Phison warns several backend firms of possible patent infringement

May 24, 15:28

IC design house Phison Electronics has warned several Taiwan-based backend service providers that products being shipped to Silicon Motion Technology may infringe on its NAND flash device controller patents, according to industry sources.

Hermes to see revenues grow higher than 10% sequentially in 2Q13

May 22, 22:01

Hermes Microvision (HMI), which provides electron beam inspection tools and solutions for the production of semiconductors, is expected to see its revenues grow over 10% sequentially in the second quarter of 2013, compared to a 5-10% on-quarter growth predicted previously, according to industry sour...

Elan shipping touchscreen controller ICs for new Nexus 7

May 22, 21:42

Elan Microelectronics reportedly has begun shipping touchscreen controller ICs for Google's new Nexus 7 tablets, which will help ramp up the revenues of the Taiwan-based IC design house in May and June, according to industry sources.

China-based ARM-architecture IC designers to attend 2013 Computex Taipei

May 22, 15:50

The main China-based ARM-architecture IC design houses, including Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics, Allwinner Technology, Nufront and Actions Semiconductor, will showcase IC solutions at 2013 Computex Taipei scheduled for June 4-8, to compete for orders from smartphone and tablet vendors.

Imec, Globalfoundries team up for STT-MRAM

May 22, 11:22

Globalfoundries has joined Imec's industrial research collaboration to develop spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory (STT-MRAM), according to the IC foundry.

Ilitek to post revenues of over NT$900 million in May

May 21, 21:39

ILi Technology (Ilitek) is expected to see its revenues top over NT$900 million (US$30.07 million) in May, buoyed by increasing shipments of LCD driver ICs for feature phones and other driver ICs supporting WVGA displays, according to industry sources.

AMD falls to 4th rank MPU supplier in 2012, says IC Insights

May 21, 15:54

A slowdown in notebook and desktop PC purchases coupled with strong growth in smartphones and tablets knocked AMD down to fourth place in microprocessor (MPU) sales in 2012 from second, where AMD had been perched behind Intel since the 1990s, according to IC Insights.

Demand for large-size driver ICs to boom in 2H13, say backend firms

May 21, 14:47

Packaging and testing firms Chipbond Technology and ChipMOS Technologies both expect orders for large-size LCD driver ICs to pull in during the second half of 2013 on booming demand for Ultra HD TVs.

Touch screen IC, LED driver IC suppliers to post strong performance in May

May 21, 14:44

Touch screen controller IC vendors Elan Microelectronics and Egalax-empia Technology (EETI) have both seen their clients step up purchases of touch controller ICs for Haswell-based notebooks and ultrabooks, according to industry sources.

Revenues for drivers in LED general lighting applications to triple, says IMS Research

May 21, 10:42

Global revenues for LED driver ICs used in general lighting applications will more than triple from 2012 to 2015, as the market for solid-state illumination booms, according to IMS Research.

MediaTek 2Q13 sales likely to beat guidance

May 20, 21:30

MediaTek is likely to report higher-than-expected sales for the second quarter of 2013 on a recent ramp-up in demand from China-based smartphone and tablet companies, according to market observers.

More firms provide crystal-less USB 3.0 device controllers

May 20, 16:37

More USB 3.0 device controller suppliers have launched crystal-less solutions designed for small, lightweight products, including startup M31 Technology. The design would also help to reduce overall BOM cost, due to the elimination of an additional quartz oscillator.

Taiwan-based analog IC suppliers facing increasing competition from rivals in China

May 20, 15:15

Taiwan-based analog IC vendors are facing increasing competition from China-based rival companies, which are now aiming to replace Taiwan makers as the major analog IC suppliers in China, according to industry sources.

Capella tops analog IC suppliers with highest EPS in 1Q13

May 20, 13:55

Taiwan-based Capella Microsystems topped fellow analog IC design houses with the highest EPS of NT$3.48 (US$0.12) in the first quarter of 2013, according to market data.

China market: Several smartphone components in short supply

May 17, 14:11

A shortage in the supply of some key components, including high-end camera modules, touchscreen panels and multi-chip package (MCP) memory chips, is worsening in the smartphone industry supply chain in China, according to industry sources.

