AI-driven demand for computing infrastructure has ended the passive components industry's inventory adjustment phase, with Taiwan-based leaders Yageo and Walsin Technology both seeing utilization rates return to high or full-capacity levels. The market is now showing signs of a renewed boom for the first time since the 2018 "super cycle."
Applied Materials plans to expand its Southeast Asia workforce by about 25% this year, adding at least 1,000 workers mainly in Singapore as the city-state becomes a more important manufacturing, logistics, and advanced-packaging hub for the US chip-equipment maker, Nikkei Asia reported.
In a move set to reshape the global robotics landscape, Nvidia announced at GTC Taipei that it will partner with Chinese humanoid robot pioneer Unitree Robotics to launch the world's first open humanoid robot reference design. By deeply integrating advanced AI with physical hardware, the collaboration aims to drastically lower development barriers across the industry.
Global AI computing demand is sweeping through the infrastructure market. Kentec, the AI data center (AIDC) system integrator and turnkey solution provider under Kenmec Mechanical Engineering, expects first-half 2026 revenue to rise more than 200% year on year, with the real surge concentrated in the second half of the year.
Ability said it secured a new OEM order from a long-established Japanese camera brand for the second half of the year, a deal the company expects will begin ramping in the fourth quarter of 2026 and provide a significant revenue boost. The company announced the order alongside a major presence at COMPUTEX 2026, where it highlighted AIoT edge computing, smart city deployments, smart retail, and commercial robotics.
The European Commission has unveiled a comprehensive Technology Sovereignty Package aimed at strengthening Europe's capabilities in semiconductors, AI, cloud infrastructure, open-source software, and digital energy systems.
Taiwan's state-owned defense research body, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology (NCSIST), has unveiled three military robot dog variants developed on a platform from US firm Ghost Robotics, highlighting its ability to integrate mission payload systems. The showcase underscores Taiwan-US technology cooperation and NCSIST's push to build a non-red supply chain.
Qualcomm's new entry-level Snapdragon C lineup is not directly tied to Apple, according to Kedar Kondap, senior vice president and general manager of compute and gaming at Qualcomm. The company launched the product line to fill a gap in its entry-level portfolio while maintaining its emphasis on low power consumption and high performance.
Huawei's MineHarmony (Mine Harmony OS), a mining-focused industrial Internet of Things operating system jointly developed with China Energy Group, has surpassed 200 ecosystem partners and 935 certified devices, highlighting the growing adoption of domestically developed industrial software in China's mining sector.
Delta Electronics warned that existing AC-DC power architectures will face fundamental challenges within the next one to two years as AI server rack power approaches megawatt levels, and said high-voltage direct current power designs are emerging as the key solution. The company announced the PowerCycle MW-class HVDC supply that supports 800V and ±400V architectures and uses flexible rack deployment of power and battery backup modules to optimize space, cooling, resilience, and scalability.
Surging demand for artificial intelligence computing has accelerated the buildout of data centers, pushing system cooling closer to its limits. As power consumption rises, heat-related slowdowns are becoming a growing bottleneck for both computing performance and data-transfer efficiency.
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