CCL prices are poised to stop rising and stabilize in the short term as price hikes for main upstream materials including copper foil are showing signs of slowing down, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based power diode suppliers have seen clear order visibility through the end of this year, as coronavirus-induced stay-at-home activities continue to spur demand, coupled with a surge in demand for automotive electronics, according to industry sources.

Mask ROM and flash memory maker Macronix is close to striking a deal to sell its 6-inch fab in Taiwan. Tokyo Electron is named as the most likely buyer of the Macronix fab. The notebook sector has been troubled by component shortages for months, but outlook for the notebook market remains robust throughout the year. Taiwan-based diode makers see clear order visibility through the end of the year, thanks to WFH needs and a surge in automotive applications.

More companies in Taiwan, Korea and China are likely to continue committing investments to develop mini/microLED products before 2025, boosting the advancement of the display industry, according to Chan Pin Chong, executive vice president of Kulicke & Soffa Industries (K&S) Taiwan.

Polarizer makers BenQ Materials and Cheng Mei Materials Technology have reported brisk sales for May, and they expect the current sales momentum to continue into the third quarter.

BOE Technology reportedly has formed a task force working on a plan to set up its third 10.5G LCD fab although it is already the world's largest panel maker, according to industry sources.

Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has announced plans to invest NT$1 billion (US$36.1 million) for new shares to be issued by PV conductive paste maker Giga Solar Materials through private placement.

Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai) will form a joint venture with PTT, Thailand's majority state-owned oil and gas company, in the second half of 2021 as part of their memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed for cooperative production of electric vehicles (EV) in the Southeast Asian country.

Rising popularity of electric vehicles (EV) has grabbed global attention. Poised to replace internal combustion engines, EVs are considered the new trend in the era of sustainability. A storm of competition ignited by Tesla, is brewing in the EV market, with traditional US and European automakers are pushing into in-house battery development and manufacturing with an aim to secure bigger cost advantages in the coming decades.

ASRock is upbeat about its sales and profit performance in the second quarter of 2021, citing strong demand for graphics cards, industrial PCs and servers.

Makers of notebook internal compartment parts and hinges have seen a deceleration in order pull-ins from notebook brand clients in second quarter amid component shortages.

With copper prices remaining at high levels, several notebook brand vendors have asked their component suppliers to use aluminum-alloy for internal compartment parts that have high proportion of use of copper, according to sources from compartment part suppliers.

Sales of 5G smartphones in the Taiwan market are likely to account for over 80% of total handset shipments in the second half of 2021 thanks to the new offerings of 5G models from Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi, Realme and Vivo, according to sources at the local channels.

The 5G private network architecture outlined in 3GPP Release 16 allows businesses to deploy private networks by themselves, which will not only bring changes to the previous model that relies on telecom operators in the 4G era but also the rise of Open RAN (O-RAN) market, according to Digitimes Research.

Worldwide smartphone shipments are likely to reach 650 million units in the first half of 2021, and shipments in the first and second quarters each will register a double-digit growth from a year earlier, according to Digitimes Research forecasts.