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The US president signed an executive order on Wednesday requiring federal agencies to conduct 100-day reviews of supply chains for semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, electric vehicle batteries and critical minerals used in manufacturing products such as cars and weapons.
Finacial Times
Australia has passed a world-first law aimed at making Google and Facebook pay for news content on their platforms.
BBC News
Electric-car maker Fisker said on Wednesday it will collaborate with Foxconn on an electric vehicle project and forecast that production would start in the fourth quarter of 2023.
US President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order as early as this month to accelerate efforts to build supply chains for chips and other strategically significant products that are less reliant on China, in partnership with the likes of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Jack Ma's Ant Group quickly became one of China's most powerful companies, and its plans for bridging the worlds of tech and finance were growing ever more ambitious by the day. Now it appears to be turning into the kind of highly regulated Chinese bank that it hoped to supplant.
CNN
Huawei Technologies took the wraps off a high-end foldable smartphone to try and stake out a place in the fast-expanding category, revealing that revenue and profit barely grew in 2020 at the height of Trump-era sanctions.
Bloomberg
As an auto chip shortage continues to disrupt car manufacturing, ON Semiconductor CEO Hassane El-Khoury told CNBC he expects a bottleneck in orders to subside by the second half of 2021.
CNBC
Security researchers have spotted a new malware operation targeting Mac devices that has silently infected almost 30,000 systems.
ZDNet
A new Apple patent published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office describes an iPhone display that, with high refresh mode enabled, may be capable of updating content at two times, three times, or even four times the native refresh rate. For example, an iPhone with a 60Hz display would be able to increase its variable refresh rate to 120Hz, 180Hz, or 240Hz automatically.
Mac Rumors
LG Innotek plans to invest KRW547.8 billion (US$496 million) to increase production of camera modules used in iPhones.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Electric vehicle (EV) registrations in the US in 2020 reached record market share of 1.8%, demonstrating increased consumer interest for electric vehicles, according to new analysis from IHS Markit.
Company release
Looking ahead, cutting edge wafer supply might not be the biggest headache for big chip companies. As TSMC chairman Liu sees it, a renaissance is coming. One day chip design will be as easy as writing code.
EE Times
As the main paper sessions close out, there were three papers that deserve some attention for their potential impact on system-on-chip (SoC) technology.
EE Times
Honda Motor is promoting its current head of research and development Toshihiro Mibe to chief executive, the latest in a number of bold moves the automaker is taking to step beyond its more than half-a-century-long reliance on selling gasoline-powered cars.
Bloomberg
China may ban the export of rare-earths refining technology to countries or companies it deems as a threat on state security concerns, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg
In response to struggling smartphone sales, Huawei is looking at other sources of revenue for its technology.
BBC News
Applied Materials on Thursday forecast second-quarter revenue above market expectations, as demand for its semiconductor manufacturing tools picked up during a global shortage of semiconductors.
Reuters
Analog Devices is delaying the closure of a California chip factory as sales boom and supplies remain tight, the company's chief executive told Reuters after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
Reuters
Qualcomm incoming Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon said US sanctions against China's Huawei Technologies may help alleviate a global shortfall in semiconductor supply. If Huawei's in-house chip unit HiSilicon can't get its designs manufactured, the company may order more chips from other providers. These limitations will also free up capacity at TSMC, Amon said in a webcast with Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall.
Bloomberg
President Joe Biden's top economic adviser, Brian Deese, has sought the Taiwanese government's help resolving a global semiconductor shortage that's idling US car manufacturing plants, according to a letter reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Bloomberg
Apple launched its first iPhones with 5G wireless speeds a few months ago. Now it's looking to start work on sixth-generation cellular connectivity, or 6G, indicating it wants to be a leader in the technology rather than relying on other companies.
Bloomberg
NXP Semiconductors has had to shut down its wafer fab and assembly plants in Austin, Texas, after power was diverted to residents and hospitals. The same has happened to fabs run by Infineon and Samsung in the area.
eeNews Europe
A new president took office this month determined to fight climate change. Wall Street investors think Tesla is worth more than General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen and Ford put together. And China, the world's biggest car market, recently ordered that most new cars be powered by electricity in just 15 years.
New York Times
Facebook has blocked Australian users from sharing or viewing news content on the platform, causing much alarm over public access to key information. Facebook's move is in response to a proposed law in Australia which would make tech giants pay for news content.
BBC News
Tata Electronics, Apple's contract manufacturer Pega簫tron, and Grasim and 25 other firms signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth over Rs 28,053 crore with the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday. These MoUs would create 68,775 jobs in the state, the government said.
Business Standard
The European Union is considering building an advanced semiconductor factory in Europe in an attempt to avoid relying on the US and Asia for technology at the heart of some of its major industries.
Bloomberg
The earthquake that struck Saturday night off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, shaking northern and eastern Japan, has tripped up operations for many companies in a faint echo of the disruption brought by the much larger quake that hit the same area in 2011.
Nikkei Electronics Asia
Apple approached Japan's Nissan in recent months about a tie-up for its secretive autonomous car project, but talks are no longer active, according to people briefed on the matter. Apple also recently halted talks with South Korea's Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia, underscoring the challenges of finding an automotive partner for its car efforts, known as Project Titan.
Finacial Times
Qualcomm has decided to outsource production of its next-generation modem chip Snapdragon X65 and its sub-model X62 to the foundry department of Samsung Electronics, according to industry sources.
BusinessKorea
A powerful earthquake that hit Japan on Saturday was an aftershock of the devastating 9.0 magnitude quake that struck the same area almost 10 years ago, according to the national Meteorological Agency.
CNN
In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, Dagang Nexchange (DNeX) said the national sovereign wealth fund had accepted the bid.
The Star Online
Taiwan's largest e-commerce group PChome Online, recently celebrating the 20th anniversary for its shopping platform, has seen its profits double for two consecutive quarters. Joining forces with its most trustworthy partner Chunghwa Telecom IDC, PChome will stay committed to enabling more reliable services both online and offline.
Company release
Deciding when and how to make a process node transition is critical to business success. The solution that requires the least amount of total change will always be the most "inexpensive" option. Do you have all the information you need to make the right decision?
Company release
Ouectel's new report considers the market potential of Cat-1, some of the use cases it best serves, and how it can be integrated into existing networks. Whatever your organization's need, if the standard calls for it, our portfolio of Cat-1 modules can provide you with the optimal link between device and network.
Company release
Dan Riccio would help overcome development hurdles.
engadget
From bad to worse
Tom's Hardware Guide
China announced new anti-monopoly rules over the weekend - but that's not likely to have much impact on the market for now, argues Bank of Communications International's Hao Hong.
CNBC
Vietnam has awarded a licence to South Korea's LG Display to raise its investment in the country's northern port city of Haiphong by $750 million to $3.25 billion, local media reported on Monday.
Reuters
Tesla announced in an SEC filing Monday that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin.
CNBC
It's nervous about its new CPU rival.
engadget
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