Smart deliveries of components and materials to production lines will facilitate the entire manufacturing process and is therefore the first step to running smart factories, according to Kirin Chen, general manager for logistics equipment maker Axis-Group.
Supply has barely been able to ctach up with demand in the semiconductor manufacturing sector, sending prices up to reflect tight capacity at foundry and backend houses. ASE Technology reportedly has decided to raise backend services quotes by 5-10% in first-quarter 2021...
For Chinese fabless IC vendors, tight foundry supply has been compounded by the fact that China-based SMIC has been blacklisted by the US. More Chinese IC vendors are now seeking support from Samsung for 14nm and above manufacturing processes. BT substrate supply has also become tight after a recent fire disrupted production at a major suppier, Unimicron...
MediaTek is likely to report record sales for 2020, and the mobile SoC vendor is confident that its sales will grow further next year. MediaTek's chairman believes the global economy will recover and stimulate demand for handsets and termninal devices. For Taiwan's PCB makers, they may see more orders from Apple for flexible PCBs to be used in next-generation iPhones...
As part of its continuing efforts to tackle rampant drug abuse problems in the country, the Taiwan government looks to further drive anti-drug campaigns engaging citizens, families and schools...
Demand for industrial automation and smart manufacturing in Vietnam has been growing fast due to surging foreign investment in the country's manufacturing sector, according to industry sources.
TSMC has seen strong demand for both of its advanced and mature manufacturing processes. Its 28nm node supply may become even tighter, as a Korean client is in talks with TSMC seeking to make its OLED driver ICs using the foundry's 28nm high-voltage process...
Connectivity has become an essential commodity that determines how people live, work and play, according to John Mathew, co-founder and CEO/CTA of Cavli Wireless, an Internet of Things (IoT) module company that works with telecom operators to provision local IoT data in LTE/LPWAN technologies like NB-IoT, LTE-M on eSIM technology.
Notebook ODMs expect their shipments in the first quarter of 2021 to only slip less than 10% sequentially instead of traditional 20-30% declines, while Taiwan's pure-play foundries will also enjoy a strong 2021 because of robust demand for their capacities. Pegatron is looking to establish a new factory in the US to supply products to clients there.
