South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has raised US$620 million in its latest funding round, quadrupling its valuation from the previous round to US$2.9 billion and strengthening its challenge to Nvidia.

Apple is preparing to charge for heavier use of certain Apple Intelligence features from 2027, introducing usage caps for cloud-based AI services that could become part of its existing iCloud+ subscriptions. The plan, outlined on Apple's website alongside two consecutive months of product launches in 2026, adds another consideration for consumers already facing hardware upgrades and higher prices.

Iluvatar CoreX has reported benchmark results showing its Tiangai 300 AI accelerator outperforming Nvidia's H200 on selected metrics, drawing renewed attention to China's progress in developing domestic alternatives to high-end GPUs. Yet the broader competition extends beyond raw processing power, as Chinese chipmakers seek to narrow the gap with leading international AI computing platforms through chip design, software optimisation and system integration.

The Canadian government plans to invest up to CAD1.6 billion (about US$1.14 billion) in domestic AI startup Cohere, becoming a major investor in the company's latest funding round as Canada seeks to reduce its reliance on the US and China for critical AI technologies.

Foxconn chairman Young Liu said at a media briefing following Hon Hai Tech Day (HHTD 26) on October 30 that the long-term AI industry trend remains intact, but the overall market will develop in a K-shaped pattern in 2027, with AI data center-related industries on the upswing and other sectors moving in the opposite direction. Foxconn expects to continue growing at a double-digit rate next year.

This week’s coverage highlights intensifying competition and capacity constraints across the global semiconductor industry. Taiwan faces debate over whether public R&D funding should prioritize universities and talent development. Micron workers receive unusually large bonuses amid unresolved labor negotiations. India is expanding state-level semiconductor incentives, while KLA reportedly considers local manufacturing. Memory shortages may persist through 2030, and SK Hynix is investing beyond memory. Server CPU demand is projected to surge, with AMD potentially surpassing Intel in revenue.

Lite-On Technology reported record net profit for the third quarter of 2026 as demand for AI infrastructure boosted its cloud and power businesses. The Taiwanese electronics supplier posted consolidated revenue of NT$57.4 billion (US$1.8 billion), up 9% quarter-over-quarter and 28% year-over-year, while executives said AI-related revenue had exceeded 30% of the company's year-to-date total.

Nvidia's robotics partnerships in South Korea are moving beyond initial agreements, with LG Electronics beginning partial operations at its robot-training Data Factory and LG Innotek expanding cooperation on sensing technologies. Hyundai Motor Group, another Nvidia partner, has also outlined new steps toward building AI infrastructure for robotics and autonomous driving.

South Korean companies showcased humanoid robot components, dual-arm machines, and autonomous driving systems at FIX 2026 in Daegu, offering a look at how developers are bringing automation into factories and transportation. The technologies ranged from robotic hardware under development for manufacturing applications to an autonomous taxi service already carrying paying passengers.

As part of its efforts to harness AI for tangible benefits, Foxconn is integrating AI models, computing infrastructure, factory management, and automation equipment to build a model for smart manufacturing that can be replicated across sites. The company has already achieved initial results in applying AI to injection molding, computer numerical control (CNC) machining, surface-mount technology (SMT) processes, and production scheduling, with further plans to use digital twins and physical AI in process optimization, factory design, and automated system deployment.

High-profile breaches caused by AI agents from frontier labs are leading to public alarm over what AI means for the future of cybersecurity. However, Taivo Pungas, chief intelligence officer of agentic procurement platform Pactum, said that AI development is becoming a cybersecurity boon and could even be a boost for software as a service (SaaS) products.

The launch of Muse in September across Meta's expanding agent ecosystem has highlighted how quickly AI agents are evolving beyond conventional chatbot architectures, bringing more complex operating requirements and increasingly diversified roles into the definition of what an AI agent can do.

Ibiden on October 29 raised its fiscal 2026 forecast, projecting consolidated net profit to rise 40% year-over-year to JPY89 billion (US$563 million) and revenue to increase 36% to JPY565 billion. The company also announced an additional JPY151 billion in capital investment to expand advanced IC packaging substrate capacity for generative AI servers and CPUs.

Japan’s Renesas Electronics expects strong demand for AI data centers, industrial applications, and automotive semiconductors to drive 2026 revenue to JPY1.6668 trillion (US$10.55 billion), up 26.4% year-over-year, with its operating margin rising to 33.2%, according to its third-quarter 2026 earnings report.

The Biological Computing Co. (TBC), a San Francisco startup that grows living neurons in its lab to find ways to make AI models more efficient, launched its first publicly available product on October 30: mischief 1, an image-to-video model the company says generates video five times faster than the open-weight model it is built on. The release moves TBC's technology from an early-access program to self-serve developer marketplaces and puts a price on the company's argument that biology can be a source of AI efficiency distinct from the standard optimization toolkit.

Realtek Semiconductor quantified its AI business for the first time at an investor conference on October 29, setting a target for high-performance computing (HPC) and edge AI revenue—including automotive and robotics applications—to exceed 30% of total revenue by 2030. These businesses currently account for a high-single-digit percentage of revenue, as AI expands into infrastructure and edge devices.

Foxconn and Nvidia took center stage at Hon Hai Tech Day 2026 (HHTD 26) on October 30, showcasing their latest collaboration in AI infrastructure, including Nvidia's newly unveiled DSX Pod Compute Container and the Spectrum-X co-packaged optics (CPO) switch manufactured by Foxconn.

Google is deepening its strategic partnership with Foxconn to accelerate AI infrastructure deployment, aiming to cut the time from chip supply to data-center deployment from the traditional 12 to 18 months to about six months, said Rehan Sheikh, vice president of global silicon chip technology and manufacturing at Google Cloud, at Hon Hai Tech Day (HHTD 26) on October 30.

Thailand-based precision sheet-metal manufacturer Jinpao Precision has entered the supply chain of a leading Thailand-based power-management company on the strength of its resilient manufacturing capabilities and highly adaptable product layout strategy. The company is accelerating its expansion in Thailand to capture growing AI demand as it furthers its efforts in high-end power cabinets, backup battery unit (BBU) systems, and energy-storage components.

South Korean AI chip developers HyperAccel and Rebellions are moving beyond standalone accelerators to develop integrated data center systems, seeking to combine domestic processors, memory, and networking technologies into infrastructure capable of handling different AI workloads at lower cost.

The rapid development of AI robotics applications is driving a sharp increase in semiconductor computing requirements. According to DIGITIMES Intelligence, Nvidia is set to dominate the 2026 AI robotics computing IC market with a 69% share, far outpacing Intel (11%), Qualcomm (5%), and AMD (2%). Beyond raw computing power, Nvidia's comprehensive software ecosystem is the critical factor leaving competitors in its wake.

Nvidia is reportedly evaluating billions of dollars in credit support for UK neocloud provider Nscale to help cover power and construction costs for a data center in West Virginia. Nscale faces simultaneous pressure to accelerate the launch of the Nvidia chip-powered campus, which is expected to be used by AI startup Anthropic, while preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), underscoring how AI infrastructure competition is expanding from chip supply to financing and construction capabilities.

After The New York Times reported that a female executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International was under investigation for allegedly conducting espionage activities for China, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company's dealings with Megaspeed were normal and involved no irregularities.

Passive component manufacturer Yageo said robust AI demand is driving shipments of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and tantalum capacitors, pushing AI-related applications to nearly 20% of its total revenue in the third quarter of 2026, up from 16% in the preceding quarter.