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May 19
Chipmakers rejoice as Googlebook entry heats up AI PC race
Google's announcement for the upcoming Googlebook, which tightly integrates Gemini features, signals that it is no longer limiting its PC strategy to the Chromebook line and is pushing into a higher-end product tier in the AI PC era. Chipmakers, including Intel on the x86 side and Qualcomm and MediaTek on the Arm side, are also joining the race, further intensifying competition in the AI PC market.
Microsoft's data center expansion in India represents the continuation of a strategic regional investment trajectory, updating previously announced capital commitments rather than introducing new funding. The company is accelerating infrastructure deployment in India's fast-growing AI market, where it competes with Alphabet and Amazon for dominance in cloud services and artificial intelligence.
AI camera demand is being propelled by enterprise digital transformation, smart healthcare, and cross-border collaboration, turning cameras from simple video recorders into intelligent sensing endpoints with far-reaching implications for suppliers across the optics and semiconductor ecosystem.
Xiaomi warns memory costs could push flagship phone prices past CNY10,000 (approx. US$1,468) in 2026, a development that would affect global consumers as higher-capacity models become more expensive and manufacturers adjust portfolios. The company also withheld an ultra-thin, Apple Air-style device after concluding trade-offs would harm battery life and camera performance.
Recent media reports say Google is set to team up with Blackstone to form a new cloud computing leasing company, with Blackstone as the main shareholder. The new venture aims to build about 500 MW of computing capacity by 2027, most of it using Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), a move industry watchers say supports Google ASIC partners such as MediaTek, Broadcom, and TSMC.
Quanta Cloud Technology announced that its subsidiary QMN purchased a 10-year right-of-use asset for a California facility lease for US$61.71 million to support expanding manufacturing capacity for AI servers and other operations in the US. The transaction was disclosed as part of the firm's ongoing expansion of US manufacturing, where the company has grown its California campus to more than 20 buildings.
Taiwan's cabinet announced plans to expand public spending on AI and other strategic industries to protect the island's high-tech manufacturing lead, strengthen economic security and stimulate domestic demand, the premier said at a government press conference on May 19 in Taipei. The initiative includes 13 designated strategic industries, each to receive a flagship project, and a set of 10 major AI construction projects scheduled to begin in 2026.
Tatung announced at the IEEE PES T&D 2026 exhibition in Chicago that it has expanded its North American footprint with a mix of large-transformer contracts and mass-production orders for the US renewables and data-center markets. The company said it secured a 345 kV order for a US renewable energy site with delivery slated for mid-2027 and additional solar project orders that will ship between 2026 and 2027, positioning Tatung as a supplier across both long-cycle and fast-turn segments.
Anthropic said it hired a high-profile AI researcher who will join its pretraining team to accelerate large-language-model pretraining research using Claude, as announced in May 2026. The hire came as Anthropic disclosed a compute rental agreement to use SpaceX-linked resources from xAI's Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee, and followed earlier talent additions, the company stated.
Commentary: China hardens AI self-reliance push after Trump-Xi talks
May 20, 10:41
After the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, China's senior leadership has stepped up inspections of artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing and computing infrastructure, offering a clear signal of where Beijing wants its technology policy to move over the next three years.

Tesla remains a bellwether for humanoid robots, but its delayed production timeline is prompting Taiwanese suppliers to reassess where near-term opportunities may emerge in the robotics supply chain.

E Ink Holdings showcased color e-paper digital photo frames, monitors, smartphone-sized readers, and lifestyle products at Computex 2026, which opened on June 2 in Taipei, aiming to push e-paper into homes, offices, and personal spaces. The exhibit presented devices that use the E Ink Spectra 6 color e-paper technology to deliver vivid, paper-like visuals with no backlight and low power consumption.