CMOS image sensor (CIS) market is expected to contract for the first time in 10 years in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.Before the virus outbreak, it was expected that 5G smartphones would lead to rise in demand for CIS. Market leader Sony spent 1 trillion won in October last year t

South Korean semiconductor materials start-up UBmaterials has developed a slurry used for the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process in chip production, TheElec has learned.The slurry was co-developed by South Korean memory giant SK Hynix. Development is, however, at this time partially complet

Memory semiconductor sales will grow substantially this year, especially the non-volatile NAND Flash memory, according to IC Insights.NAND Flash sales will grow 27% this year compared to a year prior to be worth US$56 billion, the research firm said. IC Insights earlier in January estimated that NAN

Intel has showed off four successes cases in various industries where its edge artificial intelligence (AI) solution was applied in a virtual forum in South Korea on Wednesday.The solutions was applied in companies in the military, software, manufacturing and sensor industries.Hanwha Techwin launche

Power transistor market will hit bottom this year and begin recovering in 2021, according to market research firm IC Insights.The market will grow 7% next year to be worth US$16.9 billion.This year’s power transistor market contracted 7% from a year prior due to COVID-19 pandemic.In 2022, the market

Apple has said it will design its own CPU for future PCs at WWDC 2020 last month. It also hinted that it will use Arm architecture rather than Intel x86.This isn’t an unfamiliar sight. Apple chose x86 over IBM PowerPC back in 2005. And before PowerPC it was Motorola’s CPU.Cupertino isn’t the only on

DB Group is in fierce debate internally on how to proceed with the factory expansion plan for its semiconductor contract making affiliate DB HiTek, sources within the group told TheElec on Thursday.DB HiTek CEO Choi Chang-sik, who has led the company since 2012, is arguing for a new 300mm wafer fact

Smartphone application processor (AP) sales grew 6% year over year to US$4.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020, Strategy Analytics said.This is despite the research firm saying earlier in April that smartphone shipment fell 16.9% year over year in the quarter.Average sales prices of APs rose due

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on Thursday said the government will expand its support for localizing the production of high-tech materials, components and equipment in his visit to SK Hynix’s chip plant at Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.Moon said Japan’s “unjust trade restrictions” have continued o

Power semiconductor market will be worth US$1 billion next year, research firm Omdia said.Silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductor market projections will continue on the increase by more than 10% annually for the next decade and will pass US$5 billion by 2029, the firm sa

The son and heir of South Korean semiconductor materials maker Soulbrain has died in an automobile accident last month, TheElec has learned.Seok-Ho Chung, born in 1986, was the son of chairman and founder Jiwan Chung. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University before joining Soulbrain. He worke

Contract prices of DDR4 8Gb for PCs has stabilized in June after five months of continuous rise, according to data from DRAMeXchange on Tuesday.The DRAM was contact priced at $3.31 as of end of June, same as its price at the end of May.DRAM aimed at PCs and notebooks saw a short-term increase earlie

China’s Tsinghua Unigroup will begin building its DRAM factory at Chongqing within the year, Japanese media Nikkei reports.The factory go live in 2022 with a monthly production rate of 100,000 wafers. Construction was initially planned to begin last year but the US-China trade war and COVID-19 pande

Infineon Technologies has launched a new sensing and balancing IC for electric vehicle (EV) battery management systems, the German chip company said on Friday.TLE9012AQU will manage cells within batteries to prevent premature ageing. It can measure the voltage in up to twelve battery cells over the

The global cellular baseband processor market grew 9% year over year to reach US$5.2 billion in the first quarter of 2020, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics on Friday.5G baseband shipments powered the growth, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and weak seasonal demand, the firm said.5G

Mentor Graphics, a Siemens business, will join the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) Alliance, the company said.O-RAN Alliance was formed by global telecom service providers and ecosystem suppliers to promote openness, intelligence, flexibility and performance in the evolution of 5G radio access net

Apple has shown of its own System-on-a-Chip (SoC) dubbed Apple Silicon that will be used for its Mac laptop and desktops computers at Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2020, Monday."We expect to ship our first Mac with Apple Silicon by the end of the year," said chief executive Tim Cook, adding

An ex-Samsung Electronics executive has responded to concerns over his move to a Chinese semiconductor company, stressing that there won’t be any technology transfer or leak.Chang Won-ki, who was formerly the president and head of Samsung’s China operation, recently drew headlines in South Korean me

World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) has lowered its forecast for this year’s semiconductor market growth rate.WSTS said it expected worldwide semiconductor market to grow 3.3% year over year to US$426 billion in 2020. It expected a growth rate of 5.9% in an earlier forecast published in Dece

SurplusGLOBAL has broken ground for its planned semiconductor equipment cluster at the city of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday.Company CEO Bruce Kim, CEO Kwangha Suh of EQ Global, a subsidiary of SurplusGLOBAL, SEMI Korea president Hyun-Dae Cho and other senior officials of companies and the cit