Taiwanese chip designer Realtek says it is already working on 3nm custom chips for networking, a positive sign for a company trying to ride the AI boom.

• Realtek is designing custom chips at 6nm and 3nm, and has started mass producing Wi-Fi 8 chips while working on Wi-Fi 9.
• Big tech firms increasingly want chips built to order instead of off-the-shelf parts, so more Taiwanese designers are chasing that business.
• Nvidia's large investment in rival MediaTek is seen as proof this shift is the industry's direction, not a one-off.
• Chinese rivals are catching up fast, and Taiwan's slice of the AI chip market is still small next to processors and memory.
• The AI rush is pulling supply chain capacity away from ordinary consumer gadgets toward AI products.

Outlook: Business looks strong into next year, with growth tied to custom chips, high-speed connections and optical links rather than traditional consumer electronics.