Asia Pacific (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Singapore) accounts for 84% of global chip exports and is home to 10 of the 16 semiconductor exporters and the top six suppliers, which includes Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The leading pure-play foundry will celebrate the inauguration of its first fab in Kumamoto, Japan, on February 24, 2024.
PCB manufacturers worldwide are grappling with a common question: can the resurgence in terminal buying kickstart a revival in the industry? Complicating matters are demands from international clients for expansions such as "China plus one" and "Taiwan plus one," making it harder for PCB makers to gauge market dynamics quickly.
Murata, a Japanese electronic components manufacturer, announced the construction of a new Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor (MLCC) factory in Japan. The completion is scheduled for March 2026. This expansion aims to meet the mid-to-long-term demand and is part of Murata's global strategy to increase its electronic component production capacity. The expansion locations include Japan, Southeast Asia, and China.
Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel) announced a partnership with Nvidia to deploy AI in its data centers across Southeast Asia, offering customers access to Nvidia AI GPU remote servers.
The quest for green energy has intensified as nations strive for carbon neutrality. Taiwan's energy giants are nurturing the domestic green energy market and setting their sights on expanding across Southeast Asia and beyond.
As China-based BYD announced a US$1.3 billion investment in Indonesia, Hyundai Motor, which sees the country as a critical market, will likely take a countermeasure. The South Korean automaker will reportedly grow the production capacity of a battery plant built with LG Energy Solution (LGES) in the area.
Holtek Semiconductor, a leading professional IC design house focused on microcontrollers, partners with UnaBiz, a Singapore-based Massive IoT service provider and integrator, to integrate Sigfox 0G technology into Holtek's BC68F2150, an ultra-cost-efficient chipset. This collaboration aims to bring more energy-efficient and cost-effective Sigfox-based solutions for developers and customers in the logistics and supply chain sector.
Vietnam has officially joined the generative AI competition by unveiling its first homegrown ViGPT, following in the footsteps of Singapore and India. This move aligns with the country's plan, led by the Ministry of Information and Communications, to establish a large-scale language model (LLM) platform by 2025. While the future appears promising, it also brings to the forefront the pressing challenge of the country's notable talent shortage in the sector.
The global semiconductor industry has invested in Malaysia for over 50 years. With IC substrate maker Austria Technologie & Sytemtechnik (AT&S) starting production at its plant in Kulim, Malaysia has secured most of the value chain. The country takes advantage of the "plus one" strategy many global companies have adopted, hoping to become a high-end manufacturing hub.
With ChatGPT significantly boosting demand for AI servers, related supply chain players have seen orders for Copper Clad Laminate (CCL), PCB, and ABF substrates increase, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
The previously announced new ABF substrate plant in Vietnam by Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) was slated to begin production in the second half of 2023. However, due to a general market slowdown, the schedule has been pushed back to the second half of this year, according to a recent report by South Korea's ET News, citing industry sources.
Contract electronics maker Pegatron has announced plans to build a plant in Malaysia, bringing the total number of its manufacturing sites in Southeast Asia to four.
