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.

IC Insights has raised its IC market growth forecast for 2021 to 24%, compared with its previous estimate of 19% growth.

Taiwan-based Taiflex Scientific and Asia Electronic Material (AEM), dedicated to supplying FCCL and other flexible PCB materials, both plan to build additional production lines to satisfy strong demand from their US and China smartphone clients, according to industry sources.

LED driver IC design-house Macroblock will start ramping up its shipments of miniLED-backlight solutions in the second half of 2021, targeting notebook and large-size TV applications.

Hermes Testing Solutions (HTSI), a unit of chipmaking equipment supplier Hermes-Epitek, is poised to develop and manufacture cantilever probe cards with the technology already transferred from a Japan-based vendor, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based IC design houses are optimistic about their shipments for smartphone applications in the third quarter of 2021, thanks to the upcoming rollouts of new 5G-enabled models, particularly by Chinese brands.

Taiwan's flexible PCB (FPCB) suppliers Zhen Ding Technology and Flexium Interconnect are expected to post robust sales for second-quarter 2021, mainly bolstered by shipments to Apple for non-handset applications, according to industry sources.

The top-100 tech firms in Asia are mostly based in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan, with the car and tech products/equipment sectors making up the two largest groups, according to Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC 100), the freshly released research results by Digitimes. The ASC 100 study, based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap, wil be renewed annually. In the notebook industry, makers are using more aluminum-alloy components to replace copper ones, as copper prices stay at high levels.

Specializing in industrial flash storage, memory module maker Innodisk is poised to see its second-quarter revenue hit a record high, according to market sources.

The ongoing lockdown in Malaysia is posing new variables to capacity deployments at many international automotive IDMs, further fueling competitions between ICT and auto makers for semiconductor capacity supply, according to industry sources.

Taiwan's semiconductor materials distributors including Topco Scientific, Wah Lee Industrial, Topco Technologies, and Chang Wah Electromaterials are all upbeat about their sales in the third quarter of the year due to strong demand from both foundry and backend houses and even IC substrate makers, according to industry sources.