Wintel camp mulls measures to rekindle weakening notebook industry

Feb 21, 11:52

Suppliers within the Wintel camp are mulling to launch a series of measures, including price cuts for their products, in the second quarter of 2013 to rekindle the stymied notebook...

Taiwan government-run science parks 2012 total revenues over NT$2 trillion

Feb 21, 11:11

The government-run Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) and Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) generated total revenues of NT$2.004 trillion (US$67.9 billion)...

Taiwan attracts January foreign direct investment of nearly US$390 million, says MOEA

Feb 21, 11:00

Taiwan approved 218 foreign direct investment projects (except from China) totaling US$389.1 million in January, respectively increasing by 37.11% and by 30.07% on year, according...

Five IC suppliers to hold one-third of 300mm wafer capacity in 2013, says IC Insights

Feb 20, 20:28

Semiconductor industry capital spending is becoming more concentrated, with a greater percentage of spending coming from a shrinking number of companies. IC industry capacity is also...

Laser Tek order visibility extends to June

Feb 19, 15:54

Laser Tek, a supplier of passive component materials and production equipment, has seen order visibility for its laser equipment extend to June indicating strong sales in the first...

Equipment distributors Topco, Scientech to see brisk 1Q13 sales

Feb 19, 15:37

Sales at Taiwan-based IC equipment and materials distributors Topco Scientific and Scientech both registered double-digit on-year revenue growth in January 2013. Both are expected...

Equipment maker Gudeng gearing up for contract business

Feb 19, 15:07

Gudeng Precision Industrial, which has developed handling equipment for the manufacture of 18-inch wafers, has unveiled plans to step into the contract-manufacturing market for automation...

Silicon wafer revenues fall in 2012, says SEMI

Feb 18, 16:15

Worldwide silicon wafer revenues declined by 12% in 2012 compared to 2011, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its year-end analysis of the silicon wafer industry...

UMC sees January revenues increase

Feb 18, 10:10

Taiwan-based wafer foundry service provider United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) saw its consolidated revenues of NT$9.452 billion (US$320 million) for January grow 21.23% on...

Taiwan market: No. 4 nuclear power plant enters testing

Feb 8, 15:17

The state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) is undertaking various tests at Taiwan's No. 4 nuclear power plant located on the northeastern coast in preparation for kicking off trial...

TSMC posts sales growth for January 2013

Feb 8, 15:10

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reported NT$47.44 billion (US$1.6 billion) in consolidated revenues for January 2013, up 27.7 on month and 37.1% from a year...

Diode maker Actron to increase wafer self-sufficiency

Feb 8, 14:36

Automotive diode maker Actron Technology expects to increase the ratio of in-house produced diffusion wafers to 50-60% in 2013, up from the current 35%, according to the company.

Taiwan January export value down on month, up on year, says MOF

Feb 7, 19:04

Taiwan recorded a total export value of US$25.67 billion in January 2013, decreasing 1.6% on month but increasing 21.8% on year, while the corresponding total import value of US$25.20...

SMIC ends 2012 with record revenues

Feb 7, 11:54

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) saw its revenues climb to a record US$485.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Revenues for the entire year also hit an all-time...

Semiconductor R&D spending rises 7% in 2012, says IC Insights

Feb 7, 11:19

Spending on R&D by chip companies grew 7% in 2012 to a record-high US$53 billion even though the semiconductor market declined 1% to US$317.6 billion, according to IC Insights.

PTI expects recovery starting 2Q13

Feb 6, 22:22

Packaging and testing firm Powertech Technology (PTI) expects business to pick up in the second quarter, and continue to recover for the rest of 2013. said company chairman DK Tsai...

UMC lags behind schedule in 28nm process, says CEO

Feb 6, 21:44

Foundry service provider United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has lagged behind schedule in hiking the proportion of total revenues from 28nm technology, and the proportion is...

UMC expects flat 1Q13

Feb 6, 19:33

United Microelectronics (UMC) expects its wafer shipments to rise 6% sequentially in the first quarter of 2013, with average selling prices (ASP) decreasing also 6%.

Foxconn obtains most patents among Taiwan-based firms in 2012, says TIPO

Feb 6, 15:36

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs on February 5 indicated that Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), received 1,397...

China polysilicon price may return to US$20-21/kg due to trade investigation, says SAS chairman

Feb 5, 10:35

MK Lu, chairman of Taiwan-based Sino-American Sapphire (SAS) stated that the price of polysilicon is likely to return to a reasonable level in China because China's government may...

Taiwan January CPI slightly down sequentially, says DGBAS

Feb 5, 10:33

Taiwan's January 2013 consumer price index (CPI) of 102.44 (2011 as base year) decreased by 0.15% on month but increased by 1.15% on year, while the corresponding wholesale price...

Semiconductor industry posts near-record sales total in 2012, says SIA

Feb 5, 10:31

Worldwide semiconductor sales for 2012 reached US$291.6 billion, the industry's third-highest yearly total ever but a decrease of 2.7% from the record total of US$299.5 billion set...

VIS expects flat shipment growth in 1Q13

Feb 4, 21:37

IC foundry Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS), which specializes in analog/mixed-signal and logic chips, expects to report flat sequential growth in wafer shipments for the...

Taiwan newly appointed premier names new economic minister

Feb 4, 13:55

Taiwan's newly appointed premier Jiang Yi-huah is reshuffling members of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) and has named China Airlines chairman Chang Chia-juch to head the Ministry of...

Samsung, Hynix cautious about 2013 capex plans

Feb 1, 13:59

Memory chip vendors Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have both taken a cautious approach to planning for capital expenditure (capex) in 2013, implying that the pair is looking to...

Taiwan 4Q12 economic growth rate estimated at 3.42%, says DGBAS

Feb 1, 10:16

Taiwan's economic growth rate, on-year growth in GDP, in the fourth quarter of 2012 has been upward adjusted from 2.97% estimated in November 2012 to 3.42%, according to advance estimates...

Renesas, J-Devices sign MoU on transfer of backend facilities

Jan 31, 16:44

Renesas Electronics and J-Devices have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the transfer of three semiconductor backend production facilities operated by Renesas and its...

Scientech deepens development of 3D IC, wafer-level packaging equipment

Jan 31, 16:04

Taiwan-based semiconductor equipment distributor Scientech has deepened its development of 3D IC packaging and wafer-level packaging equipment, expecting some of its equipment to...

China IC market to boom through 2017, says IC Insights

Jan 31, 15:31

The IC market in China is forecast to have a 2012-2017 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13%, 5pp higher than the 8% CAGR forecast for the total IC market during the same period,...

Commentary: Reconsideration on Taiwan-Japan industry alliance

Jan 31, 15:02

A Taiwan delegtation formed by government officials, researchers and industry players recently concluded a six-day visit in Japan, where they probed the possibilities of forming strategic...

ASE, SPIL to stop ramping copper wirebonding capacity

Jan 31, 11:03

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) have both stated that they will stop ramping up capacity for copper wire-bonding. Instead, raising...

AMD eyeing business opportunities from embedded solutions

Jan 30, 11:45

As AMD is set to raise its embedded business' revenues contribution to 20% in 2013 from 5% currently, AMD vice president and Embedded Solution general manager Arun Iyengar has pointed...

KLA-Tencor intros new e-beam inspection system

Jan 30, 11:32

KLA-Tencor has announced a new electron-beam inspection system, the eS805, which is already shipped to leading logic and chip manufacturers.