The Much-Touted Middle Corridor Transport Route Could Prove a Dead End

1. In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the most recent wars in the Middle East, experts and politicians expected a major transport route to emerge through Central Asia and the South Caucasus, bypassing sanctioned Russian and Iranian territory: the so-called Middle Corridor. For the EU and United States, the corridor holds dual promise: as a trade link between China and Europe and as a strategic pathway for Central Asia’s vast reserves of critical minerals, which are essential for the energy transition and defense industries.

CPO Mass Production Bottleneck: Single-Chip Testing Exceeds 100 Seconds, Equipment Giants Race to Fill the Gap

1. As AI data centers' computing power demands continue to climb, traditional copper interconnect technology is approaching its physical limits. Co-packaged optics (CPO) is being touted as a key interconnect solution for next-generation AI infrastructure. However, just as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) prepares to mass-produce chips using its COUPE platform in 2026, a long-overlooked step in the process is becoming a critical bottleneck across the entire supply chain: testing.