Global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales will drop 10.5% to US$57.6 billion in 2019 from last year's historic peak of US$64.4 billion but stage a 2020 recovery and set a new high in 2021, according to SEMI.

The world's top pure-play foundry is set to wrap up 2019 with strong sales performances, thanks to impressive contributions from advanced manufacturring processes. TSMC is also on course to enter commerical production in first-half 2019...

Consumer NAND flash memory prices in China have rallied about 3% since the end of November, showing signs of market stability, according to industry sources.

Apple is expected to launch 5G iPhones in 2020, and the next-generation phones may change its antenna board designs to facilitate mmWave transmission. Taiwan-based flexible PCB makers including Zhen Ding Technology and Flexium Interconnect are gearing up to capture orders for flexible...

Macronix International is poised to kick off commercial shipments of 48-layer 3D NAND flash chips in the second half of 2020, followed by volume shipments of 96-layer 3D NAND products in 2021, according to company chairman Miin Wu.

Acquiring Panasonic's loss-making semiconductor business will have a negative impact on Nuvoton Technology's profitability in the short term, and it may take time for the business to turn profitable, according to Arthur Chiao, chairman for Nuvoton and Winbond Electronics.

Although the memory market looks to be heading towards a recovery in 2020, suppliers are cautious about expanding supply. Winbond is building a new plant in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, with completion originally slated for year-end 2020 and commerical production for 2021. But now the company has now...

Specialty DRAM and flash memory chipmaker Winbond Electronics is slowing down constructing and equipping its new 12-inch wafer plant in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, according to company chairman Arthur Chiao.

With revenues plunging by 14.7% in the third quarter, the global semiconductor market appears destined for a year of double-digit decline despite some signs of growth in the critical memory segment, according to IHS Markit.

Qualcomm has introduced its new 5G SoC lineup - the Snapdragon 865 series for smartphone vendors' flagship models and the 765 series for midrange to high-end ones. But it is the midrange smartphone market segment that is expected to see...

Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing (PSMC), a foundry subsidiary of Powerchip Technology, has enjoyed robust demand for smartphone-use sensors which is filling its 12-inch fab capacity.

NAND flash is expected to see the fastest growth in 2020 among all IC segments, according to IC Insights.

Worldwide semiconductor sales grew nearly 3% sequentially in October. However, sales posted an on-year decline for the 10th consecutive month.

China's GigaDevice, and Taiwan-based Winbond Electronics and Macronix International have been aggressively expanding their automotive NOR flash offerings eyeing a bigger share in the high-end market segment, according to industry sources.

Demand for 5G smartphones is expected to pick up fast next year, with mobile SoC prices for these handsets to stay at high levels at least in the first half of 2020. Tight capacity at TSMC's 7nm node will prevent production cost for 5G mobile chip from falling and Andriod phone vendors will not have...

Average selling prices (ASP) for memory could rise as much as 30% in 2020, driven mainly by strong demand for server and mobile applications, according to industry sources.

The prospect of 5G definitely looks promising, but players in the supply chain have to make sure they have sufficient support from one another in order to fully enjoy the opportunities promised by the arrival of 5G. Chipmakers and their partners are gearing up to build key...

The memory sector is expected to resume growth momentum in 2020 thanks to steady increase in demand for 5G and server applications, with DRAM and NAND flash to see supply shortfalls in second-half 2020, accoding to industry sources.

The global NAND flash memory industry grew 10% in output value sequentially in the third quarter, when bit shipments registered a nearly 15% increase, according to DRAMeXchange.

MediaTek has launched its next-generation 5G SoC family, Dimensity. The launch made a splash with high-ranking executives from many fellow semiconductor firms, including TSMC and ASE, attending. MediaTek, as one of the biggest IC designers...

The supply of NOR flash memory is likely to fall short of demand in 2020, with the gap estimated at up to 10%, according to industry sources.

Intel's CPU shortages are expected to continue haunting the PC industry in the first quarter of 2020, and may even last into the second quarter, undermining demand for SSDs from the PC sector next year, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

The memory market market is expected to recover next year, but suppliers remain cautious about expanding output. Samsung's bit growth for NAND flash output reportedly may drop to as low as 25%. In the foundry sector, China-based Wuhan...

China has set up a CNY147.2 billion (US$20.94 billion) national fund aimed at spurring transformations and upgrades at its manufacturing industries to turn the country into a smart production center, according to industry sources.

Samsung Electronics' NAND flash bit supply growth is expected to drop below 30% and even 25% in 2020, down from 35-40% this year, according to industry sources.