The Trump administration has launched an interagency review to determine whether to authorize the first exports of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, Reuters reported

Japan plans to guarantee up to 80 percent of private-sector loans raised by Rapidus as the government intensifies financial backing for the chipmaker’s plan to mass-produce 2nm semiconductors, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on December 18

China has begun easing restrictions on rare earth exports by approving a series of general licenses for qualified suppliers, according to the Ministry of Commerce on December 18, 2025. The move allows for smoother shipments to overseas customers and signals a measured loosening of trade controls that had tightened earlier this year

China's GPU start-ups are back at the center of a capital-market frenzy. Following Moore Threads, five-year-old MetaX has listed on Shanghai's STAR Market, with its shares surging more than sevenfold on debut. At its peak, the company's market capitalization briefly hit CNY330 billion (US$46.9 billion)—a striking number for a business generating just CNY1.5–2 billion in annual revenue, and one that would raise eyebrows even by global semiconductor standards

As competitive pressures in China's domestic auto market continue to intensify, Chinese carmakers are rapidly upgrading their overseas expansion strategies. What was once a straightforward export business—selling vehicles abroad—has evolved into what industry executives describe as "Go Global 2.0": a coordinated effort to export entire industrial systems and ecosystems, not just finished products

Tata Group has invested an additional INR15 billion (US$170 million) in Tata Electronics, the company that manufactures iPhones for Apple, bringing its total investment in the subsidiary to INR45 billion over the past year. The latest funding, made in October, reflects ongoing support for expanding production capacity as Tata Electronics strengthens its role in Apple's global supply chain

Hotai Motor Co. plans to invest approximately NT$10 billion (US$317 million) in Japan's commercial vehicle market, marking its first international expansion. The company will acquire an 80% stake in five Hino Motors Ltd. subsidiaries, pending regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close in April 2026

China's 3C market has been reporting successive price hikes despite a sluggish macroeconomic environment and deflationary pressure. Xiaomi, followed by Honor, Lenovo, and Dell, have increased prices, demonstrating the impact of memory shortages on the 3C end market

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have signed binding agreements to create a new US-based joint venture that will be majority-owned and controlled by American investors, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in an internal memo to employees. The transaction, which is expected to close on January 22, 2026, is designed to secure the video-sharing platform's long-term operations in the US amid persistent national security scrutiny from Washington

Chennai-based iVP Semiconductor is betting it can crack India's power semiconductor market by solving a problem that global chipmakers largely ignore: the poor service experience of Indian OEMs, who rank low in their priority queues

India's semiconductor sector has increasingly turned to cross-border acquisitions and investments, reflecting a broader push to accelerate technology capabilities and integrate into global supply chains. Notably, Cyient Semiconductors' recent agreement to acquire over 65% of US-based Kinetic Technologies for US$93 million is part of a larger trend of Indian firms targeting foreign semiconductor assets

SK Hynix is accelerating the build-out of its M15X memory chip plant in Cheongju, South Korea, as the company installs manufacturing tools and moves into the final engineering phase for a second cleanroom, underscoring its push to scale production of high-bandwidth memory chips used in advanced servers and data centers

As humanoid robots emerge as a key technology riding the wave of AI, the US and China are rapidly forming two competing camps. Industry insiders analyzing their strengths say the US holds an edge mainly in software and foundational models, while China slightly outpaces the US in hardware innovation and iteration speed, with costs reportedly just one-fifth those of American products, making it difficult for other countries to catch up in the short term

As global technology groups push beyond raw computing power into large-scale deployment, Alibaba Group is showing clear acceleration in AI application rollout across its core businesses

A South Korean logic IC startup is moving closer to cable-free device design with the development of a 60GHz millimeter-wave communication chip designed to replace short-range wired connections in consumer and industrial electronics