|
China Masters AI at Scale, Japan Leads in Reliability, Driving Regional Innovation
SINGAPORE, Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded in products and solutions across Asia-Pacific, as engineers advance adoption while addressing operational and design challenges. This is according to Avnet's fifth annual Avnet Insights survey, which tracks global trends in AI integration across industries.
Globally, 77% of engineers reported improving market conditions for their design products and solutions. Across APAC, adoption is accelerating, with China leading in large-scale deployment and Japan emphasizing reliability and long product lifecycles. These regional strengths and shifting priorities are collectively fueling the next wave of Asia-Pacific's technological evolution.
"While the survey focuses on major global design hubs, the findings serve as a critical framework for Southeast Asian markets," said Tan Aik Hoon, Regional President for Avnet South Asia, Korea and Avnet United. "As ASEAN grows as a global manufacturing powerhouse, the 'commercial-first' AI strategies highlighted in the report offer a clear path forward for engineers in Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam looking to maintain competitive speeds."
Download the 2026 Avnet Insights: The Reality of Artificial Intelligence whitepaper here.
How is AI Adoption Advancing Across APAC?
More than half of engineers globally (56%) said they are shipping products with AI incorporated, a 33% increase from the previous year. In China, adoption exceeds the global average, with engineers embedding AI across industries including automotive, industrial automation, and smart manufacturing. Japan and other APAC markets are advancing steadily, prioritizing practical applications that enhance efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.
Top AI applications across the region mirror global trends: process automation (42%), predictive maintenance (28%), and fault/anomaly detection (28%) remain the most adopted functionalities. Engineers are also increasingly combining Edge AI and machine learning (ML), with 64% globally prioritizing both equally, reflecting the growing importance of multi-modal AI.
"We see a clear shift from AI experimentation to industrial-scale deployment across the ASEAN manufacturing corridor," added Tan. "Regional engineers face a growing complexity tax—balancing rapid time-to-market with specialized data requirements. Avnet's role is to help partners overcome these barriers and move from concept to revenue faster."
Navigating Challenges to Drive Broadening Impact
As AI's influence expands, APAC engineers continue to balance technical challenges with evolving skill requirements. Data quality (46%) and continuous maintenance (54%) remain the most cited obstacles, while regional teams are investing in talent development—particularly in model optimization (17%) and data analysis (16%)—to convert complexity into competitive advantage.
"The report confirms that AI has entered its most critical phase: at-scale implementation," concluded Tan. "In a market where production speed drives optimism, Avnet helps bridge the regional resource gap by providing the technical expertise and ecosystem support our partners need to lead—not just participate—in Asia-Pacific's technological evolution."
The 2026 Avnet Insights survey conducted online was fielded to 1,200 engineers from the Americas, EMEA, Asia and Japan, from October 21 through November 5, 2025.
Download the full 2026 Avnet Insights: The Reality of Artificial Intelligence whitepaper here.
About Avnet
As a leading global technology distributor and solutions provider, Avnet has served customers' evolving needs for more than a century. Through regional and specialized businesses around the world, we support customers and suppliers at every stage of the product lifecycle. We help companies adapt to change and accelerate the design and supply stages of product development. With a unique viewpoint from the center of the technology supply chain, Avnet is a trusted partner that solves complex design and supply chain issues so customers can realize revenue faster. Learn more about Avnet at www.avnet.com.
CONTACT: Seraphina Wee, seraphina.wee@avnet.com
China Masters AI at Scale, Japan Leads in Reliability, Driving Regional Innovation
SINGAPORE, Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded in products and solutions across Asia-Pacific, as engineers advance adoption while addressing operational and design challenges. This is according to Avnet's fifth annual Avnet Insights survey, which tracks global trends in AI integration across industries.
Globally, 77% of engineers reported improving market conditions for their design products and solutions. Across APAC, adoption is accelerating, with China leading in large-scale deployment and Japan emphasizing reliability and long product lifecycles. These regional strengths and shifting priorities are collectively fueling the next wave of Asia-Pacific's technological evolution.
"While the survey focuses on major global design hubs, the findings serve as a critical framework for Southeast Asian markets," said Tan Aik Hoon, Regional President for Avnet South Asia, Korea and Avnet United. "As ASEAN grows as a global manufacturing powerhouse, the 'commercial-first' AI strategies highlighted in the report offer a clear path forward for engineers in Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam looking to maintain competitive speeds."
Download the 2026 Avnet Insights: The Reality of Artificial Intelligence whitepaper here.
How is AI Adoption Advancing Across APAC?
More than half of engineers globally (56%) said they are shipping products with AI incorporated, a 33% increase from the previous year. In China, adoption exceeds the global average, with engineers embedding AI across industries including automotive, industrial automation, and smart manufacturing. Japan and other APAC markets are advancing steadily, prioritizing practical applications that enhance efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.
