IT firms worldwide are taking aggressive actions for their businesses in 2020 with some adopting strategies to defend its market status such as Intel, which is looking to cut its PC processor prices in the second half of 2020 to attract...

Memory startup Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC), in which China's state-owned Tsinghua Unigroup holds a controlling stake, has reiterated plans to transition directly from 64-layer to 128-layer 3D NAND flash manufacturing.

Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory) is looking to grow its presence in the market for consumer SSDs through launching a new brand, according to industry sources.

Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC) is ramping up its chip output for applications requiring embedded storage and SSD solutions in 2020, and has built partnerships with companies including flash device controller suppliers and memory module makers, according to the China-based NAND chipmaker.

Anticipating that memory chip prices will be rising this year, memory module makers have started replenishing inventory while also making upward adjustments in their DRAM module quotes, according to industry sources.

Nepcon Japan 2020 running January 15-17 in Tokyo saw its first-day semiconductor forum steal the show with heavyweight firms TSMC and Micron shedding light on latest packaging technologies and memory solutions, respectively.

Semiconductor equipment suppliers including distributors have seen demand surge from China where a number of wafer fabs are being equipped for additional production capacity, according to industry sources.

Worldwide semiconductor revenue totaled US$418.3 billion in 2019, down 11.9% from 2018, according to Gartner. Intel regained the No. 1 position in the market as the downturn in the memory market negatively impacted many of the top vendors, including Samsung Electronics, the No. 1 vendor by revenue...

Memory module maker Apacer has partnered with Advantech to develop a system that combines Apacer's double-barreled smart storage solution (DBS Cloud Edition) with Advantech's WISE-PaaS/DeviceOn IoT equipment maintenance management platform for the system to transmit key storage data to the cloud platform...

The memory market outlook in 2020 looks positive for recovery, according to Arthur Yang, president for Macronix International America. While the market may become tight later this year, Yang believes 2020 is still a positive year for the company.

Backend house Powertech Technology (PTI) expects its revenues to be higher than year-ago levels in the first quarter of 2020, and is positive about its performance in all of the year.

Although World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) both expect the US, Japan and Europe to suffer from weakening economy in 2020, several Taiwanese industrial sectors are expected to remain unaffected thanks to strong demand from the 5G and AI markets, according to Taiwan's...

Intel has yet to fully eased its processor shortages, which is sending notebook vendors adopting more of its competitions from AMD in 2020. AMD's new Zen 3 architecture is expected to have a record-high development projects commenced...

NAND flash demand for new-generation gaming consoles featuring 1TB and higher-density SSDs is set to grow robustly in the second half of 2020, according to industry sources.

DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology has developed 10nm process technology in-house, with risk production to kick off in the second half of 2020, according to the Taiwan-based company.

Memory backend specialists have expressed optimism about demand for SSDs and other flash-based devices in 2020, while being upbeat about NAND flash chip prices this year.

Recovery in the memory market has been expected to send prices rising, but the extent of increase in the NAND flash segment may be bigger than expected in the short term after a brief fire that broke out at a Kioxia fab earlier this week...

Micron Technology has begun sampling DDR5 Registered DIMMs (RDIMM) based on its 1znm process technology, according to the company.

A brief fire that broke out at Kioxia's Yokkaichi plant in Japan on January 7 may send NAND flash prices surging, according to industry observers.

Taiwan-based Macronix International, a maker of mask ROM and flash memory, saw its December revenues fall 18% sequentially.

At the ongoing CES, SK Hynix has unveiled its PCIe NVMe consumer SSD series. The drives are built with SK Hynix' 128-layer 4D NAND flash, just six months after the company announced mass production of its 128-layer 1Tb NAND chips.

Wireless networking solution provider AboCom System is enhancing its deployment in the semiconductor component and memory module sectors, with plans to roll out 56G VCSEL optical chips in the second quarter of 2020, according to company sources.

Huawei managed to ship 240 million smartphones in 2019, but the US trade ban remains a concern, with the Chinese vendor likely to cut its smartphone shipment goal for 2020. The memory market has started recovering, with NAND flash suppliers...

Winbond Electronics, a maker of specialty DRAM and flash memory, has reported consolidated revenues slipped 4.7% on year to NT$48.77 billion (US$1.62 billion) in 2019.

Major NAND flash makers including Samsung and Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory) have had their capacity expansion projects proceed at a gradual pace, with new capacities set to come online beginning later in 2020, according to industry sources.