Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of June 29-July 5, 2026:
Anthropic tightens controls as Chinese firms route around Claude restrictions
Anthropic has tightened enforcement against unauthorized access to its Claude AI models after reports that Chinese companies have been bypassing its geographic restrictions through overseas subsidiaries, cloud services, and VPNs.
Firms, including Ant Group and ByteDance reportedly enabled engineers in China to access Claude via foreign entities or reimbursed subscriptions, while other companies reportedly used overseas Microsoft Azure accounts to obtain API access.
Analysis: Innoscience-Infineon clash shows China's courts becoming a weapon in the global GaN race
A patent dispute between China's Innoscience and Germany's Infineon became a major talking point at electronica Shanghai 2026 after Innoscience successfully used the exhibition's intellectual property enforcement mechanism to remove Infineon GaN power products that it said were covered by a Chinese court injunction. The confrontation followed a May ruling by the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court finding patent infringement and ordering a preliminary ban on the sale, offer for sale, and import of the products, a decision later upheld by China's Supreme People's Court.
Taiwan outpaces world in AI adoption, but firms lack strategy, Microsoft finds
Microsoft's Work Trend Index 2026 found that Taiwan is among the world's leading adopters of workplace AI, with 22% of AI users classified as frontier professionals, well above the global average of 16%, but only 17% of Taiwanese companies have a clear AI strategy. Based on data from 31 markets and more than 80,000 AI users, the report shows AI is increasingly being integrated into core business workflows through AI agents, enabling workers to spend more time on higher-value tasks such as analysis, decision-making, and creative work. Microsoft Taiwan said the future of AI lies in redesigning workflows around human-machine collaboration rather than simply deploying AI tools.
Taiwan's Chief Telecom says raid over alleged AI server smuggling has no financial impact
Chief Telecom said a prosecutor-led investigation into an alleged AI server smuggling case has not materially affected its financial condition or operations, emphasizing that it serves only as a data center facilities provider and does not control customer-owned equipment. Following a June 29 search by authorities related to AI servers reportedly destined for Hong Kong, Macau, and China, the company said it has complied with know-your-customer and reporting requirements, maintains strict rules governing AI equipment entering and leaving its data centers, and reports suspicious activity to government agencies when necessary.
China humanoid robot commercialization accelerates, shipments to reach 50,000 in 2026
Morgan Stanley has sharply upgraded its outlook for China's humanoid robot industry, raising its 2026 shipment forecast to 50,000 units from 28,000 and projecting shipments to reach 446,000 units by 2030, reflecting growing confidence that the market is entering the early stages of commercialization. The bank cited faster commercialization validation, stronger policy support, and a maturing supply chain as key drivers behind the acceleration. Momentum is also being fueled by major industry events in the second half of 2026, Tesla's progress toward mass production of its Optimus robot, and rapid expansion by Chinese robot makers such as AgiBot, which recently rolled out its 15,000th unit after increasing production speed more than fourfold in three months.
Commentary: Jack Ma's rice-field message and Alibaba's new AI confidence
Jack Ma's rare public appearance with senior Alibaba and Ant Group executives at a rice-planting event coincided with Alibaba's lawsuit challenging its inclusion on the US Department of Defense's Chinese Military Companies list, underscoring the company's transition from regulatory recovery to AI-driven growth amid intensifying US-China technology tensions. While the Pentagon designation is not a direct sanction, Alibaba is seeking to protect its global reputation as it shifts its business focus from e-commerce to AI and cloud computing.
Intel takes aim at TSMC's CoWoS lead with EMIB-T
As traditional transistor scaling slows, chipmakers are increasingly relying on advanced packaging technologies to boost AI accelerator performance, with new approaches reportedly unveiled by Intel, Marvell, TSMC, and others at the IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference. Intel showcased its EMIB-T packaging technology, which improves power delivery and supports larger chip packages, while industry speculation suggests it could win business from Google as customers seek alternatives to TSMC's dominant CoWoS platform. Meanwhile, Marvell introduced a custom HBM4E memory architecture that promises higher bandwidth, lower power consumption, and more space for compute, reflecting a broader shift toward customized memory and optical interconnects.
Article edited by Jerry Chen
