Samsung Electronics will reportedly increase the production of its Exynos chipsets for Galaxy smartphones to raise the proportion of its in-house processors in Galaxy devices and lower dependence on US chipmaker Qualcomm.
To meet surging demand for heterogeneous chips, TSMC is expected to adopt a more agile mode of cooperation with OSATs. TSMC's majr foundry competitor Samsung Electronics has announced plans to build a new fab in the US state of Texas. Samsung is eyeing orders from major US chip vendors. China first-tier lithium battery makers have refrained from raising prices this year, but they are now looking to raise prices by 20% next year.
Shortage of foundry supply is sending major smartphone application processors vendors booking 12-inch fab capacity in advance to facilitate shipments of their power management ICs next year. Memory maker Winbond expects to run at full capacity next year to fulfill robust NOR flash chip orders. DIGITIMES recently talked to Stephen Ezell, ITIF VP of Global Innovation Policy, about why India and others should joint ITA-3.
In the past, the survival model of the ICT industry was relatively simple: As long as enterprises managed to become members the Apple or "Samsung supply chain, they could secure lucrative business. Under the US-China trade war of today's world, where decentralized production mechanism and smart applications prevail, the structure of added value is changing. Owing to the changes of industrial structure and roles, there leave a great difference and room for imagination to adjust pricing strategy. For many of those who used to vie for OEM orders, the new era offers many new opportunities. In the process of industrial restructuring, manufacturers need to learn how to gain a foothold in the market to put a premium on products or services.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) issued a report in September titled "How an Information Technology Agreement 3.0 would bolster global economic growth and opportunity," which is likely to ignite a new round of policy deliberation and debate among emerging countries that have not participated in the previous round of ITA. DIGITIMES tapped on the insight of Stephen Ezell, VP of Global Innovation Policy at ITIF, to discuss why it is essential now to start related policy considerations, as the demand for semiconductor capacity, the repositioning of global supply chains, and the call to deal with climate change and fulfill the UN Sustainable Development Goals require an ITA-3 in place sooner rather than later.
Memory vendors are increasing output for 176-layer 3D NAND chips although they are generally cautious about expanding overall supply the NAND market. But the foundry sector is much more eager to expand capacity. TSMC's ecosystem partners are set to see strong shipments to satisfy the needs of the world's top pure-play foundry house. In a recent interview with DIGITIMES, Inventec chairman Tom Cho expressed optimism that Taiwan's ICT firms will have a key role to play future cars.
The arrival of the electric vehicle (EV) age has brought with it new opportunities for Taiwan's ICT industry, resetting the race between Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) and Taiwan's five biggest electronics companies. Tom Cho, chairman of Inventec, has an incisive interpretation of the high-tech evolution and its applications. Cho believes these developments have a constant rhythm and are improving the quality of life. As technology progresses with the times, all companies need to do is skillfully interpret their role.
As the market penetration rate of electric vehicles (EV) continues to get higher, there are growing concerns regarding more power shortages in the future. In order to avoid EVs becoming electricity-eating monsters, companies are also starting to focus on the development of bidirectional charging capabilities.
Facebook may be lucrative today, but not necessarily so tomorrow, according to Hsi-Peng Lu, a professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Facebook's name change to Meta has demonstrated its forward-looking strategy to embrace the future digital world. If we consider all the applications and technologies, perhaps metaverse is just a transition in tech development, rather than the end.
8-inch wafer foundries are experiencing challenges in boosting 8-inch wafer capacity. Now, most of the foundries still spend most of their efforts on their new 12-inch wafers online in 2023. Some sources said WiFi 6/6E is a transitional technology and global major WIFi chipmakers are preparing for WiFi 7 SoCs, which may be rolled out in 2023-2034. Episil Precision has a 200% revenue growth from SiC epi-wafer shipments alone.
Taiwan's electronic devices ODMs including Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron, and Inventec are all stepping up preparations to embrace the upcoming boom of metaverse applications.
Leading Wi-Fi chipmakers Qualcomm, Broadcom and even Intel are keenly developing Wi-Fi 7 SoCs, and may have their chips manufactured at TSMC using 6N RF process, looking to meet the Wi-Fi 7 boom likely to emerge in 2023-2034, according to industry sources.
Eight-inch wafer foundry business will continue to enjoy robust growth momentum through 2026 due to limited increase in new capacity, despite market concerns that aggressive capacity expansions by foundry houses may lead to a capacity glut, according to Leuh Fang, chairman of Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS).
Arm in October 2021 joined the MIH Alliance in a bid to promote the development of software-defined electric vehicles (EVs), according to senior director Simon Teng for Asia Pacific Automotive Partnership under Arm.
India is the world's fifth-largest automotive market, with annual sales of 2.71 million cars, and it is even the biggest market for motorcycles. In a few years, India's population will outpace China's. How can we redefine and understand the characteristics of the Indian market?
