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Industrial PC maker Advantech announced on March 27 a strategic investment via a wholly owned subsidiary in energy solution provider Intelligent Cloud Plus (ICP). The goal: jointly develop standardized, replicable integrated solutions for the power and energy automation market. The move comes as comprehensive solutions grow increasingly important in the competitive edge AI landscape....

As generative AI (GenAI) shifts from large-model training to large-scale inference, Japanese NAND giant Kioxia forecasts continued price increases for NAND and SSD products. Despite planned capacity expansions by various NAND manufacturers in 2027, Kioxia expects no risk of oversupply imbalance due to the rapid growth in AI demand....

Cooling module manufacturer Microloops announced plans to expand its liquid cooling plate production capacity in Vietnam and China to address growing demand for liquid cooling solutions. Currently, Microloops' monthly liquid cooling plate output in China stands at 5,000 units, but by 2026, combined capacity across both locations is expected to reach 40,000 units, reflecting the rapid adoption of server liquid cooling technology....

Samsung Electronics plans to mass-produce silicon photonics starting from 2028, a move that could reshape global data-center networking, AI hardware integration, and foundry competition. The company is offering clients an integrated platform spanning photonics, AI semiconductors, advanced packaging, and HBM — a combination that could significantly alter supply chains and cost structures in the years ahead....

Huawei's AI leadership is facing renewed turnover. Wang Yunhe, director of Huawei Noah's Ark Lab and a key architect behind PanguLM, has left the company after nearly nine years....

The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed the Chip Security Act, signaling a decisive move to restrict high-performance computing exports amid rising tech tensions with China. Meanwhile, reports from within China indicate a growing consensus to halt imports of US-origin AI chips altogether....

China's Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched next-generation chip and operating system co-development alongside the debut of the Xiangshan open-source processor and Ruyi native OS at the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum....

Samsung Electronics has reportedly begun mass production of 236-layer NAND flash at its Xi'an plant in China, marking a key step in its transition to higher-layer memory as demand from artificial intelligence applications accelerates....

The recent craze for OpenClaw "lobster raising" in China has sparked massive token consumption, with Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) calling it the first killer app of AI agents. In response, Phison teamed up with Intel to introduce a "hybrid lobster solution" that addresses soaring cloud costs and security risks, selling out its initial batch on Chinese e-commerce platforms....

Toshiba, Rohm, Mitsubishi Electric, and partners begin talks on integrating Japanese power device and semiconductor businesses...

The global semiconductor industry is undergoing a structural transformation. SEMI estimates that in 2025, capital expenditures (CapEx) by the four largest US cloud service providers (CSPs) will reach US$400 billion, more than twice the total semiconductor industry CapEx. When including Chinese cloud providers and sovereign AI investments, global AI infrastructure spending could surpass US$1 trillion by 2027....

SoftBank Group Corp. has secured a US$40 billion bridge loan to support its ongoing investment in US artificial intelligence developer OpenAI, marking one of the largest dollar-denominated borrowings in the Japanese conglomerate's history. The unsecured loan, arranged with JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and MUFG Bank, is set to mature on March 25, 2027, according to Jiji Press, The Japan Times, Reuters, and TechCrunch....

Sony Group's gaming subsidiary, Sony Interactive Entertainment, announced on March 27 that it would raise the global retail price of its flagship home console, the PlayStation 5, effective April 2. In Japan, the suggested retail price of the standard model will climb to JPY97,980 (approx. US$613), a steep increase of roughly 23%. A Japan-only version, introduced in 2025 without a disc drive and limited to the Japanese language, will remain unchanged at JPY55,000....

Since Arm formally launched its Arm AGI CPU platform and upended its long-standing business model, industry observers have been eager to understand both the mechanics behind the move and its long-term implications....

The global semiconductor memory market is expected to surpass US$600 billion by 2026, as artificial intelligence accelerates a shift toward high-performance storage, according to industry executives....

Taiwan's premier Cho Jung-tai has unveiled a new list of 13 strategic industries. The lineup includes silicon photonics (SiPh), quantum technology, and unmanned vehicles. Quantum technology currently remains confined to academic and research labs, with no established industry or startups in Taiwan. Even so, the announcement signals that industrial support programs may be on the way....

Sumco has revised its semiconductor wafer supply plan to prioritize upgrading existing fabrication equipment over building new capacity, following approval from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)....

Elon Musk recently announced the launch of the "Terafab" project, aiming to expand compute production capacity to 1 TW per year, which is about 50 times the current global compute supply of around 20 GW. He plans to build advanced wafer fabs first in Austin, Texas. However, with the 1 TW scale revealed, market reactions have been relatively cautious....

Demand for optical communication modules driven by artificial intelligence is exceeding supply, prompting FIC Global (FICG) to accelerate capacity expansion in Malaysia and China, the company said....

Advantech vice president Magic Pao warned at AI EXPO 2026 that edge AI's imminent rapid exponential growth will reshape enterprise computing and safety worldwide. While cloud generative AI currently commands greater attention draws more attention, widespread edge deployment poses different, distinct infrastructural and regulatory challenges that will affect industries from manufacturing to healthcare and safety....