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China's power battery installations in March were 21.4 GWh, up 138 percent year-on-year and up 56.6 percent from February, according to data released today by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).
CN EV Post
According to recent comments from Toyota North America, the automaker expects to surpass the 200,000 vehicle threshold for EV sales sometime this summer, disqualifying itself from any additional tax credits in the United States under current legislation. Toyota's federal tax credits will be phased out just as the automaker plans to begin sales of its lone BEV, the bZ4X, later this year.
Electrek
The manufacturing hub of Guangzhou closed itself to most arrivals Monday as China battles a major COVID-19 surge in its big eastern cities.
AP
Ericsson said it had suspended business with customers in Russia "indefinitely," extending a halt from February that was originally billed as temporary, following sanctions imposed as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Bloomberg
In late 2021, a team of Meta Platforms employees building a key chip for the second version of Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses was notified that the company had decided to go with an alternative chip from Qualcomm, according to two people familiar with the matter. The custom chip would power a variety of functions, such as taking high-quality photos and videos, on the glasses. But Meta's augmented reality chief, Alex Himel, decided using it could delay the glasses' launch, expected next year.
The Information
China's President Xi Jinping has praised his country's handling of the Covid pandemic, even as Shanghai reported record case numbers.
BBC News
General Motors and Honda Motor said on Tuesday they will develop a series of lower-priced electric vehicles based on a new joint platform, producing potentially millions of cars from 2027 in a bid to beat Tesla in sales.
Reuters
Initially, there had been separate measures for the eastern and western sides, but the whole city is now subject to indefinite restrictions.
BBC News
"Intel continues to join the global community in condemning Russia's war against Ukraine and calling for a swift return to peace. Effective immediately, we have suspended all business operations in Russia. This follows our earlier decision to suspend all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus," Intel said in a statement.
Company release
3M aims to restart PFAS-related manufacturing and continues to make non-PFAS related products at Zwijndrecht, a company spokesman said in an email to EE Times. The timeline to resolve the situation is uncertain and, in several aspects, not under 3M's control, the spokesman said. 3M has communicated with its customers about the potential for disruption.
EE Times
A huge political row has broken out in the UK about the ongoing plans to sell Newport Wafer Fab, one of the very few plants left in the country still making semiconductors, to a Dutch subsidiary of Chinese group Wingtech.
EETimes Europe
Musk could use his ownership stake to influence Twitter's business plan or its policies.
Ars Technica
The previous 4.7% growth forecast has been cut to 2.5% due to "the impact of the war and related policies", said WTO boss Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
BBC News
Russia is turning to microchip manufactures in China to circumvent western sanctions which have boosted demand for bank cards linked to the Mir payment system, an executive with the domestic payment system said.
Reuters
AMD has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Pensando for approximately US$1.9 billion before working capital and other adjustments.
Company release
Spain plans to invest EUR11 billion euros (US$12.4 billion) to develop microchips and semiconductors in a bid to modernize its tourism-dependent economy.
Bloomberg
Tesla has notified workers and suppliers that production at its Shanghai factory will not resume on Monday as it had hoped, according to an internal notice shared with Reuters.
Reuters
US automaker Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for four days after the financial hub said on Sunday it would lock down in two stages to carry out mass testing for COVID 19, two people familiar with the matter said.
Reuters
"They're interested in us using their foundries," said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regarding Intel, during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. "We're very interested in exploring it."
The Register
TSMC and Samsung Electronics have urged the US to allow foreign companies to participate in a $52 billion federal program aimed at boosting chip production on American soil.
Bloomberg
Apple plans to make about 20% fewer iPhone SEs next quarter than originally planned, in one of the first signs that the Ukraine war and looming inflation have started to dent consumer electronics demand, sources briefed on the matter told Nikkei Asia.
Nikkei Asia
AspenCore's PowerUP Expo 2021 devoted a full day to wide-bandgap semiconductors, specifically gallium nitride and silicon carbide. The WBG panel discussion focused on "the next wave of GaN and SiC," taking its cue from the day's topic presentations, including new product developments, technology challenges, and wafer manufacturing.
EE Times
Oil prices fell more than 5% early Monday as the Chinese city of Shanghai announced lockdown restrictions, triggering fears over weakened demand.
Barron's
Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), giants such as Google and Apple will be forced to open up their services and platforms to other businesses.
BBC News
Chip designer Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology is seeking to raise fresh funds at a valuation of about CNY17 billion (US$2.7 billion) to fuel its growth, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg
SK Hynix CEO says top shareholder to secure $1.6 billion for M&A in chips, blockchain (Mar 28, 2022)
The CEO of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix said on Monday that its largest shareholder, SK Square, is considering merger and acquisition deals involving chip companies.
Reuters
The city of Shanghai will be locked down in two stages over nine days while authorities carry out Covid-19 testing.
BBC News
The Russian Federation government is considering adding chip designers Baikal Electronics and MCST to the list of 'backbone enterprises.' The status will provide Baikal and MSCT with numerous benefits, including subsidies. State aid might help these companies to transition the production of their chips from Taiwan to China. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether fabs like SMIC and Hua Hong are interested in making chips for Russian companies and risk additional sanctions.
TG Daily
Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor and 'flying car' firm SkyDrive said on Tuesday they have signed a deal to team up in research, development and marketing of electric, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Reuters
Chipmakers' multibillion-dollar expansion plans will be constrained by a shortage of critical equipment over the next two years as the supply chain struggles to step up production. The warning comes from Peter Wennink, chief executive of ASML, which dominates the global market for the lithography machines used to make advanced semiconductors.
The Financial Times
A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in northern Japan on Wednesday night, smashing furniture, knocking out power and killing four people. A small tsunami reached shore, but the low-risk advisory was lifted by Thursday morning.
Bloomberg
We've seen a lot of heat dissipation efforts in here: oodles of graphite tape, some serious thermal paste, and now this beefier vapor chamber? At a guess we'd say that catching up to Apple silicon is starting to make Samsung sweat, pun intended.
iFixit
Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for two days as China tightens restrictions to contain the latest Covid outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics expects its chip and components division to perform strongly this year as it looks to boost supply by improving operations in a tight global market, the company's new co-chief executive said on Wednesday.
Reuters
Arm, the SoftBank Group unit preparing for an initial public offering, will cut as much as 15% of its workforce, part of an effort to rein in spending and focus on fewer projects.
Bloomberg
Japan will stop exporting semiconductors to Russia next week, joining the US and its European allies in efforts to cripple Russia's military capability.
Bloomberg
TSMC ensured it had alternate supplies of neon after Russia amassed a force along the Ukrainian border, threatening a conflict, according to a person familiar with TSMC's strategy.
Wall Street Journal
Mainland China reported over 1,000 new COVID-19 infections in dozens of cities, the highest daily count in about two years, with the Omicron variant forcing a northeastern city to go under lockdown and the financial hub Shanghai to close schools.
Reuters
Two of China's largest cities, Shenzhen and Shanghai, imposed stringent restrictions on Sunday on the movements of their residents, as a coronavirus outbreak continued to spread across much of mainland China.
New York Times
Masayuki Soube said: "we are also developing a self-propelled service robot that moves on wheels, but legs are still suitable for moving on rough terrain rather than wheels. So, halfway between humanoid robots and wheeled robots, [we]l wondered if there was an opportunity. That's why we started developing Bex, a quadruped walking robot."
IEEE Spectrum
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