The US Department of Commerce has disclosed US$1.5 billion in planned direct funding for GlobalFoundries (GF) as part of the US CHIPS and Science Act. According to the pure-play foundry, this investment will enable GF to expand and develop new production capacity and capabilities to securely produce more essential chips for automotive, IoT, aerospace, defense, and other vital applications.

As NAND Flash demand is expected to recover in 2024, Samsung Electronics has reportedly established a dedicated R&D team for SSD in India to expand its presence and maintain leadership in the sector.

British AI chip startup Graphcore is rumored to be for sale, with the asking price estimated at US$500 million. Arm, SoftBank, and OpenAI are said to be among potential buyers.

OpenAI's GPT Store launch has industry watchers eager to see if it sparks the next wave of AI innovation.

On Friday, Feb. 16, hundreds of employees at Flex, an Apple supplier in India, initiated a one-day strike.

At its latest earnings call event, Sony revealed a downward adjustment to its sales goal for the PlayStation 5 (PS5) console while reporting a new high in CMOS image sensor (CIS) shipments.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC), regarded as the annual barometer of the telecommunications industry, will take place in Barcelona, Spain, from February 26 to 29. In recent years, the mobile communication industry has faced challenges such as the slower-than-expected penetration of 5G, especially with the lack of killer applications. Stagnation in the smartphone market also prompts an urgent need for more innovation and growth momentum. In the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the challenge of achieving net zero emissions, how to inject new vitality into the existing mobile communication industry may be revealed at MWC 2024.

On February 18, after the first day of work following the long Chinese New Year holiday, smartphone makers Oppo and Meizu coincidentally announced new AI strategies. It can be seen that Chinese smartphone manufacturers are accelerating the process of integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) into phones since the global launch of Samsung Electronics' AI phone, the Galaxy S24, in the second half of 2023.

Auden Techno, the RF solution provider of wireless technology, has announced the expansion of its production capabilities at its Vietnam plant to meet the burgeoning demand for NB antennas. This move comes in anticipation of a surge in orders driven by the projected uptake of AI-powered PCs.

China-based car component suppliers are building production sites rapidly in the suburb of Monterrey, the northeast of Mexico. They are forming a supply chain for Tesla's future Gigafactory in Nuevo Leon. The situation has concerned the US government.

China-based EV makers are expected to remain the front-runners in 2024. Wang Chuanfu, BYD's chairman and president, said China's EV penetration rate will continue to grow this year, with the monthly proportion could surpass 50%. He also said Chinese EV companies will accelerate exports to expand overseas.

China's automotive market is poised to see another round of price cuts as the Dragon year has just started. Leading EV maker BYD launched two new variants of plug-in hybrid EVs priced as low as CNY79,800 (US$11,090) on February 19, aiming for the internal combustion engine car market. A few EV makers have followed suit and reduced vehicle prices.

The US Department of Energy remains steadfast in its drive to overhaul local energy infrastructure. In addition to the surge in demand for transformers vital to the electrical grid, which is propelling growth for Taiwanese heavy electrical equipment manufacturers, numerous Taiwanese enterprises are keenly eyeing the lucrative prospects in the US energy storage sector. Nonetheless, amidst apprehensions stemming from Sino-US tensions, industry stakeholders are adopting a cautious stance in the near term, albeit foreseeing a steadfast growth trajectory in the medium to long run.

The oil giant Shell has shut down its hydrogen refueling stations in California.

Taiwan's energy storage d-Reg market has recently experienced a surge in activity, with private sector involvement expanding rapidly. However, an oversupply situation has emerged, leading to a downward pressure on transaction prices and a general subdued atmosphere in the market. To address the excess supply in the energy storage sector, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) has presented two proposed solutions to alleviate market congestion. Yet, industry stakeholders are urging for prompt implementation of specific details to tackle the market's malfunction.

Japan launched its flagship rocket in what could be a turning point for a battered space program struggling to overcome recent setbacks and compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

A SpaceX rocket blasted off Thursday carrying a US firm's spacecraft on a mission to land on the moon and end America's 50-year lull.

As the direction of the US space policy changed from 2003 on, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) gradually left the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite sector to private industry, instead focusing on the deeper space domain with higher academic research value. This shift ushered in a new era of commercialization in the space industry. SpaceX, which currently dominates the field of LEO satellites, was founded during this period and emerged prominently only after advancements in rocket technology and a reduction in satellite manufacturing costs.

In 2023, Samsung Display (SDC) made waves with its announcement of investing in an 8th-generation (8G) IT OLED panel production line. The company is gearing up to introduce the first 8G evaporation machine in March 2024, manufactured by Japan's Canon Tokki. The move is aimed at supplying 8G IT OLED panels to tech giants such as Apple, Dell, and HP.

Panel makers, including AUO and Innolux, have reported year-on-year revenue increases in January, which indicates a more balanced panel supply and demand in 2024.

Chinese display panel manufacturers are aggressively catching up with their South Korean counterparts in the smartphone OLED market and forging stronger partnerships with domestic smartphone brands. As of 2023, their combined market share in the mobile OLED segment has already exceeded 40%, and projections indicate a further surge to 54.8% by 2025.