Taiwan recorded exports totaling US$39.65 in September 2021, hitting a monthly record for the third consecutive time with growth of 0.3% sequentially and 29.2% year-on-year, while the corresponding imports reached US$33.21 billion, the second highest-ever monthly figure which slipped 8.0% sequentially but rose 40.4% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

LED driver IC firm Macroblock has expressed optimism about its operations in 2022, citing a boom in demand for miniLED-backlight device applications.

Taiwan-based makers received export orders totaling US$62.90 billion in September 2021, the highest-ever monthly level with increases of 17.6% sequentially and 25.7% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Taiwan's Investment Commission has approved AU Optronics' (AUO) acquisition of a 49% stake in its China-based subsidiary, AU Optronics (Kunshan), from a joint-venture shareholder at CNY3.995 billion (US$617 million) to wholly own the subsidiary, according to the company.

Shipments of Apple's new iPad Pro and just-unveiled Macbook Pro series featuring miniLED displays are forecast to reach nearly 10 million units in 2021, according to industry sources.

There will be 887 million large-size (9-inch and above) LCD panels shipped globally in 2021 and the shipments will increase to 918 million units in 2026 at a CAGR of 0.69%, according to Digitimes Research.

EMS provider Lite-On Technology has obtained orders for photo couplers with shipments scheduled until the end of the first quarter of 2022, according to company president Anson Chiu.

In the China market, 2.36 million TVs were sold during the week-long holidays in early October 2021, decreasing 12.2% on year, while the corresponding sales value of CNY9.1 billion (US$1.4 billion) increased 0.6%, according to All View Consulting (AVC).

Quotes for TV-use LCD panels have been dropping since July 2021 and are expected to slip further in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to industry sources.

Local governments' restricting power supply in China has led to decreases in utilization of production capacities at LCD panel supply chain makers' factories mostly in southern and eastern China to about 60%, and consequently, output of panel components and LCD modules has dropped by about 30%, according to AVC Revo.

The car industry has been plagued by component shortages, and automotive IC shortages are likely to last till at least 2023. TSMC's plan to build a mature process fab in Japan comes as good news for a semiconductor sector yearning for more capacity supply. And PanelSemi CEO Ting Chin-lung is making efforts to materialize his concept of "panel semiconductor."