Chip vendors have been scrambling for foundry capacity supply from Taiwan. Both international and domestic IC vendors, such as Infineon and MediaTek have been willing to strike long-term foundry contracts. In China, device brand vendors are keen on rolling out Gan-based fast chargers, stimulating demand for GaN-on-Si chips. But smartphone sales in China remained feeble in May, dropping 31% on year.

Taiwan-based polymer materials supplier U-Best Polymer Industry is expected to start shipping its hard coat (HC) films to Chinese handset vendors for foldable smartphone applications in the third quarter of 2021 at the earliest, according to company president NH Huang.

Sales of 5G smartphones in the Taiwan market are likely to account for over 80% of total handset shipments in the second half of 2021 thanks to the new offerings of 5G models from Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi, Realme and Vivo, according to sources at the local channels.

Taiwan-based IC design houses are optimistic about their shipments for smartphone applications in the third quarter of 2021, thanks to the upcoming rollouts of new 5G-enabled models, particularly by Chinese brands.

Taiwan's flexible PCB (FPCB) suppliers Zhen Ding Technology and Flexium Interconnect are expected to post robust sales for second-quarter 2021, mainly bolstered by shipments to Apple for non-handset applications, according to industry sources.

The top-100 tech firms in Asia are mostly based in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan, with the car and tech products/equipment sectors making up the two largest groups, according to Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC 100), the freshly released research results by Digitimes. The ASC 100 study, based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap, wil be renewed annually. In the notebook industry, makers are using more aluminum-alloy components to replace copper ones, as copper prices stay at high levels.

Countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia stand a chance of becoming rising stars in the midst of supply chain shifts and the move toward shorter supply chains and localization. Four Indian firms and one Indonesian firm entered Digitimes' Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100). By region, Tata Motors at No. 22 in ASC100 is the champion in Southeast Asia and South Asia, followed by Indonesia's Astra International (No. 68) and India's Mahindra & Mahindra (No. 69), Maruti Suzuki (No. 74) and Motherson Sumi (No. 89). ASC 100 is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Benefiting from the US-China tech war and sharp chip shortages following the pandemic outbreak, and with automotive clients competing for foundry capacity support, the entire semiconductor industry is poised to enjoy robust order momentum through 2022, allowing semiconductor stocks to gain traction in the market. TSMC and Samsung Electronics, now the world's only two companies able to commercialize sub-7 nm foundry nodes, have been in a two-horse race for grabbing the crown in the Digitimes' Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC 100) research, ranking first and second, respectively, by market capitalization in 2020. ASC 100 is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Digitimes, an Asia-based premium source of tech supply information, has just released its 2021 Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100) research results. In terms of 2020 revenue, Japan's Toyota Motor, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) are the top three in ASC100, a freshly launched research on Asia's top-100 tech firms. The ASC 100 research is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Digitimes, an Asia-based premium source of tech supply chain information, undertook a six-month study on the financial reports of 4,725 publicly listed corporations across 11 countries in Asia and compiled its first annual report on the top 100 Asian suppliers - Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100) in 2021. Released on June 15, the report contains the rankings among Asia's top 100 suppliers along with a look into supply chain trends and an analysis on the competitiveness of Asian countries. Digitimes plans to release updated statistics on an annual basis going forward and keep track of the changes in the rankings among Asia's high-tech suppliers in the long run.

The 5G private network architecture outlined in 3GPP Release 16 allows businesses to deploy private networks by themselves, which will not only bring changes to the previous model that relies on telecom operators in the 4G era but also the rise of Open RAN (O-RAN) market, according to Digitimes Research.