Multimedia software developer CyberLink reported steady first-quarter 2026 results but warned that growth will face headwinds in the second quarter 2026 from generative AI search and rising memory costs, a combination that could affect global software markets reliant on search-driven traffic and PC-dependent product bundles, as well as investor sentiment worldwide.

ON April 29, Amazon reported first-quarter results that exceeded expectations on key metrics, supported by continued strength in its cloud and advertising businesses. Revenue rose to about US$181.5 billion, while operating income increased to roughly US$23.9 billion, reflecting steady expansion across core segments. Net income also climbed significantly on both a quarterly and annual basis.

The AI infrastructure race is no longer just about who builds the best model — it's about who controls the silicon beneath it. Google has spent more than a decade quietly constructing that foundation, and the results are now showing.

On April 28, Nvidia introduced Nemotron 3 Nano Omni, a new open multimodal AI model designed to simplify the development of agent-based systems by combining vision, audio, and language capabilities into a single framework.

Taiwanese artificial intelligence (AI) software company Osense Technology is targeting the rapidly growing sports technology market — valued at more than US$10 billion — by independently developing a domestically produced baseball hawk-eye system and smart bullpen training solution.

NetApp signed a four-year enterprise agreement with Google Cloud to expand their collaboration and accelerate deployment of NetApp storage solutions on Google Distributed Cloud within air-gapped environments managed by World Wide Technology for Google's sovereign cloud platform. The deal aims to provide physically isolated private cloud offerings that embed NetApp's data platform and built-in security controls to meet data sovereignty requirements.

For years, the global auto industry has been enveloped in the promise of the software-defined vehicle. But at the 2026 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, a more grounded reality came into focus: without sufficiently powerful hardware, software ambitions risk remaining just that—ambitions.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and the National Institute of Cyber Security signed a memorandum of understanding on April 28 to establish a joint cyber defense, intelligence sharing, and cooperation framework aimed at countering complex global cyber threats. The agreement will integrate technical resources and real-time threat intelligence to strengthen industry-wide defenses for the semiconductor sector, with an emphasis on protecting smart manufacturing and core corporate assets in Kaohsiung.

Systex Fintech said it will focus on onboarding small merchants who currently transact in cash to help drive the island's non-cash transaction value from NT$6 trillion in 2023 toward the Financial Supervisory Commission's NT$10 trillion (US$190.4 billion) goal by 2026. The company stated that the strategy centers on expanding acceptance among roughly 1.3 million corporate accounts, including more than 500,000 small businesses and cash-based street vendors that do not issue invoices, which it described as a blue ocean for growth.

China's decision to block and unwind Meta Platforms' acquisition of AI startup Manus is reverberating across the global technology sector, highlighting Beijing's increasingly assertive approach to controlling strategic technologies and cross-border deals.

AI-powered navigation platforms such as China's Amap are forcing a rethink of how convenience, competition, and data governance intersect. The debate in Taiwan over Amap's near-real-time traffic light countdown and high-precision navigation reflects a broader shift in how mobility data is collected, processed, and monetized.

Amid rising global cancer rates and a shortage of pathology staff, Taiwan-based AetherAI says its FDA- and IVDR-certified digital pathology platform could ease diagnostic bottlenecks worldwide by enabling integrated AI tools and automated workflows, potentially accelerating access to faster, scalable cancer diagnostics across hospitals, healthcare systems, and clinics globally.

DeepSeek's 90% cut to fees for input cache hit, which occurs when the model reuses previously computed results for identical or similar inputs instead of recomputing them, across its API lineup could lower operational costs for global developers and enterprises, especially for long-text and high-frequency applications, potentially accelerating the adoption of locally developed large language models, intensifying price competition with international providers, and reducing barriers to AI-powered services worldwide.

Across both sides of the Pacific, robot startups and leading laboratories have reached a consensus over the past year that model architecture is no longer the sole focus. Data has become the core competitive resource. Regardless of how technical approaches evolve, most teams eventually encounter the same problem: the shortage of training data.

The rise of generative AI has blurred the boundaries between the social media and e-commerce industries, driving a shift in their business models that has been exemplified by recent strategic initiatives from Meta and Alibaba. With competition now expanding horizontally across various sectors, industry observers highlight that Meta's plans to strengthen its physical retail presence may become a key focus for the company. Conversely, it is now increasingly likely that Alibaba will one day venture into social media.

European regulators are preparing to push Google to open up core Android operating system functions, potentially allowing rival AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude to access the platform on the same terms as Gemini, according to people familiar with the matter.

Microsoft and Meta have recently announced job cuts or buyouts impacting possibly 23,000 jobs. The staff reductions come as the tech giants funnel massive resources into building out their AI capacity, a trade-off that has become common across the industry in recent months.

The government has included AI computing infrastructure within the scope of major digital public construction projects, using tax incentives to boost private-sector investment. Minister of Digital Affairs (MODA) Yen-nun Huang stated that applications will close at 5 pm on May 14, and Foxconn has already expressed interest and maintained close communication with the ministry.

Taiwan's military-industrial sector, led by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology (NCSIST), recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to accelerate the development of unmanned technology.

OpenClaw's meteoric rise from a niche hacker project to a globally adopted AI agent platform has created a widening gap between its innovative capabilities and the security demands of the modern enterprise.

As OpenAI and xAI pivot toward enterprise markets inspired by Anthropic, and as OpenClaw sparks new visions for agent-based AI, Apple has finally set a clear AI focus for its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The company announced the event will focus on AI advancements and new software and developer tools, marking Apple's most direct AI statement in recent years.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving beyond pilot projects to large-scale deployment in manufacturing, but many Taiwanese firms remain constrained by data, infrastructure, and investment gaps—challenges that could determine their competitiveness in the next industrial era.

Analysts said IBM continues to show stable underlying revenue growth supported by artificial intelligence adoption and hybrid cloud demand. Its unchanged full-year outlook and softer software performance, however, may limit near-term upside expectations.