As Lee Jae-myung takes office as South Korea's 21st President, the global tech and industry community is closely monitoring his ambitious economic agenda. Among the key sectors under scrutiny are semiconductors, batteries, shipbuilding, and defense industries that Lee pledged to nurture aggressively during his campaign

On the evening of June 5, 2025, Chinese state media reported that President Xi Jinping spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump, marking the first direct dialogue between the two leaders since Trump began his second presidential term in January 2025. The initial report by Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television was later updated to include the phrase "at request," indicating that the call was initiated by Trump and that China played a passive role in the exchange

Chinese officials summoned the heads of major electric vehicle makers, including BYD Co., to Beijing in early June to address concerns about the long-running price war, according to people familiar with the matter (hereinafter referred to as "the people")

India's top contract electronics manufacturer, Dixon Technologies, has applied for government approval to set up a joint venture with China-based HKC for manufacturing display modules used in smartphones, notebooks, and televisions. Executive chairman Sunil Vachani told PTI that the application was submitted under Press Note 3 of 2020, which mandates prior clearance for foreign investments from countries sharing land borders with India

European Union Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic raised concerns with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on June 3 over China's export curbs on rare earths and permanent magnets—materials critical to EU industry. The meeting highlighted mounting anxiety across Europe's automotive and manufacturing sectors

Taiwan's drone industry continues to expand its global presence, with its latest move focused on fostering collaboration with Japan at the Japan Drone 2025 exhibition. Following its participation in the XPONENTIAL exhibitions in Europe and the United States earlier this year, Taiwan is now promoting supply chain integration and cross-border cooperation at Asia's leading drone event

In recent weeks, China's tech ecosystem has been rattled by the revival of a decade-long rivalry between two industry heavyweights: Richard Yu, Executive Director and head of Consumer BG at Huawei, and Lei Jun, Xiaomi's founder and CEO. What began as a battle over smartphones has now spilled into the electric vehicle space, with pointed comments about quality and strategy sparking fresh debate across the industry

Suzuki Motor has suspended production of its best-selling Swift series, excluding the Sport variant, at its Japanese plant starting May 26, 2025, as China's tightening of rare earth metal exports reverberates across the global automotive sector

Huawei's cloud division said its Pangu large language model achieved a breakthrough in training architecture with a new "Mixture of Group Experts" technology that outperforms competing methods in efficiency and resource allocation

South Korea's newly elected President Lee Jae-myung has unveiled a flagship policy offering up to 10% production tax credits for semiconductors manufactured and sold domestically, marking a shift from the country's traditional investment-based incentives to output-focused support similar to US measures under the Inflation Reduction Act

The US has issued new export restrictions targeting leading electronic design automation (EDA) firms—Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens—prohibiting them from supplying software critical to advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip development in China. The move intensifies Washington's broader tech containment push and directly impacts China's ambitions for semiconductor independence

Jim Elliott, a veteran executive who spent over 20 years leading Samsung Electronics' memory operations in the US, has reportedly exited the company to join rival NAND flash provider SanDisk as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), according to sources cited by South Korea's Financial News (Fnnews) and Asian Economic News Agency

German laser technology provider LPKF has begun actively asserting its patents related to semiconductor glass substrate technology, signaling a potentially more aggressive posture as competition in the emerging field intensifies. Industry observers see this move as a strategic effort to raise barriers to entry as global interest in glass-based substrates grows

IT panels have been more affected by tariffs than TV panels. Beyond China's "trade-in" policy, stimulating some inventory buildup, certain brands in North America continue to increase stockpiling, which has driven recent price increases for LCD monitor panels. In May 2025, demand and prices for LCD monitor panels still showed support

China's electric vehicle market has been thrown into fresh turmoil following a new round of steep price cuts from BYD, reigniting a heated price war and triggering public disputes among automaker executives. As EV makers scramble to clear excess inventory, Beijing has issued warnings over the mounting risks