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Foxconn and TSMC joining together to bid for Toshiba’s flash memory business

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 7, 2017

Aside from other firms, companies like storage maker Western Digital, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn and Apple mobile chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have all been named as potential bidders seeking a stake in Toshiba’s memory business.

According to a new report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times, quoted by DigiTimes, Foxconn and TSMC are joining forces in an attempt to acquire a majority stake in Toshiba's NAND flash business. A successful bid by the two Apple suppliers may pose a great challenge to Samsung Electronics' leadership in the flash memory market.

iPhone chip maker TSMC also eyeing Toshiba’s flash memory business

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 2, 2017

According to DigiTimes, Apple chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is also interested in acquiring a stake in Japanese giant Toshiba's memory business. The semiconductor foundry has been looking to expand into the lucrative 3D NAND memory sector.

Apple's top supplier of memory chips, Toshiba is looking to spin off its flash unit into a separate company after reporting a massive $6.3 billion loss, with the split to become effective on April 1, 2017.

Firms like storage maker Western Digital and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn are among the potential bidders seeking a stake in Toshiba's memory business, too.

Foxconn serious about bidding for Toshiba’s memory chip business

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2017

Contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles Apple's iPhones and other companies' products, is “very serious” about bidding for Toshiba’s memory chip business. Toshiba is currently Apple's top supplier of flash memory chips. Foxconn's founder and chairman Terry Gou said the firm cannot afford not having this technology.

Toshiba recently moved to sell some or all of its memory chip business after reporting a massive $6.3 billion loss. According to Bloomberg, Gou was present at an event in southern China to open a new $9 billion display plant.

Apple and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn may build highly automated $7B display plant in U.S.

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 23, 2017

According to Japanese outlet Nikkei Asian Review, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn's Chairman Terry Gou told journalists who attended his company's end-of-year corporate party that Foxconn is considering a joint investment with Apple topping $7 billion for a highly automated display facility in the United States.

It would eventually create 30,000-50,000 jobs.

Apple suppliers Foxconn and Sharp could build $8 billion LCD plant in USA

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 13, 2017

Apple's key suppliers—iPhone assembler Foxconn and its Japanese subsidiary Sharp—say that rumored plans calling for establishing an LCD manufacturing plant in the United States are “still on the table”. Company officials made that comment in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's “Make in America” call, Japanese outlet Nikkei reported Friday.

An unnamed Sharp executive told Nikkei that such a decision must be made “carefully”.

Foxconn reports first ever annual sales decline since going public 25 years ago

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 10, 2017

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group posted its first ever sales decline since it went public back in 1991, Japanese outlet Nikkei reported Tuesday. The outlet expectedly blames “lukewarm demand” from Foxconn's biggest client Apple and the “saturated smartphone market” for the 2.81 percent drop in annual sales.

For context, Foxconn earns more than half of its revenue from doing business with Apple. The Taiwanese company is also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry and assembles iPhones and other gadgets like PlayStation consoles, notebooks, wearable devices and so forth on a mass scale.

Samsung rumored to be lone supplier of AMOLED panels for 5.8-inch iPhone 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 29, 2016

Barclays Research analysts think Apple might offer iPhone 8 in two screen sizes, one measuring five inches diagonally and the other 5.8 inches. DigiTimes claimed in March that Apple had picked Samsung Display as the main supplier of 5.8-inch AMOLEDs.

In a follow-up report Thursday, DigiTimes reiterated that Samsung Display will be Apple's exclusive supplier of 5.8-inch AMOLED display panels for iPhone 8.

Apple taps Primax Electronics for some of dual-lens camera modules for iPhone 7 Plus line

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 23, 2016

Citing a report in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News, Asian trade publication DigiTimes reported this morning that Taiwanese supplier Primax Electronics will manufacture some of the dual-lens camera modules for Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 Plus flagship smartphone model.

The supplier recently increased its camera module capacity by ten percent, boosting output to twelve million CMOS units per month, of which seventy percent are thirteen-megapixel models that the iPhone 7 Plus might use.

Chinese supplier commits to 100% wind energy for all Apple operations

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 4, 2017

Apple today issued a press release updating the public on its environmental progress in China while applauding its supplier Lens Technology, which in an unprecedented move has committed to utilize 100 percent renewable energy in all its glass production for the Cupertino firm by 2018.

Lens will use wind energy to power its two facilities in Changsha, Hunan province which are used for Apple manufacturing. The move will avoid nearly 450,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to the energy use in 380,000 Chinese homes.

Apple supplier Broadcom getting out of Wi-Fi chip business

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 18, 2016

Fabless semiconductor company Broadcom is looking to phase-out its Wi-Fi chip-making business, according to industry sources who spoke with Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes. Broadcom is currently Apple's top supplier of Wi-Fi chips used in Macs, iPhones, iPads and iPods so it looks like the Cupertino firm might be forced to find a new supplier soon.

Broadcom designs its own products but contracts out actual silicon production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), which also builds Apple-designed application processors for iOS devices.

Foxconn makes a $5.3 billion offer to buy ailing iPhone display supplier Sharp

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

The Wall Street Journal has it on good authority that Foxconn, the world's biggest contract fabricator that assembles products for Apple and other companies, is buying Sharp, an iPhone display supplier.

Sharp has been in financial crisis for several years and banks have bailed it out twice in three years.

Foxconn has reportedly offered approximately ¥625 billion, or about $5.3 billion, to acquire Sharp. Back in 2013, Foxconn was supposed to buy a large stake in Sharp, but the deal quickly collapsed over share price dispute.

Report claims Apple cutting iPhone 6s production by 30% this quarter

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Japanese and South Korean component suppliers are bracing for a significant drop in their business with Apple, reports Nikkei. Citing lackluster sales, the outlet claims that the Cupertino firm is expected to reduce output of its latest iPhone models by around 30% for the January-March quarter.

"The U.S. company had initially told parts makers to keep production of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus for the quarter at the same level as with their predecessors. But inventories of the two just-launched models have piled up at retailers in markets ranging from China and Japan to Europe and the U.S."