Taiwan
Goldman becomes Taiwan's top foreign broker on AI quant push
Goldman becomes Taiwan's top foreign broker on AI quant push Goldman Sachs Group has vaulted past Wall Street rivals to become the top global player in Taiwan's equity trading market, capitalizing on surging demand from quant funds for artificial intelligence. Goldman Sachs Group has vaulted past Wall Street rivals to become the top global player in Taiwan's equity trading market, capitalizing on surging demand from quant funds for artificial intelligence exposure. The Wall Street bank has risen from 10th place in early 2025 to become Taiwan's largest foreign brokerage by trading volume in the first half, overtaking rivals including JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, according to exchange data. Goldman now ranks as the fourth-largest broker overall, rivaling the biggest domestic firms. The primary driver behind Goldman's market-share gains has been a rapid expansion of its coverage of high-frequency trading and quantitative clients, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.
Taiwan opposition pitches 7.5 billion drone plan after stalling government bid
Taiwan's debate over drone procurement is being closely watched because the successful use of unmanned systems by Ukraine and Iran have underscored the ways in which the technology can be used to defend territory against larger adversaries. Taiwan's main opposition party has outlined plans to develop the drone industry just days after stalling a similar proposal from Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's government, amid a debate on unmanned systems with crucial implications for the island's defense. The Kuomintang will submit legislation that could allocate 240 billion New Taiwan dollars (U.S.$7.5 billion) over six years for government procurement and industrial development of unmanned systems, KMT lawmaker Lin Pei-hsiang said during a briefing on Tuesday. Taiwan's debate over drone procurement is being closely watched because the successful use of unmanned systems by Ukraine and Iran have underscored the ways in which the technology can be used to defend territory against larger adversaries. The People's Republic of China has threatened to use force to push its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, even though it has never controlled the self-governing democracy. Unlike the Cabinet's proposal, which would provide upfront authorization for NT$210 billion for drone procurement over multiple years, the KMT's legislation would fund the program through the annual budget process.
Thai stock market thriving as surprise beneficiary of AI boom
People visit the Delta Electronics booth during the annual Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 3, 2026. Thailand's stock market is having the best year among Southeast Asian peers, as investors discover an unlikely source of exposure to the global artificial-intelligence boom. Much of that gain has come from Delta Electronics (Thailand). The maker of power systems for AI data centers has surged more than 80% this year and became Thailand's first $100 billion company, large enough to be worth more than the next four largest Thai stocks combined. While the country lacks the semiconductor champions of Taiwan or South Korea, investors are increasingly recognizing its role in supplying the infrastructure behind AI. "Thailand isn't a pure AI market, but its exposure to data centers, electronics, power systems and digital infrastructure gives investors a new way to view Thai equities beyond the traditional tourism, banks and domestic consumption cycle," Bloomberg Intelligence Strategist Sufianti said in a note. Delta's rise is the clearest evidence of that shift.
Inspired by Ukraine, and worried by China: Taiwan teaches its citizens how to fly drones
I n a small, crowded room in Taipei, Pan Chien-chin is trying to keep a drone hovering steadily. Imagining himself flying a plane, he gently nudges controller joysticks to guide the insect-like device as it hums through the air. Cheers break out as Pan, who has never flown a drone before, steers it around a rectangular course marked by traffic cones without crashing. Around him are about two dozen fellow trainees, all signed up for the same course: Taiwan's first civil defence drone training programme. "The war in Ukraine has really changed how drones are used," says Pan, 48, a food company worker. "It's like giving myself another skill, something I can use if it's ever needed one day," he adds.
TaiwanVQA: Benchmarking and Enhancing Cultural Understanding in Vision-Language Models
Vision-language models (VLMs) often struggle with culturally specific content -- a challenge largely overlooked by existing benchmarks that focus on dominant languages and globalized datasets. We introduce TAIWANVQA, a VQA benchmark designed for Taiwanese culture to evaluate recognition and reasoning in regional contexts. TAIWANVQA contains 2,736 images and 5,472 manually curated questions covering topics such as traditional foods, public signs, festivals, and landmarks. The official benchmark set includes 1,000 images and 2,000 questions for systematic assessment, with the remainder of the data used as training material. Evaluations on state-of-the-art VLMs reveal strong visual recognition but notable weaknesses in cultural reasoning.
Watch: Intel's Tom Petersen talks Arc G3 and handheld gaming at Computex
PCWorld interviewed Intel Fellow Tom Petersen at Computex 2026 about Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme chipset designed for handheld gaming PCs. Intel claims the Arc G3 Extreme delivers a 42% performance advantage over AMD's competing Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor. The chipset targets sustained high performance in thin and light portable devices, potentially revolutionizing the handheld gaming market. Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme chipset could be a game-changer for handheld gaming PCs, and we got our first glimpse of how that'd be on the show floor at Computex 2026. PCWorld's Adam Patrick Murray was there in Taiwan all week checking out the future of PCs, and that included a quick chat with Intel Fellow Tom Petersen about the gaming potential of the Arc G3 Extreme.
MSI's Claw 8 EX AI handheld comes out on June 23
MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld comes out on June 23 MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld comes out on June 23 The premium gaming handheld's price is expected to be around $1,500. A new wave of premium handhelds is on the way and MSI's upcoming Claw 8 EX AI+ is leading the charge. The company revealed its latest handheld during a hands-on event at its headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan before Computex 2026. The Claw 8 EX AI+ will follow up MSI's previous handhelds introduced in 2024 that start at around $800, but is reportedly going to cost as much as $1,500 . It comes out on June 23.
Taiwan suspects Nvidia chips smuggled to China via Japan
Japan is one of many locations in Asia where Chinese companies access American AI chips -- by renting hardware that's owned by foreign firms and installed in overseas data centers. Taiwan prosecutors suspect that three individuals successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by Taiwan's Keelung District Prosecutors Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the U.S. has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked the island democracy's first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the U.S. to take a more active role in curtailing China's tech access. When Taiwan authorities apprehended the three defendants -- who've now been officially detained -- they also seized about 50 servers for which they accuse the trio of preparing fraudulent export documents. But at least one shipment had already gone through Taiwan customs, according to the people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to speak about an ongoing criminal investigation.
Taiwan's economy is booming thanks to AI. Not everyone sees the benefits
Taiwan's economy is booming thanks to AI. For Li, an engineer at Taiwanese computer giant ASUS, the AI boom sweeping Taiwan has made it an exciting time to work in tech. Taiwan is a semiconductor powerhouse, producing about 90 percent of the most advanced chips used to power leading AI models such as ChatGPT and Claude. Still, Li worries that the spoils of Taiwan's AI windfall are not being shared equally. "Most industries unrelated to tech don't seem to be feeling the benefits, so it doesn't feel evenly distributed at the moment," Li said, explaining that many of his former classmates working outside of tech do not appear to be doing as well.
Seed-size sea slug looks like an everything bagel
An undergraduate student first spotted the translucent species off the coast of Taiwan. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. These are some of the ingredients that come together to make, a newly identified species of sea slug, or nudibranch, found swimming in Taiwan. "Taiwanese divers call it'sesame' in Chinese and it is also small like a sesame seed, hence the name," researchers explain in a statement .