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Friday 4 July 2025
Tesla halts Optimus robot production plans as hardware woes mount
Tesla has reportedly paused procurement and production plans for its humanoid robot, Optimus, due to unresolved hardware challenges, according to sources within China's supply chain network. The temporary suspension comes as Tesla's engineering team works to refine key technical components. The company intends to resume procurement only after optimizing the robot's design and confirming a revised mass production schedule.
Friday 4 July 2025
South Korea's 3D printing boom sparks fears of tech leaks to China
Many South Korean companies are turning to 3D printing to cut production costs, using the technology to manufacture products in critical sectors such as aerospace and defense, areas classified as national core technologies. However, some cases involve the use of Chinese-made 3D printers or subcontractors leaking proprietary technologies to China. Critics argue that South Korea's current registration-based system for operating 3D printing businesses lacks sufficient oversight, leaving the industry vulnerable to security breaches and intellectual property theft.
Friday 4 July 2025
Component makers across Southeast Asia await clarity as Vietnam reaches tariff deal with US

US President Donald Trump has unveiled a trade agreement with Vietnam that reduces tariffs on Vietnamese exports to the US from 46% to 20%, while imposing a 40% levy on transshipped goods. Although the full policy details have yet to be released, connector and cable suppliers say the Vietnam deal provides a provisional reference point amid broader uncertainty over regional tariff policies.

Friday 4 July 2025
Apple faces fresh tariff headwinds as US-Vietnam deal reshapes supply chains
US President Donald Trump recently announced a new trade deal with Vietnam, which reduces a planned 45% reciprocal tariff on Vietnamese imports to 20%, while imposing a 40% tariff on transshipped goods, signaling shifts in US trade policy with significant implications for technology supply chains.
Friday 4 July 2025
Communication suppliers respond to Trump tariffs with cautious diversification
On June 2, US President Donald Trump announced a trade agreement imposing a 20% tariff on imports from Vietnam and a 40% tariff on transshipped products. The new tariffs have garnered significant attention within the network communication industry, particularly in Taiwan, where many manufacturers have relocated production to Vietnam, targeting the US market.
Friday 4 July 2025
Intel's new AI accelerator may adopt HBM4? SK Hynix stresses no confirmed details
Intel recently held its AI Summit in South Korea, sharing the latest trends in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and innovative applications across various industries. The event also explored future AI development directions and cross-industry collaboration strategies. Among the highlights, cooperation between SK Hynix and Intel on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for next-generation AI accelerators attracted significant attention.
Friday 4 July 2025
US-Vietnam tariff deal narrows gap, but transshipment rules remain a black box
US President Donald Trump has confirmed a preliminary tariff framework with Vietnam that lowers duties on Vietnamese exports to the US from 46% to 20%. However, the deal includes a separate 40% tariff on transshipped goods routed through Vietnam from other countries. In return, Vietnam will eliminate all tariffs on US imports, granting American products full access to its market.
Friday 4 July 2025
Thailand moves to limit foreign workers at PCB plants amid trade tensions with China
Thailand plans to restrict foreign employment at manufacturing facilities to 70% local workers, targeting Chinese companies suspected of using the country to circumvent US import restrictions, as Taiwan and China PCB makers expand operations there.
Friday 4 July 2025
Trump's Vietnam tariff deal eases some market uncertainty, but 40% transshipment clause raises new risks

President Donald Trump announced that the US has reached a new tariff agreement with Vietnam, lowering tariffs on Vietnamese exports to the US from a previously reciprocal rate of 46% to 20%. While the tech and electronics industries generally welcomed the announcement, experts say the real game-changer may lie in a lesser-discussed clause: a 40% tariff on transshipped goods. The details of its implementation—and the criteria for what qualifies as transshipment—remain unclear.

