Apple unveiled its latest application processor on the new iPhone 13 series A15 Bionic.The chip was manufactured using TSMC’s 5-nanometer (5nm) process.A15 Bionic has over 15 billion transistors, 27% more than its predecessor A14 Bionic.The new chip has two high performance cores and four low power

South Korea is expected to spend the most in fab equipment among countries in 2022 with US$30 billion, according to the latest report from SEMI.Taiwan is expected to spend the second most with US$26 billion, followed by China’s US$17 billion.According to SEMI, Japan will be the fourth largest spende

LX Semicon said on Wednesday that it will co-develop a solution that uses 3D time of light sensing technology with Microsoft.ToF shoots light to the object and measures the distance between them by measuring how long it takes for the light to reflect back.3D ToF is used in virtual and augmented real

South Korean fabless companies are facing difficulty hiring design engineers.Most engineers with a Master’s degree or higher are going to large conglomerates, TheElec has learned.Those with over 10 years of experience are mostly absorbed by Samsung Electronics, people familiar with the matter said.S

Abov Semiconductor has signed a deal to supply microcontroller unit (MCU) for smoke detection with a subsidiary of US firm Carrier.The company will also sign a contract with Beijing Cycle Columbus Environmental Science and Technology to supply the MCUs within the month, people familiar with the matt

Sumitomo Chemical is planning to build a ArF photoresist factory in South Korea.Its subsidiary Dongwoo Fine-Chem will build the factory at its Iksan plant.The new factory will start operations in 2024.The material is used in advanced semiconductor production.Japan’s Nikkei said the chemical firm is

DRAM and NAND flash contract prices have remained flat in August compared to the previous month, according to analyst firm TrendForce.PC DRAM (DDR4 8Gb) contract price for August was US$4.1, same as the previous month.Its price had increased 7.89% back in July compared to the previous month. Prices

The US Treasury Department said on Monday that the acquisition of Magnachip by a Chinese private equity firm posed "risks to national security", according to a report by Reuters.Wise Road Capital in March agreed to acquire the system chip maker based in South Korea for US$1.4 billion.The deal has be

Samsung and Key Foundry is planning to increase the prices of their foundry services during the second half of the year, TheElec has learned.The pair has notified their customers recently that they are planning to increase wafer prices by between 15% to 20%, people familiar with the matter said.Some

ISC has launched a new silicon rubber socket that can be used to test large surfaced semiconductor packages.iSC-XF can be used to test both CPU and GPU. The company said it was the only firm to launch a testing socket that uses silicon rubber.The South Korean firm is hoping it can replace the widely

DB HiTek will begin supplying its self-developed OLED display driver IC (DDI) to Samsung Display, TheElec has leanred.The 130nm DDI for OLED mobile displays was developed by the South Korean foundry.DB HiTek has been supplying the display chips it has developed on its own since 2008.It is aiming to

Chip testing firm APACT said on Thursday that it will spend 5 billion won to develop automotive chip testers.The company is expected to purchase equipment from Japan’s Adavantest.The equipment will be placed at its second factory at Eumseong.APACT that it plans to expand into non-memory equipment wi

Samsung Electronics will begin mass production of an 8-layer DDR5 memory late next year, the company said at chip industry conference Hot chips 33 on Monday.It will use its through silicon via (TSV) technology for the 512GB DDR5 memory module.The company had used 4-layer TSV technology for DDR4, mak

South Korean chip packaging and testing companies posted mixed results in their second quarter earnings.Those working with system semiconductors saw earnings improve substantially while their counterparts specializing in memory chips recorded lackluster results.This is due to SK Hynix doing more of

Pixelplus said on Friday that it has won an order to supply image sensor for surround view monitors (SVM) to a Japanese automobile maker.The company will supply an initial stock worth 4.5 billion won of the sensors.Pixelplus said the company is in talk with the customer to expand supply going forwar

Most South Korean fabless chip companies recorded poor earnings during the second quarter due to the prolonged global chip shortage.However, some of the companies saw profits thanks to increase in unit prices.LX Semicon, meanwhile, saw operating income increase by nine times from a year ago during t

Semiconductor IP firm Chips&Media said on Wednesday that it has signed an IP contract with a US-based mobile semiconductor company.In 2019, the firm had signed a similar contract with one of the so-called FAANG companies __ Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google.Chips&Media said it is expecting

Samsung Electronics has narrowed its market share in CMOS image sensors (CIS) with Sony by a few points last year, according to date from research firm Yole Development.The Japanese tech giant held a 40% market share in the sector in 2020, which is 2 points lower than the previous year. During the s

Tesna said on Wednesday that it plans to spend 81.9 billion won to buy additional; equipment to put in its testing facility for CMOS image sensors (CIS) and RF chips.The company is doing so to prepare for more orders to come from customer Samsung.It will buy CIS and RF chip testing equipment that wi

Lam Research has sent a letter to South Korean fab equipment maker PSK through a local law firm, claiming they infringed its patents.The US fab equipment giant set the latter via Kim & Chang, claiming that its South Korean counterpart infringed on its patents related to bevel etcher.The move can lea