Top AI applications across the region mirror global trends: process automation (42%), predictive maintenance (28%), and fault/anomaly detection (28%) remain the most adopted functionalities. Engineers are also increasingly combining Edge AI and machine learning (ML), with 64% globally prioritizing both equally, reflecting the growing importance of multi-modal AI.
"We see a clear shift from AI experimentation to industrial-scale deployment across the ASEAN manufacturing corridor," added Tan. "Regional engineers face a growing complexity tax—balancing rapid time-to-market with specialized data requirements. Avnet's role is to help partners overcome these barriers and move from concept to revenue faster."
Navigating Challenges to Drive Broadening Impact
As AI's influence expands, APAC engineers continue to balance technical challenges with evolving skill requirements. Data quality (46%) and continuous maintenance (54%) remain the most cited obstacles, while regional teams are investing in talent development—particularly in model optimization (17%) and data analysis (16%)—to convert complexity into competitive advantage.
"The report confirms that AI has entered its most critical phase: at-scale implementation," concluded Tan. "In a market where production speed drives optimism, Avnet helps bridge the regional resource gap by providing the technical expertise and ecosystem support our partners need to lead—not just participate—in Asia-Pacific's technological evolution."
The 2026 Avnet Insights survey conducted online was fielded to 1,200 engineers from the Americas, EMEA, Asia and Japan, from October 21 through November 5, 2025.
Download the full 2026 Avnet Insights: The Reality of Artificial Intelligence whitepaper here.
About Avnet
As a leading global technology distributor and solutions provider, Avnet has served customers' evolving needs for more than a century. Through regional and specialized businesses around the world, we support customers and suppliers at every stage of the product lifecycle. We help companies adapt to change and accelerate the design and supply stages of product development. With a unique viewpoint from the center of the technology supply chain, Avnet is a trusted partner that solves complex design and supply chain issues so customers can realize revenue faster. Learn more about Avnet at www.avnet.com.
CONTACT: Seraphina Wee, seraphina.wee@avnet.com
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
Avnet Insights Survey: APAC Engineers Accelerate AI Adoption Across Industries
|
Supreme Court dismisses Young Poong's final appeal, with all three court levels confirming the legality of Korea Zinc's voting rights restrictions
Final judgment clears Korea Zinc management of all allegations concerning breach of trust and violations of the Fair Trade Act
Ruling secures the stability of Korea Zinc's governance reforms and strengthens its defense against hostile takeover attempts
SEOUL, South Korea, April 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Supreme Court of Korea has delivered a final victory to Korea Zinc (KRX:010130), dismissing the final appeal for an injunction to suspend the effectiveness of the resolutions from last year's regular general meeting of shareholders filed by Young Poong. The Supreme Court ruled on April 2 to uphold the original decision made by the Seoul High Court on June 24 last year.
This ruling re-confirms that Korea Zinc's action to restrict Young Poong's voting rights at the regular general meeting of shareholders held on March 28, 2025, was lawful. The measure was based on Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act, following the formation of cross-shareholdings after Korea Zinc's Australian subsidiary, Sun Metals Holdings (SMH), acquired more than 10% of Young Poong's shares. All three court levels, including the Supreme Court, have now recognized Korea Zinc's actions as lawful.
In particular, the court found the lower court's judgment to be correct in not recognizing charges such as breach of trust or violations of the Fair Trade Act by Korea Zinc's management. The court ruled as justified the lower court's determination that "it is difficult to see that Korea Zinc management committed breach of trust or violated the 'Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (Fair Trade Act)' by acquiring the creditor's shares using SMH and Sun Metal Corporation (SMC) for personal purposes during the management dispute, or that SMC violated the 'Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (Capital Markets Act)' in the process of distributing the creditor's shares as a dividend in kind to SMH".
Furthermore, the Supreme Court rejected all of Young Poong's claims, including the argument that 'the term "subsidiary" in Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act refers only to domestic companies, and SMH is not a joint-stock company'.
According to Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act regarding cross-shareholdings, if a company, its parent, and subsidiary—or a subsidiary alone—holds more than one-tenth of the total issued shares of another company, the shares of the company or parent company held by that other company have no voting rights.
The Supreme Court stated, "Looking at the relevant legal principles and records, the judgment of the lower court is just, and there is no error in misunderstanding legal principles regarding the restriction of voting rights of cross-held shares and abuse of rights, or omitting judgment, which influenced the ruling".
It further specified, "The lower court interpreted 'subsidiary' in Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act to include SMH, a foreign company established under foreign law". The court added, "The lower court's judgment, based on the premise that the debtor's subsidiary SMH is functionally equivalent to a joint-stock company under our Commercial Act, is just and contains no legal misunderstanding".
