SoftBank founder shifts investment focus from China to US

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son has made a strategic pivot toward the US market, appearing alongside President Donald Trump twice since his November election victory to unveil major investment plans. Previously, nearly half of SoftBank’s investments were concentrated in Asia, with a significant focus on China, where Son achieved remarkable success with his early investment in Alibaba in 2000.

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Lower barriers in software development: DeepLearning.AI founder predicts soaring demand for AI PMs

DeepLearning.AI founder Andrew Ng recently stated that with the decreasing criteria for software development, the role of deciding what to develop becomes more crucial, making AI product management (AI PM) talent highly sought after. He predicts that engineers who traditionally focused on programming may shift towards more product management responsibilities

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China’s market uncertainty makes Japanese toolmakers bet on AI

Amid uncertainties in the Chinese market and reduced spending by automotive chip and power semiconductor manufacturers, Japanese semiconductor equipment makers have revised their sales forecast for fiscal year 2025 (April 2025 – March 2026). Nevertheless, demand for advanced process chips, especially those needed for artificial intelligence (AI), is anticipated to lead to a 5% year-over-year sales growth in 2025.

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European automakers face carbon penalty storm, pressuring EU to reconsider regulations

The European Union (EU) has raised carbon emission standards to 93.6g/km starting in 2025, leading to penalties that could reach EUR15 billion (US$15.6 billion), according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). Despite multiple communications with the European Commission yielding no results, manufacturers are now uniting to pressure the Commission for an early revision of this regulation.

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Screen to boost semiconductor equipment production capacity by 20% to meet AI demand

Japanese semiconductor cleaning equipment manufacturer Screen plans to increase its semiconductor manufacturing equipment production capacity to 120% of the 2023 level by fiscal year 2026 (April 2026–March 2027), aiming for annual revenue of approximately JPY600 billion (approx. US$3.9 billion) to meet growing demand in semiconductor manufacturing.

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