As AI spreads across industries and everyday life, the experience of using it is becoming increasingly measurable, routable, and billable. The rapid proliferation of models is turning AI consumption itself into a metered business, with enterprises paying not only for access to models but for the tokens generated, processed, and managed around them.

Samsung Electronics' latest results show AI infrastructure demand increasingly determining the group's earnings, with soaring semiconductor profit offsetting continued losses in its consumer-device division. The company said a sharp expansion in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) sales and rising memory prices drove another record quarter, while its outlook pointed to supply pressure further as customers expand AI investment.

Samsung Electronics subsidiary Harman International has expanded its manufacturing operations in Suzhou, China, to produce automotive computing platforms and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), with production scheduled to begin in 2027.

Japan is preparing to shift operations of its flagship H3 rocket from the state space agency to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), a move aimed at cutting launch costs and making the country's main launcher a more credible rival to SpaceX in the commercial market.

Taiwan's carbon pricing system is entering a new phase after collecting its first carbon fees in 2026 from 240 companies and 461 factories, generating approximately NT$4.97 billion (US$153.1 million). At the current rates, the carbon fees that Taiwan collects will not be enough to fund carbon removal.

US AI startup Anthropic has formally filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), identifying competitive pressure from Chinese AI companies, model distillation, and cross-border technology restrictions among its operational risks.

Samsung SDI has signed a follow-on 1GWh contract to supply energy storage systems (ESS) to US power developer Alpha Omega Power (AOP). The batteries will be made in Indiana and delivered by the end of 2026, the latest sign that South Korean battery makers are winning US business by manufacturing locally.

SK Hynix said customers are seeking more than twice the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) volume it can currently supply, as moves toward shorter memory stacks reflect supply shortages rather than weakening demand.

SK Hynix plans to extend the life of its existing 6F-squared DRAM cell architecture through extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and process improvements, keeping 4F-squared and three-dimensional (3D) DRAM on its technology roadmap as China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) prepares to unveil a product based on a smaller cell design.

The Hurun Research Institute's 2026 Hurun China Rich List shows ByteDance founder Yiming Zhang reclaiming the title of China's richest person with CNY670 billion (US$99.7 billion), while DeepSeek founder Wenfeng Liang ranked seventh in his debut appearance with CNY280 billion, highlighting AI's growing impact on Chinese entrepreneurs' fortunes.

US and Taiwanese PC makers are shifting some production from Southeast Asia back to China and partnering with additional Chinese contract manufacturers as surging memory and storage costs squeeze margins, reversing part of the industry's previous push to diversify supply chains away from China.

SK Hynix is looking beyond its position as a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), using venture investments to gain a greater say in how next-generation AI infrastructure is designed.

SK Hynix is reassessing how to finance the US manufacturing expansion of its NAND flash subsidiary Solidigm after shelving a potential initial public offering (IPO), as the South Korean memory maker prepares for higher capital spending in 2027 while committing approximately KRW100 trillion to shareholder returns this year.

Micron Technology is heading to South Korea to recruit engineers for its Taiwan operations, with interviews scheduled in Seoul in late November, as a bonus dispute at its Taoyuan plant remains unresolved. The company and the Taoyuan union held a second round of negotiations on October 27 without reaching an agreement, and a third round has been tentatively set for November 6. At the same time, Micron is advancing a global compensation overhaul, reflecting how profit sharing and competition for technical talent have become a focus for the industry as AI memory demand expands.

Major package substrate makers, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco), are concentrating capital spending on large, high-layer-count ABF substrates, while capacity expansion for BT substrates used in memory packaging remains limited. With BT substrate supply tightening and demand for low-power SOCAMM memory modules rising, South Korea's Simmtech could benefit from its business in both memory package substrates and module PCBs.