Naver said on November 12 it had signed a KRW2 trillion (approx. US$1.5 billion) AI computing services contract with a US-based AI inference company, securing its first major customer for the AI Factory business it is developing with Nvidia and Brookfield.

Tata Electronics is lining up fresh debt at a moment when nearly every leg of its expansion has run into friction: a flagship chip fab whose production start has moved from the end of 2026 to mid-2028 and will launch on an older process, losses that widened even as revenue doubled, and a run of incidents at its iPhone component plant in Tamil Nadu.

ByteDance reportedly intends to release an AI agent similar to Meta's Muse within several weeks. The firm, whose AI assistant tool Doubao has seen wide adoption within China, seeks to catch up with leading US labs within a few years, even as its co-founder has called for reducing reliance on distillation techniques.

China's AI-generated short-drama market is expanding rapidly, with surging content production and viewership making the sector an increasingly significant source of demand for AI computing resources.

Sharp is accelerating efforts to address its loss-making display component business. According to Nikkei, Sharp will sell its Hisai plant in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, Japan, which produces color filters for LCD panels, to Nitto Denko. Sharp officially announced the sale on the morning of November 12. The transaction is valued at JPY22.2 billion (approximately US$139 million) and is expected to close on December 24.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned Samsung Electronics executives that AI memory demand could fluctuate in the short term, with the market potentially counting the same demand more than once. He nevertheless expects long-term AI demand to surge, creating shortages of chips and data centers and underscoring the need for greater supply chain investment.

With Chinese and US leaders expected to meet on October 18 during the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, allegations involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's extramarital affair and supposed links to Chinese espionage continue to escalate. China's state-run Global Times questioned whether the closely timed media reports and congressional actions reflect political maneuvering behind US technology policy toward China.

Chinese AI models have taken a dominant position as demand for open-source models grows among US businesses. According to the "2026: The State of Enterprise AI" report released in early November by US venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, Chinese models accounted for 89% of US corporate spending on open-source AI models.

Huawei is preparing to introduce a new smartphone sub-brand, OSTA, at a product launch event on November 20, potentially expanding its portfolio with a wider-format candybar smartphone featuring AI capabilities.

Japanese automaker Toyota has announced plans to revive the Scion brand, which was discontinued nearly a decade ago, with the launch of its first model, the KEI-01, in the second half of 2027. The light-duty truck (kei truck) will be assembled in Indiana and sold in the US market, targeting short-distance transportation needs at farms, ranches, small businesses, and corporate campuses. Based on Daihatsu Motor's Hijet Jumbo light commercial mini pickup truck, the KEI-01 will be Toyota's first kei truck manufactured in the US.

As demand for AI computing expands across industries and applications, chipmakers are seeking opportunities beyond conventional data centers, extending into enterprise deployments and personal devices. At the ninth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in 2026, Intel China showcased three AI computing solutions: green computing pods for large data centers and enterprise campuses, integrated AI inference systems for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and AI Agent PCs for individual users.

Taiwan’s glass fiber exports to South Korea rose 54.0% year-over-year in the first nine months of 2026 as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced packaging expanded. South Korea has also become Taiwan’s largest trade deficit partner, with Taiwan’s deficit reaching US$59.37 billion in the first 10 months of 2026, more than double its US$25.39 billion deficit with Japan.

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) announced on November 10 that it will expand manufacturing and shipment-inspection equipment at its Thailand subsidiary to increase capacity for BT (Bismaleimide-Triazine) laminates used in semiconductor packaging. The new line is scheduled to begin construction in April 2027 and start operations in October 2028, targeting growing demand from data centers, servers and high-density IC substrates.

China is advancing its domestic semiconductor ambitions while continuing to access restricted US AI processors, exposing the limits of Washington's export controls and the challenges facing Beijing's pursuit of technological self-sufficiency.

Samsung Display, BOE Technology Group and Tianma Microelectronics are considering cheaper OLED panels for budget smartphones to boost factory utilization as handset sales decline, ZDNet Korea reported on November 9, citing industry sources.