Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) is intensifying its international network infrastructure investments as it approaches its 30th anniversary in 2025, focusing on a resilient connectivity strategy spanning sea, land, space, and air to enhance global links and communication backup capabilities.
Telecom operators have sought to expand their businesses by integrating communications, AI, cloud, and IoT services, venturing into a range of fields that benefit from vertically integrated systems such as e-commerce, media streaming, startups, and blockchain. Moreover, Taiwan's three leading telecoms have each pursued their distinct direction in their financial services offerings.
Pegatron unveiled its new manufacturing facility on Indonesia's Batam Island yesterday, featuring a dedicated 5G private network spanning the entire plant. The facility, developed in partnership with Indonesian telecom operator Telkomsel, positions itself as the world's largest 5G-enabled smart factory.
Ericsson Antenna System (EAS) is expanding its manufacturing operations in India, aiming to localize 100% of its passive antenna production for the Indian market by June 2025. The initiative is part of the company's broader supply chain strategy and aligns with India's ongoing 5G rollout.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the role of telecom operators, expanding their reach beyond traditional network infrastructure to enterprise solutions. Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) has taken a major step in this direction with the launch of its proprietary "FET AI Model Agent" platform for external clients, marking its official entry into the enterprise and public sector AI consulting and application market.
Recently, Beijing announced a three-year action plan aimed at achieving large-scale 5G applications and industry integration by the end of 2027. The goals include reaching a 100% penetration rate of 5G among individual users, over 75% of the city's network traffic carried by 5G, and 45% industrial adoption, thereby creating a leading global smart city.
South Korea's top telecom carriers, KT Corp. and SK Telecom (SKT), are accelerating their AI infrastructure investments by adopting Nvidia's latest Blackwell GPUs across their GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) platforms and data centers—deepening the race to lead in AI transformation (AX).
Taiwan's ambition to build its own low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites for strategic autonomy is hitting roadblocks, with experts questioning the feasibility of a small-scale, isolated system. Meanwhile, Foxconn, the island's tech giant, is quietly advancing its role in the global LEO ecosystem, supplying user terminals (UTs) to major players like Eutelsat OneWeb and exploring applications from maritime to autonomous vehicles.
India is assessing Chinese telecom equipment within its networks amid US-China trade tensions, citing national security concerns. While 4G infrastructure utilizes Huawei and ZTE technology, India has restricted new contracts and 5G involvement, reflecting broader caution toward Chinese foreign investments.
US tariff policy uncertainties have created challenges and opportunities for international manufacturers. Companies in countries with lower reciprocal tariffs enjoy a competitive edge. Sercomm, a networking equipment manufacturer, has found its production strategy advantageous amid the tariff volatility. The company, which concentrates approximately 60% of its production in the Philippines for the North American market, benefits from the Philippines' relatively lower tariff rate of 17%, compared to the potential 46% rate for Vietnam.
The reciprocal tariff measures implemented by US President Donald Trump officially took effect at 12:01 PM Taiwan time on April 9. Taiwanese manufacturers in Southeast Asia have become severely affected, with tax rates in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia reaching as high as 37% to 49%.
Google has opened its vast network cable system to enterprises through the Cloud Wide Area Network (Cloud WAN) solution. This service allows cross-cloud connectivity with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), meeting the growing demand for advanced networking due to enterprise AI applications.
The demand for telecom chips is one of the relatively stable applications driving recovery momentum in 2025. So far, Taiwanese chip manufacturers maintain a positive outlook for the market conditions in 2025, particularly due to the apparent upgrade demands for telecom specifications in Europe and the US.
China is leading the charge in 5G technology, transforming factory efficiency standards. Countries like Indonesia must accelerate their innovative and digital transformation efforts to attract manufacturing investments, as this trend is becoming evident, said Julian Gorman, head of Asia Pacific at GSMA.
IC distributors have expressed optimism regarding the semiconductor market outlook for 2025, generally believing that overall circumstances will exceed those of 2024. They anticipate that a variety of applications will experience growth in comparison to the previous year.
Chunghwa Telecom announced it will join forces with SK Broadband, SoftBank, and Verizon to construct a new 12,500-kilometer submarine fiber optic cable system called "E2A" connecting Asia and North America. The initiative responds to surging demand for high-capacity, low-latency infrastructure driven by AI, cloud computing, and next-generation mobile networks.
The rise of AI data centers is fueling demand for co-packaged optics (CPO) and silicon photonics (SiPh), compelling optical communications firm Browave to fast-track its CPO development. The company expects to complete CPO validation by late 2025, with initial shipments to follow. Several customer projects are already in progress, and full-scale production is set for 2026. While broader market adoption remains uncertain, Browave anticipates strong growth opportunities.
The number of submarine cables is increasing rapidly as global data demands grow. Cloud service providers (CSPs) are accelerating investments, with the three major US CSPs expected to add 21 new cables between 2025 and 2027, accounting for over 10% of all new deployments during this period.
In today's evolving global digital economy, submarine cables have emerged as crucial assets for tech giants seeking to dominate internet infrastructure through strategic investments and direct ownership.
Submarine cables are crucial for global internet traffic, handling over 95% of data transmission. They enhance intercontinental connectivity, lower latency, and extend internet access, especially in regions with weaker infrastructure. TeleGeography reports over 600 submarine cable systems worldwide, including the 2Africa cable by companies like Meta and Vodafone, spanning 45,000 kilometers across three continents.
Chunghwa Telecom is making significant strides in Southeast Asia's rapidly growing smart city market, showcasing innovative smart pole technology that integrates lighting, surveillance, communication, and data collection functions. The company's vision is clear: to position itself as a key player in the infrastructure of tomorrow's urban landscapes.
Huawei hosted the Huawei China Partner Conference 2025 at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, bringing together industry leaders and business partners under the theme "Born out of aggregation, wisdom at work." During his keynote speech, Tao Wang, Huawei's Executive Director, and Chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board, highlighted the company's solid 2024 performance.
Japanese telecom giant NTT intends to invest US$1.5 billion in India from 2025 to 2027, aiming to expand its data center capacity by about 2.4 times. This investment will also facilitate the rollout of NTT's Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) to meet the rising demand for digitalization and AI driven by India's economic growth.
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) is transforming data center construction through its all-optical network technology, establishing itself as a leader in distributed AI data centers. This advancement enables the company to offer innovative services like AI and GPU compute leasing to fulfill various user needs.
The 2025 Smart City Expo in Taipei is taking place from March 18 to 21 at the Nangang Exhibition Center, where Chunghwa Telecom's 5G Accelerator will join forces with 12 startups to showcase cutting-edge smart city solutions. These innovations leverage 5G and AI technologies to support government and corporate efforts in urban transformation and net-zero applications.
