Samsung SDI said it will sell about one-third of its stake in Samsung Display for KRW4.45 trillion (US$3.2 billion), converting part of its affiliate holding into cash as it prepares to invest in future battery businesses.
Global artificial intelligence infrastructure buildouts and rising capex by cloud service providers pushed Taiwan's July export orders for information and communications technology (ICT) products, led by AI servers, up nearly 90% year-over-year, while export orders for foundry and memory also rose by more than 70%. However, companies in advanced economies are encountering power shortages as they invest in AI infrastructure, exposing a bottleneck that highlights the need to develop AI computing and net-zero technologies in tandem.
Inergy Technology said strong demand for AI server cooling and power management pushed the share of server-related applications to 47% of revenue in the second quarter of 2026, with shipments of system-on-chip (SoC) cooling fan driver ICs set to ramp up in the second half of 2026 and battery backup unit (BBU) demand expected to keep rising as AI moves toward high-voltage direct current power architectures.
South Korea is looking beyond semiconductors and artificial intelligence for its next generation of strategic industries, naming seven technology fields it plans to cultivate over the next 10 to 20 years.
Global auto sales in the first half of 2026 show Toyota still firmly in first place, while the gap between No. 2 Volkswagen and No. 3 Hyundai Motor Group has narrowed sharply. Volkswagen's heavy dependence on China has dragged sales lower, while Hyundai Motor Group has held up through diversified geopolitical exposure, local production, and a flexible product mix. Market attention is now turning to whether Hyundai Motor Group is on the verge of overtaking Volkswagen for the No. 2 spot.
Mitsubishi Motors will launch its new all-electric SUV, the ASX VR-e, in Australia and New Zealand in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the model supplied through contract manufacturing by Foxconn-backed Foxtron Vehicle Technologies. The move marks the first time a Taiwan-made EV will enter the sales channel of a global legacy automaker under a white-label arrangement.
