Page 15 - Chips Components News Today

Compound semiconductors have numerous applications, including mobile phones, fast charging, energy, and other fields. According to John Wang, analyst at DIGITIMES Research, the demand for power amplifiers (PA) for smartphone communication, which relies on gallium arsenide (GaAs) processes, has been affected by, among others, previous Chinese lockdowns, global inflation, and geopolitical factors. However, the demand is expected to bounce back in the second half of 2023.

Consumer MCU specialists Holtek Semiconductor and Nuvoton Technology are both looking to expand their deployments in non-Chinese markets, while anticipating overall market demand will gradually pick up later this year.

Taiwans IC design industry has reached a critical crossroads, with an unclear development direction, worsening talent shortage, confusing government policies, and shrinking academic research momentum all requiring cooperation from all sectors to overcome. But in terms of a feasible development direction, datacenter server processors and HPC (high-performance computing) chips are believed to provide the most promising future for Taiwan IC designers, according to Eric Huang, vice president of DIGI...

Following Qualcomms Embedded World 2023 announcement of new IoT processors designed to support four major operating systems, Primax is announcing a reference design partnership for a QCS6490 based IoT gateway platform specifically designed for Fleet and Industrial IoT applications. High compute capabilities and a strong feature set make the QCS6490 a versatile solution for next generation edge processing devices such as cameras, gateways, industrial automation equipment (IPC, PLC), autonomous mo...

Phison Electronics, which specializes in flash device controllers, is considering opening a R&D center in Malaysia to diversify its operations, according to company CEO K. S. Pua.

Talent shortage has been a big headache to global semiconductor companies and may push them into a long-term scramble for professionals. How to tackle the issue became a core topic of discussion among participants at the recent Taiwan IC Design Industrial Policy White Paper Presentation co-hosted by the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA), DIGITIMES Asia, and MediaTek.

"When I did my research at Stanford University, the cleanroom was mainly staffed by those from East Asia and India," recalled Dr. Chih-Huang Lai, Vice Dean of the College of Semiconductor Research under Taiwans National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) - long a hub of Taiwans IC talent cultivation. "In the foreseeable future, we might no longer see Taiwanese in Taiwans own cleanrooms as well," Lai lamented.

To enhance the competitiveness of its back-end process "packaging," SK Hynix has divided its procurement department starting in 2023. For the first time, the procurement department has both a front-end and a back-end process team.

MOSFET and SiC diode supplier Panjit International will likely kickstart volume production of high-end IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) devices in June this year, targeting industrial control applications, according to industry sources.

Indias interest in developing a semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem has been the subject of much discussion. However, there are other closely related segments that offer just as many opportunities but receive less attention. One such area is MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems), which are becoming increasingly important components in various industries.