Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) reported on January 20, 2026, that strong demand for IC manufacturing and AI servers propelled export orders to new heights in December 2025. With most IC manufacturing and AI server shipments originating from Taiwan, overseas production by Taiwanese firms—in China, Vietnam, Mexico, and elsewhere—has declined to 46.5%.

Following the easing of US reciprocal tariffs to 15%, Taiwan's Fortune Electric is seeing meaningful relief in cost pressures while accelerating growth driven by robust demand from AI data centers and US infrastructure investment.

Sequoia Capital is reportedly set to participate in a major funding round for AI startup Anthropic, marking a departure from its traditional practice of avoiding investments in direct competitors.

AI dominated the corridors and side events of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos this week, with executives, policymakers, and researchers converging on a shared view: AI is no longer a speculative technology, but a foundational economic force. From the cost of compute and energy to export controls, edge devices, and labor-market disruption, Davos 2026 revealed an industry moving from experimentation to structural impact.

Asus announced on January 2, 2026, that it will not launch new smartphones in 2026, marking a strategic retreat from the mobile phone segment after more than two decades. Chairman Jonney Shih emphasized that Asus will continue to support existing smartphone users while reallocating resources toward longer-term strategic areas.

The US urgently needs to upgrade its aging grid infrastructure amid surging demand from large-scale AI computing, yet its domestic production capacity for heavy electrical equipment has struggled to keep up with demand, and imports still account for the vast majority of the supply for transformers and switchgear. Under this backdrop, market sources suggest that US customers may award bonuses if Taiwanese heavy electrical equipment suppliers can deliver ahead of schedule.

The US has finalized reciprocal tariffs with several countries, but supply chain sources say customer attitudes toward relocation vary. While server supply chains moving to North America continue to gain momentum, the pace of consumer electronics production shifts—such as notebooks relocating to Southeast Asia—has clearly slowed. The main reason is that increased costs from relocation are now close to the tariffs paid when producing in China, reducing the incentives to move.

On January 19, 2026. China's Premier Li Qiang hosted a forum including MiniMax founder Yan Junjie, marking increased recognition of AI large model enterprises in national policy. This reflects AI's evolving role from a tech topic to a core factor in China's economic and competitive strategy during the 15th Five-Year Plan.

On January 12, 2026, Japan's scientific drilling vessel Chikyu slowly departed port, heading toward the waters near Minamitorishima Island, about 1,900km southeast of Honshu. This mission is not merely a scientific expedition but a critical test tied to Japan's national economic security and the restructuring of global critical mineral supply chains.

AI technology company Bravo iDeas announced on January 20 that it is entering the AI toy market with an emotional AI toy that combines AI chips with large language models (LLMs). The toy features a character-driven AI architecture that enhances interaction by delivering intelligent conversations and emotional engagement aligned with each character's persona.

Supply chain sources report that Chromebook shipments have stabilized under Google's support. Despite facing a memory market turmoil, Google has set a full-year shipment target of 19.5 million units for 2026, matching 2025 levels. Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek remain optimistic about Chromebook demand and continue launching new platforms to expand their market share.