Japan’s Asahi Kasei was considering building a battery separator factory abroad, TheElec has learned.The company was considering Europe or North America, people familiar with the matter said.If Asahi Kasei decides to build a factory in North America, it will be the first separator maker to do so. So

Secondhand fab equipment seller Surplus Global said on Thursday that it will offer a service for foundry companies to test their new chips.With the service, called R&D Foundry, the company will offer to manufacture 12-inch thin-film test wafers and prototype evaluations for customers.Surplus Global

Research into MicroLED technology was active in the US, Taiwan and Europe while there was none done by South Korean companies or institutes, a South Korean professor noted during a display industry conference in Seoul.Speaking at the 2022 SID Review Workshop, Korea University professor Hong Moon-pyo

Samsung SDI was currently testing multiple versions of 4680 cylinder batteries which it started developing for customer Tesla, TheElec has learned.It is testing at least two versions of the batteries, including one that follows the original specification announced by the US electric vehicle (EV) gia

Ultium Cells, the joint venture between LG Energy Solution and General Motors, is expected to manufacture its first batch of batteries soon.Its first factory at Lordstown, Ohio, will activate its first two production lines soon, people familiar with the matter said.The company will place orders for

Samsung manufactured around 12 million units of smartphones during the month of May this year.This was 20% less than a year ago, while accumulated production volume for the first four months of the year was also lower than a year ago, sources said.This dip, if it continues throughout the year, could

Fab equipment maker FST had formed a subsidiary in the US in Delaware dedicated to after-sales services, TheElec has learned. The company is also planning to form another at Taylor, Texas in preparation for Samsung’s new fab that will be built in the city.FST specializes in chillers used in wafer fa

South Korean battery equipment makers Mplus and Hana Technology were competing fiercely to win orders from Blue Oval SK, the battery-making joint venture between SK On and Ford.Those from SK On and Ford are planning visit their suppliers starting this week to check their technologies and equipment p

Samsung Electronics was repositioning hundreds of employees at Samsung Display to its chip packaging business unit, TheElec has learned.The company is taking applications from employees at its display business unit for the transfer, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.Those 37-years-old

Google has postponed the launch of its first foldable smartphone again, TheElec has learned.The company planned to launch the project sometime during the fourth quarter but delayed the launch this year.It is the US company’s second postponement of the launch __ it originally planned to showcase the

Auros Technology has won orders to supply overlay equipment for 8-inch wafers from multiple South Korean and Japanese chipmakers, TheElec has learned.The company’s 8-inch OL-100n was being evaluated by up to five companies based in the East Asian countries, sources said.The customers were considerin

Posco Chemical is planning to expand its battery cathode production in China through its joint venture with Huayou Cobalt, TheElec has learned.ZPHE, the pair’s battery cathode joint venture, has begun the second phase of its investment, people familiar with the matter said.It is one of the two ventu

Semiconductor testing solution firm ISC said on Monday that it has launched a new rubber socket for 3D chip packaging.The socket, called iSC-WiDER, is a successor to its socket aimed at CPU and GPU chips.The latest iteration can also be used to test microcontroller units and for 2.5D and 3D packagin

Nextin CEO said the company was developing a machine to remove static electricity with its recently acquired firm Zisys.Nextin CEO Tae Hoon Park said during an interview with TheElec that this machine will be able to remove static electricity that was irremovable in previous machines during the extr

Samsung is unlikely to launch TVs that use LG Display’s white(W)-OLED panels this year, TheElec has learned.Demand for TVs has dipped compared to the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic while liquid crystal display (LCD) panels that spiked before are dropping again, which means Samsung is in no hurry to l

South Korean display equipment makers are seeing their contracts with Chinese display panel makers delayed by around half a year, TheElec has learned.This was because of the lockdown measures in China due to the surge in Covid-19 cases there that are delaying local panel makers’ spending plans.Inven

BOE is yet to receive approval from Apple to manufacture OLED panels for the upcoming iPhone 14 smartphones series, TheElec has learned.The company was caught having changed the circuit width of the thin film transistors on the OLED panels it made for iPhone 13 earlier this year, people familiar wit

The first quarter earnings of suppliers to Samsung recovered thanks to the launch of Galaxy S22 smartphones, their earnings report showed.The combined revenue of 22 suppliers of components to the tech giant increased 28% this year compared to 2021 to 3 trillion won.Their combined operating profit ju

More electric vehicle (EV) makers are expected to adopt cylinder batteries that were once thought of as old news.Cylinder batteries were once used mostly in notebooks and handsets but were steadily replaced by prismatic and pouch batteries on those devices.But thanks to Tesla’s wide adoption of cyli

Iljin Materials said on Monday that it will spend 500 billion won to build a copper foil factory in Spain.The material is used as a current collector in anodes of batteries.It is the company’s second overseas factory after the one in Malaysia.Iljin Materials said the factory, which will be built in