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.

Taiwan attracts January-April foreign direct investment of over US$1.5 billion

May 21, 11:48

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) approved 960 foreign direct investment projects (except from China) totaling US$1.558 billion in January-April 2013. The number of projects increased 34.08% on year but the value decreased 14.80%.

Win Semi expects to post double-digit revenue growth in 2013

May 21, 11:38

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafer foundry Win Semiconductors expects to post double-digit revenue growth in 2013 thanks to its complete product portfolio and broader client base.

TSMC presence in advance process market remains strong

May 20, 22:50

A report has claimed that Samsung Electronics' combined production of chips using advanced 32/28nm process technologies accounted for roughly 50% of the global production of the same class chip foundry in the first quarter of 2013.

Taiwan April export order value slightly down on month, year, says MOEA

May 20, 21:46

Taiwan received export orders worth US$35.69 billion in total in April 2013, decreasing by 0.4% on month and by 1.1% on year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on May 20.

ChipMOS capex for 2013 to reach NT$2.5-2.8 billion

May 20, 16:23

ChipMOS Technologies, which specializes in assembly and test services for LCD driver ICs and memory chips, expects its capex for 2013 to total NT$2.5-2.8 billion (US$83.6-93.6 million) and will use the funds mainly to ramp up its capacity for LCD driver ICs, logic/mixed signal ICs and MEMS devices,...

Equipment maker Acter sees profits down in 1Q13

May 17, 16:05

Cleanroom equipment maker Acter has reported net profits of NT$114 million (US$3.82 million) for the first quarter of 2013, decreasing 33.9% from a year earlier. First-quarter EPS stood at NT$2.48 compared to NT$3.75 a year ago.

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.

ASE to buy Toshiba backend plant in China

May 16, 11:34

IC packager Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) announced on May 15 that the company has reached a deal with Toshiba Semiconductor (Wuxi) in China to acquire its chip assembly and test plant for CNY70 million (US$11.4 million).

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.

Mirle sales affected by slow investments in large-size LCD panel, solar energy sectors

May 13, 16:23

Equipment supplier Mirle Automation has seen its sales continue to be affected by slow investments in large-size LCD panel and solar energy sectors, according to industry sources.

Scientech looks to strong sales of reclaim wafers, semiconductor equipment in 2H13

May 13, 15:30

Semiconductor equipment distributor and wafer reclaim service provider Scientech expects demand for manufacturing equipment from the semiconductor and LED industries to continue to move upward quarter on quarter in the second half of 2013 after it posted strong sales in the first four months of 2013,...

MEMC reports 1Q13 net sales down 26% sequentially

May 13, 13:54

US-based polysilicon maker MEMC has reported first-quarter 2013 financial results with net sales of US$443.6 million, down 26% on quarter and 15% on year. The firm reported first-quarter gross margin of 11.2%, lower than 18% in the fourth quarter of 2012 but higher than 9.6% in the first quarter of...

Chroma Ate April revenues rise 21% sequentially

May 13, 09:50

Chroma Ate, which provides integrated and customized solutions for test and measurement instruments, has announced April consolidated revenues of NT$845 million (US$28 million), showing an on-month increase of 21.3% but an on-year decrease of 9.34%.

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.

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.

UMC meets 1Q13 guidance; sees growth in 2Q

May 8, 15:47

Foundry chipmaker United Microelectronics (UMC) saw its first-quarter results come in line with its guidance, and has given its positive outlook for the second quarter.

Taiwan April exports decrease

May 8, 11:10

Taiwan recorded total export value of US$25.05 billion for April 2013, decreasing 8% sequentially and 1.9% on year, while the corresponding import value of US$22.77 billion slipped 5.2% sequentially and 8.2% on year, according the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Walton generates more revenues from specialty DRAM, says report

Newswatch - May 7, 10:16

Packaging and testing company Walton Advanced Engineering, which long focused on the PC DRAM market, has seen sales generated from the orders for specialty DRAM (SDRAM) chips account for more than 50% of company revenues, according to a report from Taiwan's state-run Central News Agency (CNA)...

VIS expects to post 10-13% shipment rise in 2Q13

May 6, 21:55

IC foundry Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS), which specializes in analog/mixed-signal and logic chips, expects to report 11-13% sequential growth in wafer shipments for the second quarter of 2013. The firm credited its positive guidance to clients' inventory restocking.

Global chip sales up slightly in 1Q13, says SIA

May 6, 11:31

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has reported that worldwide sales for the first quarter of 2013 were 0.9% higher from those generated a year earlier.

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.

Worldwide semiconductor assembly and testing revenues up 2% in 2012, says Gartner

May 3, 15:13

The worldwide semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) market totaled US$24.5 billion in 2012, a 2.1% increase from 2011, according to Gartner.

