PCIe4.0 is expected to emerge as a mainstream transmission interface standard for diverse notebooks and desktops in 2022, providing significant growth opportunities for ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection components suppliers including Amazing Microelectronics and Eris Technology, according to industry sources.

Japan-based automotive chip vendor Renesas has suspended operations at two semiconductor plants and partially stopped output at a third in Japan after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck east of the Fukushima prefecture on March 16.

Chinese carmakers have begun deploying resources in semiconductor development, as chip shortage continues to haunt the automotive industry.

China-based display panel makers BOE Technology and Tianma Microelectronics as well as TV vendor TCL enjoyed handsome profits for 2021, according to Chinese media reports.

Polarizer material prices have started rising to reflect increasing oil prices and unstable logistics due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to industry sources.

LED lighting maker Tons Lightology, amid COVID lockdowns in Shenzhen and other cities in southern China that have disrupted component/material suppliers, suspended production and hindered logistics, is wary of the impacts on its shipments, especially those for own-brand sales in the Chinese market, according to the company.

The UN Council for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said the Ukraine war is likely to drive up consumer prices of computer, electronic and optical products by 11.4%, referring to the result of freight rate simulation on the possible impact of the Russia-Ukraine War.

ODM Parpro has seen clients increasingly take shipments of gaming machines and kiosks, signaling that demand for such equipment is rebounding from a bottom level along with easing of the pandemic, according to the company.

Taiwan has formed a national group for R&D of quantum technologies, with focuses on quantum devices, computing, algorithms and communication, according to Gwo Shangir, convenor's of the government's Quantum System Promotion Section.

Due to China imposing a lockdown on Shenzhen, Pegatron's India plant would start production of iPhones in April, which would help stabilize the global iPhone supplies, said sources.

Apple's new iPhone SE shipments are expected to reach 30 million units in 2022, about the same as shipped volumes of 25-30 million units of its predecessor in its first year (2020) of release, according to estimation by DIGITIMES Research analysts Sean Lin and Luke Lin.

Network switch specialist Accton Technology has suspended production in Shenzhen to comply with coronavirus lockdown measures in the Chinese city, and expects the event to affect 10% of its total output for March.