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'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.

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.

Ukraine has developed a reputation as a master of drone warfare, which has helped an otherwise-outgunned Kyiv hold out for more ‌than four ‌years against Russia.

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.

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.

World's largest chipmaker does not rule out price rises as costs increase The world's largest chipmaker has told the BBC that inflation is pushing up the cost of doing business, and did not rule out price rises. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) makes the most advanced chips designed by companies such as Nvidia, AMD and Apple, so any increase in pricing could ripple through to the cost of AI infrastructure, and potentially over time, the prices customers pay for their electronic devices. However, the firm's chief financial officer, Wendell Huang, said it would not introduce sudden fourfold, fivefold price rises. We reflect our value, he said, pointing to its technology leadership and manufacturing excellence. In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview, Huang also denied that the AI boom was a bubble and that the firm's global expansion was due to geopolitical pressure.

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.

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 .

Enes Kanter Freedom says Taiwan is the center of the global technology race and remains a key unresolved issue after the Trump-Xi summit produced no new discussions on chips or AI.