Chipbond to buy COF substrate supplier

May 2, 22:28

Chipbond Technology has said it will acquire Simpal Electronics, a Taiwan-based COF substrate supplier, through a share swap.

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...

Disruption in Korean production could have catastrophic impact on global electronics business, says IHS

May 2, 12:16

What would happen if half of all global production for DRAM, two-thirds of NAND flash manufacturing and 70% of the world's tablet display supply suddenly disappeared from the market? The answer would be chaos, with the worldwide electronics supply chain grinding to a halt and stopping major market...

PTI expects 2Q13 revenues to improve sequentially

May 2, 10:58

Memory IC packaging and testing service provider Powertech Technology (PTI) expects its second-quarter 2013 consolidated revenues to significantly increase on quarter mainly due to continued growth in demand from the mobile DRAM, NAND flash and logic IC segments, company chairman Tsai du-kung has sa...

Samsung making 20nm 4Gb LPDDR3 DRAM for mobile devices

Apr 30, 15:48

Samsung Electronics has announced that it is now producing 4-gigabit (4Gb) low-power DDR3 (LPDDR3) mobile DRAM chips using 20nm-class process technology.

VPEC 1Q13 profits jump 94%

Apr 30, 15:28

Visual Photonics Epitaxy Company (VPEC), a Taiwan-based supplier of GaAs epi-wafers for fabricating power amplifiers (PA), saw its first-quarter profits soar 94.1% sequentially with revenues up 24.2%.

Equipment supplier Csun expects strong 2Q13

Apr 30, 12:13

A rebound in orders lifted Csun Manufacturing's book-to-bill ratio to 1.52 at the end of the first quarter, indicating that the company's shipments and revenues will grow robustly starting the second quarter, according to company president Webber Wong.

Win Semi expects smartphone PAs to drive revenue growth

Apr 30, 10:34

GaAs device foundry Win Semiconductors has seen demand for smartphone-use power amplifiers (PA) strengthen, and expects the pull-in of orders to buoy its sales performance in 2013.

Taiwan 1Q13 economic growth rate adjusted to 1.54%, says DGBAS

Apr 30, 09:55

Taiwan's economic growth rate, on-year growth in GDP, in the first quarter of 2013 has been downward adjusted from 3.26% estimated in February 2013 to 1.54%, according to estimates released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) on April 30.

Infineon, Globalfoundries team on 40nm embedded flash process

Apr 29, 21:58

Infineon Technologies and Globalfoundries have announced a joint technology development and production agreement for 40nm embedded flash (eFlash) process technology.

ASE expects 11-14% growth in 2Q13 shipments

Apr 29, 10:32

IC packaging and testing house Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) expects shipments to increase 11-14% sequentially and gross margin to rise to 23.2% in second-quarter 2013, company CFO Joseph Tung said at an April 26 investors conference.

SMIC names new COO

Apr 29, 10:18

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), China's top chipmaker, has announced that VP of North Operations Haijun Zhao has been appointed chief operating officer effective April 25, 2013.

Samsung posts record 1Q13 profit on smartphone sales

Apr 26, 15:51

Samsung Electronics has announced that net profits climbed to an all-time high of KRW7.15 trillion (US$6.4 billion) in the first quarter of 2013. Consolidated revenues and operating profits for the quarter came to KRW52.87 trillion and KRW8.78 trillion, respectively, in line with company guidance.

KYEC, Giga Solution see in-house developed equipment attract new orders

Apr 26, 11:22

IC testing houses King Yuan Electronics Company (KYEC) and Giga Solution Tech have both developed their own manufacturing equipment, which is helping the companies attract new orders, according to industry sources.

TSMC MEMS foundry biz expanding, says Yole

Apr 26, 10:29

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) MEMS foundry business enjoyed an approximately 80% rise in 2012, achieving around US$42 million in sales. The significant growth allowed it to move up to third in Yole Developpement's latest annual MEMS foundry sector rankings.

KYEC lands new orders for MEMS testing

Apr 25, 22:18

IC testing house King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) has grabbed orders for tri-axis accelerometers used in low-to-mid cost smartphones from a major MEMS IDM, with shipments kicking off in the second quarter, according to industry sources. Cooperation with the client could extend to 6- and 9-axis accelerometers...

GaN and SiC Power IC market set to rise by factor of 18 from 2012 to 2022, says IHS

Apr 25, 20:46

The emerging market for silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors is forecast to grow a factor of 18 during the next 10 years, energized by demand from power supplies, photovoltaic (PV) inverters and industrial motor drives, according to IMS Research, part of IHS.

Powerchip to sell 12-inch fab tools for NT$6 billion, says report

Newswatch - Apr 25, 16:16

Powerchip Technology's planned sale of individual production equipment installed at its P3 12-inch wafer fab has come to a conclusion, with 10 companies looking to make their purchases for a total of about NT$6 billion (US$202 million), the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) quoted...