As manufacturing grapples with a growing technology gap, Siemens has unveiled a strategic framework to bridge the digital divide in industrial AI implementation. At its core are three foundational principles: AI solutions must meet rigorous industrial-grade standards, the technology should remain accessible to businesses at all levels, and a comprehensive ecosystem is necessary to support widespread adoption. Christine Herbst-Kubitz, General Manager of Siemens Taiwan Digital Industries, emphasized that this approach will accelerate manufacturing automation while maximizing previously untapped resources.

China has escalated its trade dispute with the US, imposing up to 15% tariffs on select American agricultural imports in response to the Trump administration’s latest tariff hikes. Meanwhile, Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce blacklisted 15 US companies under export controls along with 10 more firms added to its “unreliable entity” list, intensifying economic tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

As competition intensifies in the development of large language models and with the launch of DeepSeek, the industry is beginning to seek memory alternatives outside of high bandwidth memory (HBM). AP Memory has announced that it is fully committed to integrating very high-bandwidth memory (VHM) technology into artificial intelligence high-performance computing (AI HPC) design production, aiming to complete its first AI HPC product design in 2025.

Despite the first quarter of 2025 being a traditionally slow season for consumer markets and the overall PCB order momentum weakening, the demand for AI servers and low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite applications is expected to continue heating up, providing a moderate growth boost for Taiwan’s PCB industry.