A recent power outage at Hua Hong Semiconductor's wafer fabs located at the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Shanghai has so far had a limited impact on Taiwan-based fabless chipmakers' deliveries, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based gallium arsenide (GaAs) foundries including Win Semiconductors and Advanced Wireless Semiconductor (AWSC), and epi-wafer suppliers such as Visual Photonics Epitaxy Company (VPEC) have all reported record-high sales for 2021. All three are gearing up for robust radio-frequency (RF) IC and power amplifier (PA) demand in the first half of 2022, driven by new phone products.

Semiconductor material distributors are optimistic about demand from the server sector in 2022, particularly from US cloud service platforms (CSP) operators Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon, who are all set to spend big in sever procurement's, according to industry sources.

AU Optronics (AUO) shipped TFT-LCD panels with a total display area of 2.278 million square meters in December, increasing 6.1% on month, according to the company.

LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar has reported December consolidated revenues of NT$1.931 billion (US$69.3 million), down 2.08% sequentially but up 66.35% year-on-year. LED packaging service provider Everlight Electronics had consolidated sales of NT$1.842 billion, shrinking 6.09% sequentially and 6.74% year-on-year. Vertically-integrated LED maker Lextar Electronics had those of NT$939.3 million hiking 62.85% sequentially and 57.95% year-on-year.

Innolux has unveiled a 27-inch 1,440p IGZO 300Hz miniLED-backlit gaming panel matched with Nvidia-developed Esports Vibrance, Dual-Format, and Reflex Analyzer functions for its GPU, according to Innolux.

New electric cars are using lightweight materials to achieve higher range and power efficiency. Sources at the suppliers said magnesium alloy is replacing some of the heavy metal casts and plastic parts in traditional cars.

China-based LFP battery supplier Gotion announced in late December that Gotion US has sealed a large order with a top American carmaker without revealing who it is. In the announcement, the battery maker said they plan to localize production in the US. It is considered as a message from the battery supplier to both the China and the US government that they want to bring production of LFP battery to the US.

During the VinFast Global EV Day at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2022), VinFast announced a new development strategy and revealed its complete electric vehicle lineup covering 5 segments.

The market scale for IoT and AIoT applications is expected to sustain a CAGR of over 30% to top US$80 billion by 2026, according to market estimates, thanks to concerted efforts by upstream and downstream players in related sectors.

Automotive cooling fan supplier Yen Sun Technology has seen order visibility extended to the first quarter of 2023, and is set to proceed with capacity expansions to better fulfill orders from clients, according to the Taiwan-based company.

Algorithms are changing our lives in different ways. However, Cathy O'Neil, founder of O'Neil risk consulting and algorithmic auditing, said in some cases, the mathematical models are embedded with opinions and potentially become "weapons" that cause harm.

Shipments from supply chain partners for Apple devices are expected to remain in high gear through at least Chinese New Year holiday in early February, as buying sentiment for iPhones, MacBook Pro and iPads launched in the second half of 2021 remains unabated, according to industry sources.

Vietnam's startup ecosystem remained robust in 2021, and foreign investments in the country are estimated to have reached US$20 billion last year despite COVID impacts.

Electric vehicles (EV) are taking off in both scooter and passenger car segments, while industry groups fear high import taxes could dent India's advantages.