Lunar New Year 2026 is approaching. So is the outcome of tariff negotiations between Taiwan and the United States. Few issues are being watched more closely than the potential opening of Taiwan's market to American-made cars.
China's large language model sector is reaching a decisive inflection point. As requirements for computing resources, capital, and specialized talent continue to climb, the industry is moving from dozens of competing models toward consolidation dominated by three major players.
Apple Inc. delivered a record-breaking quarter, fueled by surging demand for the iPhone 17 even as rising chip costs and tightening memory supply began reshaping its margins and supply-chain strategy.
ASML Holding reported record financial results for 2025, marked by strong growth in both revenue and profitability. Full-year revenue reached EUR32.67 billion (US$38.96 billion), up 15.6% from the previous year, while net profit rose 26.9% to EUR9.61 billion—gross margin held at 52.8%.
In January 2025, while the global AI and semiconductor industries remained focused on advanced process nodes and high-performance GPUs, China's large-scale model DeepSeek-R1 emerged unexpectedly.
China's semiconductor supply chain is sending a clear signal: a wave of "chip inflation" driven by mature-node manufacturing, memory, and packaging costs is no longer theoretical; it is becoming a structural reality. Following Cmsemicon's decision to raise prices on MCU and NOR Flash products by 15% to 50%, long-stable commodity chips have officially entered an inflation cycle.
As artificial intelligence (AI) development accelerates, power consumption across computing platforms is climbing sharply. Competition among data and computing centers is no longer limited to server specifications or the efficiency of individual power supply units. Instead, it is moving toward rack-level integration of power distribution, cooling, energy storage, and monitoring, with implications extending into broader infrastructure design.
In mid-December 2025, TSMC chairman C.C. Wei disclosed details of a conversation with Elon Musk regarding future development priorities. The discussion centered not on automotive production, but on AI-driven robotics. Musk identified chip scarcity as his primary constraint, to which Wei responded that capacity remains available for customers willing to commit the necessary capital.
The global bus industry is entering a new phase where competition extends beyond vehicle models to encompass organizational and operational transformation. Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) and Foxconn Technology Group have announced the establishment of a new, jointly owned bus company, signaling a fundamental restructuring of Fuso's bus business that moves beyond their earlier zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) collaboration, set for August 2025. This marks Foxconn's transformation from parts supplier to vehicle manufacturer—a shift with significant implications for Japan's public transport decarbonization and the broader electric vehicle sector.
