China has tightened export controls on rare earths and other dual-use materials bound for Japan, prompting Tokyo to formalise a rare-earth stockpiling policy and work with G7 partners to accelerate efforts to reduce supply-chain dependence on China

WUS Printed Circuit (Kunshan) Co. plans to invest up to US$300 million in a high-density optical-electrical printed circuit board (PCB) project aimed at supporting next-generation packaging and interconnect requirements for AI servers, high-performance computing (HPC), and advanced networking systems

Reports that Reliance Industries has paused plans to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells have reignited debate over India's clean-energy ambitions, highlighting technology bottlenecks even as the conglomerate insists its net-zero strategy and investment roadmap remain firmly on track

China's push to localize its semiconductor equipment supply chain has reached an unexpected milestone. Domestic tools accounted for 35% of chipmaking equipment used in 2025, up from 25% a year earlier and well above the government's original 30% target. Data from Jiemian News, SCMP, and Cacnews show localization has risen from just 7% in 2020, a nearly 400% increase in five years. In key process steps such as etching and thin-film deposition, Chinese tools now exceed 40% adoption

EV manufacturer Ola Electric has rolled out Ola Shakti, a residential battery energy storage system (BESS), from its gigafactory in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, marking the company's formal entry into India's residential energy storage market and an expansion beyond its core automotive business, according to ANI, PV Magazine, and the Economic Times

SK Hynix has announced plans to invest KRW19 trillion (US$13.02 billion) to construct a new advanced packaging facility, P&T7, in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. The move aims to meet growing demand for AI memory and bolster the company's semiconductor capabilities, particularly in high bandwidth memory (HBM)

Samsung Electronics is set to introduce South Korea-made mask blanks into its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process starting as early as the second quarter of 2026. According to ET News and The Elec, Samsung is in the final evaluation stages of its EUV mask blanks with local supplier S&S Tech and is expected to be completed by January 2026, or by February at the latest. This is the first time Samsung will use domestically produced mask blanks in its EUV process

As China's domestic GPU developers accelerate public listings and expand both technological and capital investment, competition is shifting toward next-generation computing power. Iluvatar CoreX said it will unveil a three-generation GPU roadmap on January 26, 2026, outlining a new GPGPU architecture, cloud-based AI training and inference products, and high-performance computing infrastructure plans

Google is reportedly planning to move the New Product Introduction (NPI) process for its high-end Pixel smartphones to Vietnam, a step that could mark a major shift in the tech giant's supply chain strategy, though export controls from Beijing may slow implementation, according to Nikkei Asia

China's total trade in goods reached CNY45.47 trillion (approx. US$6.51 trillion) in 2025, marking a 3.8% year-over-year increase and setting a new record, the General Administration of Customs announced on January 14. Exports rose 6.1% to CNY26.99 trillion, while imports edged up 0.5% to CNY18.48 trillion, maintaining China's status as the largest merchandise trader globally

As China–US technological and industrial rivalry intensifies, Beijing is strengthening its trade defence measures. China's Ministry of Commerce announced on the 13th that anti-dumping duties on imported solar-grade polysilicon from the US and South Korea will be extended for another five years from January 14, 2026

In early 2025, as most Silicon Valley AI firms focused on stacking high-end GPUs and expanding parameter counts, Chinese startup DeepSeek took a different path. Using a pragmatic engineering approach under constrained computing resources, it delivered model performance that exceeded market expectations and caught the AI community off guard. At the time, many dismissed it as a one-off "cost-performance ambush." In hindsight, it now appears more like a prelude

South Korea's push to build sovereign artificial intelligence foundation models is facing heightened scrutiny as several domestic contenders in a government-backed selection process are accused of relying on Chinese technologies, raising questions about how independence should be defined in national AI development

Surging artificial intelligence (AI) workloads have triggered a global shortage of HBM, tightening DRAM and NAND supply and pushing prices sharply higher. US PC maker HP is now evaluating memory procurement from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to relieve mounting supply pressure