Components and materials have been in short supply for the IT upply chain, and the shortages may have been further compounded by a fire that hit Unimicron's BT substrate plant in Taiwan on February 4 - the second blaze striking the same plant in four months. In short supply is also wire-bonding capacity. Meanwhile, Digitimes has talked to SiFive head of global communications James Prior about the prospects and benefits of RISC-V.
Fire strikes again at Unimicron plant: A fire broke out February 4 at Unimicron Technology's PCB and IC substrate manufacturing complex in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, where its BT substrate plant had been just damaged by another blaze in late October 2020, sparking concerns about the firm's plant safety management.
Wire-bonding capacity to stay short of demand throughout 2021: ASE Technology Holding will see its wire-bonding capacity run at full utilization and remain short of demand through the end of 2021, and up to 90% of clients have signed two-year contracts for capacity support, according to group COO Tien Wu.
RISC-V: Q&A with SiFive head of global communications James Prior: RISC-V has grabbed headlines recently as the open-source technology is now viewed as a hotbed for innovation. It is also a source of intellectual properties (IP) freely open to the market and free from political wrestling between the two largest economies in the world.
