As silicon carbide (SiC) substrates continued to evolve toward larger sizes, the 200mm substrate has become a hotly contested technology field.

The Advanced SoC Research for Automotive (ASRA), a research organization joined by 14 Japanese car and semiconductor companies, recently received funding from Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The money will facilitate the development of next-generation automotive SoC using chiplet technology.

In recent years, due to the development of the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market, the thermal compression (TC) bonder equipment produced by Hanmi Semiconductor has attracted attention. Besides supplying SK Hynix, it has recently signed an HBM TC bonder supply contract with Micron and may receive additional orders in the future.

According to reports from various Chinese media outlets such as National Business Daily and 21st Century Business Herald, top Chinese IC design service providers VeriSilicon Microelectronics and Brite Semiconductor have recently made significant strides. VeriSilicon was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Sci-Tech Innovation Board in 2020, while Brite Semiconductor, backed by major shareholder SMIC's production capacity, debuted on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board on April 11.

These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of April 8 - April 12.

China currently relies heavily on imports for over 85% of its semiconductor equipment needs, showcasing a self-supply rate of only about 14%.

Ultra large-sized LCD panel shipments are expected to surge in 2024, driven by China-based suppliers, which may lead to a price war in the market, threatening LG Display, the sole LCD panel major based in South Korea.

Taiwan-based automotive suppliers have seen their years-long efforts in EV components bear fruit.

Samsung Electronics is caught in the history of the first collective strike crisis in South Korea amidst intensifying global semiconductor competition. Samsung's five labor unions, should they eventually choose to go on strike, will become Samsung's first largest collective action in the 55 years since its founding.

Taiwan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) released preliminary import and export trade statistics for March 2024 and found that under the strong global demand for AI servers, Taiwan's overall exports showed significant growth despite the decline in IC exports.

In a landmark bilateral summit, the United States and Japan have solidified a groundbreaking partnership to spearhead the global transition towards clean energy. As reported by Nikkei, Reuters, and Bloomberg Magazine, the high-level meeting, held on April 10, 2024, in Washington, marks a pivotal moment in international efforts to combat climate change and ensure energy security.

HippStor Technology, a Chinese memory and storage startup, plans to mass-produce DDR5 RDIMMs in the second quarter of 2024 in response to data center upgrade requests.

SK Siltron, a silicon carbide (SiC) wafer manufacturer in the United States, is set to receive a US$77 million subsidy from the state of Michigan, following a US$544 million loan from the US government in February 2024. This is expected to expedite the construction of its factory.

Advanced chip manufacturing and advanced packaging have now become the focus of attention in China. SMIC already confirmed that it had adopted deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines to produce N+1 process (similar to 7nm process) chips in limited quantities at the end of 2020.

Volkswagen committed to a new investment in China. The carmaker said on April 11 that it will invest EUR2.5 billion (US$2.67 billion) in its Hefei site to facilitate innovation and the production of two EVs it is developing with Xpeng.