These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of May 19 – May 25. Highlights include China’s accelerating push for tech self-sufficiency with new AI chips and operating systems, TSMC’s global fab and packaging expansion gaps, Wolfspeed’s looming bankruptcy amid China’s SiC surge, and Huawei’s growing dominance in 5G infrastructure as Western RAN giants retreat. From Computex showdowns to DeepSeek’s LLM momentum, here’s what topped the headlines.
Made in China 2.0: Huawei, Lenovo, Xiaomi drive bold exit from US tech orbit
China’s leading tech firms are accelerating self-sufficiency as US export controls falter. Xiaomi introduced its first 3nm in-house SoC, the XRing O1, while maintaining its partnership with Qualcomm. Lenovo launched the YOGA Pad Pro 14.5, powered by its custom SS1101 chip, likely manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process. Huawei debuted HarmonyOS 5—its first fully Android-free operating system—advancing software autonomy.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warned that US restrictions have cost the company US$50 billion and are propelling China’s chip independence. With players like DeepSeek scaling AI development, China’s end-to-end tech stack is rapidly maturing.
Nvidia’s viral charisma vs. Intel’s quiet influence at Computex 2025
At Computex 2025, Jensen Huang and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan delivered sharply contrasting styles—Huang captured attention with viral stage moments alongside Foxconn’s Young Liu and MediaTek’s Rick Tsai, while Tan conducted quiet diplomacy behind closed doors. Huang shared anecdotes about his college romance, dismissed rumors of wearing a US$1.2 million Richard Mille watch, and gratefully accepted night market gifts.
Tan, meanwhile, highlighted his long-standing connection to Taiwan and outlined Intel’s AI roadmap, vowing to “under-promise and over-deliver” through deeper local collaboration.
The one rival Jensen Huang won’t ignore in 2025
Huang also reiterated that US export bans are accelerating Huawei’s dominance in China’s AI chip sector during Computex 2025. Since 2022, when restrictions began tightening, most recently under President Donald Trump, Nvidia’s market share in China has dropped from 95% to 50%, forcing US$5.5 billion in inventory write-downs.
With over 90% of Nvidia’s revenue tied to data center chips, the ban on models like the H20 has left a vacuum filled by Huawei, which now relies on SMIC and in-house DUV fabs. Huang warns that these policies strengthen China’s self-sufficiency and undermine US global AI leadership.
Huawei tightens 5G grip while Western telecom giants slash jobs
While Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, and Fujitsu downsize amid weak RAN demand and policy inertia, Huawei is scaling up, investing US$25 billion in R&D in 2024 alone, or 20.8% of its revenue. Over half of Huawei’s 200,000 employees now work in R&D. In contrast, Nokia targets EUR1 billion (approx. $1.14 billion) in cuts by 2026, while Mavenir and Parallel Wireless face mounting debt and layoffs.
Even ZTE has trimmed over 6,400 jobs. As China leans on state-backed coordination, Huawei is emerging as a vendor and a global telecom standards-setter, positioned to shape 6G, SAGIN, and intelligent IoT.
Wolfspeed’s stumble opens the door to China’s SiC ambitions
Wolfspeed, a US leader in 8-inch SiC wafers, is reportedly nearing bankruptcy, disrupting the global power semiconductor market. Strained by high costs, delayed subsidies, and slowing EV demand, it has ceded ground to Chinese players like SICC and Sanan Optoelectronics, who offer faster, more cost-effective solutions. With automakers shifting to hybrid SiC strategies and postponing high-voltage transitions, Wolfspeed’s collapse could unleash a wave of IP transfers, talent shifts, and market realignment, benefiting China’s rapidly advancing SiC ecosystem.
TSMC’s US expansion falls short without key packaging capacity
TSMC plans to build nine new sites by 2025—six fabs and one packaging plant in Taiwan, plus fabs in the US and Japan—but notably omits the two previously promised US packaging facilities. This omission undermines the “Made in USA” narrative, as critical packaging for chips like Nvidia’s Blackwell remains Taiwan-based. Despite US$165 billion pledged for US operations, most CoWoS and SoIC capacity expansion remains in Taiwan. TSMC’s next-gen Chiayi packaging hub, vital for AI and iPhone chips, won’t begin mass production until 2026.
DeepSeek’s R2 still missing—Founder Liang drops V3 research instead
On January 20, 2025, China’s DeepSeek launched its R1 model, marking a strategic shift in the LLM race with a lean, open-source approach that contrasts with the US’s compute-heavy AI development.
As the US pushes global initiatives like Trump’s Stargate Project, backed by OpenAI, Nvidia, and SoftBank, DeepSeek is quietly gaining ground. Its next model, R2, was expected in May but is now likely delayed to July or August, based on prior release cycles. Each DeepSeek launch underscores the widening gap in AI philosophies between China and the US and reshapes the competitive global AI landscape.
Article edited by Jack Wu