Revenues generated through the sale of servers and related products by Taiwan-based makers are expected to top NT$300 billion (US$10.02 billion) in 2013, according to Digitimes Research's latest figures.

The ecosystem of application processors has evolved with profound changes since the beginning of 2013, with entry-level to mid-range products becoming mainstream and vendor ranking in the industry fluctuating widely, according to Digitimes Research.

Global smartphone shipments reached 420 million units in the first half of 2013 and are expected to top nearly 950 million units for the full year, Digitimes Research has estimated.

The latest gossip and speculation floating around the supply chain, with none of the news being substantiated, is that Apple's plans for an inexpensive iPhone will focus on the China market and will include a TD-SCDMA version through cooperation with China Mobile.

Following declining on-year TV sales in 2012, vendors have looked to various strategies to bring a turnaround in 2013, including increasing the value-added features and sizes of their products as well as finding ways to reduce costs to bring lower pricing to end consumer markets...

If Apple builds its own silicon at its own chip fab, the risk it will face will be greater than the benefits for the company, according to Nobunaga Chai, analyst for semiconductors at Digitimes Research...

Following speculation that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) already struck a deal with Apple to supply foundry services for the next A-series chips built using 20nm, 16nm and 10nm process nodes, more rumors have surfaced recently suggesting Apple is also looking at other options in addition to TSMC.

With more NAND flash memory chips designed into embedded applications, such as eMMC devices and solid-state drives (SSD), memory controller IC firms incapable of providing technologies for these storage solutions will either be acquired by their larger competitors, or eliminated from the market.

Based in Santa Clara, Tensilica has been around the semiconductor industry for around 15 years, providing customers with what it calls configurable dataplane processors (DPUs). The company has more than 200 licensees worldwide and is approaching 2.5 billion cores in the market but in March 2013, the company entered into an agreement with EDA provider Cadence to be purchased for US$380 million.

A common set of standards for LED lighting firms in Greater China was announced recently and as the China government plans to expand the LED lighting market, this common set of standards can help Taiwan-based firms enter the China market.