Nvidia is recasting storage as a core pillar of AI infrastructure, shifting it from a passive repository to an active extension of memory — a realignment now reshaping data center design and the broader supply chain.

Intel's Xeon 6 processors have been selected as the host CPU for Nvidia's DGX Rubin NVL8 system — a move announced at GTC 2026 that gives concrete form to the two companies' strategic alliance. The partnership's significance can be gauged through its product rollout timing and the revenue opportunities it unlocks.

Nvidia plans to launch its next-generation AI server architecture, Vera Rubin, in the second half of 2026, with liquid cooling set to become standard. The company will centralize procurement of cold plates and, at GTC, named four suppliers: Asia Vital Components (AVC), Cooler Master, Jentech, and Delta Electronics.

Taiwanese hardware vendors expanded their presence at Nvidia GTC 2026, underscoring a coordinated push into AI servers, edge computing, robotics, and data center infrastructure. Foxconn, Wiwynn, Wistron, Advantech, and BizLink showcased capabilities spanning AI factories, rack-scale systems, and power interconnects, reflecting Taiwan's deeper integration into Nvidia's next-generation computing ecosystem.

As AI evolves from generating information to executing tasks, inference scenarios characterized by coding agents and requiring low latency and high throughput are ushering in the next phase of AI infrastructure commercialization. However, even powerful systems like Vera Rubin face challenges when confronted with extreme generation demands. While Nvidia remains the undisputed leader in throughput, traditional GPU architectures appear too heavy for ultra-low-latency token generation. This is why Jensen Huang moved quickly to secure IP licensing and talent from Groq ahead of Christmas 2025.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is set to deepen its collaboration with Naver Corporation after CEO Lisa Su visits South Korea, with the companies signing an MOU to jointly develop GPU and infrastructure technologies for large-scale AI models.

Nexcom Group has launched its first humanoid robot development kit based on the Nvidia IGX Thor platform, unveiling the MARS400 T20 at the Nvidia GTC 2026. The kit integrates real-time motion control, functional safety modules, high-speed communication, and thermal management technologies. It is aimed at collaborative robot system integrators to shorten development and production cycles.

At Nvidia's GTC 2026 conference, major chipmakers — including Texas Instruments (TI), Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors, Analog Devices (ADI), and Synopsys — announced new collaborations centered on robotics built around Nvidia's platform. Robotics is now the defining focus for IDM firms and the broader industrial control chip ecosystem.

On March 17, IBM completed its acquisition of Confluent, Inc., the data streaming platform used by more than 6,500 enterprises — including 40% of the Fortune 500 — to power real-time operations. Under the agreement, IBM acquired all issued and outstanding common shares of Confluent for US$31 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of approximately US$11 billion.

OpenAI has signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide its artificial intelligence tools to US government agencies for both classified and unclassified work, according to The Information and Reuters, as the company steps up efforts to secure defense and public-sector contracts.

At GTC 2026, Nvidia outlined a dual-track approach combining copper cables and silicon photonics (SiPh) to meet surging AI-driven demand for data center interconnects. CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that as AI compute needs escalate, future data centers will require expanded capacity across copper cabling, optical communication, and co-packaged optics (CPO) — establishing optical-copper parallelism as the industry's defining development path.

On March 18, Foxconn (Hon Hai) announced a strategic partnership with SAP to accelerate the adoption of next-generation enterprise artificial intelligence across the Asia-Pacific region. The collaboration is built on the AI Factory initiative, which Foxconn says seeks to reshape future manufacturing processes and supply chain management while opening pathways for global deployment.

Geopolitical tariff conflicts combined with the outbreak of Middle East hostilities have pushed even the booming AI server and data center industry—and its supply chain—into a subtle deadlock. Supply chain insiders reveal that despite ample funding, major cloud service providers (CSPs) are hesitating to back suppliers' capacity expansions amid shortages.

Chinese server maker Dawning Information Industry Co. (Sugon) has introduced scaleFabric, its first fully self-developed 400G native remote direct memory access (RDMA) data center networking architecture, aimed at hyperscale AI clusters. The platform integrates 112G SerDes IP, switching chips, network interface cards and management software, all developed domestically, reflecting the company's push to build an independent high-speed AI interconnect stack.

Buoyed by sustained high capital expenditure by global cloud service providers (CSPs), AI servers and data center infrastructure have become the ICT supply chain's primary growth drivers over the past two years. Demand for high-performance computing platforms, rack-level integration, and power and thermal architecture in data centers continues to rise, alongside growing demand for ASIC platforms.

Aggressive AI investments by major US cloud service providers (CSPs) are driving a surge in demand for Taiwan's semiconductor and ICT hardware, pushing exports, prices, and private investments toward record levels despite supply constraints.

Meta recently announced plans to launch four generations of ASIC product lines over the next two years, including the already mass-produced MTIA 300 and upcoming MTIA 400, 450, and 500 chips. These ASICs will primarily target AI inference workloads, while AI training tasks will continue relying on Nvidia solutions.

Driven by US President Donald Trump's push for American reindustrialization and efforts to shift industries away from China through high tariffs, Taiwan's economy is set to outpace China's growth for the second consecutive year in 2026.

Wistron Group posted record revenue and earnings per share in 2025, driven by strong demand for AI servers. Still, its gross margin fell as higher unit prices and material costs tied to increased shipments of AI server racks weighed on profitability.

With artificial intelligence (AI) demand surging and key components such as memory in tight supply, Micro-Star International (MSI) chairman Joseph Hsu and president Jeans Huang said the company is actively expanding in the AI server market, achieving growth of 50 to 100% in 2025, and expects to maintain strong growth in 2026. In addition, they expect gaming products to see a price increase of about 15 to 30% in 2026 due to the impact of rising memory costs.

As generative AI advances into the inference and agentic AI stages, global demand for AI computing power is entering a new surge. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang outlined during his keynote at GTC 2026 that AI development has officially shifted from early model training to an era centered on inference and autonomous agents. He significantly raised Nvidia's forecast for the AI infrastructure market size, estimating that related demand will double and surpass US$1 trillion between 2025 and 2027.

Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) achieved record-high profits and cash dividends in 2025. Foxconn chairman Young Liu stated that the company's growth momentum will continue in 2026, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. The company is also simultaneously launching the next phase of its five-year AI-centered transformation plan.

Nebius, a Dutch data center firm, announced a US$27 billion deal with Meta on March 16, 2026, to supply AI infrastructure capacity to the tech giant. The agreement comes as soaring demand for data center computing pushes Meta to source extra capacity externally.

Amid rising demand for AI computing power and sustained high capital expenditure from global cloud service providers (CSPs), AI servers and data center infrastructure have become the key growth drivers in the ICT supply chain over the past two years. Foxconn, a leader in the AI server industry, forecasts that its AI rack shipments in the first quarter of 2026 will grow by a high double-digit percentage compared to the previous quarter.