This Asia tech industry summary will mainly focus on floods in Malaysia disrupting production at Japanese and Taiwanese factories in Kuala Lumpur and seven nearby states, South Korea's SK Hynix winning China's conditional approval to take over Intel NAND business after having invested US$7.5 million in Hubei Sinophorus Electronic Materials, and Taiwan Asia Semiconductor (TAS) and Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) stepping up deployments for third-generation semiconductor materials.
This Asia tech industry summary will mainly focus on Toyota changing its investment strategies for electric vehicles (EVs), the US rejecting a merger agreement between China's Wise Road Capital and South Korea's Magnachip Semiconductor, and Samsung Display lowering dependence on its parent company Samsung Electronics by supplying OLED panels for OPPO's foldable smartphones.
This Asia tech industry summary will mainly focus on Japanese semiconductor companies expanding production capacities for silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, Samsung Electronics' internal restructuring and leadership reshuffle, and Foxconn's second collaboration this year with Stellantis.
Taiwan-based OSAT services providers recently adjusted their production capacities either upward or downward. ASE Technology sold part of its factory operations in China to local private equity company Wise Road Capital, while Foxconn's subsidiary KoreSemi initiated production at its IC packaging and testing plant in Qingdao, China.
To prevent national security being affected by the semiconductor demand/supply imbalance, countries around the world are offering strong incentives to attract major semiconductor companies to set up local wafer fabs. TSMC has been a beneficiary under such environment as it has secured subsidies from the US and Japanese governments. Seeking long-term solutions for the global chip shortage, automakers have begun collaborating with IC designers and foundries or even design their own automotive chips.
With semiconductor becoming a strategic asset and the pressure of electric vehicle (EV) transformation looming, Japan has developed an industry revitalization policy to encourage international and local companies to expand their investment in Japan through subsidies.
In the coming years, the semiconductor industry is expected to see a strong market, and TSMC and other foundries are expanding their facilities and investments. All upstream and downstream industry players - including those in the foundry, packaging material, and fab tool sectors - are all keen on making investments. Taiwan's role in the supply chain is becoming increasingly important.
The shortage of chips is still a headache for Asian technology companies and major carmakers. As the US Department of Commerce's deadline for semiconductor companies to turn over critical information approaches, it remains to be seen whether the department will be able to find a way to ease the bottleneck in semiconductor supply as it claims.
Despite global economy already on track for gradual recovery as the pandemic continues to ease, the pandemic-induced imbalance between semiconductor supply and demand has not yet subsided.
Although global notebook demand will decelerate in 2022 and 2023, their shipments will regain momentum starting 2024, while the global smartphone market is expected to enjoy shipment growth every year from 2022-2026. Global tablet shipments will see a moderate growth in 2021, but will shrink in each of the next five years starting 2022.
