Holtek Semiconductor has enjoyed strong demand for healthcare applications this year, according to Gordon Gau, president for the MCU supplier. Gau also expressed optimism about the MCU market for 2021, when unit demand is expected to surge 10-20%.

Taiwan-based IC design houses are gearing up for a boom in 5G smartphone shipments starting the fourth quarter of 2020, according to industry sources.

Dialog Semiconductor and Globalfoundries have entered into an agreement in which Dialog licenses its conductive bridging RAM (CBRAM) technology to Globalfoundries, according to the companies. The resistive ram (ReRAM)-based technology was pioneered by Adesto Technologies which was recently acquired...

Intel and SK Hynix have signed an agreement under which the latter would acquire the former's NAND memory and storage business for US$9 billion, according to the companies.

Suppliers of LCD driver ICs have seen an influx of rush orders from panel makers in Taiwan and China who are ramping up their output to meet increasing panel demand from the IT and TV sectors, according to industry sources.

The current tight wire bonding (WB) packaging capacity at Taiwan's IC backend service firms is likely to last beyond the first quarter of 2020 thanks to strong demand from analog and logic IC vendors, according to industry sources.

TSMC expects revenues from its 5nm manufacturing process to pick up in 2021 with the share to rise from only 8% in 2020 to more than 20%. Meanwhile, as the IT industry continues witnessing insufficient wafer foundry support, backend houses...

Apple's custom-designed ultra wideband (UWB) chip featured in the just-unveiled HomePod mini smart speaker is built using ASE Technology's SiP packaging technology, according to industry sources.

Global silicon wafer shipments are set to increase 2.4% on year in 2020 after falling 6.9% in 2019, with growth continuing in 2021 and 2022, according to SEMI.

Many IC components have been in short supply due to insufficient foundry support. Now foundry houses are asking their fabless IC clients to book well in advance for capacity for 2021 to make sure they have enough support. The components...

International IDMs are keenly developing GaN-on-SiC RF and PA components to tap immense opportunities from communication applications, and Taiwan's III-V players including foundry Win Semiconductors, Visual Photonics Expitaxy (VPEC) and Transom are also actively building a presence in the segment,...

Despite the COVID-19 shutdown of the Chinese economy earlier this year, China's share of the pure-play foundry market is forecast to be 22% in 2020, 17pp higher than it registered in 2010, according to IC Insights.

LCD driver IC and MOSFET chip prices are set to rise over 10% in fourth-quarter 2020 and will continue their rally in the following two quarters to reflect tight supply and rising manufacturing costs, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based IC design houses are being advised by their foundry partners to place orders for 2021 in advance to ensure sufficient capacity, according to industry sources.

China-based Innosilicon, a provider of high-speed mixed signal IPs and customized chip design services, has recently announced it has completed a chip tape-out and testing based on SMIC's FinFET N+1 process.

Power management IC designers Leadtrend Technology, Fitipower Integrated Technology, Weltrend Semiconductor and Global Mixed-mode Technology (GMT) have reported consolidated revenues of NT$143 million (US$4.9 million), NT$1.807 billion, NT$256 million and NT$700.8 million respectively for September,...

Taiwan's IC materials distributors including Niching Industrial have seen a significant surge in shipments of COF and COG packaging materials and thermal solutions since the third quarter of the year, driven by strong demand for display driver ICs for notebooks, handsets and TVs, according to industry...

Taiwan-based IC design houses are expected to enjoy a particularly robust fourth-quarter 2020, thanks to a strong pull-in of short lead-time orders from their China-based clients, according to industry sources.

Demand for high-end CIS components has weakened in the wake of the US trade sanctions against Huawei. But suppliers are ramping up CIS shipments to the midrange segment to meet growing demand from other Chinese handset vendors, such as...

Major CMOS image sensor (CIS) suppliers including Samsung Electronics and OmniVision reportedly have been pushing sales of midrange CIS components to Chinese handset brands due to increasing market demand, according to industry sources.

IC design house MediaTek has reported consolidated revenue surged 15.7% sequentially and 61.2% on year to a record high of NT$37.87 billion (US$1.32 billion) in September 2020.

Taiwan-based IC material analysis and certification labs are expected to receive more windfall orders as mobile SoC and other IC suppliers are looking to ramp up shipments to clients other than Huawei following the implementation of the US fresh trade sanctions against the Chinese firm, according to...

IC design house Sonix Technology is expected to post record-high revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020, thanks to strong demand for video conferencing, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based IC test solutions providers including Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT), Keystone Microtech and WinWay Technology have enjoyed a pull-in of short lead-time orders for GPUs and continued strong demand for smartphone application processors, according to industry sources.

Taiwan registered exports totaling US$30.71 billion in September 2020, the second-highest monthly level ever, down 1.5% from the record hit in August, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).