Pandemics And Panic Chip Buying

By Mark LaPedus - 18 Jun, 2020 - Comments: 0

U.S.-China trade tensions are creating uncertainty in the semiconductor market, but it is also causing another event right now—panic chip buying. At present, some but not all foundry vendors are seeing “rush orders” for select products and are running their fabs at full capacity. It’s not just leading-edge devices, but also mature technologies. A surge of chip orders started in Ma... » read more

Taking A Pulse On The IC Biz

By Mark LaPedus - 16 Apr, 2020 - Comments: 0

It’s been a difficult period for the semiconductor industry. The coronavirus outbreak has put a damper on what was supposed to be a strong year in the semiconductor industry in 2020. Many are holding out hopes for a rebound in the second half of the year. That’s still a big unknown. The forecasts are gloomy. For example, VLSI Research has three different scenarios for the semiconduc... » read more

Auto Outlook: Down But Not Out

By Mark LaPedus - 19 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 0

For years, automotive has been an engine of growth in the semiconductor industry, although the market is expected to decline in 2020. Several types of chips are used in automobiles, such as analog, memory, microcontrollers, processors and RF. But the automotive IC business still represents a small percentage of the overall semiconductor market. It pales in comparison to the smartphone chip m... » read more

RF GaN Gains Steam

By Mark LaPedus - 21 Nov, 2019 - Comments: 0

Wide-bandgap semiconductors are hot topics these days. One wide-bandgap semi type--silicon carbide (SiC)--is the talk of the town and is gaining steam in electric vehicles and other systems. But let’s not forget about gallium nitride (GaN). GaN, a binary III-V material, has 10 times the breakdown field strength with double the electron mobility than silicon. GaN is used for LEDs, power ... » read more

Rare Earth Battle Begins

By Mark LaPedus - 21 Oct, 2019 - Comments: 0

Rare earths are back in the news. The United States is increasing its efforts to develop and source rare earths elements (REE) to reduce its dependence on China in the arena. But this might be too little and too late for the U.S. Found in the Earth’s crust, rare earths are critical elements used in cars, consumer electronics, computers, communications, clean energy and defense systems.... » read more

SiC Market Moves Into Overdrive

By Mark LaPedus - 19 Sep, 2019 - Comments: 0

The silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor market continues to heat up in the automotive arena. In recent times, several automotive OEMs have formed a series of alliances with SiC device makers, and for good reason. In a major way, many automotive OEMs are entering or expanding their efforts in the battery-electric car market. SiC power semiconductors are among the key components used ... » read more

Outlook For Masks, Materials and Wafers

By Mark LaPedus - 15 Aug, 2019 - Comments: 0

After a slowdown in the first half of 2019, chipmakers and equipment vendors face a cloudy outlook for the second half of this year, with a possible recovery in 2020. But what about other key technologies like materials, photomasks and silicon wafers? These are also critical for the semiconductor supply chain and are key indicators where the market is heading. In the first half of 2019, m... » read more

China’s Latest Goal—More DRAMs

By Mark LaPedus - 18 Jul, 2019 - Comments: 0

China is once again making a concerted effort to get its domestic DRAM industry off the ground. Past efforts have fallen short or failed. This time around, it’s unclear if China will succeed, but the industry should pay close attention here. So why would China want to play a bigger role in the tough and competitive DRAM business? For one thing, the U.S. and China are in the midst of a t... » read more

Falling Chip Forecasts

By Mark LaPedus - 20 Jun, 2019 - Comments: 1

It’s time to take a pulse of the semiconductor market amid the memory downturn and trade frictions with China. For some time, the DRAM and NAND markets have been hit hard with falling prices and oversupply. Then, the Trump administration last year slapped tariffs on Chinese goods. China retaliated. And the trade war rages on between the U.S. and China. More recently, the U.S. Department... » read more

Impact Of U.S.-China Trade War

By Mark LaPedus - 23 May, 2019 - Comments: 0

The trade war between the United States and China is escalating and it is here to stay. Last year, the Trump administration started the trade war with China for basically two reasons. First, China has a massive trade surplus with the U.S. Second, U.S. companies have been the subject of IP theft in China, which has largely gone unchecked, according to the Trump administration. Many disagre... » read more

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