Huawei Technologies Co. and its partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. relied on US technology to produce an advanced chip in China last year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Foxconn Technology Group's public arm Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. will headline an earnings week that should offer insights into the outlook for China's tech sector, where the slowing economy has dented consumer sentiment.

China-based EV company Leapmotor signed a strategic collaboration agreement with LiDAR solutions provider Hesai Technology on March 7. Stellantis-backed Leapmotor said the partnership will benefit its R&D effort and applications of smart driving technology.

GenAI stands out as a key focus in the 2024 supply chain. As AI gradually transitions from cloud to edge computing, it also drives the emergence of terminal applications such as AI PCs and smartphones. Despite multiple brands launching PCs and smartphones with AI concepts, the software and hardware integration process, and consumer acceptance of these terminal devices, remain to be tested.

In a strategic partnership poised to redefine industry standards, Continental Carbon of CSRC Group and Maxxis have unveiled the groundbreaking "Ouroboros sustainable regenerative solution," signaling a pivotal shift towards eco-conscious innovation.

In the wake of tech titans AMD and Nvidia establishing logistics hubs in Taiwan, a ripple effect is reshaping the region's supply chain landscape. Global logistics leader DHL, leading the charge, recently unveiled plans to inaugurate its third state-of-the-art facility in Taoyuan's bustling Dayuan District, by the first quarter of 2024.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) frenzy intensifies the competition for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). A South Korean court recently approved an order application by SK Hynix to prohibit a researcher, formerly responsible for SK Hynix's HBM business, from joining Micron.

Honda has said that hydrogen fuel costs will be down after five years.

In a fierce race with TSMC and Intel to develop next-generation chipmaking processes, Samsung Electronics is reportedly accelerating its adoption of BackSide Power Delivery Network (BSPDN) technology, aiming to integrate the technology into its 2nm process by 2025, a move that could reshape the foundry market landscape.

Apple is set to launch a new generation of the iPad Pro as early as March 2024. The total supply volume of OLED panels is estimated to be 8.5 million units, and it will be fully supplied by South Korea's Samsung Display (SDC) and LG Display (LGD). However, the absence of Chinese manufacturers like BOE has certainly garnered some attention.

India has been trying hard to strengthen the development of its manufacturing industries since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2024, highlighted in its slogans ranging from "Make in India" to "Self-Reliant India." In particular, its promotion of ICT and automotive industries aligns with Taiwan's current industrial development trend, which will inevitably bring huge market opportunities for Taiwanese manufacturers if they can grasp the trend well.

Marvell Technology has announced that the company is extending its collaboration with TSMC to develop the industry's first technology platform to produce 2nm semiconductors optimized for accelerated infrastructure.

China's rise as a great EV power in the East presents the world and Taiwan with a fresh set of challenges.

Yamaha Motor Ventures(YMV) has emerged as a beacon of corporate innovation, blending strategic investments with an eye towards sustainability and global market penetration. At the recent Bike Venture Summit 2024, CEO Kei Onishi offered insights into Yamaha's diverse portfolio and its approach to venture capital in the tech realm.

US President Joe Biden said in his 2024 State of the Union Address that America is rising and has the lowest trade deficit with China in over a decade. A response from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) urges the US government to make progress on the CHIPS Act soon.

Due to the reduction in working days in February, TSMC's consolidated revenue for February declined as expected to approximately NT$181.6 billion, a decrease of 15.8% compared to January but an increase of 11.3% compared to the same period in 2023. The accumulated revenue for the first two months of 2024 is approximately NT$397.4 billion, a 9.4% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

E-paper solutions provider E Ink Holdings (EIH) anticipates revenue will be at its lowest for 2024 in the first quarter of 2024 before increasing and sustaining growth through the final quarter of 2024.

In December 2023, "The New York Times" (NYT) took legal action against OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot language models. The newspaper explicitly accused generative AI of reproducing their content word-for-word.

