DIGITIMES: News and Insight of the Global Supply Chain

China's humanoid robot boom is entering a harder phase. After years of headline-grabbing demonstrations and heavy private funding, companies are being pressed to prove something less theatrical but more consequential: that robots can perform reliable work, generate recurring revenue, and justify their valuations.

Strong demand for AI and AI data centers, along with a wave of enterprise information and communications technology (ICT) projects moving into delivery, helped Taiwan's top three telecom operators extend growth in August 2026. Chunghwa Telecom posted record August revenue, operating profit, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), and earnings per share (EPS); Tai…

We previously discussed how automation removes environmental uncertainty, while autonomy requires systems to operate in complex settings. The biggest difference is that autonomous robots must enter unstructured environments and get work done, knowing where they are, what surrounds them, and how to move safely and efficiently while carrying out tasks.

China's auto exports stayed above 1 million units for a third straight month in August 2026, reaching 1.01 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The increase of 65.3% from a year earlier came as weaker domestic demand pressured the home market and exports became a larger growth driver for Chinese automakers.

Taiwan's Ministry of Finance on September 9 said electronic parts exports reached US$32.22 billion in August 2026, a record monthly high, rising US$11.83 billion, or 58%, from the same month in 2025. Integrated circuits rose US$11.55 billion, up 60%, while printed circuit boards increased US$140 million, up nearly 30%.

Taiwan's optical communications supply chain is entering a more consequential phase of the AI infrastructure cycle. Demand is broadening beyond conventional pluggable transceivers toward continuous-wave (CW) lasers, fiber array units (FAUs), external laser sources and co-packaged optics (CPO), while transmission speeds advance from 800G and 1.6T toward 3.2T and beyond.

HannStar Display is preparing to cut output at its only fab roughly in half, alongside a workforce reduction that industry sources put at as much as 70% — being carried out through a voluntary buyout program. The moves landed in the same week its general manager resigned, turning long-running speculation about a plant closure into the central question around the company.

Facing an aggressive push by Chinese automakers to launch new models at short intervals and rapidly seize market share, major automakers in Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea are confronting a new trade-off between R&D speed and quality control. Renault Group CEO Francois Provost said the French automaker will not blindly follow suit at the expense of quality and will not bring a new model to…

Apple’s move into foldable smartphones is creating fresh business for Japanese component makers with expertise in thin, lightweight and compact designs. According to Nikkei Asia , suppliers that once helped shape Japan’s feature phone era are seeing renewed interest in foldable display materials, hinges and battery-related parts.

Asustek Computer (Asus) has been accelerating the integration of AI, hardware, software, and cloud technologies into healthcare as it builds a next-generation smart healthcare ecosystem. Kuo-Hao Huang, vice president of the Asus AI Research Center, said the biggest challenge hospitals face in adopting AI is not the AI models themselves, but whether their data, workflows, and system architectures …

Strong demand for AI computing is creating a capacity squeeze across the passive-component industry, opening new opportunities for Taiwanese suppliers.

Murata Manufacturing plans to begin mass production next year of iPaS, the power substrate it has spent several years developing for AI chips, a step that would carry the world's largest multilayer ceramic capacitor maker out of the passive components it dominates and into the substrate layer itself. The company is targeting annual sales of JPY50 billion (US$325.56 million) within 18 months of th…

Taiwan's power and energy companies are looking to grow their presence in Europe. To support that push, the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) organized the "2026 Taiwan Economic and Trade Delegation to France," a 25-member group of representatives from domestic industry groups and energy and power companies, which traveled to Paris from September 5 to 13 to discuss tr…

Pegatron reported consolidated revenue of NT$88.31 billion (approx. US$2.8 billion) in August 2026, up 2.66% from the previous month and 34.11% from a year earlier, supported by its information and communications technology businesses. The company expects stronger second-half shipments, led by expanding server volumes and the launch of Apple's iPhone 18 series, with the fourth quarter likely to m…

Apple has finally unveiled the long-anticipated foldable iPhone Duo, with former CEO Tim Cook making a brief appearance at the start of the launch video. The moment suggested the device was Cook's farewell act, rather than John Ternus' first turn as chief executive, even as Apple used the 2026 fall event to frame its next stage of AI strategy.

Advanced packaging is stretching semiconductor inspection in two directions at once: packages are getting larger while the features inside them are getting smaller.