Demand for small-size panel driver ICs stays strong

May 16, 21:46

Demand for small-size LCD driver ICs has remained strong thanks to brisk smartphone sales in China, which is set to drive revenue growth for related suppliers including design houses, foundries and backend firms in the second quarter of 2013.

Global Unichip, Macroblock, ALi perform lower than expected in 1Q13

May 15, 22:12

IC design houses Global Unichip, Macroblock and ALi saw performances below market expectations in the first quarter of 2013. Global Unichip and Macroblock each posted EPS below NT$1 (US$0.033) in the quarter, while ALi incurred a loss of NT$48.22 million.

IC distributor Anstek reports on-year earnings gains in 1Q13

May 15, 15:13

IC distributor Answer Technology (Anstek) saw its net profits edge up 6.3% on year to NT$27 million (US$904,613) in the first quarter of 2013, buoyed by agent sales of Xilinx products.

Japan chip firms 1Q13 sales suffer double-digit declines

May 15, 12:33

IC Insights has ranked its worldwide top 20 semiconductor (ICs, and optoelectronics, sensors and discrete devices) sales leaders for the first quarter of 2013. Of the top-20 vendors, the four headquartered in Japan all saw their first-quarter sales register double-digit on-year decreases.

Chipset players queuing up for TSMC production capacity

May 14, 22:16

International and domestic chipset vendors have begun to queue up at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in order to secure production capacity for 40nm, 28nm and more advanced processes, according to industry sources.

Actron, Lite-On Semi posted mixed results for 1Q13

May 14, 20:11

Diode suppliers Actron Technology and Lite-On Semiconductor have reported mixed results for the first quarter of 2013, but the two companies are set to post sequential revenue gains in the second quarter, according to industry sources.

MediaTek asking clients to confirm IC demand for next 3-6 months, say sources

May 14, 15:49

MediaTek reportedly has urged its clients for smartphone and tablet chipset solutions to offer confirmed prospects of their demand of ICs for the next 3-6 months due to strong market demand and tight production schedule, according to industry sources.

Taiwan IC suppliers land pull-in orders from China smartphone, tablet makers

May 14, 14:13

Shipments of IC parts to China by Taiwan-based IC suppliers have regained momentum following a slight pause after the May 1 holidays, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

ESMT to ship MCP memory chips to MediaTek, say sources

May 13, 13:55

Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology (ESMT), a Taiwan-based provider of niche-market memory chips, has entered the MCP (multi chip package) chip segment and will begin to ship its MCP solutions to MediaTek in June, according to industry sources.

Faraday earnings stay flat in 1Q13

May 13, 12:30

IC design service provider Faraday Technology has reported net profits of NT$205 million (US$6.91 million) for the first quarter of 2013, down 1% from the previous quarter and 16% from a year earlier.

Chipbond, YoungTek to expand LCD driver IC testing capacity in 2Q13

May 10, 16:03

Taiwan-based IC backend service houses Chipbond Technology and YoungTek Electronics plan to ramp up their testing capacity for LCD driver chips by 20% and 30%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2013 to cope with demand for small- to medium-size LCD driver ICs, according to the companies.

Touchscreen IC suppliers to see May sales increase

May 10, 11:25

Touchscreen controller IC suppliers Elan Microelectronics and Egalax-Empia Technology (EETI) are expected to post significant growth in May sales driven by demand from the PC sector, according to market watchers.

Top industrial electronics chipmakers suffer declining revenues in 2012, says IHS

May 10, 10:14

The eight leading suppliers of industrial electronics semiconductors suffered revenue declines in 2012, reflecting weak conditions for the beleaguered market, according to IHS iSuppli.

Spreadtrum 1Q13 revenues beat guidance

Newswatch - May 9, 18:39

China-based handset solution vendor Spreadtrum Communications has announced revenues of US$189 million for the first quarter of 2013, down 6.9% sequentially but up 17.3% on year. The sales figures were higher than the company's guidance of US$180-186 million set for the quarter, the company noted.

China market: Rising popularity of tablets with 3G functionality to benefit MediaTek, Qualcomm

May 9, 10:46

Demand for 7-8-inch white-box tablets with built-in 3G functionality in China has been increasing, a trend which is likely to benefit MediaTek and Qualcomm, according to industry sources.

