October, Semiconductor industry news picks
October 15
— ASML Holdings of the Netherlands announced a downward revision of its earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending December 2025. Sales are expected to fall 13% from the previous forecast to about 5.7 trillion yen.
October 11
— Murata Manufacturing announced that a new production line for silicon capacitors used in medical equipment has been completed at a factory of its French subsidiary, with an additional investment of approximately 9.7 billion yen.
— Kuramoto Manufacturing Co., Ltd. announced that it would discontinue its main LCD glass substrate processing and sales business. It will cease operations at its production facilities and remove and sell all but a portion of its production equipment.
— Rohm announced that it will build a new factory in Vietnam and invest approximately 49 billion yen to double its production capacity of robots for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
— Rohm announced that its consolidated financial results for the period from March to August 2024 showed net profit of 15.8 billion yen (up 61% year-on-year), sales of 60.2 billion yen (up 47% year-on-year), and operating profit of 17.1 billion yen (up 72%).
October 10
— Seiko Electric Works has signed a location agreement with Kitakyushu City to begin construction of the “Hibikino Research and Development Center (tentative name).” The company will invest 4.1 billion yen and is scheduled to be completed in April 2026.
— Singapore Telecommunications has begun offering a service that enables corporate clients, such as companies and government agencies, to use artificial intelligence (AI) via the cloud.
— Disco announced its consolidated operating profit for April to September 2024. It was 71 billion yen (1.6 times higher than the previous year), exceeding the previous forecast by more than 5 billion yen. Demand for high-performance semiconductors for generative AI (artificial intelligence) expanded, and shipments of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased.
— AMD announced that it will release new artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor products within 2024.
October 9
— Oxide Corporation announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with JS Foundry, Japan’s first independent foundry company, regarding a business partnership for the development of wafers (substrates) that will be used as the material for next-generation power semiconductors for electric vehicles (EVs).
— TDK announced that it has succeeded in developing the world’s first visible light full-color laser control device for smart glasses using a lithium niobate thin film, achieving visible light control that is more than 10 times faster than conventional visible light laser color control.
— Nikon held an opening ceremony for the Nikon Museum, which displays its products, at its headquarters. The museum is scheduled to reopen on October 12th.
— OKI announced that it has succeeded in developing an ultra-small integrated circuit chip that can be used for a variety of applications, including optical fiber sensors, laser vibrometers, and optical biosensors, using silicon photonics technology, a semiconductor for optical circuits.
— TSMC announced that its preliminary sales for September were approximately 1.16 trillion yen, up 39.6% from the same period last year.
— Sales of generative AI-related servers and cutting-edge semiconductors for iPhones were strong, setting a new record for September.
October 8
— Samsung Electronics announced preliminary consolidated settlement figures for the July-September 2024 period. Operating profit is about 1 trillion yen (3.7 times higher than the same period last year). Demand for semiconductors has increased, mainly for generative AI. Profitability has worsened compared to the April-June period, and the stock price is 20% lower than at the beginning of 2024.
— Sony Network Communications announced that it has opened a facility in Hokkaido where visitors can observe remote monitoring of agricultural crops using wireless communication. Temperature, humidity, solar radiation, soil moisture, and other parameters can be analyzed to grow crops more efficiently.
— Form a community with relevant businesses involved in international air transport at Narita Airport, with the aim of obtaining the IATA (International Air Transport Association) air transport quality certification for lithium batteries (CEIV Lithium Batteries) by fiscal year 2024.
— Participating companies include JAL, Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., Ltd., Nissin, Mitsui-Soko Express, and Mitsui-Soko Supply Chain Solutions.
October 7
— Tamura Corporation announced that it will build a new factory in Brazil. It will also expand the facilities of its existing factory to produce transformers for power generation systems. The total investment amount is about 1.7 billion yen, and it is expected to quadruple the company’s production capacity in Brazil.
October 4th
— At a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshi Muto stated, regarding the formulation of economic measures ordered by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, “We will work on promoting investments to improve productivity and strengthening measures to pass on price increases in order to achieve wage increases that can withstand rising prices, mainly for medium-sized and small businesses.” He also listed semiconductors and green transformation (GX) as priority areas.
— Sony Semiconductor Solutions announced that it has commercialized the industry’s first CMOS image sensor for in-vehicle cameras that is capable of processing and outputting RAW images*1 and YUV images*2 in two independent systems.
*1.RAW image: Image for computer recognition
*2.YUV image: Image for the driver’s vision, such as for recording or monitor display.
— The Public Security Bureau of TDK has referred a former researcher to the Public Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act for illegally taking research data from the company. The information taken from the company was said to have included data related to the development of MEMS.
— TSMC and Amkor announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding to bring advanced packaging and testing capabilities to Arizona, further expanding the semiconductor ecosystem.
— Yaskawa Electric announced its forecast for the fiscal year ending February 2025. It has revised its consolidated net profit forecast upward by 10 billion yen from the previous forecast of 54 billion yen to 64 billion yen (up 26% year on year). Net profit exceeded the forecast due to the recording of approximately 24 billion yen in gains from the sale of shares in a Chinese affiliate.
— Oxide announced that it will establish a wholly owned subsidiary to manufacture and sell next-generation power semiconductor materials on the 18th. The aim is to commercialize high-quality silicon carbide (SiC) substrates manufactured using the company’s proprietary “solution method” technology.
— Panasonic Connect announced that it will close its Saga factory in September 2025 and concentrate its management resources on its systems business.
— Taiwan’s Taihong Technology announced that it will collaborate with Tatsumo in the field of “advanced packaging” for semiconductors.
— Tatsumo announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with TAIFLEX Scientific on semiconductor collaboration between Japan and Taiwan.
October 3
— Rapidus has begun construction of a research and development line for the “back-end” process of semiconductor assembly. It is scheduled to start operation in 2026, and said that if it is realized, it will be able to reduce electricity consumption to one-tenth of the current level.
— KLA announced that it has completed the first phase of construction of its new Singapore factory, with a total construction cost of JPY 29 billion (first and second phases combined), aiming for completion in 2026.
October 2
— Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. announced that it has made Piecklex, a joint venture with Teijin Frontier, a wholly owned subsidiary. The company will work to expand its electrical textile business and promote the framework for recycling clothing.
— Toshiba announced that it will begin demonstration testing of an electric vehicle (EV) bus in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, from November 2025. The bus will be equipped with Toshiba batteries that support rapid charging, and is expected to be able to be fully charged in 10 minutes.
October 1st
— Tyco Electronics Japan will change its name to TE Connectivity Japan.
— Alps Alpine has developed the world’s smallest tactile switch and announced that it will begin mass production in September. At 2.4mm x 1.4mm, it is about 17% smaller than conventional products.
— Toyota’s battery manufacturing subsidiary, Primearth EV Energy, will change its name to Toyota Battery.
— ROHM announced that it has introduced an internal carbon pricing (ICP) system to promote decarbonization, a mechanism for controlling CO2 emissions by putting a price on CO2 emitted within a company. The internal carbon price is set at 20,000 yen per ton.
— NIDEK Corporation announced that it has signed a transfer agreement with Linear Transfer Automation Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of peripheral equipment for presses, to acquire shares in its affiliated companies, Linear Automation USA Inc. and Presstrader Limited.