Cisco’s latest earnings report has injected fresh momentum into the networking industry, with CEO Chuck Robbins highlighting strong order momentum in AI infrastructure, which helped drive product orders up 35% year-over-year in the third quarter of fiscal 2026. AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers reached US$1.9 billion during that quarter, and US$5.3 billion for the year to date, beating the company’s original US$5 billion target. Looking ahead, Robbins also struck an upbeat tone, saying hyperscaler AI infrastructure orders in fiscal 2026 are expected to reach US$9 billion, or roughly 450% of 2025 levels.

Among the 19 Taiwan-listed semiconductor materials companies tracked by Digitimes, 10 (53%) grew month-on-month in April, 12 (63%) posted positive year-on-year growth, and 14 (74%) are ahead on a cumulative January–April basis. On the surface, those are reasonable numbers — but the distribution underneath tells a more complicated story.

On May 14, Xi Jinping opened his summit with Donald Trump in Beijing by invoking the Thucydides Trap — the idea that a rising power and an established hegemon are structurally destined for conflict. Then he turned to Taiwan. If not handled properly, he warned, the two countries face clashes and even conflicts.