Apple supplier Lingyi iTech is seeking to expand further into AI infrastructure, announcing plans to invest up to CNY4 billion (US$589.9 million) to acquire control of the assets and operations of bankrupt optical fiber manufacturer Futong Group Communication Technology (Futong Jiashan) through a restructuring process.

The AI race is expanding from computing power to data transmission, making optical interconnects a critical battleground for next-generation AI infrastructure.

The smart glasses market is developing rapidly, with brands adopting a more pragmatic approach to product design while placing greater emphasis on interactivity. Taiwanese companies are seeking to keep pace with this growth, while Chinese players are moving equally quickly. The emergence of numerous Chinese startups and their ability to attract funding have reinforced market optimism over smart glasses demand, while intensifying competition between Taiwan and China across the supply chain.

AI computing demand continues to fuel growth in the global memory market, but the industry's attention is shifting beyond short-term price movements. Increasingly, the focus is on longer-term variables, including the pace of capacity expansion, the sustainability of AI-driven demand, and whether emerging AI applications can achieve commercial scale.

The US can no longer close its artificial-intelligence talent gap with China through visa curbs or export controls alone, a new Hoover Institution and Stanford study argues, because China is now producing frontier-model researchers who never trained, worked, or published abroad, even as it also reclaims talent that spent years in American institutions.

The US National Science Foundation will prohibit the researchers it funds from collaborating with organizations on Washington's restricted-party lists, a roster heavily populated by Chinese firms and institutions, under a Dear Colleague Letter dated July 8, 2026. The agency said it intends to implement the prohibition in fiscal 2027.

Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display are jointly developing a next-generation glass interposer that could lower the cost of packaging high-performance chips, with prototypes potentially ready by the end of this year, The Elec reported, citing semiconductor industry sources.

China Life Insurance Company Limited plans to invest CNY4.999 billion (US$697 million) in a new CNY5 billion semiconductor private equity fund, extending Beijing's effort to direct long-term insurance capital into strategic chip technologies.

China is tying its climate agenda more closely to industrial policy. The State Council's newly released Action Plan for Carbon Peaking in the 15th Five-Year Plan sets ambitious targets that could further accelerate domestic new energy vehicle (NEV) adoption while intensifying pressure on foreign automakers.

Tencent is in talks to become the largest shareholder in Manus, leading a proposed buyback of the AI agent startup after Chinese regulators ordered Meta Platforms to unwind its US$2 billion acquisition.