As a result, Korea Zinc can proceed without setbacks with its governance improvements and measures to increase shareholder value, such as 'setting a cap on the number of directors (19 or fewer)' and 'appointing an outside director as chairman of the board,' which were resolved at last year's regular general meeting.
Moreover, it was confirmed once again that the decisions of Korea Zinc's management and the board to block the hostile takeover attempts by Young Poong and the private equity fund MBK Partners were measures taken within the legal framework.
Following the regular general meeting in March last year, Korea Zinc succeeded in preventing Young Poong and MBK from seizing control of the board at this year's regular general meeting, backed by recommendations for approval from various domestic and international proxy advisory firms and overwhelming support from major North American pension funds and general shareholders.
A spokesperson from Korea Zinc stated, "Korea Zinc will continue to improve governance and enhance shareholder value to increase corporate value". They added, "Based on this, we will continue to defend against hostile takeover attempt with the support of many shareholders and contribute to the national economy, security, and strengthening the U.S.-Korea alliance as a core company in the global critical minerals supply chain".
Supreme Court dismisses Young Poong's final appeal, with all three court levels confirming the legality of Korea Zinc's voting rights restrictions
Final judgment clears Korea Zinc management of all allegations concerning breach of trust and violations of the Fair Trade Act
Ruling secures the stability of Korea Zinc's governance reforms and strengthens its defense against hostile takeover attempts
SEOUL, South Korea, April 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Supreme Court of Korea has delivered a final victory to Korea Zinc (KRX:010130), dismissing the final appeal for an injunction to suspend the effectiveness of the resolutions from last year's regular general meeting of shareholders filed by Young Poong. The Supreme Court ruled on April 2 to uphold the original decision made by the Seoul High Court on June 24 last year.
This ruling re-confirms that Korea Zinc's action to restrict Young Poong's voting rights at the regular general meeting of shareholders held on March 28, 2025, was lawful. The measure was based on Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act, following the formation of cross-shareholdings after Korea Zinc's Australian subsidiary, Sun Metals Holdings (SMH), acquired more than 10% of Young Poong's shares. All three court levels, including the Supreme Court, have now recognized Korea Zinc's actions as lawful.
In particular, the court found the lower court's judgment to be correct in not recognizing charges such as breach of trust or violations of the Fair Trade Act by Korea Zinc's management. The court ruled as justified the lower court's determination that "it is difficult to see that Korea Zinc management committed breach of trust or violated the 'Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (Fair Trade Act)' by acquiring the creditor's shares using SMH and Sun Metal Corporation (SMC) for personal purposes during the management dispute, or that SMC violated the 'Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (Capital Markets Act)' in the process of distributing the creditor's shares as a dividend in kind to SMH".
Furthermore, the Supreme Court rejected all of Young Poong's claims, including the argument that 'the term "subsidiary" in Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act refers only to domestic companies, and SMH is not a joint-stock company'.
According to Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act regarding cross-shareholdings, if a company, its parent, and subsidiary—or a subsidiary alone—holds more than one-tenth of the total issued shares of another company, the shares of the company or parent company held by that other company have no voting rights.
The Supreme Court stated, "Looking at the relevant legal principles and records, the judgment of the lower court is just, and there is no error in misunderstanding legal principles regarding the restriction of voting rights of cross-held shares and abuse of rights, or omitting judgment, which influenced the ruling".
It further specified, "The lower court interpreted 'subsidiary' in Article 369, Paragraph 3 of the Commercial Act to include SMH, a foreign company established under foreign law". The court added, "The lower court's judgment, based on the premise that the debtor's subsidiary SMH is functionally equivalent to a joint-stock company under our Commercial Act, is just and contains no legal misunderstanding".
As a result, Korea Zinc can proceed without setbacks with its governance improvements and measures to increase shareholder value, such as 'setting a cap on the number of directors (19 or fewer)' and 'appointing an outside director as chairman of the board,' which were resolved at last year's regular general meeting.
Moreover, it was confirmed once again that the decisions of Korea Zinc's management and the board to block the hostile takeover attempts by Young Poong and the private equity fund MBK Partners were measures taken within the legal framework.
Following the regular general meeting in March last year, Korea Zinc succeeded in preventing Young Poong and MBK from seizing control of the board at this year's regular general meeting, backed by recommendations for approval from various domestic and international proxy advisory firms and overwhelming support from major North American pension funds and general shareholders.
A spokesperson from Korea Zinc stated, "Korea Zinc will continue to improve governance and enhance shareholder value to increase corporate value". They added, "Based on this, we will continue to defend against hostile takeover attempt with the support of many shareholders and contribute to the national economy, security, and strengthening the U.S.-Korea alliance as a core company in the global critical minerals supply chain".
** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
Korea's Supreme Court Upholds Korea Zinc's Voting Restriction, Rebuffing Young Poong's Legal Challenge
