A Ghostwake uncrewed surface vessel, developed by U.S.-based STR8 Industries and manufactured in Taiwan, performs a high-speed maneuver during the Taiwan Marine Tech and Unmanned Robotics Expo in Tainan on Monday. Tainan, Taiwan - Silver-hulled sea drones skim across the water as part of an exhibition in Taiwan where local and foreign companies are competing for a share of surging government investment in uncrewed vehicles to deter China. As Chinese military pressure increases, Taiwan is pouring billions of dollars into aerial and sea drones, which have been widely used in Russia's war in Ukraine and in the Strait of Hormuz with devastating effect. Taiwan's military has said it wants to acquire more than 1,400 coastal surveillance and reconnaissance drones, over 200,000 coastal attack drones and 1,320 one-way attack uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Palantir's defense chief sees China threat to Taiwan over AI Palantir defense chief Mike Gallagher has said that Taiwan's importance to AI development has grown to the point that Chinese leader Xi Jinping may need to act on Beijing's designs toward the island. Palantir Technologies' head of defense Mike Gallagher is warning that advances in artificial intelligence capabilities have made it more compelling for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to seize control of Taiwan, a chipmaking hub that has helped fuel the global AI boom. Gallagher, a former Republican member of Congress who led a hawkish House committee focused on U.S. strategic competition with China, said on Wednesday that Taiwan's importance to AI development has grown to the point that Xi may need to act on Beijing's designs toward the island -- especially in light of the competition between the U.S. and China to dominate the technology. "The logic of Xi Jinping sacrificing enormously to take Taiwan is getting more compelling," Gallagher said at a defense policy event in Indiana with Republican Sen. Jim Banks. "If we run away with AI, now is his moment to stop us from doing that, because he may not be able to catch up later on."

They power our phones, cars, dishwashers--and the A.I. systems that prop up the economy. "We don't have a rating scale for complexity, but rockets are maybe a five," an investor said. His partner added, "Semiconductors are an eleven." There are a handful of truly monumental collective achievements in our history: Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, and perhaps, if we're being generous, the Roman aqueducts. Modern global civilization has made one contribution to this eternal pantheon. It is not the moon landing. It is the semiconductor supply chain. A microchip is a bauble of metal and refined sand. It doesn't appear to have epic proportions. Upon close examination, however, the epic proportions are there in miniature. Imagine a perfect replica of a sprawling metropolis, a Tokyo or a São Paulo, engraved at atomic dimensions on a tile the size of a fingernail. The urban details would be faithfully rendered to the last golf ball or egg--each reduced to ...

Analysts in Taipei say the third Trump–Xi meeting produced no clear change in U.S. policy on Taiwan, but upcoming arms sales and official visits could test that assessment.

Trump-Xi summit: Here's what's on the agenda, and why it matters Share Trump-Xi summit: Here's what's on the agenda, and why it matters on social media China's leader Xi Jinping is expected to hold highly anticipated talks with United States President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, as both sides seek to ease trade tensions and discuss increasingly capable artificial intelligence (AI) systems. On Wednesday evening, Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, with a rare red carpet welcome. No US president had previously welcomed a visiting guest personally at the base in six decades. Earlier in the day, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported that Xi and Peng were being accompanied by the president's closest aide and adviser, Cai Qi, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The White House said the talks scheduled for Thursday would mark "a significant milestone in the relationship between the two countries".

Trump and Xi summit may just be a'horse and pony show', experts say Share Trump and Xi summit may just be a'horse and pony show', experts say on social media As United States President Donald Trump rolled out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping with a rare personal welcome at the airport, to be followed by a state banquet and a military flyover, experts warn to temper expectations as the summit is more focused on "re-establishing trust" rather than having any meaningful deals announced at the end of it. The US and China have been locked in a trade war since Trump's first term as president when he introduced levies on imports of certain industrial goods, and Beijing retaliated with tariffs on a range of US exports including soya beans, pork and electric vehicles. Some of those policies continued under Trump's successor, President Joe Biden, who also introduced other measures, including curbs on chip exports. While both sides have since stepped back from that cliff after the two leaders met in late October in Busan on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea, US tariffs are still at a hefty average of 36.5 percent, while China's tariffs on US goods average out to 31 percent. "This is not a bargaining summit," Reza Hasmath, academic faculty adviser at The China Institute at the University of Alberta, told Al Jazeera.

AI, Tariffs, Rare Minerals: What to Expect From Trump's Upcoming Summit With Xi Jinping Washington and Beijing have grown ever more linked in the AI boom, making hardware exports and technological restrictions hefty bargaining chips in negotiations. Of all the events in the United Nations General Assembly taking place this week, the most anticipated by far is the upcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping. Though the majority of the diplomatic activities are happening in New York, this face-to-face between the two leaders will take place at the White House. Trump is scheduled to personally welcome Xi at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, September 23--an unusual diplomatic gesture, as US presidents do not typically go to the airport to welcome foreign leaders. Ahead of that airport reunion, a US delegation led by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer is meeting with He Lifeng, China's vice premier of the State Council, to set the agenda.

East Asia is facing a demographic reckoning, with societies in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan ageing rapidly. With a drastic shortage of burial space, a lucrative new market is emerging. From AI avatars to DNA gems, technology is bringing loved ones back to life - in digital forms - raising questions about whether it will help heal or hinder the grieving process. Can "super coral" and cooling the sea, save reefs from climate change? Is China seeking to copy Iran's Strait of Hormuz blockade around Taiwan? Vanishing forests: Why is the Philippines failing at reforestation?

Taiwanese authorities have indicted nine people, including employees of Nvidia and Super Micro Computer, over their alleged involvement in the illegal export of artificial intelligence servers to China. Eight of those indicted, including one employee of Nvidia's Taiwan unit and two employees of Supermicro's Taiwan unit, were charged with breach of trust and document forgery in connection with the illegal export of high-end AI servers, prosecutors in the port city of Keelung said in a statement on Monday. An additional 56 servers were seized at Taiwan's border, the statement said. Three of the defendants have been charged with embezzlement. Semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is the world's largest producer of advanced chips used in AI applications.

Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament has approved the government's annual budget, preserving funding for a drone programme central to the island's defence plans against China. Lawmakers passed the $93bn budget late on Friday, after a record 266 days of political deadlock and its legal deadline, as President William Lai Ching-te's administration, which lost its parliamentary majority in 2024, continues to clash with opposition parties over government spending. The Kuomintang dropped the proposed cut after concluding there was no wasteful overlap between the development and procurement programmes it had initially cited as justification. Other reductions included a 60 percent cut to special allowances for government agency heads, a 2.5 percent cut to military equipment and facilities spending, and a 50 percent cut to media policy and publicity budgets. Before Friday's vote, the government had been operating under a provisional budget mechanism to keep paying civil servants and funding welfare programmes.