South Korea will join its largest companies including Samsung Electronics Co. to pour some $422 billion into areas such as chips and electric vehicles in its most aggressive effort yet to win a heated global race for tech supremacy.
The Commerce Department will this month release rules to limit companies' activity in China should they receive some of the $52 billion that the US is providing to boost its semiconductor industry.
Oil and chemical silos require regular checks and maintenance to ensure they do not leak. Taiwan-based Droxo Tech is developing unmanned vehicles that can detect rusted areas on a silo and repaint them. The products have received interest from major petrochemical companies like China Steel Corporation and Formosa Plastics Corporation.
Japan-based semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron (TEL) is strengthening its investment in Taiwan, expecting to complete the construction of its operation office in Tainan, southern Taiwan in the latter half of 2024, focusing on software and hardware development, along with the manufacturing and maintenance of backend equipment.
Chinese CPU designer Loongson Technology is seen as China's representative to challenge international mainstream instruction set architectures (ISAs), Intel's x86 and Arm, with its own LoongArch architecture, but it remains to be seen whether or how the latest trade sanctions from the US will impact its future development and challenge momentum.
Japan-headquartered Honda Motor has begun an effort to accelerate electrification in the US. It plans to retool three existing factories in Ohio for EV and component production, including the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), the carmaker's first auto plant in America.
A multitude of semiconductor applications has blossomed in recent years. The rise and fall of Huawei's HiSilicon Semiconductor after a decade of rapid development are the most noteworthy case study against the backdrop of the China-US trade war. While it is regarded as the epitome of China's self-sufficiency in semiconductors, it also fell victim to multiple bans and restrictions from the US.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. is truly the undisputed electric vehicle battery-making king. It supplies a roll call of carmakers — from Tesla Inc. to Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG to Hyundai Motor Co. and Stellantis NV — and commands a 37% share of the market globally. Net income almost doubled last year to $4.4 billion.
The US' broader chip equipment ban against China will stymie Semiconductor Manufacturing International's (SMIC) sub-40nm process development, according to industry sources.
As the United States imposes strict conditions on subsidy applications as a means to curb China's rise in the semiconductor industry, South Korea's semiconductor equipment industry is also facing a crisis in exports.
China-based semiconductor manufacturers, in the wake of geopolitical risks, are expected to keep up with their capacity expansion strategies going into 2023 with a good number of projects already in construction, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest report covering the latest status of China's wafer foundry industry
China's top EV startup Neta held a groundbreaking ceremony on Mar 30 for its first overseas manufacturing plant outside China. Located in Bangkok, Thailand, the plant is slated to start production around January next year, serving as a manufacturing base for automobile exports to ASEAN countries.
China has assigned a new chief for a high-profile, state-backed chip investment fund amid a renewed push to pour resources into the local semiconductor industry and counter a US-led blockade of the country's technological development.
Chinese NAND flash controller IC suppliers including Goke Microelectronics, Maxio Technology and Yeestor Microelectronics are gaining presence in the China market for SSD controller,s and some have moved to raise funds from the capital market to support further R&D projects on chip products for more niche-type applications, according to market sources.
