Foxconn is expanding its proprietary FoxBrain large language model (LLM) into vision-language models (VLMs) and vision-language-action models (VLAs), targeting smart manufacturing, electric vehicles (EVs) and robotics. The initiative complements its growing AI server and data centre businesses, with global competition increasingly extending from computing hardware to AI models and applications, alongside rising interest in sovereign AI.

Sandisk will be the exclusive provider of flash storage for Meta VR Glasses, supplying Meta-certified microSD Express memory cards and USB-C flash drives when the glasses launch in spring 2027, the memory maker announced in a press release issued from Milpitas, California, on October 14, 2026.

After investing tens of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence (AI), tech giants are stepping up efforts to train specialized engineers who can help businesses apply AI to real-world operations and demonstrate returns on those investments. Known as forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), these professionals combine AI and software development expertise with business knowledge to overcome legacy systems, cybersecurity, and organizational barriers and bring agentic AI into production.

OpenAI is expanding its ChatGPT advertising business by cutting ad prices, adding campaign tools and recruiting advertising talent. ChatGPT has also emerged as one of the platforms advertisers are most likely to increase spending on over the next year, although challenges remain in tracking ad performance and improving targeting accuracy.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services built on the Chinese AI model from their information technology (IT) systems, escalating Washington's scrutiny of Chinese AI.

Google Quantum AI said on October 15, 2026, that it has shown "magic state cultivation" working in practice on its Willow processor, reducing errors about 40-fold compared with uncultivated states. The result, published in Science, is a crucial step toward scaling quantum computing to practical use.

Chinese AI companies expanding overseas could face more clearly defined technology export restrictions under proposed regulations covering foundation models, AI agents, chip design, and large-scale computing clusters.

Samsung Electronics has transferred 126 of its mobile, display, and home appliance technologies free of charge to 99 small and midsize companies this year, with mobile technologies making up the bulk of the handover, according to South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, which hosted the 2026 technology-sharing event with Samsung at L Tower in Seoul's Yangjae-dong on October 19, 2026.

Taiwanese electronics makers are deepening their presence in Mexico's Chihuahua state, drawn by surging US demand for AI servers, officials and business leaders told a seminar in Taipei on October 19. The pace of foreign investment is driven by the state's access to the US market, even as Chihuahua seeks to transition from a manufacturing base into a research and design hub.

The economics of the foundry business have always carried a particular contradiction: semiconductor manufacturing demands enormous upfront capital and years of sustained investment, yet the companies making those investments are expected to preserve enough strategic independence to respond quickly to technology cycles and customers.

South Korea's Future Innovation Tech Expo (FIX 2026) will open in Daegu on October 21, with HD Hyundai Robotics and Doosan Robotics among the industrial robot makers exhibiting. The four-day show will also feature self-driving vehicles and technologies for manufacturing, logistics, and transportation.