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Thursday 3 April 2025
Microsoft joins corporate China exodus with Shanghai AI lab closure
Microsoft has closed its AI and IoT laboratory in Shanghai, adding to the growing list of multinational corporations scaling back operations in China. According to a report by The South China Morning Post, the lab in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park now stands empty, with office equipment removed and Microsoft's corporate logo taken down from the building.
Wednesday 2 April 2025
Qualcomm acquires Vingroup's AI division for talents
According to a press release, Qualcomm has acquired MovianAI, the former generative AI division of VinAI, which is part of the Vingroup. This acquisition will enhance Qualcomm's R&D capabilities, potentially fostering significant innovations.
Wednesday 2 April 2025
Vivo swerves EV hype for home robots as China ages
Vivo, China's top smartphone brand from 2021 to 2024, is making a surprising pivot into the home robotics market. While global tech giants double down on electric vehicles (EVs) amid a saturated smartphone landscape, Vivo is betting its future on consumer-grade robots for personal and household use.
Wednesday 2 April 2025
The Great Tech Reset 4: Taiwan's electronics edge holds firm as AI era reshapes global supply chains
Between 2019 and 2024, global GDP rose by about US$21 trillion. During this time, companies like AWS, Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Tesla saw their market values exceed US$1 trillion. These tech giants have not only focused on their main business areas but have also significantly invested in developing in-house chips.
Wednesday 2 April 2025
Interview with Boston Dynamics founder: Robotics growth fueled by AI but humanoid debate continues
The demand for humanoid robots is on the rise, driven in part by the optimism of industry leaders such as Nvidia. However, the practicality of adopting a humanoid form for robots remains a critical topic of discussion. Recent insights from Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics, shed light on various aspects of this burgeoning trend during an interview with DIGITIMES.
Wednesday 2 April 2025
China hits its 'ChatGPT moment' with DeepSeek, says 01.AI CEO Kai-Fu Lee
At the 2025 ZGC Forum in Beijing, held from March 27 to 31, artificial intelligence (AI) dominated the agenda. At the event's flagship "Future AI Pioneer Forum," 01.AI CEO and Sinovation Ventures founder Kai-Fu Lee shared his perspective on the trajectory of generative AI in China.
Wednesday 2 April 2025
Taiwanese electronics industry thrives with AI Demand, but Trump's upcoming tariffs raise economic concerns

Taiwan's electronics component industry has benefited from strong demand driven by AI and high-performance computing applications, with recent export, production, and outbound orders showing double-digit year-over-year growth. The expansion of AI server production also bodes well for the industry's prospects. However, Taiwan's shipping industry has raised concerns, citing the tariff policies announced by Trump on April 2, which have introduced uncertainty into the economic outlook, with the risk of economic downturn increasing significantly in 2025.

Wednesday 2 April 2025
Apple faces AI challenge in China as local competition intensifies
As China rapidly advances in artificial intelligence, local smartphone brands are integrating AI technology to strengthen their market positions. Meanwhile, Apple has yet to launch its AI chatbot in China, raising questions about its ability to compete. Given China's strong demand for AI services, Apple must collaborate with local firms to meet regulatory requirements and remain relevant in the market.
Wednesday 2 April 2025
Chinese entrepreneur Xingxing Wang's Unitree Robotics shines in the global robotics race
Among China's six Hangzhou start-ups, Unitree Robotics is one of the standout players. Founded in 2016, Unitree has been consistently profitable since 2020, achieving steady growth year after year. How has Xingxing Wang, a Chinese entrepreneur and founder of Unitree, managed to achieve such remarkable success?
