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Wednesday 6 November 2024
To split or not to split: Intel's dilemma has no clear-cut solution
Intel is grappling with an operational crisis as its IDM 2.0 transformation plan has yet to yield results, casting doubt on when its foundry business might finally become profitable. This raises the question of whether Intel should consider abandoning its IDM model and separating its product design and manufacturing divisions—a move with both potential advantages and drawbacks. Industry leaders, including former board members, are offering advice in hopes of helping Intel find a viable path forward. However, the conflicting nature of their advice highlights the complexity of the company's dilemma
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Tuesday 5 May 2026
Analysis: Big Tech's AI tab tops US$700 billion with Google Cloud pulling ahead — but investors are picking sides
The AI spending arms race just got more expensive — and more consequential
Tuesday 5 May 2026
Commentary: US auto market faces a three-way vacuum as tariffs deepen imbalances
US President Donald Trump's decision to raise tariffs on European automobiles and parts to 25% is compounding the US car market in the first quarter of 2026, where the absence of subsidies and purchase discounts, and weak purchasing power, are deepening market imbalance. The key variable remains American consumers' real buying power
Tuesday 5 May 2026
Analysis: How China’s HJT curb accelerates domestic consolidation and redefines solar competition
China is reportedly planning targeted export rules for heterojunction (HJT) solar equipment. The move has sparked broad industry debate in 2026, as energy transition and aerospace development grow increasingly intertwined. More than a trade measure, it reflects a cross-domain effort to protect technological sovereignty and keep core R&D value within China
Tuesday 5 May 2026
Analysis: CoWoS crunch and MediaTek's hire raise a bigger question — can Intel deliver?
The AI chip race is increasingly running into a different kind of limit — not compute, but packaging, as supply constraints around advanced technologies such as CoWoS begin to tighten
Monday 4 May 2026
Commentary: Intel names TSMC as key partner; insider drives its comeback
One year into his tenure, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan struck a markedly different tone on the company's outlook. At the first-quarter 2026 earnings call, he said the debate a year ago centred on whether Intel could survive. Today, the focus has shifted to how quickly it can expand capacity and scale its supply chain to meet surging demand
Friday 1 May 2026
TeraFab is already changing the semiconductor landscape — before a single chip is made
Elon Musk has a habit of building what he cannot buy
Friday 1 May 2026
Commentary: Honor's robot win highlights thermal edge in robotics
The Beijing Humanoid Robot Half Marathon has concluded, but its outcome has ignited a wider industry debate. Rather than a leading robotics specialist, smartphone maker Honor emerged as the unexpected winner — raising questions over whether the company's success reflects genuine technological strength or exposes lower-than-expected barriers in the humanoid robotics sector
Thursday 30 April 2026
Analysis: Chinese smart home brands outpace Western rivals with relentless innovation
Chinese smart home appliance brands have swept across global consumer markets on the strength of youthful, innovative brand images. Analysts point to one defining trait: product iteration cycles so fast that even European and American rivals struggle to match them. That pace, combined with a recent wave of acquisitions targeting Western and Japanese brands, has given Chinese makers growing momentum and an increasingly firm grip on the global home appliance market
Wednesday 29 April 2026
Commentary: How TSMC anchors Taiwan's semiconductor supply chain from within
As competition in the semiconductor industry intensifies, TSMC maintains its lead while actively supporting the domestic supply chain. In recent years, driven by the need for cost reduction, breaking international monopolies, and the ability to respond rapidly to disruptions, TSMC has taken multiple actions to nurture local suppliers. Notably, TSMC has played a critical role as a "supply chain stabilizer," stepping in during key moments
Wednesday 29 April 2026
Commentary: China's chip-model strategy pressures Nvidia's AI economics
The global AI industry is shifting into an inference cost war in 2026, with DeepSeek V4 accelerating changes across China's semiconductor supply chain. By positioning Huawei's Ascend chips as viable alternatives to Nvidia GPUs, DeepSeek reframes competition beyond software versus hardware. The shift cuts deeper, reshaping how AI systems are architected from the ground up
Wednesday 29 April 2026
Commentary: At Beijing Auto Show, hardware takes the wheel
For years, the global auto industry has been enveloped in the promise of the software-defined vehicle. But at the 2026 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, a more grounded reality came into focus: without sufficiently powerful hardware, software ambitions risk remaining just that—ambitions
Wednesday 29 April 2026
Analysis: Taiwan's two major panel makers enter semiconductor packaging; CPO and FOPLP become key
Optical communication technology is shifting from traditional pluggable optics toward co-packaged optics (CPO) architectures. Advanced packaging technologies are extending from wafer-level to panel-level, bringing fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) into the spotlight. At the intersection of these trends, Taiwan's panel manufacturers are actively entering the semiconductor packaging field in search of new growth momentum
Tuesday 28 April 2026
Commentary: Honor retools for humanoid robotics, rewrites AI device playbook
Honor's surprise win at this year's Beijing humanoid robot half-marathon has stirred industry debate, not only for its on-track performance but for what the move signals about shifting competitive dynamics. The smartphone maker's cross-sector push into robotics has reignited questions over whether embodied AI and humanoid systems could trigger a new round of market reshuffling
Tuesday 28 April 2026
Analysis: Why Tokyo Electron's China problem goes deeper than a data breach
Amid growing geopolitical tensions over the global semiconductor supply chain, what initially appeared to be an internal personnel matter is evolving into a broader case study of the operational risks that foreign equipment vendors face in China
Tuesday 28 April 2026
Commentary: What Amap reveals about AI navigation, data control
AI-powered navigation platforms such as China's Amap are forcing a rethink of how convenience, competition, and data governance intersect. The debate in Taiwan over Amap's near-real-time traffic light countdown and high-precision navigation reflects a broader shift in how mobility data is collected, processed, and monetized