China's smart glasses sector is experiencing explosive growth, driven by shifting consumer habits, rapid technological advancements, and strong policy backing. However, beneath the surface lies a fundamental divide: while lightweight AI and AR glasses are surging, the once-popular audio-only glasses market is shrinking.

AI computing is changing how global hardware is designed, built, and deployed, with implications that extend well beyond Taiwan's tech sector. At a September 19 event, Wiwynn chair Emily Hong said the industry now faces three central challenges: power, cooling, and high-speed interconnect, as demand for AI infrastructure rises worldwide.

China's fast-rising AI models are running into a compute supply bottleneck as demand for advanced packaging substrates surges, with ByteDance reportedly preparing to spend CNY100 billion (US$14.9 billion) a year on large-scale chip substrate purchases by 2030. Supply chain sources say the scramble for packaging substrate capacity is intensifying across Huawei HiSilicon, Hygon Information Technology, ByteDance, and major outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) players, even as the industry races to expand output.

Faraday Future used its annual 919 launch event on September 19 to complete what it calls "Robot World 2.0," unveiling nine new embodied AI (EAI) devices and four industry productivity solutions, putting an all-new Futurist humanoid on sale, and pricing a Master Mini from US$9,990. The lineup spans humanoids, quadrupeds, and mobile manipulators in large, medium, and small sizes, which the company claims is the widest range of device forms of any US robotics company.

Acer founder Stan Shih stated that slowing artificial intelligence (AI) growth is not easy, as semiconductor capacity is still insufficient to support the current pace of AI development. He added that Taiwan's tech manufacturers have always been known for their flexibility and speed, and they will only become stronger in the face of fluctuations in technology cycles.

Anthropic is reportedly being asked to prove two opposite things at once. To list at the valuation its bankers have floated, the company must show public-market investors that Claude remains competitive among enterprise buyers. To keep the safety-first identity that separates it from OpenAI, it must show it is willing to move slower than it can. The next few weeks will show which of those claims it is prepared to compromise.

A new Anthropic threat intelligence report offers an unusual glimpse into how advanced AI systems are being used under heavy, real-world workloads. The findings suggest that the decision to buy or host AI servers may depend less on model quality alone, and more on which tasks consume tokens, how long they run, and how much operational state they must preserve.

The US is reportedly pressuring Mexico to tighten rules of origin for AI hardware to limit the use of components produced outside North America, particularly in China. Server supply chain sources said the Mexican government began consultations with Taiwanese original design manufacturers (ODMs) around 10 days ago to explore mutually acceptable solutions, signaling a willingness to negotiate.

Digital transformation is no longer the endpoint for Taiwan's technology industries. As artificial intelligence moves from individual applications into core business operations, companies are entering a new phase in which AI, engineering models, and industrial knowledge are increasingly integrated into product development and operations, Dassault Systèmes said.

HEC Compucase's AI server-related rollout continues to gain traction as AI racks, cooling modules, and high-end power supplies move into mass production or volume shipments. The company expects fourth-quarter 2026 shipments and operating momentum to strengthen further, with full-year 2026 revenue set to maintain double-digit growth and first-half gross margin rising to 24%, about 3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

High-speed transmission demand continues to rise on the back of AI server and data center buildouts, while cloud service providers (CSPs) accelerate adoption of in-house application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) platforms. As a result, demand for high-speed connectors and high-speed transmission cables inside servers is also increasing.

Printed circuit board (PCB) wet-process equipment maker Ampoc Far-East said demand for its in-house high-end equipment has surged on AI servers and high-performance computing applications, driving brisk orders in the first half of 2026 and strong utilization rates. Capacity is now close to fully booked, and customers have also begun laying out long-term orders for the next one to two years.

AI safety concerns are intensifying debate over whether development should slow, with US technology executives divided over the trade-off between innovation and risk. Pegatron chairman T.H. Tung, speaking at a forum on September 18, likened the current AI race to three sports cars speeding against each other through city streets, prompting calls to slow down.

New court filings from The New York Times and other news organizations have put OpenAI and Microsoft's internal comments on AI and journalism at the center of a widening copyright dispute in the US. The documents, cited by Financial Times and Reuters, are being used to challenge the companies' fair use defense in a case that has stretched for nearly three years.