Digitimes Research: Taiwan IC vendor revenues down 7.4% sequentially in 1Q13

May 8, 22:07

Accumulated revenues of Taiwan-based IC design houses reached NT$98 billion (US$3.32 billion) in the first quarter of 2013, down 7.4% from the previous quarter but up 8.5% from a year earlier, according to Digitimes Research.

Pixart Imaging back to growth track in 2Q13

May 8, 21:46

IC design house Pixart Imaging expects its sales to return to a growth track in the second quarter of 2013 and see its revenues climb 10-15% sequentially in the quarter, according to company CFO Mei-wei Lo.

Himax looks to 17-20% sequential revenue growth in 2Q13

May 8, 15:34

IC design house Himax Technologies expects its revenues to increase 17-20% sequentially in the second quarter of 2013 from NT$5.16 billion (US$174.57 million) recorded in the previous quarter, according to the company.

Promate Electronic records 1Q13 net EPS of NT$0.83

May 8, 15:15

Taiwan-based IC and electronic component distributor Promate Electronic on May 7 released its financial report for the first quarter of 2013, recording consolidated revenues of NT$4.874 billion (US$164 million), gross margin of 8.78%, net operating profit of NT$189 million, net profit of NT$149 million...

MediaTek April sales hit 39-month high

May 8, 14:09

Consolidated revenues at MediaTek, whose wireless chips are mainly targeted at white-box handsets including smartphones, climbed to a 39-month high of NT$12.57 billion (US$426.5 million) in April 2013.

MediaTek, MStar TV chip market share in China falling down

May 7, 22:16

MediaTek and MStar Semiconductor have seen their combined share in China's TV chip market drop to below 70% recently as more TV brands in China have chosen to use TV chips from Realtek Semiconductor and Novatek Microelectronics to avoid the risk of relying on a single supplier, according to industry...

IC distributor WT Micro looks to moderate revenue growth in 2Q13

May 7, 13:49

Taiwan-based IC distributor WT Microelectronics expects it revenues to grow 0.9-6.4% to NT$20.2-21.3 billion (US$683.40-720.26 million) in the second quarter of 2013, buoyed by strong demand for memory devices as well as from the white-box smartphone and tablet sectors in China, according to company...

Zentel 1Q13 profits jump on rising SDRAM prices

May 7, 12:36

Fabless firm Zentel Electronics, which specializes in niche-market memory ICs, has reported robust profit growth for the first quarter of 2013 on rising specialty DRAM (SDRAM) prices.

MediaTek sees over 20% revenue rise but minor gross margin gain in 2Q13

May 6, 22:16

Robust shipments of smartphone ICs will help MediaTek enjoy a more than 20% on-quarter sales rise in the second quarter of 2013, but increased price competition in the China market is set to constrain its gross margin growth.

IC distributor WPG expects sales to grow 10-17% sequentially in 2Q13

May 6, 15:49

IC distributor WPG Holdings expects its revenues to grow 9.75%-16.68% sequentially to NT$95-101 billion (US$3.22-3.42 billion) in the second quarter of 2013, according to company chairman Simon Huang.

IC demand in China will remain robust after May 1 holidays, say sources

May 6, 15:11

Demand for IC parts from the smartphone and tablet sectors in China will remain strong even after the May 1 holiday season as market players are adjusting upward their forecasts of sales of smartphones and tablets in China and other emerging markets for 2013, according to industry sources.

MediaTek snaps up influx of orders for its new dual-core MT6572 chipset

May 6, 12:20

MediaTek reportedly has landed orders for over one million units of its recently release new dual-core smartphone platform, the MT6572, according to industry sources.

Intel signs another foundry customer

May 6, 11:30

Microsemi has announced it is leveraging Intel's foundry technology for the development of advanced high-performance digital ICs and system-on-chip (SoC) solutions using Intel's 22nm 3D tri-gate transistor technology.

Innostor sees USB 3.0 flash drive controller shipments boom

May 3, 16:02

Innostor Technology, a fabless USB device controller firm, expects to see shipments of its SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) flash drive controllers climb 30% sequentially in the second quarter of 2013, according to industry observers.

Spansion to buy Fujitsu MCU and analog unit

May 2, 16:20

Spansion on April 30 announced that the company had reached a deal with Fujitsu Semiconductor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu, to acquire the microcontroller and analog business of Fujitsu Semiconductor for approximately US$110 million, plus approximately US$65 million for inventory. The net...