One of the world's three major machine tool shows, Japan's International Machine Tool Fair (JIMTOF 2026), opened this week, with 94 Taiwan companies exhibiting. The exhibitors are showcasing precision machining, key components and smart automation while deepening manufacturing supply-chain cooperation between Taiwan and Japan.

As AI server computing density and server rack power consumption rise, data center construction must also take into account cooling, power distribution, energy management, and electromechanical infrastructure. In light of these trends, the 2026 Taiwan Industry Week trade show features a dedicated section for data centers, with Auras Technology, Walrus Pump, and Teco Electric and Machinery among the exhibitors, a sign that AI data center-related opportunities are expanding to other segments of the industrial supply chain.

Mitsubishi Materials will expand production of thermistors, temperature sensors used in optical communications equipment, as the spread of generative AI drives demand for optical transceivers. Its Thailand facility will gradually add equipment and raise monthly capacity to about 12 million units by November 2027, roughly six times its 2025 capacity.

Japanese robot maker FANUC raised its fiscal year 2026 revenue forecast on October 23 as demand for AI and automation strengthened, putting sales on track to surpass JPY1 trillion for the first time. The company also expects operating profit and net profit to reach record highs.

South Korean telecommunications provider SK Telecom (SKT) has reportedly established Hy-TF, a task force dedicated to AI collaboration with SK Hynix, to upgrade its digital-twin and data-platform businesses and develop new B2B services.

Intel has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Classiq, a quantum computing software company, in a move aimed at combining Classiq's quantum algorithm synthesis platform with Intel's silicon-based quantum hardware and semiconductor manufacturing capabilities.

South Korean automotive supplier SL is considering deploying its mobile dual-arm robot at a US factory in 2027 or 2028, potentially marking the system's first overseas deployment, a company representative said in an interview with DIGITIMES at FIX 2026 in Daegu on October 24.

Celestica's latest results suggest that its next challenge will be expanding production fast enough to serve AI infrastructure customers while keeping cash requirements under control. The company forecast US$40 billion in revenue for 2027, putting manufacturing capacity and growth financing at the center of its outlook.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-Yong is reportedly set to visit the company's Robotics eXperience (RX) business unit in Seoul's Umyeon-dong by the end of October to review humanoid robot development and preparations for CES 2027. If the visit takes place, it will be Lee's first visit since the organization was established, highlighting Samsung's strategy of commercializing robots through manufacturing applications.

Nvidia has unveiled a prototype of its next-generation co-packaged optics (CPO) technology, Optics-on-Interposer (OOI), at SEMICON West 2026. The design moves the optical engine from a conventional organic package substrate to the silicon interposer carrying the compute chips, increasing bandwidth density and reducing power consumption for future AI system interconnects.

As demand for AI data centers expands, next-generation AI servers are raising requirements for power supply, cooling efficiency, and deployment speed. Taiwan's electrical and mechanical equipment providers are therefore moving beyond standalone equipment supply into system integration, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC), and modular data center solutions.

Magnate Technology expects rising aircraft engine demand and semiconductor equipment opportunities to support growth as it expands production capacity, with implications for global aviation and chip supply chains. The aerospace components maker forecasts revenue of nearly NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) in 2026 and expects 15% to 20% revenue growth in 2027.

The robotics industry has come a long way since robots were first built starting in the mid-20th century. Yet LEACHIM, a robot teacher and one of the world's first humanoids created back in the 1970s, may hold a key clue as companies seek to transition their technological advancements into on-the-ground deployment: develop machines that solve real-world problems.

Doosan Robotics is focusing its sales efforts on large automotive and semiconductor manufacturers as it develops AI-powered systems capable of handling more complex factory tasks, Hyeonchang Jeon, senior manager of the company's Korea sales team, said in an interview with DIGITIMES at FIX 2026 in Daegu, South Korea.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned two electronic devices from entering the US market because both contain surveillance chips made by Huawei's HiSilicon. The move marks the first time the FCC has used a new rule targeting devices whose chipmakers are deemed national security risks.

Nvidia has won a CPU supply order from AI startup Modal, challenging Intel and AMD in the server CPU market as it expands beyond GPUs into general-purpose computing. Although Modal's annual revenue is below US$1 billion, and neither the order's value nor its deployment scale has been disclosed, the deal underscores a broader shift in AI infrastructure competition toward full-stack system integration.

India's "Make in India" policy is driving demand for smart manufacturing and machinery. As such, Taiwanese machinery manufacturers are positioning themselves to seize the opportunities presented by the country's manufacturing push.

South Korean robot makers are taking different routes into industrial humanoids: Tesollo is building dexterous hands, AeiROBOT is preparing bipedal systems for shipyards and construction sites, and HD Hyundai Robotics is developing a dual-arm platform that may eventually gain wheels and legs.

Western Digital has made clear how it intends to meet a sharp rise in hard-drive demand while a rival expands output: it will not build more drives. On its October 22 earnings call, the company said it will keep raising price per terabyte, pack more data into each drive, and spend its capital on recording heads and disk media rather than assembly capacity. That leaves its growth dependent on how quickly it moves to heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), a technology in which Seagate is already shipping at scale.

Western Digital argues that demand for hard drives depends less on the current wave of AI spending than investors fear. On its fiscal first-quarter earnings call on October 22, the company said demand for disk storage now comes from four separate sources: cloud services, model training, inference and AI agents, and physical AI. Each, it said, could offset weakness in the others. The company is also trying to move hard drives into faster AI workloads that are currently served by flash memory.

Unitree Robotics continues to expand production of its humanoid robots but still faces challenges in production capacity and artificial intelligence (AI) technology as it works to scale up production for widespread adoption.

Western Digital's fiscal first quarter showed a hard-drive business turning demand into profit faster than into sales. Revenue for the three months ended October 2, 2026 rose 55% from a year earlier to US$4.38 billion, while GAAP gross margin climbed to 57.8% from 43.5%, according to the results release the company filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on October 22. Its guidance indicates margins will widen further in the December quarter.

AUO is entering the next chapter of its transformation as Chairman and CEO Paul Peng establishes a "quasi-holding company" model, turning its three major operating pillars into separate corporate entities to sharpen performance evaluations and resource allocation while distinguishing core from noncore businesses.

Clivet, the Italian climate-control company owned by Midea, is applying its refrigeration expertise to the AI data center market, introducing a redesigned compressor as part of a broader cooling portfolio. The push builds on established air-conditioning technologies while addressing demands for efficient operation and uninterrupted cooling in high-density computing facilities.

Apex Science & Engineering is expanding its optoelectronics business in automotive and medical markets, with booked but undelivered orders worth approximately NT$105.7 million (US$3.24 million). Exports have accounted for 73% of the division's sales since the start of 2026, highlighting its exposure to international demand as it develops display modules for industrial, consumer, and public-sector applications worldwide.