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

The emerging memories market will grow to be worth US$36 billion by the year 2030, challenging the current dominance of DRAM and NAND flash memories, two prestigious research firm said Tuesday.Objective Analysis and Coughlin Associates published their joint report, dubbed Emerging Memories Find Thei

Oceanbridge, a semiconductor material and equipment vendor, will be sold to a special purpose company (SPC) effectively owned by SK Telecom, TheElec has confirmed.The SPC, called Pan Asia Semiconductor material, or Pan Asia, will buy 24.2% stake of Oceanbridge from existing shareholders __ including

Samsung Electronics has begun construction to expand its V-NAND memory production line at its Pyeongtaek plant in South Korea, the company announced Monday.It comes only 11 days after it announced it we building a new contract-chip making line at the plant that will produce 5-nanometer chips.The exp

Bank of Korea (BOK) said Thursday it expects a positive outlook for memory semiconductors in the mid- to long-term.The market’s recovery from lowered demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic was slower than it predicted earlier, but memory chips will see growth starting in the third quarter, the central

SK Hynix has begin development of a 1a (15-nanometer)-class DRAM that will use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process in its production, sources within the company told TheElec Thursday.The 4th-generation 10-nanometer-class DRAM is internally called “Canopus” __ the brightest star in the Carina Constella