Tag - chipmakers

 
 

CHIPMAKERS

Workers disassemble vehicle battery packs in a workshop in Dongguan, China.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 22, 2023
China bans export of rare earths processing tech over security
China has significantly tightened rules guiding exports of several metals this year, in an escalating battle with the West over control of key minerals.
Japan's industry ministry said it would provide Samsung subsidies worth up to ¥20 billion as it looks to support the revitalization of domestic chip manufacturing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2023
Samsung to set up chip packaging research facility in Japan
Samsung's investment comes at a time of easing tensions between South Korea and Japan.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture. New chipmaking plants in Japan are raising questions about securing workers and adequate water supplies.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 19, 2023
Kumamoto and Hokkaido face common tasks of securing water and talent
With ambitious projects advancing, the two prefectural governments forged an agreement in August, aiming to facilitate exchanges of information.
The construction of TSMC’s new plant in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, has seen companies anticipating expanded collaborations with the semiconductor firm grow keen to establish footholds in the area.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 19, 2023
Semiconductor projects in Japan whip up local optimism
Companies anticipating expanded collaborations with TSMC are keen to establish footholds in the area around its new plant in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture.
Kokusai Electric CEO Fumiyuki Kanai foresees sustained investment in China and plans to increase staff there.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 18, 2023
Japan’s Kokusai aims to build on 66% rally as China demand booms
The producer of chip fabrication equipment will enlarge its Chinese footprint to tap the growing market, according to CEO Fumiyuki Kanai.
A worker inspects semiconductor chips at a chip-packaging plant in Ipoh, Malaysia, in 2021. Malaysia currently accounts for 13% of the global market for semiconductor packaging, assembly and testing.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 18, 2023
Chinese firms look to Malaysia to assemble high-end chips
Dearth of advanced chip-packaging services in China leads firms to venture abroad amid U.S. sanctions.
Salmon on sale in Sapporo on Dec. 1. The region has been hit hard by a Chinese ban on Japanese seafood products following the release into the ocean of treated, tritium-laced water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Dec 15, 2023
Hokkaido to face issues around Rapidus, seafood and '2024 problem'
An influx of foreign residents is expected in Chitose, while China's ban on marine products continues to hurt the region.
ASML chief executive officer Peter Wennink (right) welcomes South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during the latter's visit to ASML facilities in Veldhoven, the Netherlands
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 13, 2023
ASML and Samsung ink chip deal as Yoon visits Netherlands
Semiconductor powerhouses agreed to set up a research plant using next-generation extreme ultraviolet equipment in South Korea.
Toshiba and Rohm said Friday they will collaborate in the power semiconductor business, planning to spend a combined ¥388.3 billion to expand their production with one-third of the outlay covered by the industry ministry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 8, 2023
Toshiba, Rohm to invest $2.7 billion to jointly produce power chips
The latest partnership is what the industry ministry has hoped for out of concerns that the country's power chip industry is too fragmented.
The graphics processing units made by U.S.-based Nvidia dominate the market for artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2023
Nvidia CEO says he will try to prioritize Japan for AI processors
Japan is rushing to rebuild its once world-leading semiconductor infrastructure and catch up on the development of AI technology.
A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. semiconductor wafer. Osaka-based Fuso Chemical, which has gone into debt rather than raise prices, counts TSMC as one of its clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 4, 2023
Key maker of chip materials goes into debt rather than raise prices
Osaka-based Fuso Chemical is bearing the cost to help churn out bigger volumes of sophisticated chips without asking customers for more.
Daikin plans to start introducing the custom chips in high-end air conditioners from 2025 and is looking at using them in about a fifth of units by the end of the decade.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2023
Japan air conditioner king Daikin eyes custom chips for energy savings
Bespoke silicon costs more than off-the-shelf alternatives but offer better efficiency and allow a reduction in the use of other components.
Rapidus Chairman Tetsuro Higashi says engineers who had left Japan to work abroad are now joining Rapidus to help it revive the domestic chip industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023
Rapidus hunts for engineers to help Japan regain faded chip glory
Securing engineers in a country with a declining population is among the most pressing issues for the company.
The buzz surrounding MediaTek casts a spotlight on growing competition between semiconductor firms that are exploiting the use of AI to grab a larger share of the smartphone business.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 28, 2023
AI chip boom fuels Taiwan firm’s 40% rally, beating Qualcomm
A five-month rally in MediaTek looks set to extend as booming demand for smartphones and a promising new AI chip brighten the company’s outlook.
Up until very recently, the business of packaging semiconductors — encasing chips in materials that both protect them and connect them to the electronic device they’re part of — was, at best, an afterthought for the industry.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 22, 2023
A new front is opening up in the U.S.-China conflict over chips
The process of packaging semiconductors is increasingly seen as the "secret sauce" — a path toward achieving higher performance.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s factory currently under construction in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 21, 2023
TSMC eyes third Japan chip plant with cutting-edge 3 nanometer tech
Another plant in Japan, this one making advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) chips, would potentially turn Japan into a major global chipmaking hub.
An Omron X-ray scanner VT-X750 at the company’s Ayabe Factory in Kyoto
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 21, 2023
X-rays are becoming an essential health check-up in chipmaking
Omron, a Japanese provider of health care equipment and factory automation, is setting its sights on the lucrative chipmaking gear market to fuel future growth.
Morris Chang, the founder of semiconductor giant TSMC and Taiwan's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit envoy, attends a news conference during the summit in San Francisco on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 18, 2023
Kishida seeks closer ties with Taiwan and cross-strait peace
Japanese leader Fumio Kishida met with TSMC founder Morris Chang, the self-ruled island's representative to the APEC multilateral forum, on Friday.
Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 17, 2023
Rapidus to tie up with Canadian startup Tenstorrent in AI chip push
The chips they aim to jointly produce will consume less electricity than existing ones used in products such as smartphones and smartwatches.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with senior executives of U.S. chipmakers during their meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 16, 2023
Cooperation is critical for chip supply, Kishida tells U.S. execs
The prime minister met senior executives at U.S. chipmakers in San Francisco, where he is attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.

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