The global space industry is accelerating toward commercialization. But recent developments in South Korea and China underscore how difficult—and uneven—that transition remains. In separate incidents late last year, South Korea's startup Innospace failed to place its launch vehicle into orbit. Meanwhile, China's new Long March 12A rocket fell short of recovering its first-stage booster on its maiden flight

After attending the 2025 Guangzhou Auto Show, DIGITIMES analyzed the latest strategies unveiled by leading automakers and suppliers in two pivotal areas: energy replenishment technologies and advanced intelligent driving. The conclusion was hard to miss. Chinese carmakers have accumulated deep technical capabilities in both domains and are moving steadily toward a long-held ambition: making electric vehicles refuel as quickly as gasoline cars, while bringing high-level autonomous driving into everyday use

Huawei is clarifying how it intends to compete in global AI computing despite being cut off from leading-edge foundries and US-origin GPUs. Instead of chasing rivals on single-chip performance, the company is leaning into scale, systems engineering, and vertical integration—a strategy it is now preparing to test outside China, beginning with South Korea

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, having cleared major legal overhangs, is accelerating the group's strategic reset. Months after completing its acquisition of Germany's FläktGroup, Samsung announced another landmark deal: the purchase of ZF Friedrichshafen's advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) business for EUR1.5 billion (US$1.8 billion)

The US government has decided not to impose additional semiconductor tariffs on China for the next 18 months, despite concluding that Beijing's state-led chip industry policies involve unfair subsidies and market distortion. DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin stressed in a recent podcast that this should not be misinterpreted as a softening stance toward China

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are pushing forward their production schedules for sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory to February 2026. Industry sources and South Korean media reports confirm the accelerated timeline. The two companies aim to begin volume manufacturing of HBM4 months earlier than previously anticipated. The goal is to meet surging demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. By accelerating their timelines, the South Korean chipmakers seek to solidify their dominance in the AI memory market before global competitors can scale similar technologies

As demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors continues to surge, the market for glass substrates, which are widely regarded as a critical material for next-generation advanced packaging, is gaining momentum. South Korean companies such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEMCO) and LG Innotek are gearing up to compete for leadership in this emerging segment

Google and Microsoft are stepping up efforts to secure high-bandwidth memory. Production capacity at South Korean chipmakers is approaching its limits. The supply crunch has coincided with executive dismissals and stalled negotiations. According to industry sources cited by the Seoul Economic Daily and G-enews, major cloud and artificial intelligence companies are intensifying procurement efforts. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are nearing full utilization of their advanced memory lines

Taiwan's auto market slowed markedly in 2025. Yet rather than retreat, several automakers used the downturn to recalibrate—strengthening their balance sheets, accelerating transformation efforts, and pushing more decisively into overseas markets

SoftBank and Japanese partners are advancing a government-backed project to develop next-generation memory technology aimed at enhancing AI and supercomputer performance. The initiative, involving RIKEN, Intel, the University of Tokyo, and Taiwan's Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS), targets prototype completion by fiscal 2027 and mass production by fiscal 2029, Nikkei Asia reports

Huawei Technologies has lifted the share of Chinese-made components in its latest premium smartphones to nearly 60% by value, underscoring how years of US export controls have accelerated domestic capabilities across key technologies. Recent teardowns show that localization has moved well beyond low-cost or peripheral parts. Huawei is now sourcing processors, memory, and displays domestically — components that were once firmly dominated by suppliers from the US, Japan, and South Korea

Xiaomi stated that it is not a Chinese military-industrial company, is not affiliated with any military entity, and only provides consumer-focused civilian and commercial products, adding that the proposal to place Xiaomi on the 1260H list is unfounded, according to The South China Morning Post

As 2025 draws to a close, the US-China AI compute market is entering a phase of guarded competition and selective cooperation. While the US government has launched an inter-agency review of Nvidia's H200 exports to China—and Nvidia is reportedly planning deliveries ahead of the Lunar New Year—Huawei has already set a clear timetable. Its next-generation AI chip, the Ascend 950PR, is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2026

Rising global investment in artificial intelligence is accelerating data center construction. This is intensifying demand for power, cooling, and energy storage equipment, reinforcing reliance on Chinese-made components even as governments push to diversify supply chains

AST SpaceMobile has launched its largest satellite, BlueBird 6, marking a key step toward providing 4G and 5G broadband directly to standard smartphones worldwide and accelerating the company's plans to build a global space-based cellular network, according to Bloomberg, Business Wire, and Investor's Business Daily