The US and the European Union are poised to set trade barriers and even embrace a trade war with China as cheaper Chinese EVs make a foray overseas. The US and EU tried to enforce trade controls on solar and wind power products but were ineffective. The market is concerned that history will repeat with EVs.

Industry sources pointed out that Chinese foundries' profits are being undermined due to fab overexpansion.

On March 4, Anthropic, an AI startup backed by Amazon and Google, launched its latest chatbot, Claude 3.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) recently announced the feed-in tariff rates for various types of renewable energy in 2024. Except for a slight reduction in the tariff rates for solar photovoltaics (PVs), the rates for other renewable energy sources remain unchanged or have slightly increased. At the same time, green power supply volume is expected to reach 3.7 billion kWh in 2024. Businesses believe that the demand for green power continues to rise, especially with the significant growth in solar PV supply in 2023.

Looking at the world's total GDP, which has increased 25 times over the past 70 years, we can also look at Taiwan's experience and find a few turning points in time to explore in detail the key factors that drove the growth.

The demand for LED products is gradually warming up following a period of inventory adjustments in the market. While LED companies experienced a general decline in revenue for February 2024, they have been bolstered by steady demand in consumer and automotive applications. Ennostar and Everlight Electronics reported a double-digit year-on-year growth in cumulative revenue for January and February, with performance in the first quarter of this year poised to see year-on-year growth as well.

While demand for battery EVs has slowed, sources said that Tesla supplier Panasonic plans to increase battery investment in Kansas, the US.

Nvidia has taken further actions targeting the Chinese market to maintain its dominance in the GPU market, attempting to block third-party GPU companies from seamlessly using CUDA software. This move has sparked significant controversy and discussions within the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) and chip communities.

US-based xMEMS Labs, a maker of speaker driver IC chips using Micro-ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS), is aiming to launch its next-generation Cowell speakers later this year, which will help bring costs even closer to conventional moving coil speakers. The company's current Cowell speakers, representing its second generation of MEMS devices, are roughly 70–80% more expensive than conventional speakers. However, the soon-to-come update aims to bring costs down to within 30% of conventional devices.

Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL), a subsidiary of India's Tata Group, is planning to invest US$11 billion to establish India's first 12-inch semiconductor fabrication plant in Gujarat, a state along the western coast of India with the ninth largest population in the country. This marks a significant milestone for the "Make in India" initiative and opens many doors for further Taiwan-India collaboration in Taiwan's academia and industrial sectors.

Taiwan-based testing interface giant Winway Technology, a manufacturer of Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) and Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) testing devices, expects growth across the entire year in 2024, with demand rebounding for AI devices and consumer electronics. In addition, with optical communications using Wi-Fi 7 and 5G standards on the rise, the company's silicon photonics wafer-level CPO testing system has been certified by its clients, leading to a significant increase in market inquiries.

Taiwan's exports to China (including Hong Kong) decreased by 18.1% in 2023 compared with 2022, the largest decline in history, according to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

China's Premier Li Qiang said in his work report to the National People's Congress that the government will formulate a strategy for the development of strategic emerging industries, and push forward a series of major science and technology projects to achieve major strategic and industrial development goals, with quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and big data among the top priorities.

Chinese IC design companies have initiated price wars in saturated and highly competitive market categories, leading Taiwanese IC design houses to expedite their withdrawal from these segments, according to industry sources.

Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing (XMC) reportedly has sent out an invitation to bid for a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) project. This suggests that the Chinese memory sector, led by Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC), is placing HBM at the forefront of its future development strategies, according to industry sources in China.

Penetration of DDR5 in the memory market is poised to accelerate and reach double digits in the second half of 2024, thanks to demand from Generative AI (GenAI), according to market sources.

Former Googler Leon Ding is accused of stealing AI secrets from the US tech giant while secretly working for an Ant Group-invested company just months before Ant announced its own AI division.