen, potentially delaying the US Federal Reserve's timeline for interest rate cuts, industry participants say

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are reviewing their helium supply strategies as tensions in the Middle East disrupt key logistics routes, raising concerns over the availability of a gas essential to semiconductor manufacturing

Samsung has reportedly secured an order to supply 12GB LPDDR5X DRAM for Apple's first foldable iPhone, negotiating a sharply higher price than in previous memory contracts

India's plan to bring four semiconductor facilities into commercial production in 2026 marks an important milestone for the country's semiconductor ambitions, but analysts say the move will have only a limited impact on global chip manufacturing capacity

China conducted more than 90 orbital launches in 2025 and achieved several milestones, including collecting samples from the far side of the Moon, constructing a low-Earth orbit (LEO) space station, and landing a Mars rover. The progress highlights China's rapid rise in space capabilities and its growing challenge to the US's long-standing leadership

China's largest contract chipmaker, SMIC, says orders for mature-node memory and BCD processes are running at full capacity, pushing prices higher as AI demand tightens supply across the semiconductor industry

The US-Iran military clash has raised concerns about oil supply disruptions and economic fallout. Still, hopes of a quick de-escalation have helped oil prices retreat and capital markets refocus on AI development. US President Donald Trump predicted the conflict would ease by the end of March, shifting market sentiment

Iran's air defense shortcomings amid persistent US and Israeli strikes underscore the growing importance of high-power radar components and the supply chains that provide them. South Korea's Sky Bow 2 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reportedly intercepted multiple Iranian missiles at an over 90% success rate, highlighting capability disparities