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Compared to short-term geopolitical turbulence, the AI megatrend represents a once-in-a-generation business opportunity. In the past, TSMC often took the lead during earnings season in releasing industry outlooks. This time, ASML will hold its earnings call for the first quarter of 2026 a day earlier on April 15, and is expected to outline how memory manufacturers and new large-scale logic foundries will reshape the semiconductor manufacturing landscape....

Prices for gallium arsenide (GaA) substrates — a key material used in power amplifiers for wireless communications — are rising, driven by surging costs for gallium, a critical upstream metal. After months of sustained increases in raw material prices, industry executives say a reversal appears unlikely....

SK Hynix has started global shipments of a next-generation compact SSD designed for AI-driven personal computers, a move that could reshape storage choices for device makers and end users worldwide. The cSSD promises higher capacity and improved efficiency to meet growing demand for AI PC storage....

On March 31, Chinese Premier Li Qiang signed Order No. 834 issued by the State Council, which was officially released on April 7 as the Regulations of the State Council on Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Security (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations). The Ministry of Justice released detailed explanations publicly, and the Regulations took immediate effect upon release....

India is moving to phase out Chinese-made internet-connected CCTV cameras and high-speed tollway cameras, citing national security risks, even as it cautiously opens other sectors to Chinese investment. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has shortlisted American, German, and Taiwanese suppliers to replace existing equipment at around 1,150 toll collection sites, according to Bloomberg....

Broadcom recently announced two major partnership developments. The first is with Google on its Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), with the collaboration set to extend through 2031. This means that Broadcom will continue to generate related revenue from multiple future generations of Google's TPU products....

The global adoption of advanced driver-assistance systems, or ADAS, and autonomous vehicles is expected to rise from 66 percent in 2025 to 94 percent by 2035. Within that growth, Level 2 systems are projected to reach a 65 percent penetration rate. But the technological path toward higher levels of autonomy is beginning to diverge....

Samsung Electronics's Device eXperience (DX) head Roh Tae-moon personally visited Tokyo on April 1, marking his first trip to Japan this year. Although Apple has long dominated Japan's smartphone market, Samsung has recently seen a resurgence driven by its Galaxy series. Roh's visit signals a strategic push to expand Samsung's market share in Japan....

Recently, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) has made a series of unusually high-profile appearances at promotional events for US automakers such as Jeep and Ford. The rare visibility has drawn intense attention from both industry insiders and market observers alike — and for good reason. With the first quarter of 2026 marking the official conclusion of automotive tariff negotiations under the Taiwan–US trade agreement, these diplomatic gestures now carry significance far beyond simple brand endorsement. They signal a new era of "structural transformation" in Taiwan–US automotive cooperation....

Intel's industrial ecosystem is converging on a vertically integrated chip model, as Intel joins the Terafab project led by SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla—marking both a revival of the IDM approach and a potential turning point in Intel's turnaround strategy....

A major internal code leak has recently struck Anthropic, with approximately 510,000 lines of core source code from its AI coding tool, Claude Code, being unintentionally exposed and spreading rapidly across developer communities. The incident originated from an npm package publishing error in which source map files were not properly excluded, allowing access to the complete TypeScript code. As a result, nearly 1,900 source files could be reconstructed, effectively revealing unobfuscated, production-level code....

Industry sources reveal that polarizer manufacturers are preparing a price hike starting in the second quarter of 2026, with increases beginning at 10%, though final approval remains pending. This is because the escalating conflict in Iran has heightened risks to the Middle East energy supply chain, driving up crude oil prices and pushing costs higher for upstream polarizer materials such as PET, adhesives, and plastics....

Since the generative AI (GenAI) boom, Nvidia has leveraged its near-monopoly on AI GPUs to drive explosive profits, with free cash flow reaching US$96.5 billion in fiscal 2026. Coupled with two prior cryptocurrency mining surges in 2017 and 2019, Nvidia's decade-long cash hoard has fueled aggressive acquisitions and investments. Starting with a US$20 billion deal announced in late 2025 to acquire AI chip startup Groq, followed by a recent US$2 billion investment in Marvell, Nvidia is rapidly expanding its moat built on CUDA and GPU technology....

The global AI race is no longer just about who builds the fastest chip. Increasingly, it is about who writes the rules....

As global demand for satellite communications accelerates, Taiwan's role in the supply chain is beginning to shift. On April 2, BWant announced a new partnership with National Taipei University of Technology and Pyras Technology, alongside Canada-based SpaceBridge, to build a localized testing ecosystem aimed at connecting Taiwanese manufacturers more directly with global satellite operators....

Indium phosphide (InP), a critical material for long-distance optical communication, has become essential for AI-driven high-speed data transmission. However, China's export restrictions have triggered a shortage of InP substrates, creating a bottleneck in manufacturers' capacity expansion worldwide. The supply chain acknowledges that due to China's export curbs and the technical challenges of producing InP substrates, major international players remain cautious about increasing investments. The timeline for resolving this shortage remains uncertain....

Arm recently unveiled its first self-developed AGI CPU, marking a significant milestone as the company shifts from a pure technology IP licensor to a standard CPU supplier competing directly with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Ampere, and Intel....

Space-based cellphone service has long been pitched as the next frontier in connectivity. Now, SpaceX is testing that promise with Starlink Mobile — a bet that could reshape the wireless industry, even as early revenues remain modest....

As OpenAI prepares for a potential IPO this year, the company's leadership is undergoing a shake-up. Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Kate Rouch and OpenAI's head of AGI development, Fidji Simo, are both taking medical leave. The changes come at a pivotal time for the company as it tries to consolidate its operations to boost profitability and contends with a lawsuit by xAI CEO Elon Musk....

Labor shortages in the service sector are more severe than in manufacturing. This, coupled with its largely unstructured environments, makes it a market urgently keen on adopting AI robots. However, current AI robots still face limitations, including insufficient physical data and the ability to perceive real-world environments—key factors determining whether robots can effectively solve on-site problems....