13
Jan
13
Jan
Taiwan-US tariff talks near closure, Section 232 relief in focus
Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations under the Executive Yuan said on January 13 that the core objectives of ongoing tariff talks with the US have been to secure reductions in reciprocal tariffs without stacking, and to obtain preferential treatment under Section 232 for semiconductors, semiconductor-derived products, and other covered items.
13
Jan
WT Microelectronics and WPG post record 2025 revenues driven by AI momentum
Leading IC distributors WT Microelectronics and WPG reported strong revenue growth in 2025, fueled by robust demand from AI and data-center sectors. WT Microelectronics posted a record annual revenue of NT$1.18 trillion (approx. US$37.3 billion), up 22.8% year-over-year, while WPG neared the NT$1 trillion mark with NT$999.12 billion in sales, growing 13.47% year-over-year.
13
Jan
EU plans to adjust rules on Chinese EV imports; shifts from tariffs to minimum import prices
The EU said this week that it is considering setting minimum import prices for Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), a move that would replace the steep anti-subsidy tariffs currently in place. The proposal is widely seen as a signal of easing trade tensions between Europe and China, aiming to protect European automakers while allowing Chinese manufacturers to preserve reasonable profit margins. China’s Ministry of Commerce has welcomed the idea.
13
Jan
Topco Scientific posts record 2025 revenue on strong advanced process material demand
Continued capacity expansion for advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes is driving strong demand for key materials such as photoresist and quartz. Topco Scientific (TSC), a leading semiconductor materials distributor, reported December 2025 revenue of NT$6.48 billion (approx. US$205.35 million), setting a new single-month record, representing a 12.9% month-over-month and 18.9% year-over-year increase.
13
Jan
Taiwan’s EMS/ODM sector ends 2025 with AI servers driving record months and reshaping the rankings
Taiwan’s electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and original design manufacturing (ODM) sector closed December 2025 with a sharply bifurcated performance: AI server and cloud data-center supply chains continued to post standout growth and fresh revenue records, while PC-focused ODMs were steady, and many traditional consumer-electronics and peripherals manufacturers remained subdued. Automotive, industrial, and IoT-related businesses showed signs of recovery, but results varied widely by project timing and customer qualification cycles.
13
Jan
Taiwan OSAT sector posts broad 2025 revenue gains as AI testing offsets weak consumer recovery
Taiwan’s outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) industry closed December 2025 with a pattern that investors have increasingly come to expect: revenue growth was widespread on a year-on-year basis, but performance gaps between end markets widened. Demand tied to AI servers and high-performance computing (HPC) continued to concentrate the strongest momentum in advanced testing and select advanced packaging programs, while more mature consumer-facing segments remained choppy.
13
Jan
Memory price surge spares Nintendo’s Switch 2 so far; lower-priced model faces headwinds
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said the supply of the company’s Nintendo Switch 2 game console has been stabilizing globally, though Japan continues to trail other markets, as rising memory costs linked to artificial intelligence demand add pressure to hardware margins.
13
Jan
DeepSeek V4 update: Conditional memory reshapes large-model efficiency
DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has published a new paper with a research team from Peking University, outlining key technical directions for next-generation sparse large language models. The study is widely viewed as an early look at the architecture behind DeepSeek V4.
13
Jan
LG debuts CLOiD home robot at CES 2026
At CES 2026, LG unveiled several innovative products, but the spotlight was on its global debut of the household robot CLOiD. This home robot is an evolution of LG’s 2018 CLOi series, featuring upgraded robotics technology and aligning with CES 2026’s “Zero Labor” vision to tackle the last mile of automated household chores—such as placing food in the oven or removing and folding laundry.