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China ramps up tech self-reliance with R&D surge
China has upped the ante on previously flagged plans for self-reliance in critical industries within five years by pledging to increase nationwide spending on R&D by at least 7% annually until 2030. Nowhere are China’s plans to go head-to-head with the world, especially the United States, on critical industries more evident than within plans to turbocharge the country’s development of chips and high-end equipment. Plans to boost R&D are part of a draft outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan submitted for review on the first day of China’s annual legislative session, which runs from 5 to 12 March. In 2024, China is understood to have imported US$386 billion (A$550.9 billion) worth of integrated circuits, making them the country’s largest single import product – even surpassing crude oil.Underlying chip technologyWhile physical chips may arrive from Taiwan or Korea, the underlying technology often originates in the U.S., and this is clearly something China wants to reverse. To put the significance of China’s plans for self-sufficiency into context, in 2024, Huawei - the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment - accounted for around 23% of China’s AI computing chip market. According to Bernstein Resear
Hardware
AI boom lifts Broadcom profit and outlook
Broadcom Inc. posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results and issued an upbeat revenue forecast, with the stock rising around 5% in extended trading on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT). The United States-based chip designer reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of US$19.31 billion for the period ending 1 February, up 29% from a year earlier, with adjusted earnings per share of $2.05, which was a beat against LSEG consensus forecasts. Net income rose to $7.35 billion, or $1.50 per share, from $5.50 billion, or $1.14 per share, a year earlier. CEO Hock Tan attributed the 106% (US$8.4 billion) year-on-year AI revenue surge to demand for custom AI accelerators and networking silicon. The company expects AI semiconductor revenue of $10.7 billion in the current quarter. Broadcom forecast second-quarter revenue of about $22 billion, ahead of the $20.56 billion consensus compiled by LSEG, and flagged an adjusted profit margin of 68%, above the 66% expected by analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. The board also authorised up to $10 billion in additional share buybacks through 2026. Semiconductor solutions revenue came in at $12.52 billion, beating StreetAccount estimates of $12.25 billion, while infrastructure software r
Hardware
HP beats expectations following leadership restructure
Technology company HP has beat expectations in its first quarter earnings for 2026. The company reported a 5.2% year-over-year rise in net revenue to US$14.4 billion, surpassing Wall Street expectations of $13.9 billion. "We are pleased to report a strong first quarter, highlighted by robust growth in Personal Systems, including the continued momentum in AI PCs,” Interim CEO Bruce Broussard. “Our performance reflects the strength of our portfolio and our disciplined execution of our Future of Work strategy, even as we navigate industry-wide headwinds.” HP’s non-GAAP diluted earnings per share also rose from 74 cents in Q1 2025 to 81 cents, beating Wall Street estimates of 77 cents per share. This was also at the high end of the company’s previously provided outlook of 73 cents per share to 81 cents per share. In the first quarter, the company also returned $0.6 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends. This follows a leadership restructure within the company, where Broussard became interim CEO after Enrique Lores stepped down as president and CEO to assume a leadership position at PayPal. “The transition from Board member to the Interim CEO role has been smooth and well-coordin
Hardware
Taiwan rejects US call for 40% chip shift
Taiwan has dismissed United States calls to shift 40% of its semiconductor manufacturing capacity to America, with the island’s top tariff negotiator describing such a move as “impossible” and reaffirming that the core of its chip industry will remain at home. In an interview with Taiwanese television channel CTS broadcast late on Sunday, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun said she had made Taipei’s position clear to Washington amid growing pressure from American officials for a substantial relocation of production. "I have made it very clear to the United States that this is impossible," she said, referring to the 40% goal floated by U.S. policymakers. Cheng stressed that Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem, developed over decades and supported by tightly integrated science parks and supply chains, could not simply be transplanted overseas. "Our overall capacity (in Taiwan) will only continue to grow," she said. "But we can expand our presence in the United States." "Our international expansion, including increased investment in the United States, is based on the premise that we remain firmly rooted in Taiwan and continue to expand investment at home." Her comments come after renewed calls from U.S. Commerce Secretary How
Hardware
Apple rings up records amid staggering iPhone demand
