Chip industry sources said Meta's cloud AI chip procurement could soon catch up with Google or Amazon AWS among the four major cloud service providers. Qualcomm and Broadcom are expected to remain key partners and beneficiaries, while Arm is also involved, and MediaTek is described as a clear partner among Taiwanese IC design houses.
Notebook ODMs enjoyed stronger-than-seasonal demand in the first half of 2026, but the traditional peak season is losing momentum. Shipments are expected to decline sequentially from the third quarter, while component suppliers increasingly view 2026 as a turning point in the global notebook supply chain.
India is moving from semiconductor planning to execution, using funding, tariff changes, foreign investment approvals, and regional development efforts to build a broader electronics ecosystem beyond assembly.
Flexible circuit board maker Complex Micro Interconnection (CMI) said June 2026 revenue rebounded as consumer electronics shipments increased, even as shortages in automotive components and notebook memory continued to affect customers. The company also reported second-quarter revenue of NT$597 million (US$18.55 million), up 3.6% from the prior quarter.
As infrastructure upgrades, rail decarbonization, and the reshaping of critical materials supply chains accelerate, the steel industry is moving away from mass production and into a new competitive stage that combines high-performance materials, smart manufacturing, and low-carbon development. What once centered on capacity, cost, and supply is now defined by material performance, process precision, carbon management, and international certifications.
Taiwan's PCB industry is entering a new expansion cycle as investment in AI data centers and other emerging applications accelerates. Since 2025, several board makers and upstream material suppliers have launched large-scale fundraising plans at home and overseas, including three bellwethers: Zhen Ding Tech, Unimicron, and Compeq.
As generative AI fuels rapid growth in demand for high-performance computing (HPC), the semiconductor industry is shifting from a process race to a materials race. Geckos chairman Shen Tsung-huan says that as chip manufacturing moves to 2nm and even more advanced nodes, gains in AI computing power are no longer just a chip design issue, but are increasingly constrained by the thermal conductivity and high-frequency signal transmission capabilities of materials.
New figures from Counterpoint Research estimate that the bill of materials (BOM) for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max could rise nearly US$300 compared with the iPhone 17 Pro Max released in September last year. Ballooning memory costs largely account for this increase, although Apple may be better placed than most other smartphone brands to weather such price hikes.
Luxshare Precision's highly anticipated Hong Kong debut got off to a shaky start despite securing the city's largest IPO of 2026, underscoring investor skepticism over the Apple supplier's long-term transformation strategy.
Shipments of smartwatches with edge AI features leaped 70% in the first quarter of 2026, with Apple overwhelmingly leading the charge, according to Counterpoint Research. This market is taking off as health-focused users gain access to deeper insights through AI advancements, and as brands lean on wearables to offset weak smartphone sales.
India has scrapped import duties on a targeted set of components and factory machinery used to build smartphones, displays, and lithium-ion cells, a move that deepens New Delhi's drive to pull more of the global electronics supply chain onto Indian soil and away from China and Vietnam.
India's decision to clear a smartphone-manufacturing joint venture between Dixon Technologies and Vivo Mobile India could reset how the country handles Chinese capital in its fast-growing electronics sector, signaling that Beijing-linked investment can pass New Delhi's tightened scrutiny when it is structured under local majority control.
