The 2025 Shanghai Auto Show has drawn nearly 1,000 automakers and component suppliers from around the world. Chinese manufacturers continued to lead in presence, but a strong group of companies from Europe, the US, and Japan also presented their latest innovations. Notably, Tesla was absent for the third consecutive year. South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia were also missing, underscoring shifting dynamics in the world's largest auto market

Apple's efforts to reduce its reliance on China are facing pushback from Beijing, according to a report by The Information. In early 2025, Chinese authorities reportedly blocked a local Apple supplier from exporting equipment needed for the trial production of the upcoming iPhone 17 in India

Samsung Electronics has recently intensified its deployment in advanced high bandwidth memory (HBM) processes. However, supply chain sources reveal that Samsung's HBM3E certification progress is once again facing obstacles. Google, which had planned to pair its self-designed AI servers chips with Samsung's HBM3E and submit them to TSMC for CoWoS packaging, suddenly notified Samsung of the removal of HBM from its plans

Ahead of the US government's early April export restrictions, Chinese tech giants ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent reportedly preemptively stockpiled up to one million units of Nvidia's H20 GPU, a chip custom-built for the Chinese market. Nikkei Asia reported that the total value of these orders topped US$12 billion, with buyers pressing Nvidia to deliver all units by May 2025

With Sony exiting the 8K television (TV) market, industry attention has turned to whether Samsung Electronics' high-end TV strategy will also undergo changes

Taiwan's government has increased an aid package to NT$93 billion (approx. US$2.86 billion) for companies hit by US tariffs while lowering the threshold for eligibility

The 2025 Shanghai Auto Show has become a focal point for technological competition, as chip manufacturers present advanced platforms that significantly enhance vehicle intelligence. Industry titans such as MediaTek, Nvidia, Intel, and leading domestic IC design houses including Black Sesame Technologies and SemiDrive are forging strategic alliances, signaling the end of solitary competition and the dawn of a new era defined by collaborative innovation

JEDEC has relaxed the height specification for sixth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4), clearing a key obstacle for South Korean memory leaders Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The revision allows both companies to continue with volume production using existing DRAM stacking methods, avoiding the early adoption of more expensive packaging technologies like hybrid bonding

Despite recent softening in rhetoric from President Trump and the US Treasury Secretary toward China, American diplomatic overtures have done little to slow the exodus of NB brands from China. The industry's supply chain remains firmly committed to expanding manufacturing capacity in Southeast Asia and Mexico as companies hedge against future geopolitical risks

US President Donald Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" have sent shockwaves through global markets, yet may be yielding unintended consequences. His strategy, championed in his bestselling "Trump: The Art of the Deal," appears to be backfiring as China adapts and diversifies

Huawei is rapidly rolling out a new generation of semiconductor products tailored for artificial intelligence (AI), signaling a bold push to fill the void left by tightening US export restrictions on advanced chips. The company is set to release its Ascend 910C chip in May, followed by the introduction of the Ascend 920 in the latter half of 2025. This development occurs against the backdrop of US export restrictions, which were implemented during the Trump administration and have limited Nvidia's capacity to provide high-performance chips to China

The list of donors for US President Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony has been released, with South Korean conglomerates Samsung, Hyundai Motor, and Hanwha making large donations through US subsidiaries. Observers interpret the donations as an attempt by South Korean companies to proactively seek favorable outcomes related to US tariff policy

Following the US government's reciprocal tariff measures aimed at curbing trade surpluses and recalibrating supply chains, Asian countries are intensifying efforts to crack down on "source washing"—a growing concern tied to tariff evasion and escalating geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing

Following the Trump administration's export controls on Nvidia's H20 AI chip for China, there's speculation that Chinese AI chip manufacturers might fill the gap. Although China's long-term prospects for domestic AI chip production look promising, the short-term scenario appears more complicated and challenging