As China–US technological and industrial rivalry intensifies, Beijing is strengthening its trade defence measures. China's Ministry of Commerce announced on the 13th that anti-dumping duties on imported solar-grade polysilicon from the US and South Korea will be extended for another five years from January 14, 2026

In early 2025, as most Silicon Valley AI firms focused on stacking high-end GPUs and expanding parameter counts, Chinese startup DeepSeek took a different path. Using a pragmatic engineering approach under constrained computing resources, it delivered model performance that exceeded market expectations and caught the AI community off guard. At the time, many dismissed it as a one-off "cost-performance ambush." In hindsight, it now appears more like a prelude

South Korea's push to build sovereign artificial intelligence foundation models is facing heightened scrutiny as several domestic contenders in a government-backed selection process are accused of relying on Chinese technologies, raising questions about how independence should be defined in national AI development

Surging artificial intelligence (AI) workloads have triggered a global shortage of HBM, tightening DRAM and NAND supply and pushing prices sharply higher. US PC maker HP is now evaluating memory procurement from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to relieve mounting supply pressure

As the global generative AI race enters a more competitive phase, the direction of China's large-model development is no longer shaped by a single company. Instead, it is increasingly influenced by a small group of figures with strong research credentials, engineering expertise, and industry clout

Luxshare Precision Industry said it has moved to terminate an agreement to buy an India-based business asset package from Wingtech Technology after the transfer was blocked by legal restrictions, including seizures and freezes, escalating a cross-border dispute that both sides have now taken to arbitration in Singapore

The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has shifted its license review policy for exports of certain advanced computing chips to China and Macau from a "presumption of denial" to a case-by-case review, provided exporters meet new certification and testing requirements

Microsoft's AI for Good Lab has revealed that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's free, open-source generative model is rapidly gaining adoption in developing countries, contributing to a notable rise in global AI usage while prompting geopolitical and information security concerns

South Korea's exclusive focus on magnetic confinement fusion technology has raised concerns about its position in the evolving global fusion energy landscape, as other advanced countries pursue dual development paths that combine magnetic and laser nuclear fusion. Experts warn that this singular strategy could limit the nation's competitiveness in next-generation energy solutions

China's domestic GPU sector has entered a new phase of capitalization. Moore Threads and MetaX have listed on the STAR Market, Biren debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in early January 2026, Iluvatar CoreX completed its Hong Kong IPO, and Enflame has finished listing counseling ahead of a STAR Market filing. Within one month, five Shanghai-based GPU firms accessed public capital markets, accelerating the commercialization of China's AI chip industry

Acer is intensifying its efforts in the Indian PC market, aiming to increase its consumer PC market share from 15% to 20% by 2026, with gaming PCs playing a central role, according to Harish Kohli, president and managing director of Acer India. The company's push includes hosting the annual Predator League esports finals in New Delhi

South Korea's optoelectronics industry once grew rapidly with Gwangju as its center, but growth slowed under competition from China. The National Assembly of South Korea recently held a forum to discuss the current state of the photonics market, including opportunities and challenges for Gwangju, which was once a major photonics hub. As optical technologies become core infrastructure supporting AI, cloud computing, and autonomous driving, South Korea's industry is calling for Gwangju to make a transformative integration

As 2026 begins, China has put into force the world's first mandatory national standard governing energy consumption for electric vehicles, drawing a sharp new line for an industry that has expanded at breakneck speed for more than a decade

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are set to join a US-led initiative to secure artificial intelligence and semiconductor supply chains, expanding a framework Washington views as a cornerstone of its economic security strategy