The inference economy has arrived, and Taiwan's tech industry must transition from the "knowledge economy" to the "inference economy," DIGITIMES chairman Colley Hwang said on August 20 at a forum exploring future trends in the semiconductor industry. He also warned that Taiwan's AI data center capacity is about one-sixth of South Korea's.
Kenmec Group founder and president Frank Hsieh said on August 19 that two of the company's new businesses have taken shape, with Taisic Materials focusing on silicon carbide (SiC), a third-generation semiconductor material, and Kentec targeting the AI data center (AIDC) market. Both companies are expected to list on Taiwan's Emerging Stock Board in October 2026.
AI vision company Solomon is presenting new factory automation tools at Automation Taipei 2026, including an agentic physical AI platform, AR smart wiring guidance, and a next-generation 3D vision camera. The demonstrations are aimed at smart manufacturing, autonomous robotics, and AI server assembly use cases.
While robotics companies worldwide vie for business opportunities, Chinese vendors currently account for more than 90% of global humanoid robot shipments and occupy all five top positions by shipment volume, demonstrating China's strong position in humanoid robot development.
As AI infrastructure increasingly absorbs both capital and management attention across China's technology sector, even profitable businesses are finding themselves vulnerable when they sit outside the strategic core.
Baidu's second-quarter 2026 results confirm a business in the midst of a wrenching handover: an AI-powered core that is scaling faster than almost any other line item at the company, while the total revenue base is still shrinking. Group revenue fell 4% year-on-year to CNY31.3 billion (US$4.63 billion), the fifth straight quarter of annual decline, even as Baidu's AI-powered businesses grew 25% and accounted for half of Baidu General Business revenue for the second consecutive quarter, exceeding legacy-business revenue.
More than half of Taiwanese companies surveyed by TAITRA reported being negatively affected by the US-Iran conflict, with rising costs emerging as the biggest concern as geopolitical tensions disrupt energy, raw material, and supply chain conditions.
Ethernet chipmaker IC Plus said on August 17 that its operations in 2026 have improved significantly after Airoha Technology took a stake and joined its management, while resources from MediaTek also provided substantial support. The company said it turned profitable in the first half of the year.
Niche printed circuit board (PCB) maker EISO Enterprise said that 2026 industry demand has returned to post-pandemic highs as AI applications spread across multiple segments, while chairman Jian Rong-kun said the chance of a market reversal or an AI bubble burst remains low. But since 2025, shortages and price increases in high-frequency, high-speed copper-clad laminate (CCL) have remained a shared operational challenge for PCB makers.
Concerns over whether the AI surge is a bubble continue to linger. However, recent indicators—from Nvidia's latest capital initiatives and TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei's assessment of major cloud service provider (CSP) demand, to record capex from US CSPs and surging orders across downstream players like Asus, Gigabyte, and Supermicro—all demonstrate that AI demand is flowing steadily from upstream silicon to servers and data centers, driving concrete gains in revenue, profits, and backlogs.
Nvidia has reached a deal with OpenAI to provide up to US$105 billion in credit guarantees for the AI startup's upcoming 8GW data center campus in Ohio. The support will help OpenAI to secure a lease from SB Energy, while Nvidia will be the facility's exclusive chip supplier.
Nvidia's new Taiwan headquarters will be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park, with construction expected to begin by the end of 2026. As the AI and high-tech ecosystem takes shape around the project, power supply has emerged as a key concern—and one closely watched by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
