Wonik IPS is always open to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and the company will need to secure additional processes to compete with world-class companies, a company executive told TheElec on Thursday.The executive, who was speaking after Wonik IPS’ shareholders’ meeting, said while it wasn’t reviewi

South Korean display equipment maker Hims is aiming to reduce its reliance on OLED equipment this year from sales in new areas.Hims CEO JH Kim said at its shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday that the company has been preparing to enter the semiconductor equipment and software businesses for the past

Intel is planning to spend US$20 billion into building two new factories in Arizona, while restarting its foundry business.Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said on Tuesday that the foundry market will grow to be worth US$100 billion in 2025. The US chip giant will secure production facilities in Europe and U

South Korean system semiconductor company Coasia has received the Supplier Quality certification for its LED modules from Hyundai Motor Company.The certification will open Coasia to win more orders from the Korean automobile giant and global customers.Coasia previously received the certification for

The CEO of SK Hynix said on Sunday the importance of memory will become more important in the era of digital transformation.Company CEO Lee Seok-hee, speaking at the 2021 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS), said the company will overcome various material, structure and reliabili

Hanwha Techwin has started development of 8-nanometer (nm) system-on-a-chip (SoC) for CCTVs this year, TheElec has learned.The company is aiming to reduce reliance on China’s HiSilicon, which has previously supplied the CCTV chips.Hanwha is using South Korean design house company for the design. Sam

Renesas Electronics has suffered a fire in its facilities over the weekend that will likely exasperate the ongoing global chip shortage that is affecting automobile production.The company said its N3 building at its Naka plants in Japan suffered fire on Friday. The fire was put down in around five h

Abov Semiconductor said on Thursday that it will supply three new microcontroller units (MCU) aimed at automobiles this year.These will be a lidar MCU (A31Q213), a passenger assistance system MCU (A94Q216) and a mobile device charging MCU (A94Q427).A Abov spokesperson said the company will start pro

The Korea Automobile Association (KAA) and Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA) signed a MOU on Wednesday for collaboration.The MOU singed following the formation of a council for collaboration between the two industries on March 4.KAA and KSIA’s partnership is done in light of the recent

Display equipment manufacturer Avaco on Thursday said it was conducting a reliability review on its semiconductor packaging sputter with a semiconductor company.The company is hoping sales from the supply of the sputters will occur this yearAvaco is pushing metal layer deposition sputter, used for w

Fab equipment spending in 2020 increased 16% compared to 2019, according to SEMI.Spending is expected to increase 15.5% this year to reach over US$70 billion, according to the organization. It will increase 12% in 2022 to over US$80 billion.Fab equipment spending increased substantially for three ye

Shareholders of Samsung Electronics were in fierce disagreement over whether company vice chairman Lee Jae-yong should remain in his post following his conviction and jail term from bribery charges, during the company’s annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday One shareholder, who said they were mem

Semiconductor testing firm APACT said on Tuesday that it recorded 49.6 billion won in sales and 6.5 billion won in operating income for the entire year of 2020. Its net income for the year was 6.7% billion won.Sales increased 6% from 2019 while operating income declined 19.8% from the previous year.

The global printed circuit board (PCB) market grew 4.4% in 2020, led by higher-than-expected growth in semiconductor packages, according to data from electronics industry consulting firm Prismark.The global PCB market was worth US$64 billion in 2020. Prismark has earlier estimated that the global PC

South Korean fabless semiconductor companies recorded noticeably polarizing earnings in 2020.TheElec collected earnings of the top 17 fabless companies, including design houses and chipless firms, and based on revenue in South Korea.The four top companies, Silicon Works, ADTechnology, Abov Semicondu

A worker at LG Display’s factory in Paju has died two months after falling unconscious following a gas leak.The man, surnamed Lee, was an employee of a supplier to the South Korean display maker. He was exposed to tetramethylammonium hydrooxide from a leak at the P8 factory in Paju and suffered a fu

Tokai Carbon Korea will expand its silicon carbide (SiC) ring production starting in mid-2021, thanks to its new factory in Ansung going into operation, according to Japanese media Nikkei.The expansion is likely due to high demand for the rings from expanded production of NAND flash from major chip

Samsung’s suspension of its semiconductor plant in Austin due to power outage will increase prices of solid-state drives (SSD), market research firm TrendForce says.Client SSD prices will increase between 3 to 8% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, the firm said. Prices of enterpris

Dongjin Semichem and ENF Technology have sent requests to their customers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to increase the price of thinners by up to 50%, TheElec has learned.The companies are asking for the raise to come in to affect starting in April. Samsung and SK are running simulations to cons

The top three fab equipment manufacturers in South Korea are expected to post record earnings in 2021 from record spending in the global semiconductor and display industries.Semes, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, recorded its highest ever sales in 2020. Its previous record was 2.03 trillion won