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Monday 13 October 2025
China sees new smartphone launches spur by holiday season amid market recovery
Following China's 2025 Golden Week, major brands Oppo and Honor announced upcoming smartphone releases featuring advanced imaging and AI enhancements to stimulate demand. Despite promotional efforts, the third quarter of 2025 showed only a modest 2.3% year-over-year shipment growth, reflecting ongoing market challenges
Monday 13 October 2025
China's rare earth export ban broadens; US vows strong retaliation

China, on October 9, announced a major expansion of its rare earth export controls, escalating tensions with the US and drawing sharp criticism from President Donald Trump. In response, Trump vowed to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods starting on November 1

Monday 13 October 2025
Netherlands seizes control of Nexperia, deepening Europe-China tech rift

The Dutch government has taken extraordinary steps to limit Chinese group Wingtech Technology's control over its Dutch subsidiary Nexperia, invoking an emergency law typically reserved for wartime resource protection

Monday 13 October 2025
Samsung and SK Hynix drive next memory super cycle
AI demand and OpenAI's partnerships with Korean manufacturers are fueling a memory super cycle that could surpass the 2017–2018 period. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have recently accelerated the construction of new plants to meet strong demand expected through 2027
Monday 13 October 2025
Geopolitics and protectionism test China's auto dominance in Russia

When global automakers fled Russia in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Chinese car companies moved in with astonishing speed, flooding the market with affordable vehicles and quickly dominating the country's roads

Monday 13 October 2025
India roundup: AI firms accelerate R&D expansion in India
Anthropic and Graphcore plan to tap Indian talents and huge market potential by expanding local presence as Nvidia and OpenAI have shown interest in the country
Saturday 11 October 2025
Samsung to join Nvidia supply chain with HBM3E for GB300, shaking up market dynamics
Nvidia has reportedly confirmed it will use Samsung Electronics' fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM3E) in its latest AI accelerator, the GB300. Additionally, Samsung plans to purchase 50,000 Nvidia GPUs, a move the industry interprets as accelerating Samsung's AI transformation and further solidifying its alliance with Nvidia
Friday 10 October 2025
Beijing targets Qualcomm and TechInsights in widening tech crackdown
China has intensified its regulatory actions against foreign companies amid escalating tensions with the US, launching an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm while adding several US defense and technology firms — including TechInsights — to its Unreliable Entity List. The moves come as Beijing seeks to assert greater leverage in ongoing US-China trade and technology talks
Friday 10 October 2025
New H-1B fee surge forces Indian tech firms to rethink global workforce plans
The US government has implemented new regulations for the H-1B visa program, requiring applicants to pay fees reaching up to US$100,000. The change is having significant consequences for Indian professionals pursuing employment opportunities in the US, given that roughly 70% of H-1B applicants originate from India, according to Bloomberg. Employer-sponsored by nature, the H-1B visa is critical in facilitating temporary skilled work assignments, especially in information technology sectors
Friday 10 October 2025
China's top-four TV brands dominate 90% of surging miniLED market
MiniLED-backlit TVs are experiencing explosive growth, with overall shipments surpassing OLED TVs. In China, the penetration rate of miniLED-backlit TVs has rapidly increased, with over 90% of the market dominated by the top-four brand vendors: Hisense, TCL Technology, Skyworth, and Xiaomi
Friday 10 October 2025
FuriosaAI leads South Korea's physical AI push
As South Korea aims to become a top-three global AI powerhouse, neural processing unit (NPU) startup FuriosaAI envisions AI's ultimate evolution into physical AI. The company believes South Korea possesses the necessary industry and talent foundation to accelerate the development of energy-efficient AI accelerators and integrated hardware-software solutions for data centers and diverse physical AI applications
Thursday 9 October 2025
US expands export controls, citing Chinese firms' support for Hamas and Houthis
The US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced on October 8, 2025, that it is placing 29 Chinese and Hong Kong entities onto its strengthened Entity List—a move that bans or severely restricts US exports to those organizations without special approval. The decision, BIS said, targets firms suspected of supplying Iran-backed armed groups like Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen with drones built using US electronic components
Thursday 9 October 2025
Foxconn walks away from Nissan factory deal amid stalled talks
Struggling with prolonged financial headwinds, Nissan Motor Co. has announced plans to shutter one of its core production sites, the Oppama plant, by March 2028. Talks to sell the facility to Taiwan's Foxconn, a major electronics and electric vehicle manufacturer, have collapsed after months of stalled negotiations
Thursday 9 October 2025
Commentary: China's TGV ambitions face an uphill battle
China's development of through glass via (TGV) technology, crucial for advanced semiconductor packaging in AI and high-performance computing chips, encounters significant hurdles, including high process complexity, reliance on imported equipment, cost-yield balance issues, fragmented supply chains, patent barriers dominated by Japan, South Korea, and the US, and long research and development cycles
Thursday 9 October 2025
China tightens rare earth export controls with new ban on overseas assistance
China's Ministry of Commerce issued two major new rare earth regulations on October 9, 2025, including a landmark rule that imposes export controls on rare earth technologies and explicitly prohibits Chinese citizens, legal entities, and organizations from providing any substantial assistance or support to overseas rare earth activities without permission