US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Tuesday (April 29, 2025, PT), easing certain tariffs affecting automakers. The rollback of these trade measures, which companies like Ford and General Motors had warned could hurt US manufacturing by raising production costs and squeezing profit margins, offers short-term relief

As US-China trade tensions rise, the global server EMS supply chain is transforming, with Chinese manufacturers rapidly gaining prominence and challenging established players. A recent DIGITIMES report noted Chinese suppliers' capability to provide server components amid a complex landscape where geopolitical strategies, technological advancements, and market competitiveness intersect

Since the second half of 2024, Tesla has increasingly emphasized AI as the core driver of its business strategy for the coming years, focusing on commercializing autonomous driving software and humanoid robots. As both projects share common technical resources and have explicit application scenarios, Tesla plans to first deploy humanoid robots in its factories to perform various tasks, expecting to significantly reduce labor costs, and the strategy will likely prompt other automakers to follow suit in deploying humanoid robots, according to DIGITIMES' recent report

The combined revenue of Taiwan's major wafer foundry houses is anticipated to hit US$27.71 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a sequential decline of 5.8%. However, as AI/HPC chip demand continues to be strong and consumer electronics inventory is being gradually replenished, revenue in the second quarter is expected to rebound 5.7% quarterly to US$29.3 billion, according to DIGITIMES' quarterly report covering Taiwan's wafer foundry industry

As the global electric vehicle (EV) market grows, key regions such as China, Europe, and the US face challenges due to high EV-per-charger ratios in direct current (DC) charging infrastructure since the imbalance has led to longer waiting times for EV owners, according to DIGITIMES' latest finding in its latest report, which added that the introduction of liquid-cooled ultrafast charging systems appears to have emerged as an optimal solution for high-power charging to address charging anxiety

While the global EV market continued to grow in 2024, the growth rate had slowed down with sales only reaching around 17 million units, a year-on-year increase of 25.5%. Although China maintained an overwhelming lead in the global market, the performances of the European and American markets were below expectations due to policies and weak demand, according to DIGITIMES' new global EV sales report

Global server shipments are anticipated to pick up by 2.3% in 2025, surpassing 15 million units, according to DIGITIMES' latest report covering server market shipments and performance in 2025. However, the growth rate will be lower than in 2024 as intensifying global tariff wars and escalating geopolitical tensions will lead to more conservative enterprise investments, with a focus on increasingly mature large language model (LLM) applications

In the fourth quarter of 2024, global notebook shipments (excluding detachable models) performed better than expected, decreasing by 1% compared to the previous quarter. In anticipation of tariffs on notebooks imported into the US by the Trump administration, brands and channel retailers increased their inventories in the fourth quarter to prepare. However, the high inventory from the fourth quarter will strongly undermine brand vendors' shipments in the first quarter of 2025, according to DIGITIMES' latest quarterly notebook shipments report

With geopolitical pressures intensifying rapidly after Trump's inauguration as President of the US, TSMC announced on March 4, 2025, that it would invest an additional US$100 billion in the US. However, this new investment plan still tests the Trump administration's ability to address issues related to factory construction and talent shortages

India, the world's most populous country with a population of over 1.4 billion, has enormous growth potential in the network communications market. In the past, India lagged behind others in 3G and 4G development due to a number of factors, such as a market over-crowded with competitors, weak telecommunications infrastructure, and poor policy implementation. However, the arrival of the 5G era has gradually changed the landscape of India's telecommunications market, according to DIGITIMES's latest report covering India's 5G market

Smartphone shipments in the Chinese market reached slightly less than 79 million units in the fourth quarter of 2024, representing a 14.9% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 0.6% growth year-over-year. Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2025, it is estimated that shipment volumes will experience a single-digit decline, according to DIGITIMES' latest report covering the Chinese smartphone market

With non-Chinese markets entering their traditional off-season and the Chinese market lacking a nationwide shopping promotion event, overall smartphone shipments by Chinese brands are expected to decrease by 9.7% on quarter in the first quarter of 2025 after enjoying good sequential growth in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to DIGITIMES' latest report covering China's smartphone industry

Chinese smartphone application processors (APs) shipments are expected to remain stable in the first quarter of 2025 despite the traditional off-season, supported by China's handset subsidy policy. Mid-to-high-end 5G models will likely appeal more to consumers within the subsidy-eligible price range, according to DIGITIMES' latest report covering Chinese smartphone AP market

The global server shipments are expected to see a mild decline of 3.8% in the first quarter of 2025 and among US-based cloud service providers (CSPs), Meta will maintain a relatively high level of shipments, while Google's shipments are expected to rebound this quarter, having seen a significant decline in the previous quarter, according to DIGITIMES' latest server research report covering global shipments and market status

Global server shipments are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% from 2024 to 2029. However, in 2025, the recovery momentum for servers is expected to be suppressed due to an unstable macroeconomic environment, the new tariff policies implemented during Trump's administration, and ongoing US-China geopolitical competition. This will result in a low shipment growth rate of just 3.9% for the year, according to DIGITIMES