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• Taiwan December manufacturing production index up slightly

  Taiwan recorded a manufacturing production index (2006 as base year) of 127.25 for December 2011, increasing 0.34% on month but decreasing 8.67% on year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on January 20. >

• Taiwan December export order value down slightly

  Taiwan received export orders worth US$36.31 billion in December 2011, decreasing 0.94% on month and 0.72% on year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on January 20. >

• China market: Online shopping trade value over CNY773 billion in 2011

  Online shopping services in the China market generated total sales transactions of CNY773.56 billion (US$119.6 billion) in 2011, growing 67.8% from 2010 and accounting for 4.3% of total retail sales in China, according to China-based iResearch Consulting Group. >

• CMI CEO to hold debt settlement talks with creditor banks

  Chimei Innolux (CMI) CEO Hsing-chien Tuan will lead a negotiation team to hold debt settlement talks with its creditor banks on January 20, hoping the banks will allow it to postpone principal payments, according to industry sources. >

• China market: Third-party e-payment services generate over CNY2.203 trillion in 2011

  In the China market, third-party e-payment services generated total sales transactions of CNY2.2038 trillion (US$340.76 billion) in 2011, hiking 118.1% from 2010, according to China-based iResearch Consulting Group. >

• Acer to face hot competition with Lenovo in Europe

  Acer focuses its global PC business on the Europe market and is expected to be in intensive competition with Lenovo which focuses overseas marketing on Europe, especially after Gianfranco Lanci, former Acer CEO and president, assumes the reins of marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Lenovo, according to industry sources. Acer has set a target market share of 25-30% for the Europe market in 2012, the sources indicated. >

• China market: Demand for 3D TVs to top 20 million units in 2012

  Demand for 3D TVs in the China market is expected to grow by 150% to 20 million units in 2012, accounting for 48% of total TV sales in China in the year, according to industry sources. >

• Digitimes Research: Polysilicon and wafer firms in Greater China plan to increase prices after Lunar New Year

  Due to the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays, prices of solar products in Greater China have been quite stable, however polysilicon and solar wafer firms are inclined to increase quotes after the holidays, according to Digitimes Research analyst Chihheng Liang. >

• Taiwan Mobile aims at net EPS of NT$5.34 for 2012

  Taiwan Mobile (TWM), one of the three largest mobile telecom carriers in Taiwan, has set a target net EPS of NT$5.34 for 2012, increasing by 13.62% from 2011, according to the company at a January 19 investors conference. >

• Taiwan Mobile aims at net EPS of NT$5.34 for 2012

  Taiwan Mobile (TWM), one of the three largest mobile telecom carriers in Taiwan, has set a target net EPS of NT$5.34 for 2012, increasing by 13.62% from 2011, according to the company at a January 19 investors conference. >

• Solar PV module prices increased by 7% in December 2011, says IMS Research

  Solar module prices increased by 7% in December 2011 due to a temporary pick-up in demand ahead of feed-in-tariff (FiT) reductions in a number of key markets, according IMS Research. Strong demand during the year-end rally saw installers buying solar modules from distributors at inflated prices. IMS Research found that installers were desperate to secure supply and complete installations before incentive levels were reduced, particularly in Germany where 3GW of installations were connected in December alone. However, IMS Research also found that price increases were only temporary and both module suppliers and buyers expect price drops again in January 2012. >

• ARM not worried about Intel foray into handheld device platforms, says ARM executive

  ARM is not under competitive pressure from Intel's move into processor platforms for handheld devices, because Intel does not let clients know the value of adopting its platforms while ARM has provided different application platforms for different partners for market segmentation, according to director of consumer, client computing, Jeff Chu for ARM. >

• Intel reports record US$54 billion in annual revenues

  Intel has reported full-year revenues of US$54 billion, operating income of US$17.5 billion, net income of US$12.9 billion and EPS of US$2.39, all company records. The company generated approximately US$21 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of US$4.1 billion and used US$14.1 billion to repurchase 642 million shares of stock. >

• Everlight to enter Japan lighting market in 2012, says chairman

  The market conditions for LED may still be in the clouds in first-half 2012, according to Robert Yeh, chairman of Taiwan-based LED packaging house Everlight. While attending Lighting Japan 2012, Yeh indicated that the industry might see a return of demand in the second half of 2012 as the price of LED light bulbs hits US$10/unit. >

• Acer, Asustek, Lenovo to offer Thunderbolt ultrabook PCs in 2Q12

  Acer, Asustek Computer and Lenovo are expected to offer ultrabooks based on Intel's Ivy Bridge platform which supports Thunderbolt in the second quarter of 2012, while Gigabyte Technology will take the initiative to offer Thunderbolt-enabled motherboards, according to industry sources. >

• Excess PV installations in Germany may be due to investment from China-based makers

  China's solar supply chain in 2011 invested a great deal to set up solar PV systems or small PV power plants in Europe in an attempt to use self-produced products, and this is likely to mainly account for the unexpectedly large solar installations of 4-5GWp in Germany in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to industry sources. >

• Eastman Kodak files for bankruptcy

  Eastman Kodak has announced the company and its US subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for business reorganization under chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. >

