With companies shifting their business from China to Vietnam, Vietnam's process manufacturing sector has attracted US$252 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) and accounts for approximately 60% of the Southeast Asian countries.
India began its 5G auction at the end of July and will last for a few more days to complete. India's Western states, including Maharashtra and Gujarat, are upping the ante to compete with Southern states for chip plants investments.
Samsung Electronics has reported consolidated revenue climbed to a record high of KRW77.2 trillion (US$59.4 billion) in the second quarter of 2022, when its device solutions (DS) division spanning semiconductor and components units generated record-high sales for the second consecutive quarter.
BASF Toda Battery Materials (BTBM), a Japan-based maker of cathode materials established by Germany-based BASF and Japan-based Toda Kogyo on a joint-venture basis, will expand production capacity for cathode active materials (CAM) used in lithium batteries, with the expansion to begin in fourth-quarter 2022 and the additional production capacity to come into operation in second-half 2024, according to Toda.
Japan's top automotive components supplier Denso is keen to develop and produce automotive power chips on its own, and has just unveiled a new power semiconductor device for electrical vehicles (EV) that can reduce energy loss by 20%, according to a news report from Nikkei Asia.
LG Display (LGD) will end the production of LCD panels in South Korea in 2023, mainly driven by the significantly shrunken demand for LCD panels in 2022 and falling panel prices, according to South Korea-based Chosun Biz and ETNews.
Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) has decided to construct a new 8-inch direct bonded SiC wafer substrate mass-production prototype line, which will be completed for March 2024 and start commercial run in 2025.
Ola Electric, Reliance New Energy and Rajesh Exports have signed agreements with the Indian government for locally-made battery cells, in a bid to create a self-reliant battery ecosystem in India, according to Business Standard and Reuters.
Indonesia attracted new investments worth a total of Rp 37.1 trillion (US$2.48 billion) from Japanese automakers, Mitsubishi and Toyota through the coordinating minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto recently.
Despite the headwinds across the automotive industry, Volkswagen Group saw a more than 10% increase in 1H22 operating profits from last year. CFO Arno Antlitz said the environment and competition in 2H22 and 2023 are expected to become more intense, but the group is well-prepared for the challenges.
VVDN Technologies, India's local EMS/ODM supplier, will manufacture India's first indigenously designed High-Performance Computing (HPC) servers, a sign of a developing local electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India thanks to lucrative incentive policies.
South Korea-based LG Energy Solution will produce LFP (lithium iron phosphate) battery at its factory in Nanjing, China, with production expected to kick off in 2023, according to Chinese media.
Chip manufacturing has a 4-decade history in India, starting with Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL) fab in the early '80s. However, this wasn't much of a success compared to the rapid growth in this industry worldwide. Now, with renewed efforts, the Indian government is hoping to revamp chip manufacturing in India for domestic as well as worldwide markets.
Malaysia's semiconductor industry has matured, and a number of companies have built or expanded their operations in the country. This trend is likely to continue as long as future demand for semiconductors, automotive, cloud computing and telecommunication industries remain strong.
