To meet surging demand for heterogeneous chips, TSMC is expected to adopt a more agile mode of cooperation with OSATs. TSMC's majr foundry competitor Samsung Electronics has announced plans to build a new fab in the US state of Texas. Samsung is eyeing orders from major US chip vendors. China first-tier lithium battery makers have refrained from raising prices this year, but they are now looking to raise prices by 20% next year.
How related supply chain companies in Taiwan will seize the business opportunities presented by the electric vehicle (EV) market has received great interest. In fact, the annual growth rate for EV sales is expected to reach double digits by 2025 and the market penetration rate is expected to surpass 30%.
A new joint venture (JV) Electrum was formed between the partnership of two Indonesia-based companies, decacorn Gojek and energy firm TBS Energi Utama, with an ultimate goal of accelerating the electric vehicles (EVs) adoption across the country.
Malaysia-based conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad announced future-focused plans for its Motors division, anticipating new trends and opportunities for growth in the automotive sector, particularly in shared mobility and in the electrification of the industry.
According to Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association (JMTBA), machine tool orders from China have been increasing for 16 consecutive months and grew 24.5% on-year in October.
Memory vendors are increasing output for 176-layer 3D NAND chips although they are generally cautious about expanding overall supply the NAND market. But the foundry sector is much more eager to expand capacity. TSMC's ecosystem partners are set to see strong shipments to satisfy the needs of the world's top pure-play foundry house. In a recent interview with DIGITIMES, Inventec chairman Tom Cho expressed optimism that Taiwan's ICT firms will have a key role to play future cars.
As the market penetration rate of electric vehicles (EV) continues to get higher, there are growing concerns regarding more power shortages in the future. In order to avoid EVs becoming electricity-eating monsters, companies are also starting to focus on the development of bidirectional charging capabilities.
8-inch wafer foundries are experiencing challenges in boosting 8-inch wafer capacity. Now, most of the foundries still spend most of their efforts on their new 12-inch wafers online in 2023. Some sources said WiFi 6/6E is a transitional technology and global major WIFi chipmakers are preparing for WiFi 7 SoCs, which may be rolled out in 2023-2034. Episil Precision has a 200% revenue growth from SiC epi-wafer shipments alone.
India's most popular passenger car brand Maruti Suzuki has said they are holding off their EV cards until at least 2025 and hybrid vehicles are more practical, according to Economic Times.
South Korea-based semiconductor house is building up capacity in Vietnam while Toyota sets up base in Thailand.
Taiwan-based Episil Precision, dedicated to the production of epitaxial Si, SiC and GaN wafers, has seen its revenues grow quarter by quarter since the third quarter of 2020, with automotive applications contributing the highest ratio, at 30%, to its revenues, according to company chairman CH Hsu.