• Asia Optical, Altek impacted by Kodak bankruptcy

  Asia Optical and Altek, two Taiwan-based digital camera ODMs, have suffered overdue accounts receivable payments and losses in inventory from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filed by Eastman Kodak in New York on January 19, according to the two companies. >

• KLA-Tencor intros flagship wafer inspection solution suite

  KLA-Tencor has announced three new wafer defect inspection systems for leading-edge chip manufacturers: the 2900, Puma 9650 and eS800 systems. Designed to address a wide range of defect issues that new materials, structures and design rules have imposed on manufacturers of advanced chips, the trio incorporates more powerful light sources or electron guns, innovative signal shaping and a multifold approach to reducing noise, the company said. >

• Global NFC smartphone shipments to top 80 million units in 2012, says IMS Research

  Global shipments of NFC-enabled smartphones are expected to reach 80 million units in 2012, up from 35 million units shipped in 2011, according to data compiled by IMS Research. >

• Nanya reducing exposure in PC DRAM market

  DRAM maker Nanya Technology has seen sales of products for non-PC applications account for 50% of company revenues. The proportion is expected to further expand in 2012. >

• ODM orders for Kindle Fire tablet PCs to drop to 3 million units in 1Q12, say sources

  ODM orders for Kindle Fire tablet PCs are expected to be cut by half to three million units in the first quarter of 2012, down from about six million units shipped in the last quarter of 2011, according to sources in the supply chain. >

• APCB expects Thai flood losses of US$16 million

  Advanced Printed Circuit Board (APCB) has estimated that its production subsidiary in Ayutthaya, northwest Thailand, will post losses of THB493 million (US$15.6 million) related to the severe flooding locally. >

• Packaging and testing firms to post 5-10% drop in 1Q12

  Revenues at semiconductor packaging and testing houses will likely register a 5-10% sequential decrease in the first quarter of 2012, affected by fewer working days, according to industry observers. >

• Over 50% of Taiwan-based IT supply chain makers hold pessimistic 1Q12 business outlook, says TCA survey

  The Taipei Computer Association (TCA) in December 2011 conducted a survey of Taiwan-based IT supply chain makers to attend the 2012 Computex about their general confidence for the first quarter of 2012 and on January 19 revealed the results: 55% are very pessimistic or quite pessimistic, 23% are neutral and 22% are very optimistic or quite optimistic. >

• Chang Wah seeing orders for driver IC-use packaging materials surge

  Chang Wah Electromaterials, which distributes packaging materials and equipment for the semiconductor and LCD industries, expects orders for COF (chip-on-film) packaging materials to increase 20% sequentially in the first quarter of 2012 bucking seasonal patterns, according to company chairman Chia-neng Huang. >

• Apple becomes largest consumer of MEMS microphones in 2011, says IHS

  Apple surpassed Samsung Electronics to become the world's largest purchaser of MEMS microphones in 2011, according to IHS iSuppli. >

• Commentary: Large-size TVs, big opportunities

  The LCD TV market went through severe price competition in 2011 with products such as 42-inch CCFL-backlit TVs costing only US$199/unit. Industry sources believe this price is close to production costs. >

• Taiwan market: Symantec records largest 2011 market share for consumer information security software

  Symantec's Norton series products occupied 34% of the sales value for consumer information security software in the Taiwan market in 2011, followed by Trend Micro with 28% and Kaspersky with 21%, according to Symantec Taiwan. >

• TSMC sees Samsung as formidable competitor

  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, has now identified Samsung Electronics as a potential and formidable competitor in the market in which it still controls a dominant share. >

• DRAM firms should consider merging, say Nanya and Inotera executives

  DRAM makers should consider uniting to tackle industry issues, according to CC Wu, chairman for Nanya Technology. Charles Kau, president of Inotera Memories, also echoed Wu's statement saying that consolidation at some point is inevitable in this challenging environment. >

• Penetration rate of IPS/FFS panels in mobile PC sector to reach 20% in 2014-2015, says DisplaySearch

  The penetration rate of IPS (in-plane switching) and FFS (fringe-field switching) panels in the mobile PC (including notebook, netbooks and tablet PCs) segment is expected to climb from 11% in 2011 to 20% in 2014-2015, Display Search has indicated in a Chinese-language press release. >

• Digitimes Research: Philips to invest EUR2 billion in green products

  Third-quarter 2011 revenues of the lighting business unit in Philips were EUR1.886 billion (US$2.4 billion), a 8.1% increase on quarter and 32% on year. Sales from LED lighting accounted for 16% of total third-quarter 2011 revenues. >

• Taiwan market: Aleees to cooperate with transportation industry for electric buses

  Taiwan-based electric bus player Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry (Aleees) has recently announced it has signed contracts with two Taiwan-based bus transportation service providers to supply two electric buses for a free shuttle bus service between Taoyuan county government buildings and the railway station of Taoyuan. >

• Mitac International to buy back 20 million shares

  Taiwan-based Mitac International has recently announced plans to buy back 20 million shares of its common stock at a price range between NT$9-12 (US$0.3-0.4) from January 18 to March 17 with maximum amount not exceeding NT$13.08 billion. >