World Region – Asia

On August 28th, Japan removes Korea from its preferential trading partner list – the White List – and further problems are expected for the Korean chip industry which is heavily dependent on Japanese suppliers   Last month, Japan began requiring case-by-case approval for exports of  photoresist, etching gas and fluorinated polyimides. Approval is not being given, and exports of these ...

SK Telecom has launched three 5G AR and VR services – ‘Jump AR’, ‘League of Legends Champions’ (LCK),  ‘VR Live Broadcasting’ and ‘VR Replay’ – to offer a more realistic and immersive experiences when watching eSports games.  ‘Jump AR’ is an augmented reality service that teleports users to an eSports stadium, LoL Park, through their smartphone screens. When accessing the ‘Jump ...

TSMC is to hire more than 3,000 new employees in Hsinchu, Taichung, and Tainan. TSMC’s fortunes turned dramatically in June when, after five successive drops in y-o-y revenues, it recorded a  y-o-y revenue rise of 21.9% – which was a 6.8% rise on May. TSMC forecast Q3 revenue growth of 18% to between $9.1 billion and $9.2 billion. No reason ...

 The DRAM spot market price has risen 15% in a week, says DRAMeXchange, thanks to the Japanese threat to withhold supplies of photoresist and hydrogen fluoride to Samsung and Hynix. Analysts are warning of further large price rises if the hobbling of supplies continues for long. Samsung is looking for non-Japanese suppliers but it is expected to be several months ...

The Trade War is biting with China’s Q2 growth hitting 6.2%  – the slowest since 1992, says China’s National Bureau of Statistics, It was down from Q1’s 6.4%. In H1, China GDP grew 6.3% – 0.5% down on H1 2018. The National Bureau pointed to ‘new downward pressure’. H1 industrial production increased 6% – 0.5% slower than Q1. Mining grew ...

 A raft of  OEMs are looking at moving some of their production out of China, reports the Nikkei. The motivation is not only tariffs but the rising labour costs in China. Among companies planning such moves are Acer, Asustek, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and Amazon. Companies which have already moved production out of China are Foxconn, Quanta Computer and ...

According to the Nikkei, Apple has asked its supply chain to cost a move of 15-30% of its China production to other Asian countries. Apple has declined to comment. Although the immediate catalyst for the move is the trade war, the Nikkei reports several people saying Apple has been worried about its over-reliance in China for some time, which suggests ...

The SIA has approached the US government to try and get a partial reprieve on the chip sales ban to China. “For technologies that do not relate to national security, it seems they shouldn’t fall within the scope of the order. And we have conveyed this perspective to government,” says SIA global policy vp Jimmy Goodrich. The argument is that ...

The idea that China can catch up with the leaders of the chip industry anytime soon is a fallacy, reports IC Insights. For instance, China’s first indigenous DRAM supplier, Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), is due to sample its first DRAM products by the end of this year. Changxin  has a few thousand employees and a capital spending budget of about ...

Renesas has established the “Automotive Electronic Joint Laboratory” with SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co. (“SVW”). The SAIC-Volkswagen-Renesas Joint Laboratory will accelerate R&D efforts to support emerging automotive electronics applications, starting with cockpit and vehicle control, for the Chinese automotive market. The joint laboratory will combine Renesas’ MCUs, SoCs  and software expertise with SAIC Volkswagen’s development capabilities, supporting SAIC Volkswagen to develop ...