SEMICONDUCTORS
Book-to-bill ratio still high
The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers, such as Applied Materials Inc, climbed to 1.09 last month — the highest level since May 2012, industry association SEMI said yesterday. That marked the ninth consecutive month that the ratio has been above one. A book-to-bill ratio greater than one indicates growth for the industry. The three-month average of worldwide bookings in the sector rose 4.3 percent to US$1.47 billion last month from May’s US$1.41 billion, according to SEMI’s data. The three-month average of worldwide billings fell 4.8 percent to US$1.34 billion last month from US$1.41 billion in May.
PHARMACEUTICALS
OBI Pharma trials set
OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎) announced on Monday that it had met the goal of collecting 342 patients for the phase two and three clinical trials for OBI-822, a new drug for treating metastatic breast cancer. OBI Pharma chairman Michael Chang (張念慈) said the completion of the patient collection phase shows the OBI-822 project is progressing more smoothly than expected. The company is to analyze the data after the last patient completes the treatment stage, he said. The multinational clinical test is being conducted as a randomized control trial in which 45 medical centers across Taiwan, the US, South Korea, India and Hong Kong are participating, the company said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
RSS