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Global semiconductor sales reached US$298.5 billion in the first quarter of 2026, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported, underscoring robust worldwide demand with possible implications for technology supply chains, pricing, and production investment. The results come as markets eye a potential US$1 trillion year, driven by broad regional growth across Asia Pacific, the Americas, and China....

Apple said it is increasing investment in renewable energy and water sustainability projects globally, including new solar and water initiatives in India, as the company pushes toward its goal of becoming carbon neutral across its entire value chain by 2030....

Affected by the US-Iran war and notebook price hikes, global notebook shipments are likely to increase only 4.4% quarterly in the second quarter of 2026....

Meta is reportedly developing AI agents for consumer use, including an agentic shopping tool for Instagram and an OpenClaw-like agent known within the company as "Hatch". The efforts follow Meta's announcement of enormous AI investments, which have caused unease among investors....

The SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group reported a 13.1% year-over-year rise in global silicon wafer shipment area to 3,275 million square inches in the first quarter of 2026, signaling stronger demand for wafers used in AI data centers and reshaping supply and production priorities across the global semiconductor supply chain....

Elon Musk is rapidly expanding his ambitions beyond rockets and electric vehicles (EVs), positioning SpaceX at the center of a vertically integrated artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure strategy spanning semiconductors, data centers, AI models, robotics, and space systems....

South Korea plans to provide KRW500 billion (US$344.3 million) in state funding for a large-scale research and development project aimed at localizing next-generation power semiconductors, ETNews reported....

The Pentagon has deployed more than 100,000 AI agents through its GenAI.mil platform, marking a broader shift toward algorithm-driven warfare and expanding the US military's push into AI-powered combat operations....

Alphabet has significantly expanded its global borrowing program to finance artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, raising nearly US$17 billion through euro- and Canadian dollar-denominated bonds in its latest funding push, according to Bloomberg. The move includes its largest-ever euro bond sale and its first issuance in Canadian dollars, underscoring the scale of capital required for AI-related investments....

Darfon Electronics reported that its first-quarter 2026 profit and gross margin improved as consolidated revenue rose 9.9% year on year to NT$6.025 billion (US$192.11 million). The company announced on May 6 that its gross margin recovered to 18% from 15.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and that second-quarter order momentum remained positive as it pursued a full-year twin-growth target....

APMIC announced that its Traditional Chinese language model ACE-1 ranked in the global top 5 overall and secured the top spot on a "Taiwan values" metric in a language-model evaluation published on May 6 by the AI Product and System Evaluation Center under the Ministry of Digital Affairs. The results highlighted ACE-1's strength in local context understanding and reinforced the company's push for sovereign AI capabilities tailored to Taiwan's institutions and social and cultural environment....

Samsung Electronics' decision to withdraw from China's home appliance market marks the end of a long and gradual erosion of its once-dominant position, one that has unfolded even as the company posts record profits globally....

China's AI market has expanded rapidly through free and low-cost offerings, but rising computing costs and deeper enterprise adoption are beginning to reshape the sector's business models. ByteDance-backed Doubao is now testing paid subscription plans priced between CNY68–500 (US$9–69) per month, signaling a formal shift toward tiered monetization....

Labor tensions across South Korea's technology sector are intensifying, and the conflict is no longer confined to traditional disputes between workers and management. Increasingly, the country's AI-driven economic transformation is exposing fractures within workforces themselves, as employees in faster-growing business divisions demand a larger share of corporate profits. In contrast, weaker divisions struggle to keep pace....

Msscorps reported consolidated revenue of NT$579 million (US$18.46 million) in the first quarter of 2026, up 24.54% year-on-year and a record for the period, but still recorded a net loss of NT$31.85 million and an EPS loss of NT$0.61, marking a third straight quarter in the red. The firm said strong demand from materials analysis and AI chip analysis orders, along with growing revenue contribution from overseas sites, lifted scale and profitability during the quarter....

Sporton posted consolidated revenue of NT$1.191 billion (US$37.98 million) in the first quarter of 2026, with a gross margin of 47% and net profit after tax of NT$302 million, up 4.3% year on year, the firm announced. Earnings per share were NT$2.97, up 4.21%, as strong testing demand for 5G flagship phones, AI PCs, and enterprise-grade commercial access points lifted revenue and pushed profit to its highest level in six quarters....

Yotta Data Services is considering an initial public offering in Mumbai that could raise as much as US$900 million, according to sources familiar with the matter, as reported by Bloomberg. The company has engaged ICICI Securities Ltd and SBI Capital Markets Ltd as advisers, with additional banks expected to join ahead of a draft prospectus filing in the next two to three months....

Memory module maker Innodisk reported its unaudited March 2026 earnings, with after-tax earnings per share (EPS) reaching NT$28.1 (approx. US$0.89), surpassing its full-year 2025 EPS of NT$21.72 in a single month. April revenue hit NT$6.67 billion, up 17.6% from March and 583.11% year over year, marking a new single-month revenue record....

Micron Technology said it has started shipping its 245TB 6600 ION solid-state drive, which the company described as the industry's highest-capacity commercially available SSD for data center applications. The product is aimed at AI, cloud, enterprise, and hyperscale workloads that require higher storage density and lower power consumption....

Taiwan's expanding semiconductor and AI-related industries have driven up electricity demand, prompting officials and researchers to call for the faster deployment of energy storage and virtual power plants to fill gaps left by the slow pace of natural gas plant construction....