Larry Ellison, the 81-year-old head of long-standing Silicon Valley tech giant Oracle, has surpassed Elon Musk to become the world's richest person. Ellison transformed the company overnight from a declining database business into an AI powerhouse and potentially the biggest winner in the future TikTok equity deal.

At the geopolitics forum of SEMICON West 2025, corporate government affairs executives from Arm Holdings, ASML, Entegris, Intel, and Lam Research all presented policy recommendations in relation to US strategies to compete with China. All attendees unanimously agreed that policy consistency and continuity are the most urgent areas for improvement.

The US government has implemented new regulations for the H-1B visa program, requiring applicants to pay fees reaching up to US$100,000. The change is having significant consequences for Indian professionals pursuing employment opportunities in the US, given that roughly 70% of H-1B applicants originate from India, according to Bloomberg. Employer-sponsored by nature, the H-1B visa is critical in facilitating temporary skilled work assignments, especially in information technology sectors.

As South Korea aims to become a top-three global AI powerhouse, neural processing unit (NPU) startup FuriosaAI envisions AI's ultimate evolution into physical AI. The company believes South Korea possesses the necessary industry and talent foundation to accelerate the development of energy-efficient AI accelerators and integrated hardware-software solutions for data centers and diverse physical AI applications.

Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) will soon host a Smart Robotics Forum, inviting experts from the US, Japan, and Germany to share insights on the latest humanoid robot technologies and development trends. Although still emerging, the global humanoid robot market shows strong potential, with an estimated market scale of about US$2 billion in 2024 and an annual compound growth rate of 45.5-47.9%.

Nan Pao Resins Chemical Group reported NT$1.98 billion (US$65 million) in consolidated revenue for September 2025, marking a slight year-over-year increase of 0.2%. However, third-quarter revenue dropped 2.9% year-over-year to NT$5.91 billion (US$194 million), mainly due to a higher baseline last year and the appreciation of the New Taiwan Dollar. Cumulative revenue for the first nine months of 2025 reached NT$17.27 billion (US$566 million), up 2.4% year-over-year and setting a new record for the period.

The global AI boom is fueling demand for high-performance servers, pushing liquid cooling to the forefront of data center architecture to handle GPU power and density. Research firms project the global liquid-cooled data center market will grow from US$4B in 2023 to US$10B by 2028, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 20%.

Taiwanese PC maker Asustek Computer is expanding its footprint beyond India's metropolitan markets as it looks to double its device sales to as many as two million units by 2030. The company, which ranks as India's third-largest consumer notebook brand, is focusing on non-metro and Tier-III towns to tap into first-time PC buyers, while simultaneously strengthening its local manufacturing and product lineup in gaming and AI-driven notebooks, according to Money Control and Mint.

Taiwan-based lens manufacturer Genius Electronic Optical (GSEO) reported a consolidated revenue of NT$2.66 billion (approx. US$86.98 million) in September 2025, down NT$42.53 million or 1.58% compared to NT$2.7 billion the month prior, but up NT$70.83 million or 2.74% year-over-year from NT$2.59 billion in September 2024.

OpenAI's new video generation app, Sora, swiftly climbed to the top of the iPhone App Store free download charts shortly after its September 30 release. The app, available only by invitation in the US and Canada, sparked a surge in user interest but also drew attention to challenges related to deepfake content and copyright, prompting OpenAI to update its terms of service.