Japan's manufacturing sector has received a significant boost from the AI boom, with companies in the materials, power infrastructure, and information system supply chains achieving particularly robust results. However, the automobile and steel industries continue to struggle due to market pressures and intensified competition
What factors did Apple consider when selecting a partner for Apple Intelligence, leading them to choose Alibaba? The recent server overloads experienced by DeepSeek highlight its computational limitations, indicating that Apple's primary consideration was service stability, followed by technical capabilities
The focus of AI is pivoting from training to inference, according to TechInsights. As AI companies like DeepSeek-R1 highlight the growing need for inference computational power, Nvidia's market dominance remains strong, with demand for its GPUs continuing to rise. However, this shift presents a chance for local Chinese AI chipmakers to step up, as several have already aligned with DeepSeek's requirements
Japan-based Shibaura Electronics, a global leader in negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor manufacturing, has established a special committee to evaluate a tender offer from Taiwanese passive components maker Yageo
Japan Display Inc. (JDI) has announced plans to sell its primary LCD panel production facility in Mobara, Chiba Prefecture, with production scheduled to end by March 2026. The company will transfer manufacturing capabilities to its Ishikawa factory in Kawakita, Ishikawa Prefecture, while shifting resources toward panel production partnerships and advanced packaging collaboration with Taiwanese firm PanelSemi
Following the breakdown of merger talks between Nissan and Honda, the chairman of Taiwan's Foxconn, Young Liu, stated on February 12, 2025, that the company's goal is cooperation with Nissan, not acquisition. This approach may offer Nissan a less disruptive path to financial stability, technological advancement, and continued innovation
Apple has selected Alibaba Group's (Alibaba) Qwen model as its AI service provider for the Chinese market. Alibaba chairman Joseph Tsai confirmed this collaboration during the World Government Summit in Dubai on February 13, 2025
With Panasonic announcing its exit from the television business in 2025, all eyes are on global TV giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics to see how they will navigate the Japanese market. However, both South Korean brands currently maintain a minimal market presence in Japan, struggling against the price-competitive strategies of Chinese competitors
Chinese foundries' aggressive expansion into mature nodes has created an oversupply situation, leading to significant price cuts that are now affecting the broader semiconductor manufacturing sector
Two of the world's leading closed-source AI models—Ernie Bot and ChatGPT—are set to become free to use, intensifying competition in the AI market. The move, widely seen as a response to DeepSeek's growing influence, is expected to trigger a new wave of AI price wars
China's rapid expansion in mature-node wafer foundries is reshaping the global semiconductor landscape and intensifying competition for Taiwanese second-tier players. In a market estimated at roughly US$56.3 billion, Chinese foundries—such as Hua Hong Semiconductor and SMIC—are aggressively cutting prices and rapidly expanding capacity. This surge has not only prompted the US government to initiate a Section 301 investigation but has also served as a wake-up call across the industry
On February 13, Applied Materials released its latest financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (November 2024 to October 2025), with net sales reaching US$7.17 billion, reflecting a 6.8% increase compared to the same period last year
Honda and Nissan have officially called off their merger negotiations, which began in December 2024. Both companies held board meetings on February 13, 2025, where they decided to end the discussions
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has accelerated its next-generation DRAM development, transitioning from 17nm to 16nm process technology for its first DDR5 product, according to TechInsights. The company is also advancing 15nm DRAM, with plans to complete R&D by 2025 and begin mass production in late 2026
