Huawei's Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) reached top five in total sales in June, just one spot behind Tesla China, an indication of the beginning of Huawei's path to supremacy. Although Huawei insists it does not make cars, it understands the importance of controlling core vehicle technologies and is gradually making improvements in the automotive field. However, the elephant in the room must be addressed: Will Huawei grow to be a larger threat to its partners and other Chinese automakers

Amid South Korea's severe talent shortage in high-end engineering and technology during the AI era, the College of Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU) has proposed a dual-track plan to cultivate new talent and advance the country's AI industry, aiming to address the pressing talent gap and ensure South Korea's competitiveness for the future

Samsung Electronics is reportedly planning to introduce a vertical 4F Square structure for its in-development 9nm DRAM products, while continuing development of the existing 6F Square structured 9nm DRAM. Industry insiders said Samsung aims to widen the gap with competitors through this multi-pronged approach

Business exchanges between Chinese and Taiwanese makers have shown significant increases amid concerns over US tariffs, trade restrictions, and global supply chain restructuring, with China and Hong Kong together remaining the biggest market for Taiwan's exports

SK Hynix addressed concerns about the potential impacts of tightening US export controls on its fabrication operations in China, adding no change in the company's validated end user (VEU) status and highlighting strategic plans to meet demand while navigating evolving regulations

With Japan agreeing to invest US$550 billion in US markets and open sectors including automobiles, rice, and agricultural products under a new trade agreement in exchange for the US to cut its reciprocal tariffs on Japan to 15%, sources from industry analysts believe the deal is unlikely to reshape Japanese consumers' auto preferences

In SK Hynix's second-quarter earnings call, the company emphasized strong confidence in the sustained growth of HBM, driven by increasing AI workloads and emerging applications like AI agents. He also outlined the company's technological advances in next-generation DRAM, including the upcoming 1C Nano process and innovative 3D and vertical gate memory architectures

Nvidia's H20 chip has re-entered the Chinese market but is facing an underwhelming reception, as influential tech leaders increasingly favor local semiconductor alternatives. Zhou Hongyi, co-founder and chairman of 360 Security Technology Inc. (Qihoo 360), said the H20 chip has lost its price-performance advantage in China. He noted that 360 has switched exclusively to domestic chips — specifically Huawei's — reflecting a wider industry shift

Samsung Electronics is preparing a strategic challenge to SK Hynix's dominance in sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory with an ambitious technological leap that could reshape the HBM4 supply landscape

Taiwan continues to dominate the global outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) market, but China is catching up quickly. Driven by state-backed chip self-reliance efforts, China's OSAT industry has expanded at pace, steadily closing the market share gap across the Taiwan Strait. A recent industry-led initiative gaining traction in China is also pushing back against cutthroat pricing that has undermined profitability

AWS has confirmed that its last overseas research institute, located in Shanghai, has officially disbanded, stating that this organizational adjustment aligns with the company's future strategic direction and resource allocation

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won recently visited OpenAI's headquarters in San Francisco for a private meeting with CEO Sam Altman, according to reports from South Korean outlets Maeil Business Newspaper and Yonhap News Agency. The visit marks the third known encounter between the two executives, following previous meetings in Seoul in February 2025 and San Francisco in June 2024

Samsung Electronics plans to introduce hybrid bonding technology with its 16-layer HBM4E (7th-generation high-bandwidth memory), marking a pivotal shift in advanced memory packaging. Testing is underway, with commercialization dependent on market demand and investment viability

Samsung has reported strong pre-orders in Taiwan for its latest Galaxy Z7 series, with the vendor assessing the feasibility of bringing its trifold devices to the Taiwanese market when they are released at the end of the year at the earliest