Pradeep S. Shenoy, a computing technology expert at Texas Instruments's (TI) US headquarters, recently shared his views on 800V architectures for AI data centers in a media appearance. He said 800V solutions will not see broad adoption in AI data centers in 2026, but rollout will accelerate year by year from 2027.

Apple has added a new high blood pressure notification feature to Apple Watch, sharpening the device's health-management appeal. Market watchers expect a major redesign of high-end Apple Watch models in the second half of 2026, which could boost end-market shipments by 20% to 30% from 2025 as incoming CEO John Ternus takes over on September 1.

Taiwan precision motion-control leader Hiwin Technologies is accelerating growth on the back of semiconductor automation and robotics demand, with robot-related products emerging as a rapidly expanding revenue driver as the company deepens its push into wafer-handling systems, logistics robots, and humanoid robot components.

Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) has revealed that three applicants have submitted bids for its AI compute center BOO (build-own-operate) program, which closed on May 14, 2026. The disclosure comes as Foxconn is widely reported to be highly interested in building a large AI compute center.

Asus is accelerating its push into the server market in South Korea, leveraging its manufacturing prowess, long-term ties with major memory makers, and flexible design and supply strategies to take advantage of mass procurements in South Korea's government-led sovereign AI infrastructure initiative and GPU server roll-outs at Hyundai Motor, telecom operators, and financial institutions in the country.

Swancor Holding and RobiChip Technology announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the adoption of advanced packaging materials and heterogeneous chip system integration in robots, robot dogs, and AI-powered platforms, the firms said at the forum on robotics and circular materials hosted by the Taiwan Composite Low-Carbon Circular Alliance. The collaboration will focus on co-developing materials and high-power-density power systems to enable the deployment of next-generation robotic and drone applications.

The global map of semiconductor manufacturing is beginning to shift. For years, the market for advanced chip production was dominated almost entirely by TSMC. But the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), intensifying geopolitical tensions, and mounting pressure from Washington to secure critical supply chains are beginning to loosen that grip.

Taiwan's information and communications technology (ICT) sector has reinforced its central role in the global artificial intelligence supply chain and unveiled an overseas expansion strategy, executives said at the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association annual members' meeting in 2026. The industry reported record output in 2025 and is advancing a "TEEMA Science Park 3.0" initiative aimed at helping companies deploy production and data infrastructure abroad to manage geopolitical risk.

Samsung Electronics and its labor union in South Korea began a new round of negotiations on May 18, days before a planned strike that could bring its chip plants to a halt. The talks are being mediated by the government, which has signaled concern about the labor action's impact on the South Korean economy, in which Samsung contributes more than 20% of its exports.

Taiwan assembled its largest-ever delegation for the "Taiwan Pavilion" at the Xponential 2026 exhibition co-hosted by the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), which ran from May 11 to 15 in Detroit. The delegation aimed to show the international community Taiwan's commitment and capabilities in building a core hub for the global non-China drone supply chain.

Global server markets may shift as DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin says Intel's revenue gains stem largely from price rises while AMD posts stronger shipment-led growth. TSMC plans another price increase as customers prioritize capacity over cost, developments that could affect cloud providers, vendors, and data center economics worldwide.

Nvidia's GB300 is becoming the mainstream AI server product in the first quarter of 2026, boosting ODM revenue and profit worldwide; with Vera Rubin servers due to ramp in the third quarter and aggressive ASIC deployments by cloud providers, the global AI server supply chain expects sustained growth into the second half of 2026.

As generative AI proliferates across end devices, a distributed edge-cloud architecture is taking shape — shifting inference workloads from the cloud to local hardware to reduce latency and improve efficiency. Industry players point to use cases spanning wearables, autonomous driving, and smart manufacturing, where CPUs, NPUs, and microcontrollers will handle time-sensitive AI tasks at the edge while the cloud continues to host training and less latency-sensitive processing.

Palo Alto Networks said it completed the acquisition of CyberArk in February 2026 and began integrating CyberArk's privileged access management capabilities into its Cortex and Strata platforms to strengthen identity verification for AI agents. The firm also closed its acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity startup Koi in April 2026 to improve oversight and protection for autonomous AI agents, and integrated Portkey's enterprise autonomous AI agent security and governance functions into its Prisma AIRS platform.

Whetron Electronics, a Taiwanese automotive electronics supplier specializing in vehicle sensing systems, said it is positioning itself for the next wave of growth by expanding into AI-powered driver assistance technologies, smart cockpit sensing, and advanced radar applications.

Thunder Tiger Group, a Taiwanese defense and unmanned systems manufacturer, said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with US defense technology company Shield AI to integrate the American firm's Hivemind autonomous software into Thunder Tiger's unmanned platforms, beginning with its Sea Shark unmanned surface vessel.

Cisco's latest earnings report has injected fresh momentum into the networking industry, with CEO Chuck Robbins highlighting strong order momentum in AI infrastructure, which helped drive product orders up 35% year-over-year in the third quarter of fiscal 2026. AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers reached US$1.9 billion during that quarter, and US$5.3 billion for the year to date, beating the company's original US$5 billion target. Looking ahead, Robbins also struck an upbeat tone, saying hyperscaler AI infrastructure orders in fiscal 2026 are expected to reach US$9 billion, or roughly 450% of 2025 levels.

Singapore-based AI automation startup Galatek said it is tackling yield bottlenecks in micron-level packaging with AI-embedded equipment as demand for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) chips surges across Southeast Asia and global markets. The company is also pursuing a dual-track expansion spanning Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

Growing demand for AI is driving appetite for server components across cable connectors, cases, and rail kits. This wave has led most major Taiwanese players in the industry to record rising annual revenues, with some exceptions. Rail kit makers in particular have posted strong annual growth as AI servers claim a larger share of their business.

As the US and China continue to clash over geopolitics and critical materials supply, industry sources say China's restrictions on indium phosphide (InP) substrates for optical communications remain unchanged and are widely seen as part of Beijing's effort to counter US-led AI development.

The global optical fiber market is shifting from a traditional telecom cycle into a new phase of structural shortage, driven by rapid AI infrastructure expansion and dense cloud data center construction. Prices and capacity are rising together as demand for fiber, a core material for data transmission, keeps climbing.

As AI server prices rise, original design manufacturers (ODMs) are hitting record revenue, but also coming under pressure on their gross margins. To defend profitability, manufacturers are cutting costs, negotiating with customers to switch from buy-sell procurement to consignment, and chasing ASIC and general-purpose server orders.

Biwin Storage Technology recently resubmitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange again, with Huatai Financial Holdings acting as the sole sponsor. The Chinese memory module maker has seen a rebound in profit as demand for memory continues to rise.

Anthropic's decision to limit access of its advanced model, Claude Mythos, to only the US government and a circle of more than 40 Project Glasswing partners has broad implications for global users and policymakers. It signals that leading AI systems are now being treated as strategic assets, reshaping who can compete, defend, and innovate worldwide.