While Taiwanese EMS firms aggressively capitalize on booming AI server demand, their Chinese counterparts are exploring alternative growth engines amid continued weakness in the consumer electronics market. Increasingly, Chinese EMS companies are turning their attention to long-term investments in emerging sectors such as smart glasses and robotics

The 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) opened on July 26 at the Shanghai Expo Center, highlighting the latest advancements in intelligent computing. Among the many exhibits, Huawei's Ascend CloudMatrix 384 real machine Atlas 900 A3 SuperPod made its debut, attracting attention as the largest-scale superpod showcased in China's industry

Below are the top DIGITIMES Asia stories from July 21 to 27, 2025. The top three topics include MediaTek winning Meta's order for 2nm ASIC; Asus, Microsoft revive Xbox hardware with ROG handheld launch; and YMTC plans to pilot a fully China-made NAND line in 2025

To secure its market leadership, Samsung Electronics has positioned MicroLED technology as the exclusive feature for its flagship models. However, Samsung reportedly plans to market an advanced model of Mini LED TVs as "non-self-emissive RGB MicroLED", confusing the original product strategy of MicroLED, which aimed for the very top-tier customers

Dixon Technologies has received approval from India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to set up a joint venture with Longcheer Intelligence. The clearance falls under the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, and includes Press Note 3 (PN3) approval—mandatory for investments from entities linked to countries sharing land borders with India

China's tighter rare earth export controls are disrupting Apple's plan to expand manufacturing in India as Dixon Technologies solidifies its status as the local largest mobile phone manufacturer by shipments

BYD, the world's largest electric vehicle maker, plans to begin assembling electric and plug-in hybrid cars in Pakistan by mid-2026, aiming to capture surging demand across South Asia. The initiative reflects BYD's broader strategy to expand into emerging markets, leveraging Pakistan as both a domestic foothold and a potential regional export base

As the global competition in generative AI intensifies, the South Korean government is accelerating its AI industry policies. It seeks breakthroughs across multiple areas, including GPU resources, foundational models, semiconductors, data platforms, and talent systems to build a sovereign and competitive national AI ecosystem

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong recently marked his 1,000th day in office, a tenure that Korean media describes as filled with challenges and crises. Even though Lee officially took the chairman title only three years ago, he joined Samsung's General Affairs department in 1991 at age 23, meaning he's spent more than 30 years with Samsung

Japanese chip startup Rapidus has unveiled its first 2-nanometer chip prototype, marking a symbolic step toward its goal of mass production by 2027. The milestone comes just three months after EUV lithography equipment was installed at the company's IIM-1 fab in Hokkaido and three months after the company began trial production in April 2025

The surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) driven by AI servers has positioned SK Hynix as the clear leader in the HBM market, with Micron also posting strong operational results for 2025. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics' HBM3E is still striving to secure Nvidia certification

Despite stricter AI chip export controls under the Trump administration, over US$1 billion worth of Nvidia's high-end GPUs have reportedly entered China through black-market channels in just three months, raising doubts about the efficacy of US trade restrictions

Renesas Electronics posted a net loss of JPY175.3 billion (approx. US$1.19 billion) in the first half of 2025, swinging from a JPY139.5 billion profit a year earlier. It was the Japanese chipmaker's first-half net loss in five years

Qualcomm is reportedly weighing a return to Samsung Foundry for its 2nm flagship smartphone SoCs in 2026, raising questions about a potential pivot from TSMC. Yet conflicting reports claim Samsung has already been removed from Qualcomm's approved foundry list, adding to the uncertainty