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Tech News
TSMC's board has approved plans to invest up to $500 million in OpenAI preferred stock available to large investors, plus another $500 million to buy Anthropic common shares at its anticipated IPO price, according to Reuters. The move gives the Taiwanese chipmaker direct equity stakes in two leading AI developers, adding to its existing role as the main manufacturer of AI-related chips for companies like Nvidia and Apple.
The Taiwan dollar dropped below the 33-per-U.S.-dollar threshold early Friday for the first time since April 2025. The decline coincided with a broader selloff in AI-related stocks and outflows of foreign capital from Taiwanese equities.
Micron Taiwan is issuing a lump-sum payout combining an annual performance bonus, a mass-production bonus, and a one-time $31,000 appreciation bonus, with about 700 of its 4,300+ production workers receiving the equivalent of five years' salary. The remaining staff will get the same three bonuses in October, and Micron also plans a new quarterly profit bonus starting January 2027, split 50% cash and 50% stock.
Apple told developers it is cutting its standard App Store commission on paid apps and in-app purchases in Taiwan from 30% to 26%, effective Saturday, October 31. The company said the change follows talks with Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission, and developers need not sign updated terms by that date to receive the lower rate. Apple is also updating its Developer Program License Agreement, with translated versions due within a month.
Taiwan's Ocean Affairs Council, working with National Cheng Kung University, has completed simulations of two autonomous drone fleets of 10 units each flying in coordination without human control. The system is intended to help the Coast Guard Administration monitor undersea cables and track Chinese vessels engaged in grey-zone activity, with plans to move next to hardware testing and real sea trials.
Micron's labor union at its Taoyuan facility in Taiwan plans a one-day work stoppage on October 22 over unresolved demands for a clear bonus proposal and a transparent profit-sharing formula. Talks broke down in September, leading workers to approve the strike in early October, though the union says the action is meant to force a deal rather than end negotiations. Separately, a union at Micron's larger Taichung site is set to meet management for mediation the same day but has not authorized a strike.
Three contractor employees were killed and a fourth left in intensive care after falling from an upper floor during steel-hoisting work at TSMC's Fab 22 construction site in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Officials suspect a bolt on a steel connection plate broke, sending the workers and steel components down; TSMC and the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau have halted related steel hoisting and launched an investigation.
Fab24hr is a free 3D browser game, developed in Taiwan and available in Chinese, English and Japanese, that puts players in the role of a semiconductor fab worker. It offers a 12-chapter story mode tracing a hearing-aid chip from R&D to end user with three possible endings, and a 'day in the fab' mode where players choose a role, such as process engineer, and handle equipment failures and production emergencies.
Taiwan is adding AI servers and advanced chips to its controlled export list, aligning its policy with U.S. trade restrictions on China. Violators will now face criminal charges under the Foreign Trade Act, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines around $92,500, according to Bloomberg.
Taiwan's Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association is raising at least $4 billion to build an industrial park in Texas, aimed at housing smaller suppliers that support chipmakers like TSMC and Foxconn. Economic Affairs Minister Kung Ming-hsin said the project will create a sustainable supply chain open to American firms and local workers, not just Taiwanese companies. The government plans loan guarantees and help with visas and permits, and says it may build more than one site, each costing $2-4 billion.
Submarine cables linking Taiwan's Matsu Islands to the main island were severed 27 times between 2018 and 2022, with four more major outages from 2023 to 2025. A separate report notes 11 disruptions since 2023 to the dozen or so cables and pipelines crossing the shallow Baltic Sea. Globally, some 607 submarine cable systems span about 1.5 million kilometres and carry the bulk of international telecommunications traffic.
A Taiwanese court convicted the captain of the Chinese-owned vessel Hong Tai of deliberately severing an undersea telecommunications cable in February 2025, sentencing him to three years in prison in June 2025. Taiwan's legislature subsequently toughened penalties for damaging undersea cables or pipelines, raising the maximum sentence to seven years.