South Korean chip fabless firm LX Semicon has formed a research team dedicated to developing display driver ICs for automobiles, TheElec has learned.The team is within the research team that reports directly to CEO Boik Sohn.The team, called Auto Development Part, will develop display driver ICs for

German material giant Merck will acquire South Korean semiconductor component and material firm Mecaro’s precursor business for 110 million euros, the pair announced on Wednesday.Merck’s South Korean subsidiary Versum Materials Korea will acquire the entire stake of Mecaro’s precursor business when

Display equipment maker Toptec is expected to take part in the bidding process for BlueOval SK’s battery equipment order next month, TheElec has learned.The joint venture between battery maker SK On and US car giant Ford is planning to place orders for equipment it will use for its planned factory i

SFA is aiming to develop a coater used in battery production that is much smaller than conventional versions.SFA CEO Kim Young-min said on Tuesday doing the company’s conference call for the first half of 2022 that the move was part of SFA’s current focus on fostering its battery equipment business.

Samsung has dropped its smartphone shipment target for 2022 from the previous 300 million units to 260 million units, TheElec has learned.Earlier in the year, the South Korean tech giant had planned to manufacture a total of 334 million units of smartphones with the goal of shipping around 300 milli

BlueOval SK, the battery joint venture between SK On and Ford, is expected to resume spending on building battery factories in the US next month, TheElec has learned.The latest spending round will be their planned factory in Tennessee. BlueOval SK is expected to spend 3 trillion won in total for the

Hana Technology said on Thursday that it recorded 58.9 billion won in revenue and 2.7 billion won in operating profit during the first half of 2022.Revenue more than doubled compared to the same time period a year ago while it returned to profitability from last year.Hana Technology said it won larg

South Korean chip foundry DB Hitek said on Friday that it recorded 435.7 billion won in revenue and 213.2 billion won in operating profit in the second quarter.Revenue increased 59% from a year ago while operating profit jumped 162% over the same time period.The operating margin rate reached 49% dur

SK On’s battery cathode joint venture in the US with Ford and EcoPro BM will likely procure the precursor needed from a company based in South Korea owned by China’s Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology.Precursors and lithium are needed to produce cathode and these materials are difficult to procure

LG Display is planning to unveil a 20-inch OLED panel by the end of the year for application in personal devices.LG Display vice president Kang Won-seok said during a forum hosted by the Korea Display Industry Association said demand for personal displays has risen during the pandemic and the new pa

TCL chairman Li Dongsheng had asked South Korean display equipment makers for an understanding of the current delays in payments during his visit last month, TheElec has learned.Due to low demand for TVs, display panel makers like CSOT, a subsidiary of TCL, are currently operating their factories at

LG Display CEO said on Wednesday that the company was open to converting its liquid crystal display (LCD) TV production lines in South Korea to those dedicated to OLED.LG Display CEO Jeong Ho-young, speaking at an event hosted by the Korea Display Industry Association, an organization he is currentl

Samsung SDI is seeking to add more suppliers of electrode equipment besides Hanwha Corporation, TheElec has learned.The South Korean battery maker is planning to apply a bidding process for the next batch of electrode equipment it uses, sources said.The new policy is expected to start with its plann

Samsung will ship 11 million units of its upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 foldable smartphones by the year’s end, analyst firm Omdia says.While when achieved, this will be over 50% higher than last year’s shipment for Fold 3 and Flip 3, it falls short of the tech giant’s internal target

Samsung Display and LG Display were both developing OLED on silicon (OLEDoS) and LED on silicon (LEDoS) technologies, TheElec has learned.These microdisplay technologies are aimed to be applied to virtual and augmented reality devices.A similar technology to these is liquid crystal on silicon, and t

Some of the major Chinese chipmakers are actively buying US-made fab equipment in bulk due to rising tension between the world’s two largest economies, TheElec has learned.The US Department of Commerce has been running what it calls an Entity List since 2018 that prohibits listed Chinese companies f

Smartphone camera module maker Partron reported lackluster second-quarter earnings due to major customer Samsung manufacturing fewer smartphones.Demand for smartphones during the second half of 2022 is also expected to be low while Samsung is planning to reduce the number of camera modules on the ph

SFA was in the final stages of talks with Northvolt to supply battery production equipment, TheElec has learned.The pair was in the stage of discussing unit prices and wrapping up the talks, sources said.SFA became the preferred candidate for the equipment for back-end and logistics processes over r

Samsung SDI’s spending this year to expand its battery production capacity is expected to exceed that of 2021, TheElec has learned.The South Korean battery maker is expected to especially focus on expanding its cylinder battery production capacity.Samsung vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, the leader of th

SK Hynix said on Wednesday that it has developed a 238-layer NAND flash chip.The sample of the chip will be provided to its customer while mass production is expected to start next year.It has six more layers than the chip unveiled by Micron late last month.SK Hynix’s 238-layer NAND flash comes in 5