World Region – Asia

Korea has passed a law raising the level of tax breaks on investments in chip manufacturing by large companies from 8% to 15%. The move is estimated to be worth $1.9 billion to the Korean chip industry. For SMEs the rate will be raised from 16% to 25% The law is being called the ‘Korea Chips Act’ after the US ...

Last year, shipments of semiconductor manufacturing equipment from the U.S. and Japan to China fell for the first time in three years, reports the Nikkei. In Q4, Japanese exports of chip-making equipment to China fell 16% and on the year by value, while US shipments fell 50% and Dutch shipments fell 44%. Shipments to the rest of the world from ...

Samsung is to spend $230 billion on semiconductors over the next 20 years under a Korean government plan for the private sector to invest $422 billion  in the tech sector, including chips, batteries and displays. “The economic battlefield, which recently began with chips, has expanded, countries are providing large-scale subsidies and tax support,” said President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier today, ...

Arm China, the jv Arm has with Chinese investors, has laid off 90-95 employees citing a challenging business outlook, says Reuters. It could also be due to a clearing of the decks before Arm’s planned public offering later this year. Reports say that most of the layoffs cane from the R&D department. Before the layoffs, Arm China had about 700 ...

TSMC is planning its 1nm fab which will be in the Longtan Science Park near Taoyuan City which is operated by the Hsinchu Science Park, reports the Commercial Times. TSMC’s delayed 3nm chips are due to start volume production in Q4. An upgraded process, 3NE, starts in H2 2023. This will be TSMC’s last finfet node before moving to Gate ...

Japan has begun discussions about joining the US restrictions on sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, reports the Nikkei. “We are in communication with the U.S. and holding hearings with domestic companies based on that,” said Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s economy, trade and industry minister, earlier this week. The restrictions allow companies to apply for a licence but there is ...

At a signing ceremony yesterday  with Kagoshima Governor Koichi Shiota, Kirishima City Mayor Shinichi Nakashige, and Kyocera officials, the company undertook to construct a new production facility at its Kokubu Plant Campus in Kagoshima, Japan. Construction will begin in February 2023 and the plant will begin operation in May 2024. The new plant will be located on the current site ...

Taiwan had a 26% market share of semiconductor revenue in 2021, says TrendForce, second only to the US. The island’s IC design and packaging & testing industries account for a 27% and 20% global market share, ranking second and first in the world, respectively. Taiwan accounts for 64% of the foundry market with TSMC possessing the most advanced process technology. ...

JAC Capital, a state-backed Chinese fund for investing in the semiconductor industry, has completed its takeover of Tsinghua Unigroup which owns Yangtze Memory. JAC should have completed the deal on March 31st but missed the payment of the final tranche of $9.4 billion needed to complete the purchase. JAC won an auction for Unigroup, besting a rival bid from Alibaba ...

Japan must aim for 2nm mass production within a decade, says Tetsuro (Terry) Higashi (pictured) former CEO of Tokyo Electron who sits on a government chip industry advisory panel. Japan should offer tax breaks in the next fiscal year to produce $88 billion in investment over the next decade to revive domestic chipmaking. $6.8 billion in supplementary spending was approved ...