As South Korea prepares to host APEC 2025 Korea in Gyeongju on October 31, attention is focused on a potential high-stakes meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, rising tensions over China's expanded REE export controls and special port fees imposed on US-flagged vessels have intensified the trade conflict ahead of the summit. If unresolved through negotiation, these escalating trade barriers risk inflicting severe economic damage that could leave both the US and China worse off, while also harming Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea as collateral victims

China tightened rare earth export controls after its National Day holidays, using its dominant production capacity to pressure US firms and advanced chipmakers amid rising supply chain risks

Larry Ellison, the 81-year-old head of long-standing Silicon Valley tech giant Oracle, has surpassed Elon Musk to become the world's richest person. Ellison transformed the company overnight from a declining database business into an AI powerhouse and potentially the biggest winner in the future TikTok equity deal

AMD has a multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with OpenAI to boost its presence against Nvidia and Intel, but concerns about leverage and market demand persist. The partnership highlights both growth potential and risks in the evolving AI landscape

Global PC giant Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's second-largest PC brand, is undergoing a major leadership upheaval that has sent ripples through its extensive Taiwan supply chain. Reports indicate that Alex Cho, president of HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG), will step down, with senior vice president Ketan Patel set to take over

United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) is demanding its upstream materials suppliers cut prices by at least 15%, a rare and aggressive move that has sent shockwaves through the semiconductor industry. The chipmaker issued a formal notice requiring partners to submit cost-reduction plans within one month. The new pricing is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026

In September 2025, Nvidia announced plans to invest up to US$100 billion in OpenAI in phases, deploying at least 10GW of Nvidia server systems to support the development of next-generation AI computing platforms. This represents one of the largest infrastructure collaborations in the generative AI era, both in scale and investment, and is a rare strategic alliance in the past decade

The 2025 Tokyo Game Show (TGS) set new records in both attendance and exhibition scale, marking a clear shift from a consumer showcase to a business-focused platform. Taiwanese gaming hardware and content companies were prominently present, with top executives leading efforts to secure cross-border partnerships

Huatie's CNY3.69 billion (US$518.3 million) computing contract ended without delivery, indicating potential cancellations in China's computing market. Speculative contracts amid rising AI demand and US GPU restrictions have led to supply shortages and financial risks, possibly benefiting Taiwan's server and cloud sectors

The Trump administration's investigation into semiconductor imports has unleashed deep uncertainty across the global tech industry—and the fallout may hit American companies the hardest, instead of their Taiwanese counterparts

Quantum technologies, long confined to academic theory, are now laying the groundwork for a revolution in navigation. While the term "quantum computing" often raises fears about data security, the underlying physics is enabling next-generation navigation systems for defense and civilian use

At Xiaomi's 2025 annual conference, founder Lei Jun spoke with calm restraint about the company's self-developed Xring O1 chip. Yet beneath that composure were moments of risk and suspense: the US$20 million bill for the first TSMC 3nm tape-out, engineers guarding chip samples in an unmarked paper bag at the airport, and the late-night message, "system lit up." When Lei answered his first call powered by the Xring O1, the wave of emotion was indescribable, the kind only insiders could fully understand

Following Nvidia’s plan to invest up to US$100 billion in OpenAI, six of the seven major US tech giants—excluding Tesla—have either partnered with or are potential collaborators with OpenAI. It is not an exaggeration to describe OpenAI as the "lifeline" of the AI industry

On September 24, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun confessed on Weibo that launching both cars and chips at once was like "supporting two children through college." The pressure, he said, was immense, with Xiaomi staking the financial reserves it had accumulated over its first decade

Memory giant Micron delivered strong financial results and expects the tight supply of DRAM and other memory products to continue through 2026. Micron executive vice president and chief business officer Sumit Sadana told DIGITIMES in an exclusive interview that the company is confident in offering the world's best sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4), with sample data and specifications surpassing those of any competitors in the market