TSMC will see its 7nm process utilization rate climb substantially in the second half of 2019, driven by a seasonal pick-up in demand for smartphones, as well as chip demand for HPC, IoT and automotive applications, according to company CEO CC Wei.

ASE Technology has landed more customized SiP (system-in-package) backend orders than expected earlier this year thanks to growing demand for heterogeneous integration of 5G chips, and the company is expected to see ever-larger revenue contribution from SiP orders following the latest Apple-Qualcomm...

Renesas is reportedly moving toward a fab-lite business model by temporarily shutting down some frontend and backend fabs, with its Taiwan-based OSAT partners including ASE, Ardentec, Greatek Electronics and KYEC seen to enjoy more outsourcing orders from the Japan IDM, according to industry sources...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) expects to post consolidated revenues of between US$7.55 billion and US$7.65 billion in the second quarter of 2019, up 6.4-7.8% sequentially but down 2.6-3.9% on year. Gross margin and operating margin will also rebound to 43-45% and 31-33%, respecti...

TSMC and Samsung Foundry have both disclosed more updates on their EUV process technologies, and are gearing up for a pick-up in replacement demand for smartphones driven by 5G connectivity.

Backend house King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) reportedly will team up with Qualcomm to set up an engineering test center to be installed with 20-30 sets of equipment for testing 5G radio-frequency (RF) chips, under-display fingerprint sensor chips, and mixed-signal chips. This is expected to add significant...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has announced its 6nm (N6) process, which provides a significant enhancement from its 7nm (N7) technology and offers customers a highly competitive performance-to-cost advantage as well as fast time-to-market with direct migration from N7-based desig...

Samsung Electronics has announced that its 5nm FinFET process technology is complete in its development and is ready for customers' samples.

Following a record-breaking 2017, worldwide semiconductor photomask sales set a new high of US$4.04 billion in 2018, according to SEMI.

AMD's 7nm CPU and GPU are expected to be adopted by Sony in its next-generation PlayStation and the processors are estimated to be ready in the third quarter of 2020 for the games console's expected release in the second half of 2020, according to industry sources.

Chip demand for more-than-Moore device applications has been picking up, lifting 8-inch fab utilization rates at a rapid pace recently, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based distributors of semiconductor materials have posted revenue increases in the first quarter of 2019, mainly driven by ramp-up in demand for high-end chips for 5G, AI and automotive electronics applications, according to industry sources.

Samsung Electronics increased its lead as the No. 1 semiconductor vendor due to the booming DRAM market in 2018, according to Gartner. However, the memory chip giant is likely to slip to second position in 2019.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to move 7nm EUV process technology to volume production in the second quarter of 2019, according to a recent Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

Companies selling optoelectronics currently dominate the ranking of the top-10 O-S-D (optoelectronics, sensors/actuators and discretes) suppliers, according to IC Insights. Nine of the top-10 companies sell optoelectronics, while six offer sensor/actuator semiconductors, and five provide discrete pr...

Unclear product positioning and customer orders will likely leave a substantial portion of production capacity idle in China's IC foundry sector, where more 12- and 8-inch fabs are set to come online, according to industry sources.

Taiwanese semiconductor, communication and electronics firms have significantly increased their investments in Taiwan since the China-US trade war kicked off in 2018, but shortages in water, electricity, labor force, land and talent may affect the implementation of their investment projects, especially...

Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) and Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) generated combined revenues of NT$396.560 billion (US$12.88 billion) in January-February 2019, growing 1.78% on year, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

Orders placed by Huawei and AMD will play a critical role in driving TSMC's revenue growth in the second quarter of 2019, according to market watchers.

Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment surged 14% from US$56.62 billion in 2017 to an all-time high of US$64.5 billion in 2018, according to SEMI.

Driver-IC backend firm Chipbond Technology is set to land COF packaging orders from Apple for a LCD-based iPhone device to be launched in 2019, allowing it to continue enjoying brisk sales in the second quarter, according to industry sources.

Major Taiwan-based backend houses ASE Technology Holding and Powertech Technology (PTI) have both reported sequential decreases of 22.1% and 13.2%, respectively, in consolidated revenues for the first quarter of 2019.

GEM Services, which specializes in packaging semiconductor power devices, and CMOS image sensor backend specialist Kingpak Technology both saw their revenues for the first quarter of 2019 buck seasonal trends.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reported consolidated revenues of NT$79.72 billion (US$2.59 billion) for March 2019, up 30.9% on month but down 23.1% from a year earlier.

IC foundries have seen their 8-inch fab utilization rates pick up recently, driven by a pull-in of orders for IoT and automotive electronics applications, according to sources at IC design houses.