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.

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.

More companies in Taiwan, Korea and China are likely to continue committing investments to develop mini/microLED products before 2025, boosting the advancement of the display industry, according to Chan Pin Chong, executive vice president of Kulicke & Soffa Industries (K&S).

Countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia stand a chance of becoming rising stars in the midst of supply chain shifts and the move toward shorter supply chains and localization. Four Indian firms and one Indonesian firm entered Digitimes' Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100). By region, Tata Motors at No. 22 in ASC100 is the champion in Southeast Asia and South Asia, followed by Indonesia's Astra International (No. 68) and India's Mahindra & Mahindra (No. 69), Maruti Suzuki (No. 74) and Motherson Sumi (No. 89). ASC 100 is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Companies in the "tech products and equipment" and "automotive manufacturing" sectors account for half of the Digitimes' Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC 100) list, but semiconductor firms well lead the list in both average profit and average market value. ASC 100 is a newly released reseach on Asia's top 100 tech firms. ASC 100 is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Benefiting from the US-China tech war and sharp chip shortages following the pandemic outbreak, and with automotive clients competing for foundry capacity support, the entire semiconductor industry is poised to enjoy robust order momentum through 2022, allowing semiconductor stocks to gain traction in the market. TSMC and Samsung Electronics, now the world's only two companies able to commercialize sub-7 nm foundry nodes, have been in a two-horse race for grabbing the crown in the Digitimes' Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC 100) research, ranking first and second, respectively, by market capitalization in 2020. ASC 100 is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Of the companies in Digitimes' Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC 100), Samsung Electronics had the highest net income US$22.1 billion in 2020. But TSMC - in third place in overall net income - had the highest net profit margin of 38.7%, way higher than Samsung's 11%. ASC 100 is a new released research on Asia's top 100 tech firms - a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Digitimes, an Asia-based premium source of tech supply information, has just released its 2021 Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100) research results. In terms of 2020 revenue, Japan's Toyota Motor, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) are the top three in ASC100, a freshly launched research on Asia's top-100 tech firms. The ASC 100 research is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.

Digitimes, an Asia-based premium source of tech supply chain information, undertook a six-month study on the financial reports of 4,725 publicly listed corporations across 11 countries in Asia and compiled its first annual report on the top 100 Asian suppliers - Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100) in 2021. Released on June 15, the report contains the rankings among Asia's top 100 suppliers along with a look into supply chain trends and an analysis on the competitiveness of Asian countries. Digitimes plans to release updated statistics on an annual basis going forward and keep track of the changes in the rankings among Asia's high-tech suppliers in the long run.

Polarizer makers BenQ Materials and Cheng Mei Materials Technology have reported brisk sales for May, and they expect the current sales momentum to continue into the third quarter.

Intel has announced two new Tiger Lake-U Refresh processors at Computex 2021, but tight supply of the latest CPUs is undermining notebook vendors' plans of launching devices using the new offersings from the US chip giant. In China, LCD panel maker BOE Technology reportedly has plans to build its third 10.5G line, which could send the global market in the direction towards oversupply. In the semiconductor sector, Taiwan-based IC distributors are set to see significant sales in 2021, particularly those with a significant presence in the memory segment.