Wednesday 2 April 2025
No more GPUs needed? Ghibli indirectly proves three major AI trends
Recently, a global trend has emerged where users are generating images in the style of Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli) using ChatGPT. However, this sudden surge in demand has left OpenAI overwhelmed. Users have noticed that as more people activate this feature, the processing speed not only slows down but also requires traffic management, raising an intriguing question: will cloud-based AI require additional computing power due to streamlined AI models? Based on ChatGPT's recent performance, the answer is clearly no.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Acer Medical's new GM aims to expand AI healthcare sector
Acer Medical announced on April 1, 2025, that Dr. Kai-Cheng Hsu has been appointed as the new general manager and chief medical officer, while Dr. Allen Lien will concentrate on his role as the chairman and CEO of Acer Medical. This leadership change unites the expertise of two prominent medical professionals with Acer's cutting-edge technology, as the company continues to expand its footprint in the AI healthcare sector.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Zhipu AI enters the ring with AutoGLM; open-source AI agent targets LLM supremacy
Zhipu AI, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup, introduced its open-source AI agent AutoGLM at the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum. Designed to bridge advanced reasoning with task execution, AutoGLM will be supported by proprietary large language models (LLMs) that are set to open-source on April 14.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Taiwanese government launches NT$10 billion AI investment fund
Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) and the National Development Fund (NDF) announced on March 31 the official launch of the "Enhanced AI Startup Investment Program," aimed at accelerating Taiwan's digital economy. The government is committed to fostering AI industry development through five key policy tools—computing power, data, talent, marketing, and funding.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Manus rising: China's Butterfly Effect squares off against ChatGPT Pro with premium AI agent
Chinese AI startup Butterfly Effect has rolled out a subscription service for its Manus AI agent just weeks after launching its preview version, with its top-tier Manus Pro plan priced to compete directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT Pro at US$199 per month.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Acer targets SEA healthcare sector with AI eye-screening software
Acer Group will showcase its VeriSee AI ophthalmic screening software at the Malaysia Ophthalmology Conference from April 25-27, 2025, targeting the Southeast Asian healthcare market where diabetes rates are among the region's highest.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Tokyo Electron forecasts stable semiconductor demand and expansion in AI chip equipment
Hiroshi Kawamoto, Division Officer, Finance Division of Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL), one of Japan's leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers, projects that demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) equipment—vital for powering generative AI—will continue to grow. However, he anticipates that sales of front-end semiconductor manufacturing processes in 2025 will likely remain on par with 2024 levels.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
AMD completes acquisition of ZT Systems
AMD has completed its acquisition of ZT Systems, aiming to strengthen its AI infrastructure offerings, the company announced on March 31. The deal will integrate ZT Systems' design teams into AMD's Data Center Solutions unit, enhancing AI system deployment while paving the way for strategic partnerships in US-based data center manufacturing.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
China's server reboot: Kunpeng chips signal Huawei's post-x86 future
Amid the AI boom, much of the spotlight has focused on Chinese chips like Huawei's Ascend. Yet, general-purpose computing power, still dominated by CPUs, remains a critical foundation. Most enterprise servers continue to adopt a "CPU plus AI accelerator" setup. Even Nvidia, known for its GPUs, is developing its own Arm-based Grace CPU to meet this demand.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
AI data center demand: Bubble or boom? Taiwan's server ODMs paint optimistic picture
There is growing speculation regarding a potential slowdown in the demand for AI data centers. Despite these concerns, Taiwan's server original design manufacturers, who hold more than 90% of the global market share, insist that the adjustments in customer orders are primarily due to shifts in supply conditions, with demand momentum remaining strong. Amid shifting US tariff policies, recent order surges have pushed production to full capacity, propelling server revenues to new heights.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Huawei 2024 annual report: US$118B in revenue, profit slips, R&D spending soars past US$25B
Huawei Chairman Liang Hua said at the Guangdong High-Quality Development Conference in early February that the company's total sales revenue for 2024 surpassed CNY860 billion (approx. US$118.42 billion).
Tuesday 1 April 2025
OpenAI finalizes US$40 billion funding at US$300 billion value
OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, said it has finalized a funding round that will bring in US$40 billion from SoftBank Group Corp. and other investors at a US$300 billion valuation, including money raised.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Deepseek AI drives unprecedented demand for Nvidia's China-specific chips
Nvidia's relationship with Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has evolved dramatically, affecting Nvidia's stock price and driving strong demand for its China-specific H20 GPU in China. Since late January 2025, major Chinese technology companies have been aggressively purchasing servers to deploy DeepSeek AI models, creating unprecedented demand for Nvidia's H20 chips.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Lip-Bu Tan seeks US support to rebuild Intel Foundry, aims to secure 2-3 key customers
On March 31, at his first public appearance as CEO during the Intel Vision conference in Las Vegas, Lip-bu Tan outlined his strategy for Intel, which includes spinning off non-core assets, enhancing AI-related products, and collaborating with the US government to attract 2 to 3 key customers for its foundry business.
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Post-DeepSeek fallout: China's six AI startups shift from scaling to survival
DeepSeek's meteoric rise as an open-source large language model (LLM) has shaken up China's generative AI industry, redrawing the competitive map in record time. As the Financial Times observed, the model's rapid global uptake is pushing Chinese AI startups into a corner: pivot fast or risk being left behind.
Monday 31 March 2025
Baidu goes open-source: custom GPUs power comeback bid
On March 16, 2025, Baidu launched its latest AI models, Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1, and announced they would be available free for all users. Ernie 4.5 also marks Baidu's first fully multi-modal large language model (LLM).