Intel is grappling with an operational crisis as its IDM 2.0 transformation plan has yet to yield results, casting doubt on when its foundry business might finally become profitable. This raises the question of whether Intel should consider abandoning its IDM model and separating its product design and manufacturing divisions—a move with both potential advantages and drawbacks. Industry leaders, including former board members, are offering advice in hopes of helping Intel find a viable path forward. However, the conflicting nature of their advice highlights the complexity of the company's dilemma
Embodied AI is moving out of the lab and into real-world environments at increasing speed. The humanoid robot half-marathon scheduled for April 19 in Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (E-Town) is framed as a public race, but functions more as an industry stress test, compressing a full stack of technologies into a 21-kilometer trial
The global AI boom is shifting infrastructure bottlenecks from GPUs to CPUs, as inference-heavy and agentic AI workloads push compute demands beyond accelerator capacity into system-level constraints
ASML delivered first-quarter 2026 results that exceeded expectations, prompting management to raise its full-year guidance despite a cautious outlook for the second quarter. The company announced plans to expand its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) manufacturing capacity to meet strong demand expected in 2027. The updated outlook suggests stronger momentum in the second half of 2026
Agentic AI is pulling CPUs back to the center of the AI stack, turning them into a renewed battleground for chipmakers. After Arm moved into AGI-focused CPU design, Nvidia has followed with a stake in SiFive, a RISC-V IP provider, signaling a broader shift in how control of AI infrastructure is being contested
As the global generative AI boom shifts from scale to localization, Southeast Asia is emerging as a critical testing ground for the next phase of development. The region's linguistic diversity and complex cultural landscape are pushing developers to rethink model design, fueling the rise of localized large language models and smaller, more efficient systems tailored to specific use cases
Taiwan's listed AI hardware companies collectively generated $69.7 billion in March 2026 revenue across 13 supply-chain segments — up 63% year-over-year — offering the most comprehensive single-month snapshot yet of where global AI infrastructure spending is actually flowing. The table below covers 49 companies from TSMC's silicon foundry all the way down to the rail kits that slide servers into racks. Read together, the numbers tell a story that goes well beyond any single company's earnings call
AI agents are moving beyond chat into execution, handling tasks, workflows, and decisions. That shift is giving rise to a new hardware category: the agent computer. Built for persistent, local AI operation with direct control over tools and data, it is emerging as a contender for the next core of personal computing
China's AgiBot Innovation (Shanghai) Technology has shipped its 10,000th humanoid robot, the Agibot Expedition A3, signalling early mass production at scale. Output doubled from 5,000 units at the end of 2025 within three months. While Tesla's Optimus timeline remains under scrutiny, China's humanoid robot push is already scaling, led by AgiBot, Unitree Robotics, and Ubtech Robotics in an emerging three-player structure
At SEMICON China 2026, Applied Materials and ASML kept a low profile under tightening US export controls, while domestic Chinese suppliers dominated visibility and floor presence
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
China's push for a self-sufficient AI stack is no longer theoretical — it is entering deployment. DeepSeek's upcoming V4 model, expected within weeks, signals a shift from experimentation to execution, linking software, chips, and policy into a single system
In September 2025, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made a rare joint livestream appearance with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to announce a US$5 billion equity investment in Intel. In March 2026, Nvidia followed up with a US$2 billion investment in Marvell Technology. Why Huang is investing in potential competitors so aggressively remains a question
