The shortage of IC design talent continues to be a problem, leading Taiwan-based IC design firms to look into government and academic resources to hire overseas talent, focusing on Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
China's automotive offense has pressured legacy carmakers in Europe and other markets. Gianfranco Pizzuto, an Italian automotive veteran and the former co-founder of Fisker Automotive, predicted that Chinese carmakers will lead the mainstream market for the next 10 years. The luxury segment is where European companies can stay ahead of competitors.
According to SE Daily and Hankyung reports on April 17, starting as early as this week, subsidiaries of Samsung Group are reportedly implementing a one-day weekend policy for their senior executives to address challenges like declining performance, fluctuating exchange rates, and oil price changes.
Chinese semiconductor foundry firms are persistently adopting aggressive pricing strategies, putting relentless pressure on the market share of South Korean 8-inch wafer manufacturers. In this evolving landscape, South Korean industry insiders are eyeing potential benefits if the US expands its sanctions on China to encompass more mature semiconductor processes.
With NAND Flash demand picking up, leading players like Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Kioxia, and Western Digital have started ramping up wafer production in NAND lines. However, to prevent price impacts, memory manufacturers are cautiously adjusting capacity and setting limits on wafer production.
Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) released data showing that as of December 2023, 1,209 Taiwanese companies had invested NT$2,735.6 billion (US$84.2 billion) in China, an increase of NT$32.4 billion from the end of 2022. However, investment repatriation from China last year alone accounted for 17.5% of the accumulated amount over the past, probably due to capital needs for supply chain migration.
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is meeting Singapore's leader at the tail end of his most extensive Southeast Asia tour in years, searching for new growth markets and manufacturing locations to offset headwinds in China.
Facing challenges like being outsold by BYD in New Energy Vehicle (NEV) sales and significant layoffs, Tesla has now been overtaken by another Chinese competitor in the Chinese market in the first quarter, according to recent data.
China's National Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund (aka the Big Fund) has provided financial support to NineCube, a Chinese electronic design automation (EDA) company established in 2011, according to local media reports.
US states like Arizona and New Mexico are expected to become more tempting for investments, partly thanks to an EV cluster that will emerge in the southwestern US and northern Mexico. The border states will also play a crucial role in achieving the US goal of raising local production rate.
Apple Inc. is weighing the possibility of making some of its gadgets in Indonesia, as the iPhone maker explores production bases beyond its longtime stronghold of China.
"An opening bombardment destroys most of Taiwan's navy and air force in the first hours of hostilities. Augmented by a powerful rocket force, the Chinese navy encircles Taiwan and interdicts any attempts to get ships and aircraft to the besieged island. Tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers cross the strait in a mix of military amphibious craft and civilian roll-on, roll-off ships, while air assault and airborne troops land behind the beachheads."
China's production of ICs and semiconductor equipment continued to grow in the first quarter of 2024, fueled by the recovery in the economy and efforts to achieve self-reliance despite the US sanctions.
Semiconductor research platform TechInsights released the final 2023 ranking of the top 25 semiconductor suppliers based on sales revenues, which showed that no new suppliers broke into the top 25 list in 2023. Still, there were significant changes in where companies were ranked.
