With OpenAI announcing custom GPTs for its paying customers at its first developer conference on November 6 and announcing a plan to launch a GPT marketplace in December, the iPhone Appstore/Google Play moment for artificial intelligence (AI) is here and now.
As US export control pressure on advanced AI chips mounts, Chinese Large-Language Model (LLM) operators start to turn to domestic options to secure hardware supplies. Huawei, as expected, is benefiting from US restrictions.
Although the world's first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Agreement was signed in the UK last week, many top scientists who have the most amount of knowledge and expertise in AI, including William Wei, former Foxconn and MIH chief technology officer and now Executive VP, CMO to Taiwan-based AI startup Skymizer, voiced disagreement and concern over the overblown fear.
Tax breaks, depreciation acceleration, research and development investment subsidization, and fiscal subsidies are typical forms of fiscal incentives for encouraging semiconductor industry investments, equipment procurement, and research and development.
Generative AI is making its way into edge devices: though there remain bottlenecks to overcome in terms of software and hardware, the overall trend is very significant. PC and mobile brands, chip manufacturers, and AI companies are all gearing up, hoping to introduce generative AI into consumer electronics to trigger a new wave of sales growth.
In an era defined by global economic shifts, supply chain complexities, and ever-increasing uncertainty, companies must constantly adapt to survive and thrive. One company at the forefront of this transformative journey is Kinaxis, a Canadian supply chain solution provider co-founded by Duncan Klett in 1984. Kinaxis is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with a market cap of nearly US$3 billion as of November 2023.
In a significant move to foster global cooperation in the field of satellite industry, Telesat embarked on a mission to Taiwan and South Korea. The Ottawa-based company is actively engaging with both corporations and government agencies to introduce its ambitious Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite project known as "Lightspeed Constellation," which has raised its largest fund at US$500 million.
Panel giant AUO is targeting the automotive industry by acquiring BHTC, the company's first international acquisition. Frank Ko, CEO and president of AUO, admits his company was "quite jittery" when the acquisition was first announced, with automakers looking forward to AUO becoming a Tier 1 supplier.
"This might be one of the most advanced chips in the world," an official from the Belgium-based Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (Imec) reportedly informed then-Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as he inspected a wafer during his 2018 visit to the semiconductor research institute. Three years before the visit, in June 2015, both Li and then-Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel partook in a signing ceremony that saw Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), Huawei, Imec and Qualcomm co-investing to bring SMIC's 14nm process into volume production by 2020.
In the dynamic landscape of space exploration and satellite deployment, Scottish-based startup Skyrora is making waves and offering a unique perspective. At the forum of TASTI 2023 organized by the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA), Skyrora emphasized the evolving launch industry and the pivotal role played by small startups. Volodymyr Levykin, Skyrora's CEO, unveiled that Skyrora set to make its first orbital launch early in 2024.
During the reorganization of global supply chains, opportunities are being created for countries that are semiconductor markets in which system manufacturers are based. Semiconductors, as the most critical component and device in systems, have become the subject of import replacement efforts that countries with system manufacturing capabilities are eager to undertake.
A recent UBS Evidence Lab's tear-up activity on a BYD Seal electrical vehicle showed that a high level of import substitution in automotive chips is taking place at China EV brands, and the trend is evident in the power semiconductor sector, said Jimmy Yu, China technology analyst, UBS Securities.
AI expert Andrew Ng visited Taiwan at the end of September for a 4-day trip. Before leaving, he sat down for an interview with DIGITIMES and discussed his views on US tech giants, the trend of AI PCs, opportunities and challenges in the GPU market, and more.
The Chinese state-owned media Global Times reported recently, citing sources, that the Chinese tax authorities have conducted audits of Foxconn Group in Guangdong and Jiangsu, among other regions, while the natural resources department has initiated investigations into Foxconn's land use in Henan and Hubei. From the perspective of the industrial supply chain, in the short term, this event is unlikely to have a direct impact on Foxconn's business. However, for many foreign enterprises with operations in China, including Foxconn's future plans, it could potentially have long-term and profound effects.
UK compound semiconductor firm CEO Americo Lemos said that IQE is aiming to establish Taiwan as an important development base for compound semiconductors in Asia to overcome the changing geopolitical and supply chain restructuring challenges, and expects to increasingly use Taiwanese wafer foundries for gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN).
