Device makers may be heading towards inventory correction next quarter, as they revisit their production plans amid weakenig demand in some major markets. Taiwan-based chipmakers have seen some clients slow down the pace of orders. But...

Rising international copper prices may drive up profits for copper foil vendors in the short term, but they face new challenges to their long-term business operations, according to PCB supply chain sources.

Topco Technologies, a Taiwan-based sales agent for silicone materials produced by Japan-based Shin-Etsu Chemical, expects the silicone materials used in automotive components to become the major source of business growth in 2021, according to company chairman Pan Chen-cheng.

Taiwan-based PCB maker Apex International, with main manufacturing operations in Thailand, expects to see its new plant come online starting July, with capacity at all its three plants there to be fully utilized by the first quarter of 2022.

Nan Ya Printed Circuit Board has disclosed plans to invest a total of NT$8 billion (US$286.4 million) to expand production capacity for ABF substrates at its factory site in Shulin, northern Taiwan.

Major Taiwan-based OSATs including ASE Technology, Powertech Technology (PTI), Chipbond Technology and ChipMOS Technologies have seen their order preparation times extended to three months from 1-2 months, as upstream raw materials shortages intensify, according to industry sources.

Unimicron Technology, Nan Ya PCB and Kinsus Interconnect Technology have all posted both sequential and on-year increases for their April revenues, and are poised to embrace brisk results in second-quarter 2021 driven by strong demand particularly for ABF substrates, according to industry sources.

Smartphone-use antenna makers are gearing up for a likely boom in demand for 5G AiP (antenna in package) modules that they expect will be triggered by Apple's release of new mmWave-enabled iPhones in the second half of 2021, according to industry sources.

HDI PCB manufacturers have turned cautious about their sales performance in the second quarter, as orders from Chinese handset clients are slowing down along with their sales declines in China and India markets, according to industry sources.

PCB drill specialist Topoint Technology has reported impressive results for first-quarter 2021, with revenues rising 30.4% on year to NT$780 million (US$27.86 million) and net earnings shooting up 333% on year reaching NT$93 million due to lower comparison basis from a year earlier and stronger-than-ever...

Taiwan's leading PCB maker Zhen Ding Technology will see its 2021 capex grow slightly on year to a new high of over NT$22 billion (US$785.71 million) for building new capacity for offerings including IC substrates and HDI boards.

Taiwan-based PCB maker Apex International, with main manufacturing operations in Thailand, is poised to enjoy a particularly strong second quarter of 2021, thanks to robust demand for TVs and other consumer electronics applications, according to market sources.

Tripod Technology will have new production lines at its manufacturing site in Xiantao, China's Hubei province get ready for production in June, according to the Taiwan-based PCB manufacturer. Output at the site will be ramping up starting the second half of this year.

The supply of BT substrates has been increasingly tight, as more vendors of chips, particularly cryptomining ASICs, have turned to adopt BT substrates amid worsening shortages of ABF substrates, according to industry sources.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues are forecast to surge 12.5% to US$522 billion in 2021, driven by continued-robust growth in consumer, computing, 5G and automotive semiconductors, according to IDC.

Taiwan-based CCL supplier Iteq expects its revenues to be driven by a continued influx of orders for server and 5G base station applications in the second quarter of 2021.

EMS giant Foxconn, taking a step further in its transformation, has formed a joint venture with passive component maker Yageo for the development and sales of what they call "small ICs" - semiconductor chips with ASP lower than US$2.00...

Foxconn (Hon Hai) Technology Group and Yageo have announced plans to form a joint venture for the development and sale of semiconductors.

Demand for white-box servers from datacenter operators has been growing fast, with Taiwanese ODM's shipments already accounting for more than one third of the world's total server shipments in 2020, according to Digitimes Research's latest...

PCB and LED bicycle light maker EISO Enterprise has seen shipments rising and judging from order visibility expects full capacity utilization to remain until year-end 2021 at least, according to company chairman Chien Jung-kun.

GaAs foundry Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC) is expected to enjoy sequential revenue increases through June, and will see further revenue growth after new production capacity comes online in the third quarter at the earliest, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based circuit protection component suppliers including Thinking Electronic Industrial, Polytronics Technology (PTTC) and Fuzetec Technology all expect sales generated from automotive electronics to grow substantially as a proportion of company revenues starting 2021.

Taiwan-based quartz component makers are expected to see their combined output value grow further in the second half of 2021, driven by strong demand for 5G and Wi-Fi 6 applications, according to market sources.

GaAs, InP and GaN wafer foundry service provider Global Communication Semiconductors (GCS) Holdings has disclosed it will add investment of NT$400 million (US$14.1 million) in Unikorn Semiconductor, a compound semiconductor maker spun off from LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar, to raise its...

OSATs have been notified by their Japan-based packaging materials suppliers including Showa Denko about a potential supply shortfall of as much as 50% between May and June, according to industry sources.