After Dell's de-Sinicization and Marvell's China team was completely laid off, Qualcomm also couldn't hold on. Reports emerge that a large-scale layoff is planned at Qualcomm's Shanghai R&D center in October.

Arm successfully launched its IPO on Nasdaq on September 14, and Taiwan's leading IC design company, MediaTek, has also announced a US$25 million investment (approximately NT$800 million) to acquire about 0.05% of Arm's shares.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) technology has been a prominent feature at the Taiwan Aerospace and Defence Technology Exhibition (TADTE) 2023. The event gathered leading international defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman alongside newly emerging defense players like AeroVironment, which makes the Switchblade loitering munitions that gained prominence on the Ukrainian battlefield. Also Included at the exhibition are Taiwanese companies like Geosat Aerospace & Technology Inc. (Geosat) which has recently come under spotlight among a group of seven civilian drone manufacturers participating in a public tender to supply civilian grade reconnaissance drones for Taiwan's armed forces.

When the world is de-globalizing, it is the best time for Taiwan to re-connect to the global market. When a Taiwan-based IC distributor is moving toward the European and American markets via acquisition, how can Taiwanese fabless companies not gauge the pulse of this important trend?

Even though SMIC is lagging behind TSMC and Samsung Electronics by 5-6 and 4-5 years, respectively, it still managed to cross the threshold of advanced semiconductor manufacturing by successfully manufacturing Huawei's Kirin 9000S processor with multiple exposure processes using its FinFET N+2 node on immersion DUV machines. However, the Kirin 9000S chip that SMIC produced for Huawei is not a "breakthrough." It is only a "breakout" of the restrictions imposed by the US.

Following the semiconductor partnership between the US and Vietnam and US-based GlobalFoundries' opening of a new plant in Singapore, the US is looking to build a more diversified semiconductor supply chain, with South and Southeast Asian countries expected to emerge.

Recently, Chinese smartphone manufacturers are aggressively incorporating large language models (LLMs) into their devices, and this trend deserves a closer look. Apple appears not in a hurry to join the battle any time soon, and therefore do not expect the iPhone 15 that is slated to be launched these days to have LLM inside.

Amid the global supply chain realignment, Vietnam has emerged as a new link in the value chain for electronics manufacturing, inspiring some to imagine Vietnam's intention to develop its own semiconductor industry.

Huawei's recent announcement of its latest flagship phone, the Mate 60 Pro, directly on its official website without any public activity, has instantly caused a stir. Since Huawei has experienced the US Department of Commerce's technology blockade for many years and has not been able to launch a true 5G handset for several years, can Huawei regain its market share championship for smartphones with its self-developed 5G SoC?

The trend of self-developed chips in China did not cease along with the fall of Oppo's IC designing subsidiary Zeku earlier in 2023. OSAT firms in Taiwan and China continue to witness the rising emergence of consumer and automotive chip orders from Chinese IC designers, especially with Huawei keenly pushing for the revival of its smartphones and made-in-China APs.

A report released by the TWNIC shows although ChatGPT is gaining popularity worldwide, it might be a phenomenon limited to a specific group in Taiwan, with less than half of Taiwanese internet users having used it.

Recent reports from the cross-strait supply chain indicate that a major Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturer had ambitious plans early this year to make significant inroads into the upstream SiC compound semiconductor material-supplying sector. The plan involved a wide array of processes in the upstream supply chain.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo met with China Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao in Beijing on August 28 to advance US commercial and strategic interests is interpreted more as a "reality check" in the eyes of many China experts. Although Raimondo and her Chinese counterpart issued a mutual statement to ensure more communications in the future, China, a high-context culture in which many words are not spoken, has expressed its own messages in ways that may not be understood by the West.