Unit sales of flat-screen TVs including OLED TVs in Japan increased for the 15th consecutive month in June 2021, according to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA).

The world's largest motorcycle manufacturer Hero MotoCorp is planning to expand its business into Battery as a Service (BaaS) and Vehicle as a Service (VaaS). According to Money Control's statistics, India-based Hero MotoCorp has 37% market share of India's gas-powered two-wheeler market.

In 2020, the overall tech industry in Vietnam generated over US$ 120 billion in total sales revenues. As the tech industry grows, the job openings soared to a record one million, mainly from 58,000 companies, including the big corporations, such as Samsung, Foxconn, Intel, Panasonic, and fast-growing local tech firms, like Viettel, FPT, VNPT, and VinGroup.

Wistron expects revenue from car electronics to double this year. After having partnered up with three Chinese car makers including NIO, Wistron is now looking to gain more tier-1 Japanese OEM partners for new energy cars, according to David Shen, president of Wistron Smart Devices.

MCU prices are poised to rise through the end of 2021, due to the impact of a nationwide lockdown in Malaysia and a cutback in support from China-based foundries, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar and China-based fellow maker Sanan Optoelectronics are expected to become two additional suppliers of mini/microLED chips for Samsung Electronics, with shipments to begin in the second half of 2021, according to industry sources.

While Apple is expected to have at least its new iPhone Pro series for 2021 feature ToF-based LiDAR scanners, some Android handset vendors including China's Honor are poised to resume adoption of ToF cameras for their new flagship models, according to industry sources.

IKKA Holdings (Cayman), a maker of precision plastic injection molded components, was successfully listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on May 31, 2021. DIGITIMES recently talked to Vincent Hu, chairman and COO of IKKA, about why the company focuses on plastic injection and how it is going to work more closely with automakers in China, Japan and Southeast Asia.

Delta Electronics (Thailand), the subsidiary of Taiwan-based Delta Electronics, has become the regional business headquarters and manufacturing center in India and Southeast Asia for its parent company.

Factories in Vietnam's industrial zones, export processing zones and high tech parks are suffering from the worsening COVID-19, as workers are being quarantined to prevent further spreading of the pandemic, according to a report by Vietnam Investment Review (VIR).

The first panel talk at Asia Venturing online forum, held on July 16, 2021 by DIGITIMES and Anchor Taiwan, featured the vice pesident and general manager of Business Solutions Group at Qisda Corporation Michael Lee; partner of Japan's MS&AD Ventures Tiffine Wang; and Kickstart Ventures president Minette Navarrette and Kickstart Ventures VP for investments Joan Yao. They spoke about investing in foreign startups, discovering opportunities for the parent company and pumping momentum for young companies to grow and innovate.

Many years ago, a friend of mine in the industry told me a joke about customer relationships in the foundry sector. He said that UMC took good care of customers and would actively matchmake customers for partnership opportunities. SMIC took pride in being a national icon and gave the best service to its fellow Chinese firms. It was not the case for TSMC though. Its customers came from near and far for its leading-edge technology. If the yield rate for a customer's chips was not up to standard, TSMC was not to blame. There must be something wrong with the customer's design or spec because TSMC never made a mistake.

Semiconductor Manufacturing Electronics (ShaoXing), a China-based MEMS foundry startup formed by Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) and the local government, has managed to boost its monthly production output to 70,000 wafers from 40,000 in November 2020, according to industry sources.

Vietnam's manufacturers saw their production and new orders slip dramatically in June, due to the rising COVID-19 infections locally, according to a report by Vietnam Investment Review (VIR).

The server industry is currently seeing a lead time of up to 52 weeks for its component deliveries with lingering shortages, which will not have a chance to improve until 2022, according to Mitac Holding president Billy Ho.