INDUSTRY REPORTS
AI infrastructure & industry, autonomous driving, robotics, and drones & defense. These are the published pieces from the weekly news briefings and industry analysis in IFE Industry Monitor.
Drones & Defense · News Briefing
The US widened its counter-drone contracting frameworks through JIATF-401 and DHS, RTX posted a record order backlog, and Ukrainian long-range drones shut down four Moscow airports in a single night. Meanwhile, China is moving exports of motors, propellers and flight control to a licensing system from 11/18, and in the US some 150 new drone programs are halted under a continuing resolution.
Drones & Defense · Weekly Analysis
From 11/18 China will require licenses for exports of high-performance motors, propellers and flight controllers. After the US FCC rule blocked Chinese logic components, procurement of propulsion is now also becoming difficult. Cases showing counter-drone demand continued as Ukrainian long-range drones shut down Moscow's airports for a night, but the US budget is under a continuing resolution and about 150 new starts are stalled.
AI Infrastructure & Industry · News Briefing
Large AI data centers faced friction on three fronts at once — funding, sites and chip supply — from a neocloud credit squeeze, delays to 47 US projects and a packaging delay for TPU v9. In the same week in Korea, modular DC company Elice listed with a market capitalization of KRW 1 trillion, and TECO and Armada released modules that include power equipment and even satellite connectivity.
Robotics · News Briefing
Physical Intelligence began selling its robot models through an API; in China, DeepSeek led the seed round of embodied AI lab Winverse; and in Korea, a demonstration exemption was applied to the safety-fence rules that had kept humanoids out of factories. This week's large VC rounds went not to general-purpose humanoids but to specialized robots for construction, surgery and biomanufacturing.
Robotics · Weekly Analysis
With Physical Intelligence starting to sell its models through an API, a channel opened for the model layer to collect directly from customers. It was confirmed that the bottleneck for Korean humanoids was not technology but safety-fence rules, and these were relaxed for the first time through a demonstration exemption. Large VC money went not to general-purpose humanoids but to specialized robots with visible revenue.
Autonomous Driving · News Briefing
Waymo began driverless operation for general customers in San Antonio, San Diego, and Tampa; FMCSA exempted driverless trucks from the warning-triangle requirement for five years; and Applied Intuition received investment offers at a US$30 billion valuation. Tesla claimed more than 300 Cybercabs in operation while facing an NHTSA certification inquiry, a special order, and a school-zone petition at the same time.
Autonomous Driving · Weekly Analysis
Waymo began driverless service for general customers in three cities, and FMCSA exempted driverless trucks from the warning-triangle requirement for five years. Both easings came with conditions such as limits to the operational design domain and crash reporting, and three NHTSA proceedings overlapped for Tesla. Korea's first large-volume demand came from the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Level 4 city bus agreement, and simulation and validation tool company Applied Intuition received an investment proposal at a US$30 billion valuation.
AI Infrastructure & Industry · Weekly Analysis
At OCP 2026, NVIDIA, AMD, Google and Meta signed the same facility specification, and power, cooling, rack and optical interfaces are converging on common standards. The room for differentiation in infrastructure specifications is shrinking, and competition is moving toward semiconductors and software certification. In Korea, while the Gangneung 1GW plan is tied to a substation schedule, about 20 idle expressway sites have begun to be reviewed as data center candidates.
