36 h. ago TSMC buys up land in Arizona as Taiwan pledges US$500 billion US tech investment

Taiwan has committed to driving hundreds of billions of dollars of extra investment into America’s chip industry as part of a US trade deal announced on Thursday, with the island’s biggest semiconductor producer already moving to buy more land in the US state of Arizona. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) – the world’s largest contract chipmaker – confirmed on Thursday that it had bought a second tract of land in Arizona. The 365-hectare (901-acre) plot nearly doubles the...

Economics

58 h. ago Chinese tungsten product prices surge over 200% in 2025 amid export controls, fresh demand

Chinese tungsten product prices surge over 200% in 2025 amid export controls, fresh demand  Fastmarkets

Politics

62 h. ago US aircraft carrier steams from South China Sea to Mideast after Trump threat against Iran

A US aircraft carrier has reportedly left the South China Sea after a live-fire drill and is heading to the Middle East amid anti-government protests in Iran. US cable news network NewsNation reported on Thursday that the Pentagon ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group, which includes Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, to leave their position in the South China Sea and sail towards the Middle East. According to the US Naval Institute’s carrier tracker, there...

Politics

6 d. ago China applies to put 200,000 satellites in space after calling Starlink a crash risk

Chinese firms have signalled plans to launch more than 200,000 internet satellites, filing submissions with a UN agency just as Beijing criticised Elon Musk’s SpaceX for crowding shared orbital resources. A dozen or so submissions from various Chinese satellite players were filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the end of December. The biggest projects – CTC-1 and CTC-2 – were for 96,714 satellites each and filed by the newly established Institute of Radio Spectrum...

Events

2 w. ago Did a PLA stealth fighter approach a key Taiwan airbase? New video sparks debate

A video released by the People’s Liberation Army during a military drill this week has sparked debate about whether Taiwan failed to detect a J-20 stealth fighter and how close the aircraft might have come to a key military airport on the island. The video was released by the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command on Tuesday – the second day of the “Justice Mission 2025” joint military exercises around Taiwan. The footage shows a PLA J-20 flying near an unidentified landscape that some observers say...

Events

2 w. ago US Navy aircraft crashes offer lessons for PLA carrier operations, analysts say

After two US Navy aircraft crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other in October, analysts said there were lessons for the Chinese navy as it rapidly expands aircraft carrier operations. They said the People’s Liberation Army could learn from its rival’s strengths in search and rescue response, but also its weaknesses in maintenance and training. The US Navy said the aircraft – an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet – went down in separate...

Events

2 w. ago Taiwan confirms over 200 Chinese military aircraft during drills

Taiwan confirms over 200 Chinese military aircraft during drills  Japan Wire by KYODO NEWS

Events

2 w. ago 650 Hongkongers on Taiwan group tours confirmed safe after ‘terrifying’ quake

More than 650 Hongkongers on group tours to Taiwan have been confirmed safe following a 6.7-magnitude earthquake late on Saturday, while other travellers from the city have recalled feeling frightened as buildings swayed “from side to side”. The Hong Kong Observatory said the earthquake occurred at 11.05pm in Taiwan, with the epicentre located about 70km (43.5 miles) southeast of Taipei and at a focal depth of 60km. The forecaster also received more than 100 local reports of tremors lasting...

Events

4 w. ago Is China’s Fujian gearing up for a dual aircraft carrier exercise?

Two of China’s aircraft carriers, including its biggest and best, have docked at the same naval base near the Yellow Sea, raising suggestions that another dual-carrier exercise is on the horizon. Satellite images circulating on Chinese social media this week show the Fujian, which was officially commissioned last month, docked at a naval base in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province. In one of the images purportedly taken on Thursday, the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, docked...

Transport