PCB manufacturers continue to see their supply constrained by the ongoing shortage of related upstream materials, such as copper foils and epoxy resin, according to industry sources.

Intel is reportedly eyeing Globalfoundries for acquisition valued at an estimated US$30 billion. Will the acquisition be a good buy and follow Intel's IDM 2.0 strategy that was unveiled earlier this year?

As wafer foundries are preparing for the next stage of competition, SMC chairman Mark Liu has given out some details of the company's investments in the US during an investor conference. Meanwhile, Intel is rumored of considering buying globalfoundries, eyeing for its capacity, but sources from Taiwan's upstream supply chain believe the move is unlikely. On the other hand, Chromebook shipments may slip 50% between July and August, as demand from the education sector will begin to fade.

Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology (SMT) is currently the only provider of SMT services for Apple's miniLED backlighting applications, but China-based Luxshare Precision Industry is expected to become a second provider in fourth-quarter 2021 at the earliest, according to industry sources.

LED packaging service provider Edison Opto is establishing two new production lines for LED automotive lighting modules in Taiwan, while LED automotive lighting module maker Excellence Optoelectronics (EOI) is setting up production lines at its factory in Michigan, the US, with two initial lines to be completed in the second half of 2021, according to industry sources.

China's leading panel maker BOE Technology has recently estimated that its net earnings for first-half 2021 would shoot up tenfold to reach CNY12.5-12.7 billion (US$1.934-1.965 billion), and its major peers in Taiwan have also reported impressive business results for the period, mainly due to continuous supply crunch and price hikes, according to industry sources.

Foxconn (Hon Hai) has disclosed it will invest in Singapore-based SES, a maker of Li-metal batteries, a move in line with its ambitious deployments in the electric vehicle (EV) sector.

Along with fast growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems, global supply of EV batteries will become tight in the coming year and fall short of demand by at least 40% in 2025, industry sources have cited China-based battery makers as indicating.

Teco Electric & Machinery and power supply maker Phihong Technology will cooperate to produce levels 2 and 3 fast power charging piles for electric vehicles (EVs) in the US, according to Teco.

Shipments for Chromebooks have started slowing down recently, and are expected to fall as much as 50% between July and August, according to sources at ODMs.

CIS module maker Asia Tech Image has obtained surging orders with their shipments scheduled until 2022, according to company chairman Robert Lai.

Taiwan-based Foxlink, dedicated to supplying a variety of electronics components including connectors, cable assemblies, power management devices and battery packs, expects to log much better business results for the second half of the year than the first half as it will ramp up shipments of new offerings including electric skateboards.

The popularity of Bluetooth LBS (location based service) apps is rising as the related applications can be used for direction-tracking or as electronic fences to trace and analyze the footprints of confirmed COVIC-19 cases, helping curb the spread of the coronavirus, Digitimes Research has found.

Global handset shipments are expected to return to the growth track in the third quarter of the year with an estimated sequential increase of 10-15%, but the actual growth may be affected by shortages of certain components, according to industry sources.

Thailand's smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2021 grew 70.9% on year and 34.2% on quarter to 6.35 million units, according to IDC.