Industrial News

Universal Power Solutions Inc. (UPSI) is borrowing P40 billion to finance its battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, the unit of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. said. In a filing, the power arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said UPSI entered into financing agreements for the BESS projects built or to be built across multiple sites in the country. SMC had said that it plans to put up a total of 32 BESS network with a combined capacity of 1,000 megawatt hours (MWh). San Miguel Global Power will guarantee the loan, which will be divided into two tranches—P12 [...]

TOKYO, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Merger talks between Western Digital (WDC.O) and Japan's Kioxia Holdings have stalled, two sources said on Friday, as opposition from Kioxia investor SK Hynix has complicated the on-again, off-again deal to create a memory chip giant. South Korea's SK Hynix (000660.KS), itself a major memory chip maker and rival to both companies, on Thursday said it did not back the deal, citing the potential impact on the value of its investment in Kioxia. That opposition had effectively frozen the deal, one of the people familiar with the matter said. The two people also cited a [...]

MANILA, Philippines — As Vietnam builds a strategy to develop its semiconductor industry, the Philippines should focus more on its local semiconductor sector to be able to compete in attracting investments, an industry group said. In an interview with reporters, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) president Dan Lachica said the Philippines is being overtaken by Vietnam in terms of semiconductor output as it builds a strategy to develop the industry. According to a report from online newspaper VietnamPlus, Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the country is creating a development strategy and a human [...]

Foton PH to boost parts availability in Visayas with upcoming spare parts warehouse Months after inaugurating a brand new spare parts depot in Davao, Foton Motor Philippines Inc (FMPI) is raising the aftersales bar once again in commercial vehicle ownership with the recent signing ceremony of its upcoming Cebu Parts Distribution Hub. The huge parts warehouse was opened in partnership with logistics and supply chain management specialists FastEasy and Foton International. The partnership signing ceremony was attended by officers and executives from the three companies, led by Foton Motor Philippines General Manager Levy Santos, Foton International’s Parts Manager Duke Han [...]

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Amkor of the U.S. debuted a $1.6 billion chip factory in Vietnam for packaging and testing on Wednesday, the latest in a string of foreign semiconductor investments in the Southeast Asian country. The Nasdaq-listed company said the plant will use its most advanced technology and focus on memory, design and electrical testing services for automotive, communications and advanced computing clients. Amkor is a market leader for systems-in-package (SiP) technology, in which several chips are placed in a single carrier package, though Luxshare and Goertek across the border in China are catching up. It said SiP [...]

Two different vdW heterostructures. The left consists of WS2 on top of WSe2, and the right consists of WSe2 on top of WS2. The two TMD layers are stacked on top of h-BN and Si/SiO2, which are substrates. Credit: Institute for Basic Science Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors are special materials that have long fascinated researchers with their unique properties. For one, they are flat, one-atom-thick two-dimensional (2D) materials similar to that of graphene. They are compounds that contain different combinations of the transition metal group (e.g., molybdenum, tungsten) and chalcogen elements (e.g., sulfur, selenium, tellurium). What's even more fascinating is that [...]

Philippine Airlines, RCBC, Metro Pacific Investments Corp and a few others have all seen significant investments from Japanese firms in recent years. Over the last few years, Japanese companies have been quietly purchasing significant shares in Filipino corporations. For those in business, it’s more than just identifying opportunities to make more money; it’s a vote of confidence in the potential of Filipino companies, and a stepping stone into wider expansion across the region and elsewhere in the world. Here are six Japanese companies that have bought sizeable shares in Filipino corporations over the last few years. This is by no [...]

On October 11, the US semiconductor product packaging and test services provider Amkor Technology opened a mega factory for semiconductor assembly and testing in the northern province of Bac Ninh. The Vietnam campus is poised to become Amkor’s most extensive facility, occupying a substantial 57-acre expanse within Yen Phong 2C Industrial Park. Upon completion, it will feature 200,000 square meters of cleanroom space. Beginning with Advanced System in Package and memory production, the factory will offer turnkey solutions from design to electrical testing to the world’s leading semiconductor and electronic manufacturing companies. Amkor has committed $1.6 billion for the first two [...]

SEOUL, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics' (005930.KS) third-quarter profit is expected to drop 80% from a year earlier as the effects of an ongoing global chip glut drive losses in what is normally the South Korean tech giant's cash cow business. The world's biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and televisions will announce its third-quarter preliminary earnings results on Wednesday. Operating profit likely fell to 2.1 trillion won ($1.56 billion) in the July-September quarter, according to an LSEG SmartEstimate from 19 analysts, weighted toward those who are more consistently accurate. It compares with an operating profit of 10.85 trillion won in [...]

SEOUL, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics' (005930.KS), opens new tab third-quarter profit is expected to drop 80% from a year earlier as the effects of an ongoing global chip glut drive losses in what is normally the South Korean tech giant's cash cow business. The world's biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and televisions will announce its third-quarter preliminary earnings results on Wednesday. Operating profit likely fell to 2.1 trillion won ($1.56 billion) in the July-September quarter, according to a LSEG SmartEstimate from 19 analysts, weighted toward those who are more consistently accurate. It compares with an operating profit of 10.85 [...]