Intel has evaluated advanced manufacturing equipment from ACM Research, a US supplier with subsidiaries subject to American trade restrictions, even as Chinese semiconductor toolmakers report surging revenues and technological gains.

Taiwanese integrated circuit (IC) distributor Weikeng projects robust revenue growth driven by rising demand for AI data center computing and power management solutions, with AI server-related products expected to increase by 50 to 60% in 2026. The company also identifies emerging sectors such as AI glasses and robotics as key long-term growth areas, despite uncertainties in broader memory market dynamics.

As artificial intelligence (AI) transitions from cloud-centric operations to edge devices, the hardware that powers AI is undergoing significant change. While graphics processing units (GPUs) have long dominated both AI training and deployment, neural processing units (NPUs) are now emerging as a viable alternative, particularly for edge applications, according to Jeffrey Chen, vice president of product marketing at Kneron. Chen elaborated on these evolving trends at the recent Human-Machine Co-Creation New Era annual summit.

AI data centers are seeing rapidly increasing demand for HPC and big data processing. The shift from traditional copper wiring to fiber optics boosts data transfer rates while lowering power consumption. Gallium arsenide (GaAs) epitaxy maker Visual Photonics Epitaxy Co. (VPEC) stated that while the smartphone market in 2026 is expected to remain flat or show slight growth, rising transmission efficiency requirements in AI data centers will drive planned equipment purchases and expanded capacity, making data centers the company’s main growth driver for 2026.