South Korean analog chipmaker RFsemi has been sold to Chinese electronics maker Jinping Electronics.RFsemi said on Monday that its largest shareholder will be changed from ex-CEO Lee Jin-hyo to Jinping Electronics.The Chinese company will acquire 20 billion won worth of new shares to be issued on Ma

Apple had halted production of its M2 Series SoCs used in MacBooks from January to February, TheElec has learned.While production of the chips resumed in March after the full halt, production volume has dropped by half compared to a year ago, sources said.This is the first time that the iPhone maker

Famed activist fund KCGI said on Thursday that it has acquired a 7.05% stake in chip foundry DB Hitek.The purchase makes KCGI, which stands for Korea Corporate Governance Improvement, the second largest shareholder of the chip company after DB Inc, which controls 12.42%.KCGI said that it was acquiri

EcoPro said on Thursday during its shareholders meeting that it plans to invest in mining companies to be involved directly with procuring materials used in battery production.In the long term, the company said it wants to invest in the mines themselves.This means that EcoPro, which manufactures cat

Samsung has already spent around 200 billion won in preparation to start manufacturing silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors.Sources said the spending amount shows that the tech giant can already manufacture prototypes of certain chips.SiC and GaN are being used in the lates

A third Chinese battery equipment maker has set up a subsidiary in South Korea in a bid to win local battery makers Samsung SDI, LG Energy Solution and SK On as customers, TheElec has learned.Huizhou-based Lyric Robot will set up its office in Dongtan, Gyeonggi Province this month, sources said.The

South Korean chip foundry DB Hitek on Wednesday confirmed that it was planning to expand into 12-inch wafer foundry service.DB Hitek CEO Choi Chang-shik confirmed as such during the company’s annual shareholders meeting.Choi said the company is aiming to expand its foundry business’ valuation to 4 t

US memory chip giant Micron on Tuesday announced further reduction in its memory chip production output.The memory chipmaker in its earnings report shared with investors for the second quarter of its 2023 fiscal year (December to February) said expect “meaningfully negative for DRAM” in bit supply g

Siemens expects the global chip market to recover on the back of mega trends such as autonomous driving and AI.The chip industry was going through a fourth downturn and in the past the market has always grown substantially after such a downturn, Joseph Sawicki is Executive Vice President, Integrated

Samsung Display will start manufacturing OLED panels for the iPhone 15 Series in May, a month earlier than initially planned, TheElec has learned.This is because BOE, which was given the order by Apple to manufacture some OLED panels for the standard model of iPhone 15, is facing problems in product

LG Energy Solution is planning to spend 7.2 trillion won to build a new battery plant in Arizona.The new plant to built at Queen Creek, Arizona will manufacture cylinder, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and energy storage system (ESS) batteries, the South Korean battery maker said following its board m

SK Hynix has divided its procurement team for the first time, a move meant to strengthen the purchasing of components and equipment used in the back end of chip production.The procurement team is now divided to a front end team and another back end team, SK Hynix had said its filings to local regula

Chipmaker SK Hynix has moved its global sales and marketing team, known as GSM within the company, from its headquarters at Icheon, south of Seoul, to a separate building at the capital.Some 300 employees of the team will work from Mirae Asset CENTER1 building in downtown Seoul, the chipmaker said.G

LG Energy Solution CEO Kwon Young-soo said on Friday that the company will begin manufacturing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for energy storage systems this year.Kwon also confirmed that the company will begin manufacturing LFP batteries for EVs in 2025, following the battery maker’s annual

Fab equipment maker TES has developed a new plasma cleaner that is going through a quality test by a potential customer, TheElec has learned.South Korean chipmakers have relied on foreign fab equipment makers for the cleaners so TES’ move is meaningful, though commercialization is likely some time a

Samsung chairman Lee Jae-yong is expected to meet executives of US electric car maker Lucid next month, TheElec has learned.Lee will accompany South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol on his state visit to the US on April 26.There is expected to be a roundtable meeting between US and South Korean busin

Magnachip is planning to downsize its workforce by 5% due to last year’s poor earnings and the overall downturn of the global chip market.The chipmaker was offering voluntary retirement to up to 5% of its workforce, sources said, out of its total workforce of 900.This is likely a precursor before a

Hanmi Semiconductor vice chairman and CEO Kwak Dong-shin saw a huge valuation margin from his investment in fab equipment maker HPSP made two years ago, TheElec has learned.Kwang and Hanmi Semiconductor together bought 25% of the stock in the private company HPSP. Each spent 37.5 billion won for 12.

Yes Power Technix is expected to start operation of its new fab in Busan this month that will manufacture silicon carbide (SiC) power management IC, parent company SK Holdings said on Tuesday.The four-story fab, which went into construction near the end of 2021, will manufacture 150mm SiC power mana

Chinese battery equipment maker Zhejiang Hangke will be forming a joint venture in South Korea, TheElec has learned.The company will form HK Power with a local company. Hangke will spend US$30 million in the venture.The move is likely to supply more equipment to main customer SK On. Hangke recently