As Taiwan seeks to strengthen its position in the global semiconductor race, the government is shifting its focus toward homegrown innovation. Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has approved NT$3 billion (US$97.69 million) in funding for five semiconductor research and development projects involving six domestic companies, with the government providing NT$840 million in subsidies. The initiative, targeting an estimated industrial output value of NT$98.1 billion, represents a strategic pivot toward supporting local IC design houses rather than foreign chipmakers, particularly in cutting-edge areas like artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

Brazil's government has warned of an impending semiconductor shortage that could halt car production within weeks, the latest fallout from the Dutch government's takeover of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia and China's retaliatory export ban.

ASE, a leader in semiconductor assembly and testing, reported stronger-than-expected overall operations in the third quarter of 2025, driven by growth in advanced packaging fueled by AI applications and a stabilized New Taiwan dollar (NT$) against the US dollar. The company's quarterly profit reached an 11-quarter high.

Arm recently announced that it, along with AMD and Nvidia, has been appointed to the Open Compute Project (OCP) board. These companies will collaborate with major players such as Meta, Google, Intel, and Microsoft to drive innovation in open and interoperable designs for AI data centers.

Microsoft kicked off its 2026 fiscal year with another blockbuster quarter. First quarter fiscal 2026 revenue reached US$77.7 billion, up 18% year-over-year, while operating income surged 24% and earnings per share climbed 23% to US$4.13. The company's AI-driven momentum continued to build, with Microsoft Cloud revenue up 26% to US$49.1 billion, reflecting both unprecedented demand and a deepening integration of generative AI across its ecosystem.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics to University of California, Berkeley professor John Clarke and two other scientists for identifying macroscopic quantum tunneling and quantized energy levels in electronic circuits, two defining phenomena of quantum mechanics.

Future Nokia base stations will adopt Nvidia ARC, integrating Grace CPUs with Blackwell GPUs, as part of a long-term collaboration between the two companies on 5G and 6G base station chips. The AI-RAN platform can leverage idle RAN assets to support edge AI services, allowing base stations to perform AI inference computations while providing communication services.

Samsung Electronics saw strong results from its mobile division for the third quarter of 2025, driven by robust sales of its new foldable models, the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Flip7. The Mobile eXperience (MX) and Network (NW) business units reported operating profit growth of nearly 30% year-over-year.

US radio frequency and power amplifier manufacturer Skyworks Solutions announced it will merge with Qorvo. The combined company is estimated to be valued at US$22 billion, with plans to integrate both companies' radio frequency front-end (RFFE) product lines, strengthening technological advantages in smartphones and wireless communications.

The race is heating up. Two of China's top autonomous-driving firms — Pony AI Inc. (Pony.ai) and WeRide Inc. (WeRide) — have filed to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on November 6, 2024, setting up a head-to-head contest for the title of Hong Kong's first robotaxi stock.

Seeking to improve vehicle safety and reduce traffic fatalities, Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is accelerating efforts to strengthen its Taiwan New Car Assessment Program (TNCAP).

Taiwanese semiconductor group Egis Technology held its annual "2025 Egis Tech Day" on October 28, 2025, unveiling a suite of cutting-edge innovations under the theme of "fully activated AI."

The global solar industry is undergoing a technological transformation as the industry has shifted from PERC cells to TOPCon processes. The technology upgrade that was expected to boost gross margins has instead triggered a wave of severe losses due to intense price competition and overcapacity among Chinese giants.

Taiwan Perovskite Solar Corp. (TPSC) demonstrated its full vertical integration across materials, processes, modules, equipment, and applications at Energy Taiwan 2025 under the theme "Perovskite NEXT: Linking the Future‧Perovskite." Collaborating with 14 partners from Taiwan and the US, the company highlighted the accelerating development and maturing landscape of Taiwan's perovskite solar ecosystem.

Taiwan's renewable energy development has hit headwinds in recent years, with 2025 likely marking a slowdown in growth. HD Renewable Energy (HDRE) noted that despite policy and installation setbacks, surging electricity demand from AI and high-tech industries continues to drive strong long-term demand for energy storage.

Taiwan's drone exports surged sevenfold in the first half of 2025, with Europe emerging as the largest destination. However, industry experts note that the main challenge for Taiwanese drone makers entering the European Union (EU) market lies not in production capacity but in meeting stringent international certification standards.

US President Donald Trump has approved South Korea's construction of a nuclear-powered submarine at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in an effort to strengthen their alliance. South Korea will pay US$350 billion in exchange for a reduction in tariffs and will make large-scale purchases of US oil and natural gas. Its total investment in the US is expected to exceed US$600 billion.

Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corporation (SSFC) broke ground on October 28, 2025, for its Shinkong InnovHub, a drone base integrating R&D, testing, manufacturing, talent incubation, and flight applications. The initiative aims to energize Taiwan's drone sector and emerging technology industries.

Although Chinese panel manufacturers have recently gained market share, their profitability has been weak due to the high proportion of low-priced products. In contrast, South Korean companies are improving their business structure by focusing on OLED and high-end panel products.

As holiday seasons approach, including China's Singles' Day and Black Friday in Europe and the US, the smartphone panel market has maintained high utilization rates in the fourth quarter of 2025, though price trends have diverged across different panel technologies.

Although the LCD industry supply chain has begun moving from China to Vietnam in the past two years, front-end panel processes remain mainly in China or Taiwan. Sarah Lin, president of Coretronic Corporation, stated that the influx of Chinese component and module suppliers building capacity in Vietnam has created a major test for Vietnam's factory construction speed, human resources, and local culture. After building a new factory in the first half of 2025, Lin believes that Vietnam's manufacturing efficiency is lower than China's.