Page 2 - Chips Components News Today

After months of negotiations, Taiwan and the U.S. signed the first agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade on June 1 in Washington D.C. It outlines practices and procedures aimed at streamlining and strengthening trade relations. Both sides of negotiators deserve a round of accolades, but the fact that it does not cover tariff reductions or exemptions still puts many stakeholders down.

Japans Fujifilm Holdings has disclosed plans to invest NT$3.38 billion (US$110 million) to bolster production of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurry and lithography-related materials in Taiwan to better serve its semiconductor customers.

Chinese memory module company Techwinsemi Technology plans to enhance its outsourcing business in Taiwan, looking to expand its supplier list to include flash controller vendors and backend service houses.

NXP Semiconductors will continue stepping up its investment in Taiwan, where a comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem cannot be ignored in the global market, according to Rafael Sotomayor, company executive VP and GM of Secure Connected Edge.

IFA Management GmbH, the trade show company managing IFA Berline 2023, selected Taipei as the only key promotional city for the exhibition in Asia and partnered with the German Trade Office to host an industry trend seminar and media reception in Taipei on May 31.

Indias semiconductor manufacturing incentive scheme attracted applications from three conglomerates when it was announced in early 2022. The application by ISMC is reportedly stalled, which may further delay Indias ambition to build a self-reliant chipmaking ecosystem.

The European Union (EU) has been seeking deeper synergy with Taiwans semiconductor ecosystem as it pursues greater autonomy in the sector. As a part of this effort, the EU-Taiwan Semiconductor Seminar was held in Taipei on May 30, gathering representatives from leading European semiconductor clusters.

Qualcomm is confident that it will be the market leader for Wi-Fi 7 processors, according to Rahul Patel, company senior VP and GM of connectivity, cloud and networking.

Dedicated IC testing house King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) continues to see weak demand for smartphone application processors, with replenishment demand unlikely to pick up until the fourth quarter, according to company president A. H. Liu.

Jay Liu, Taipei; Misha Lu, DIGITIMES Asia