TSMC is giving priority to expanding its 12-inch fab capacity to ease supply. Now clients stand a better chance of having their orders squeezed into TSMC's production schedule in the second quarter of 2021. Taiwan's inductor...

Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached US$40 billion in January 2021, rising 13.2% on year and about 1% sequentially, according to SIA.

TSMC has prioritized expanding 12-inch fabs over 8-inch ones, and it may be easier for the foundry house to squeeze in extra orders from some clients its 12-inch fabs in the second quarter, according to industry sources.

TSMC is fast expanding capacity for 5nm process to meet strong demand from a host of heavyweight clients, including Apple, AMD and MediaTek. The foundry house's capacity for 5nm process is expected hike by one third in second-half 2021...

Thanks to unexpected strong demand arising from the coronavirus pandemic and the US raising tariffs on China-made products, Taiwan's manufacturing industries, especially high-tech ones, have gained significant growth momentum, and Taiwan's 2021 GDP will grow by over 4% and likely by 5%, according to...

Singapore-based semiconductor packaging equipment vendor K&S has seen strong influx of orders for wire bonders for logic ICs and memory chips with delivery lead times extending to 6-9 months, and is optimistic that equipment demand for miniLED backlight applications may grow exponentially starting...

MediaTek has obtained sufficient 6nm and 7nm process capacity at TSMC, which will allow the mobile SoC specialist to boost its 5G chip shipments in 2021, according to industry sources.

TSMC is poised to scale up its 5nm process manufacturing capacity to 105,000 wafers monthly in the first half of 2021, up from 90,000 units in fourth-quarter 2020, with plans to further expand the process capacity to 120,000 units in the second half of this year, according to industry sources.

As of December 2020, only TSMC was among the wafer capacity leaders in each of the main wafer size categories ranked by IC Insights. The Taiwan-based foundry had the most 200mm wafer capacity last year, and ranked second in 300mm wafer capacity.

IC manufacturing capacity has been tight, resulting in chip shortages that some expect to last into 2020. Shortages amid strong demand are sending product prices up - one of those being MOSFET...

Taiwan-based makers received export orders totaling US$52.72 billion in January 2021, decreasing 12.9% sequentially but increasing 49.3% on year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Foundry and backend capacity constraints resulting in a global shortage of semiconductors will likely persist through 2022, according to Silicon Motion Technology, a Taiwan-based NAND flash device controller specialist.

Unusually low rainfalls in Taiwan over the past year have resulted in water shortages, particularly in the southern parts of the country. Some companies at the Southern Taiwan Science Park, including TSMC, have started buying truckloads...

Qualcomm will continue to fabricate its next-generation 5G mobile chip, tentatively dubbed Snapdragon 895, at Samsung Electronics built using an upgraded 5nm process, but may switch to TSMC in 2022 using its 4nm process, according to industry sources.

Chipmakers including TSMC and UMC have started buying water by the truckload for their foundries in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP), as reservoirs in southern Taiwan face dwindling water levels following months of scant rainfalls, according to industry sources.

The frigid weather that halted production in the US state of Texas may prompt IDMs to mull adjusting outsourcing strategies. Seeking more support from manufacturing partners, particularly those in Taiwan, may be a way for IDMs to diversify...

Billings among North American manufacturers of semiconductor production equipment topped US$3 billion in January 2021, according to SEMI.

Surging prices of Ethereum has boosted demand for graphics cards used to mine the cryptocurrecny, which is benefiting Taiwan-based IC testing services providers, according to sources from the semiconductor industry.

IDM vendors may consider outsourcing more of their production starting 2022, with Taiwan-based contract chipmakers being among the beneficiaries, according to industry sources.

Major chip vendors have been striving for support from production partners, and Qualcomm reportedly will even appoint a VP dedicated fully to working to secure capacity in Taiwan. Qualcomm and MediaTek are also said to be both stepping...

Taiwan-based ASIC and SoC design service providers including Alchip, Faraday Technology and Global Unichip will continue to enjoy robust demand from China's chipmaking industry in 2021 with revenue set to be driven by a strong pull-in of orders for China's homegrown chip solutions, according to industry...

Qualcomm has been gearing up to seek multiple supply sources for both silicon-based and III-V semiconductors amid increasingly tight capacity at the global IC value chain, and reportedly will install one vice president working exclusively to cement support from production partners in Taiwan, according...

Taiwan's economic growth for fourth-quarter 2020 is estimated at 5.09%, the highest quarterly level since 2011 and 0.15pp higher than the 4.94% preliminarily estimated in January 2021, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

China became the largest IC market in the world in 2005 and has continued to grow in size since then. In 2020, China's IC market increased to US$143.4 billion, a 9% gain from US$131.3 billion in 2019, according to IC Insights.

Automakers are desperate for support from foundry partners to ease chip shortages disrupting their production, and they are willing to pay extra in return for foundries giving top priority to their orders. TSMC has agreed to give automotive...