Humanoid robots require at least US$2,000 worth of semiconductors per unit—twice the content of an EV—and could drive the next semiconductor supercycle, Texas Instruments (TI) said. The company is expanding capacity for the next wave of demand rather than the current boom, according to William Feng, TI's Taiwan and South Asia sales and applications general manager.
Hewlett Packard (HP) has appointed Emma Walmsley, the former head of drugmaker GSK, as its next CEO, ending a search that began after the company named an interim leader earlier this year.
Flexium Interconnect chairman Walter Cheng said the company has emerged from the toughest operating downturn of the past two years and expects AI orders for smart glasses and infrastructure to accelerate in 2027, which is also expected to lower consumer electronics revenue to below 50%. The flexible printed circuit (FPC) maker expects its polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) products to enter mass production in 2028 and is targeting a return to profitability in the first quarter of 2027.
Chicony Power Technology Co. reported weaker quarterly results in the third quarter of 2026 as slowing notebook demand and severe memory shortages among customers weighed on performance. The power supply maker expects AI servers and communications power supplies to drive growth in the fourth quarter, while low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite products are positioned as a key growth engine for 2027.
The global notebook market faces steep cost increases for key components including memory and processors, but Asus is keeping annual shipments relatively stable through its commercial PC and high-value product strategies. According to the notebook supply chain, Asus' 2026 notebook shipments are expected to remain broadly flat or decline 1.3% from 2025, as commercial notebooks and Chromebooks grow 27% and 9%, respectively, offsetting declines in consumer and gaming notebooks.
AI, high-performance computing, and early pull-ins from TV, PC, and notebook supply chains pushed the global foundry market to a record high in the first quarter of 2026. China's Nexchip Semiconductor delivered the key ranking shift, overtaking Taiwan's Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) for the first time to become the world's eighth-largest foundry.
