Chinese tech giants ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have collectively ordered more than 3 million units of Nvidia's new RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards, representing a total value exceeding US$35 billion, as reported by Reuters.

Vietnam has installed 10 Starlink satellite internet terminals on islands near Haiphong, highlighting how low Earth orbit networks are being used to extend connectivity beyond conventional infrastructure. The deployment provides backup communications for emergencies and could support digital development, while also illustrating the service's regulatory limits, cost challenges, and focus on remote users.

Competition among Chinese suppliers is driving down prices for dexterous robotic hands, but cheaper hardware has yet to resolve a bigger challenge for humanoid developers: proving that multi-finger systems can perform industrial tasks reliably and at a competitive cost.

Chinese battery giant CATL is giving its battery-service business a distinctive boost through a three-party battery-swapping agreement linking Huawei-affiliated Yinwang Intelligent Technology, CATL, and CATL's battery-swapping subsidiary, Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology (CAES).

India's first commercial chip fab is opening a long-awaited new market for the country's chemical makers, but the companies best placed to profit in the near term are Japanese, South Korean, and European materials suppliers that already have the purification know-how and customer trust that chipmakers demand.

Japan plans to provide an additional JPY400 billion (US$2.5 billion) to support Rapidus' advanced semiconductor production between fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2029, as the government seeks to achieve mass production of 2nm chips in fiscal 2027. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) presented the latest policy on October 19, according to reports from Reuters, Nikkei Asia, and BigGo Finance. The funding would be provided as an industrial investment between April 2027 and March 2030.

Japan has successfully launched a spacecraft bound for the moons of Mars, gaining an early advantage over China in the international race to become the first country to return samples from Mars or its satellites.

Global Tek Industrial held an opening ceremony on the 20th for its Super Smart Manufacturing Park in Chonburi, Thailand. Spanning 177,600 square meters, the facility is the group's largest single production base. Having entered trial production in the third quarter of 2026, the plant will expand beyond existing automotive orders to incorporate high-value-added products such as AI liquid cooling and aerospace components, fulfilling customer demand for non-China supply chains.

Intel has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a waiver to the US ban on advanced foreign robots, citing worries that its machines will not receive equipment updates, which could hinder its ability to produce semiconductors in the US. The request comes after the US banned imports of foreign-made robots in July.

More than a dozen US companies are exploring opportunities to develop Malaysia's rare earth industry, seeking alternatives to China-dominated supply chains as Washington pushes to secure supplies of critical minerals.

BYD is facing declining market share in China's domestic electric vehicle (EV) battery market, even as its overseas business continues to expand, highlighting a growing divergence between its domestic and international performance.

China's Hygon Information Technology reported a 57.58% increase in revenue for the first nine months of 2026, reflecting sustained demand for domestic high-performance processors and AI computing chips. Yet slower quarterly growth, mounting R&D expenditure and a steep share-price correction have highlighted the gap between the company's operating performance and market expectations.

South Korean automotive and machinery component makers are among 12 companies identified in a KRW2.2 trillion (approx. US$1.66 billion) private investment plan to develop a domestic humanoid robot supply chain in Daegu, as the region seeks to turn its automotive manufacturing base into a source of actuators, motors and other robot components.

DeepSeek is reportedly working closely with Huawei to influence the design of its future AI chips, a link reportedly closer than typical supplier-customer relationships. The collaboration shows the growing ties between two of China's largest technology firms to sidestep Nvidia.

Nvidia's South Korea representative said the company's Vera CPU already has customers in South Korea and that collaboration with LG Electronics on humanoid robots is expected to deliver results soon. Speaking at KES 2026, Soyoung Jeong outlined Nvidia's role in the shift toward AI agents and physical AI.