Friday 4 July 2025
Vietnam tariff negotiations mark Asia's first; optical industry acknowledges varied impact
Vietnam has become the first Asian country to complete reciprocal tariff negotiations with the US, with optical manufacturers including AOET and Ability operating production facilities in Vietnam.
Friday 4 July 2025
China-India rivalry forces Foxconn to rethink manpower strategy
As 2025 begins under President Donald Trump's second term, rising trade tensions and tariffs are pushing regionalized manufacturing. In this context, Foxconn is reportedly recalling Chinese engineers from its Indian operations, highlighting the complex China-India dynamics shaping global industry.
Friday 4 July 2025
Central Taiwan Science Park sees two new companies in precision machinery cluster
Two new precision machinery companies, Theta Precision and EQUIPTOP, have joined Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), with a combined total investment of NT$173 million (US$6 million). As of July 2025, CTSP has introduced eight new investment projects, with a total investment of NT$1.678 billion.
Friday 4 July 2025
ICT design house Microprogram to make Taiwan Stock debut
Taiwanese ICT design house Microprogram Information will list on the Taiwan Stock Exchange at the end of July 2025, taking a further step into the capital market.
Thursday 3 July 2025
Luxshare to list in Hong Kong as part of global strategy, joins wave of Apple suppliers
Luxshare Precision Industry Co., a key supplier to Apple and a leading player in China's electronics manufacturing sector, plans to issue H-shares and list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). The initiative aims to support its global expansion strategy, boost access to international capital, and improve corporate governance and transparency.
Thursday 3 July 2025
Foxconn's recall of hundreds of Chinese staff from India iPhone plant siren concerns over Apple's South Asia strategy
Foxconn has instructed hundreds of Chinese engineers and technicians at its iPhone assembly plant in southern India to return to China, according to a Bloomberg report. Sources familiar with the matter said most Chinese employees were notified over the past two months, and more than 300 have already left. Only a limited number of Taiwanese support personnel remain on site.
Thursday 3 July 2025
Taiwan seeks irreplaceable role in global chip supply chain amid AI boom
Taiwan's semiconductor industry has emerged as a strategic global resource amid geopolitical tensions and artificial intelligence growth, but the island must redefine its positioning to maintain competitive advantages over the next decade. DIGITIMES Chairman Colley Hwang analyzed Taiwan's supply chain position through data insights, introducing the concept "Make Asian Supply Chain Great" to emphasize intrinsic value creation.
Thursday 3 July 2025
IP battle erupts between PSI and iST over confidential tech
In a closely watched intellectual property case, the Hsinchu District Court has issued a first-instance ruling in favor of Phoenix Silicon International (PSI), ordering Integrated Service Technology Inc. (iST) to pay a fine of NT$5 million (US$155,000) and to jointly pay damages of NT$36.49 million (US$1.2 million) with a former Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) employee. The case stems from allegations that iST and the former employee misappropriated trade secrets belonging to PSI.
Thursday 3 July 2025
Trump Vietnam trade deal hits Chinese transshipment with higher tariff
US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping trade deal with Vietnam, proposing tariffs on Vietnamese and transshipped goods while securing zero-tariff access for American products, especially SUVs, in Vietnam, pending confirmation from the White House and Hanoi.
Thursday 3 July 2025
ByteDance expands AI hiring spree into humanoid robotics
ByteDance is recruiting heavily for humanoid robot development as the TikTok parent accelerates its push beyond social media into cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Thursday 3 July 2025
Taiwan Line Tek Electronic pivots to LEO satellite market amid slowing traditional sectors
As growth in the PC, notebook, and home appliance markets slows, Taiwan Line Tek Electronic, a connector and cable manufacturer, is shifting its focus to emerging niche sectors such as low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing. The company has identified the LEO satellite industry as its primary area of development, with several ongoing collaborations and a projected increase in related product proportions from the second half of 2025.
Wednesday 2 July 2025
MediaTek releases ASR model tuned for Taiwanese Mandarin

MediaTek Research, the advanced research division of the MediaTek Group, has released MR Breeze ASR 25, an open-source automatic speech recognition (ASR) model optimized for Taiwanese Mandarin and local speech patterns. Based on OpenAI's Whisper architecture, the model was designed to better understand the linguistic nuances of Taiwan, including Mandarin-English code-switching, a common feature in everyday speech.

Wednesday 2 July 2025
Singapore bets on AI governance and manufacturing to anchor tech giants
Singapore is positioning itself as a trusted AI hub through a US$740 million five-year investment plan while leveraging political neutrality and supply chain advantages to attract global manufacturers amid rising geopolitical tensions.
Wednesday 2 July 2025
The AI talent arms race: Nvidia, Meta, and Huawei battle for brains
As the AI revolution accelerates, global tech giants are racing to shortcut innovation by acquiring not just technology but the talent behind it. Companies like Nvidia, Meta, Google, Microsoft, AMD, and Qualcomm are in an escalating global talent war, eager to absorb entire teams or acquire startups outright to gain access to elite AI capabilities.
Wednesday 2 July 2025
Taiwan-India JV powers breakthrough as MiPhi launches India's first enterprise-grade SSDs
According to the Business Standard, BW Business World, and EE Herald, MiPhi Semiconductors, a joint venture between India's Micromax Informatics and Taiwan's Phison Technology, has announced the design and manufacture of enterprise-grade SSDs in India, making MiPhi the first indigenous brand to produce such high-performance data storage solutions in the country.
Wednesday 2 July 2025
Taiwan's Southern tech hubs boom on Nvidia chip demand and expansion
Fueled by booming global demand for Nvidia's GB200 chips—and the anticipated launch of the more powerful GB300 in the second half of 2025—Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing sector is experiencing a rapid surge in revenue, particularly in the country's southern science parks. Recent data from Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), released in June 2025, shows that the Southern Taiwan Science Park generated NT$285.3 billion (US$9.8 billion) in revenue in April 2025—nearly three times the NT$109.6 billion recorded by the Central Taiwan Science Park.