Foxconn is accelerating the geographic diversification of its global manufacturing capacity as AI server demand surges and supply-chain regionalization continues, with 2026 capex expected to rise more than 30% year on year. In China, however, the company is not mounting large-scale capacity expansion in step with the U.S., Mexico, India, and Vietnam. Instead, it is shifting investment toward equipment restructuring, precision manufacturing upgrades, and higher-end production capabilities at existing plants.

South Korea and the United States are at odds over which reactor design to build — and who runs the project — in the nuclear power component of Seoul's US investment package, according to industry sources cited by Korean outlet Edaily.

The first-half 2026 accounts now on file from China's listed semiconductor equipment makers describe an industry that has largely settled the question of whether domestic tools can be built and has moved on to a harder one: whether they can be built profitably. Nine of the ten grew revenue by between 13.9% and 49.1% year on year. Gross margins mostly did not follow, and the two largest reported profit jumps turn out, on inspection, to rest heavily on items unrelated to selling equipment.

China's nuclear fusion supply chain is stepping up work on high-temperature superconducting magnet technology. At the 2026 Fusion Energy Conference on August 25, China Fusion Energy Co. (CFEC) joined Shanghai Superconductor, Eastern Superconducting, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Group, Chaomagnet New Energy, Energy Singularity Energy Technology, Hangzhou Oxygen Plant Group, and Shanghai Yixi Tech to form a Yangtze River Delta innovation consortium focused on China Circulation No. 4 and the development and engineering of high-temperature superconducting high-field tokamak magnets.

The Global Automotive and Technology Expo 2026 (GATE 2026) officially opened on August 26, spotlighting efforts to deepen Malaysia's local supply chain, accelerate technology adoption and position the country as ASEAN's leading automotive and smart mobility hub. Cooperation between China, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries drew particular attention at the event.

The Global Automotive and Technology Expo 2026 (GATE 2026) officially opened on August 26, spotlighting efforts to deepen Malaysia's local supply chain, accelerate technology adoption and position the country as ASEAN's leading automotive and smart mobility hub. Cooperation between China, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries drew particular attention at the event.

Naura Technology Group posted faster revenue growth than profit in the first half of 2026, with stronger semiconductor equipment sales offset by heavier R&D spending, higher sales costs and weaker gross margins.

India's AI infrastructure push is gaining pace, with implications that extend far beyond the country's borders. According to Bloomberg, AM Intelligence has ordered 9,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin systems as global demand for advanced computing continues to strain supply, underscoring how power, data centers, and chip access are becoming strategic priorities worldwide.

SK hynix's production-worker union has rejected the company's tentative 2026 wage and collective bargaining agreement by just 25 votes, sending the two sides back to the negotiating table as production workers push back against a proposed shift from cash-heavy profit sharing toward stock-based compensation.

AI memory excess profits are beginning to change Samsung Electronics' capital-allocation logic. The company recently said that, under its current 2024-2026 shareholder return policy, the remaining funds available for shareholder returns in 2026 are estimated at about KRW90 trillion-KRW110 trillion (about US$65 billion-US$79 billion), a record high, while the market has already started looking to the next three-year period.

Apple is seeking to diversify its supply chain to ease pressure from rising memory costs and has reportedly sought US government clearance to buy memory from blacklisted Chinese chipmaker CXMT. The request has quickly become entangled in US-China geopolitics, but even if it receives political approval, CXMT’s long-running capacity constraints could still keep Apple from getting what it wants.

Enflame's planned US$893 million STAR Market IPO, examined in Part 1 of this series, highlights both the opportunity and the financial strain facing China's emerging AI chip suppliers, but profitability is only one part of the competition.

Chinese commercial rocket maker LandSpace plans to relaunch its reusable Zhuque-3 booster within six months, after the vehicle successfully completed a vertical landing on land in its second test flight last week. The company said the milestone marks not only a technical breakthrough but also the starting point for building a system for inspection, maintenance and reuse, as China's reusable rocket sector accelerates commercialization.

Enflame Technology is preparing to become the latest of China's leading AI chip developers to tap public markets, with a CNY6 billion (approx. US$893 million) Shanghai STAR Market listing that puts its rapid revenue growth, persistent losses and heavy reliance on Tencent under closer scrutiny.

Taiwan's circular economy has entered a new stage as the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said the sector's output has surpassed NT$1 trillion (US$31.4 billion), while calling for AI and related technologies to help narrow the pay and working-conditions gap with the semiconductor industry. The ministry made the remarks on August 25 at a joint press conference for the 2026 Taiwan Circular Economy Week with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of the Interior, and the Public Construction Commission.