Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is allocating up to JPY192 billion (US$1.29 billion) in subsidies for US chipmaker Micron Technology's work in Hiroshima prefecture, Nikkei has learned, in a move to bolster domestic semiconductor supply chains.

Government-backed Japan Investment Corp. is in talks to acquire JSR, the leading producer of photoresist for semiconductor manufacturing, for roughly JPY1 trillion (US$7 billion), Nikkei has learned.

Sony Group is considering building a new factory to make smartphone image sensors in the Kumamoto prefecture of Japan and sourcing chips from TSMC's planned chip plant in the area.

Intel has informed customers it will raise prices on a majority of its microprocessors and peripheral chip products later this year, citing rising costs, Nikkei Asia learned.

China's leading smartphone makers have told suppliers to scale back orders for the coming quarters by around 20% from previous plans following monthlong COVID lockdowns that have severely disrupted supply chains and battered consumer confidence, Nikkei Asia has learned.

Apple plans to make about 20% fewer iPhone SEs next quarter than originally planned, in one of the first signs that the Ukraine war and looming inflation have started to dent consumer electronics demand, sources briefed on the matter told Nikkei Asia.

China's No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker ZTE has been quietly boosting its chip design capabilities as a US crackdown continues to hobble its bigger domestic rival, Huawei Technologies, Nikkei Asia has learned.

Toyota Motor is cutting its February production by around 20% due to chip shortages, the Nikkei newspaper reported Tuesday, though that output target is still up from a year earlier.

Japan is allocating about JPY600 billion (US$5.2 billion) of its fiscal 2021 supplementary budget to support advanced semiconductor manufacturers, Nikkei has learned.

Apple has cut back sharply on iPad production to allocate more components to the iPhone 13, multiple sources told Nikkei Asia, a sign the global chip supply crunch is hitting the company even harder than it previously indicated.

Google did not disclose who will manufacture the Tensor chip for Pixel, but sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia that Samsung will handle production using its advanced 5-nanometer process technology.

TSMC is finalizing a decision to put its first chip plant in Japan into operation as early as 2023, Nikkei has learned.

About 20 Japanese companies, including electronic component maker Ibiden, will work with TSMC to develop chip manufacturing technology in Japan, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

Nintendo will ramp up output of the Switch to about 30 million units this fiscal year, Nikkei has learned, marking an all-time high for the flagship gaming device in a bid to capitalize on continuing stay-at-home demand.

According to cellphone location data analyzed by Nikkei, 14,000 people from among the Japanese company's business partners and other organizations participated in the recovery of Renesas Electronics, which resumed semiconductor production on April 17 at its Naka plant in Ibaraki Prefecture. The plant had been partially shut down because of a fire.

Production of some MacBooks and iPads has been postponed due to the global component shortage, Nikkei Asia has learned, in a sign that even Apple, with its massive procurement power, is not immune from the unprecedented supply crunch.

Apple is slashing its planned production of the iPhone 12 mini for the first half of this year as part of a broader adjustment to output plans it formulated late last year, Nikkei Asia has learned.

Japan's Renesas Electronics is fabricating more of its automotive semiconductors in-house as contract manufacturers are swamped with orders, Nikkei has learned.

Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical will spend an estimated JPY30 billion (US$285 million) to raise capacity for a crucial semiconductor plant material by 20%, expanding its supply for cutting-edge chip production, Nikkei has learned.

The British government has asked Japan to help build its 5G wireless networks without Huawei, the Nikkei said on Sunday, a further step in a global technology and security war between the United States and China.

TSMC has halted new orders from Huawei Technologies in response to tighter US export controls aimed at further limiting the Chinese company's access to crucial chip supplies, multiple sources told the Nikkei Asian Review.

Washington has upped the pressure on TSMC to produce its military-use chips in the US, in order to ensure that the world's biggest contract chipmaker can manufacture the high-security components free from potential Chinese interference, sources have told the Nikkei Asian Review.

ASML, Europe's largest manufacturer of specialized chipmaking machines, has fallen prey to Washington's desire to curb Beijing's technological ascent and delayed shipment of a crucial tool needed to develop China's semiconductor industry.

Apple is about to start trial production of its popular AirPods wireless earphones in Vietnam as the company accelerates plans to diversify manufacturing of its consumer electronics lineup beyond China, Nikkei Asian Review has learned.

Apple has asked its major suppliers to evaluate the cost implications of shifting 15% to 30% of their production capacity from China to Southeast Asia as it prepares for a fundamental restructuring of its supply chain, Nikkei Asian Review has learned.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics will cut almost 1,000 workers from its payrolls at the end of June, Nikkei has learned, as part of a pivot abroad to compensate for a shrinking domestic market.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. "will not rule out the possibility" of buying a memory chip company, Chairman Mark Liu told the Nikkei Asian Review.

South Korea's Hanwha Q Cells' market share grew 2pp last year to 12.9%, becoming the first overseas producer to top Japan's solar panel market, according to a survey conducted by Nikkei, tapping demand for inexpensive residential products. Canadian Solar Japan and China's JinkoSolar also managed to increase their share.

Initial shipments of Apple's highly anticipated iPhone X are expected to total around 20 million units, only half the planned amount for this year, The Nikkei has learned.

Yuji Sugimoto, managing director at Bain, spoke to The Nikkei about the private equity firm's plans for the Japanese company, including the more than JPY1 trillion (US$8.9 billion) that will be provided to Toshiba Memory before it goes public.

Japan's Toshiba is prioritising talks with Western Digital to sell its memory chip business, as negotiations with a previously preferred bidder have stalled, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

ARM Holdings, a British chip innovator controlled by SoftBank Group, will form a joint venture with Chinese partners "within months" to help companies in China develop semiconductor technologies, including products that could have security uses, a company executive told the Nikkei Asian Review on Monday.

Group Chairman Zhao Weiguo told the Nikkei Asian Review that by 2020 his group will definitely close in on Qualcomm and MediaTek, the world's top two mobile chip providers. The group aims to be among the top five memory chip makers globally in a decade, according to Zhao.

Taiwan's Foxconn has asked for SoftBank Group's cooperation in its bid for Toshiba Corp's prized memory chip unit, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

China's state-backed Tsinghua Unigroup is pushing for an initial public offering of its mobile chip unit, Unigroup Spreadtrum RDA, in 2018, sources told Nikkei Asian Review.

Apple will trim production of its iPhone family around 10% on the year in the first quarter of 2017, according to calculations by The Nikkei based on data from suppliers.

Reporters from Reuters and the Nikkei Asian Review were denied access to a post-event group interview with Qualcomm executive chairman Paul Jacobs, to which only journalists from Taiwan's local press were invited.

The three new iPhone models to be launched next year are likely to sport glass backs supplied by China's Biel Crystal Manufactory and Lens Technology, an industry source told the Nikkei Asian Review.

Japan's Sharp will become the main supplier of LCD panels to Universal Media, the Slovak manufacturer licensed to sell Sharp-brand televisions in Europe, The Nikkei learned Thursday.

Chipmakers plan to significantly expand capacity in China, with total investment expected to reach US$50 billion in the next five years, more than double what they spent during the preceding five years, according to a Nikkei survey.