Apple described demand for its iPhone as staggering as it unveiled record profits for the first quarter of the 2026 financial year (Q1 FY26) , which also exceeded market expectations. The technology giant said net income climbed 16% to $42.097 billion (A$60.2 billion) and diluted earnings per share (EPS) surged 19% to $2.84 on revenue, which grew 5% to $95.4 billion in the three months ended 27 December 2025.Source: Apple“I’m proud to say we just had a quarter for the record books,” CEO Tim Cook said on a conference call. “The demand for iPhone was simply staggering, with revenue growing 23% year over year and all-time records across every geographic segment services…” The company said revenue was well above Apple’s expectations, helped by the iPhone’s best quarter and 14% growth from its Services business, which includes everything except its devices like the iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods. The company’s installed base was more than 2.5 billion active devices. “These exceptionally strong results generated nearly $54 billion in operating cash flow, allowing us to return almost $32 billion to shareholders,” Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said in a news release. Directors declared a cash dividend

Hardware
Microsoft reveals Maia 200 AI chips
Microsoft has unveiled the second generation of its Maia artificial intelligence chips, aiming to compete with chipmakers like Nvidia. Maia 200 chips performs 30% better per dollar than current-generation Microsoft hardware, the company said. It will be used for both Microsoft’s AI models and models like OpenAI’s GPT-5.2. “Today, we’re proud to introduce Maia 200, a breakthrough inference accelerator engineered to dramatically improve the economics of AI token generation,” wrote Microsoft’s executive vice president for Cloud and AI Scott Guthrie. “Maia 200 is part of our heterogenous AI infrastructure and will serve multiple models, including the latest GPT-5.2 models from OpenAI, bringing performance per dollar advantage to Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The Microsoft Superintelligence team will use Maia 200 for synthetic data generation and reinforcement learning to improve next-generation in-house models.” The chips were built using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC)’s 3nm transistor density process. This is similar to Nvidia’s forthcoming Vera Rubin chips, announced earlier in January. They include three times the FP4 tensor core performance of Amazon’s Trainium chips and FP8 performance
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Intel stocks rise 11% ahead of earnings report
Intel stocks have climbed to their highest since January 2022 ahead of the company’s earnings report. The company’s stocks soared 11% and surpassed the US$54, reaching an intraday high of $54.13. This continues a rally that lifted it 84% last year, bringing its gains over the past 12 months to 149%. “It’s the most optimistic, I think, people have felt about the company in a long time,” said Ryuta Makino, an analyst at Intel investor Gabelli Funds. The optimism for the company comes from strong sales of Intel’s latest server chips, which analysts believe are benefiting from rising spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. Intel is also getting a boost from recent indications that the company’s foundry business, which is still seeking an anchor customer, could start to secure orders and become the No. 2 chip foundry behind Taiwan Semiconductor Co and ahead of Samsung. The U.S. government has also become the chipmaker's largest shareholder after an investment of $8.9 billion last year. This is partially because it is the only American company capable of making advanced chips. The government’s stake grew to $14 billion since the deal was agreed to in August, and Nvidia’s stake increased by more than $6 b
Hardware
US reaches chip-making deal with Taiwan
Taiwan and the United States have reached a trade agreement to build computer chip factories in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The agreement would see Taiwanese chipmakers and technology companies invest at least US$250 billion in production capacity in the U.S. The Taiwanese government would also guarantee US$250 billion in credit for these companies. “We're going to bring it all over so we become self-sufficient in the capacity of building semiconductors,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said. In exchange, the U.S. will limit reciprocal tariffs on Taiwan to 15%, down from 20%, and commit to zero reciprocal tariffs on goods such as generic pharmaceuticals, their ingredients, aircraft components, and certain natural resources. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has bought land and could expand in Arizona as part of the deal, according to Lutnick. “They just bought hundreds of acres adjacent to their property,” he said. “I’ll let them go through with their board and give them time.” Future tariffs under the Trade Expansion Act's Section 232 framework will have some exceptions for companies that are building chips in the U.S. Taiwanese companies are constructing new U.
Hardware
Intel shares surge on praise from Trump
Intel Corp shares rose by their highest amount since September after the chip maker was praised by United States President Donald Trump. This came after Trump met with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on Thursday at the White House, where they discussed the company’s new line of processors following the U.S. government’s purchase of shares of the chipmaker. “Intel just launched the first SUB 2 NANOMETER CPU PROCESSOR designed, built, and packaged right here in the U.S.A.,” Trump said in a social media post. “The United States Government is proud to be a Shareholder of Intel, and has already made, through its U.S.A. ownership position, Tens of Billions of Dollars for the American People — IN JUST FOUR MONTHS.” Following the remarks, Intel shares jumped 11% to US$45.55 in New York, the biggest single-day increase for the chipmaker since 18 September. So far for 2026, stocks for Intel have risen 20.60% and 129.76% year-over-year, according to TradingView. The U.S. government took a 10% stake in Intel through a US$8.9 billion investment under the CHIPS and Science Act in August, making the Trump administration a majority shareholder. Since this, the Intel share price has increased by 75%. Other chip companies also experien