Global notebook shipments, not including models with a detachable keyboard, dropped 16% sequentially and 24% on year in the second quarter of 2022, but the volumes will see sequential growths in the third and fourth quarters, according to DIGITIMES Research’s figures from the Notebook Tracker.

The key observations of Asia Enterprise for this issue include the following: Japan-based company expands its photomask capacity for semiconductor advanced process, indicating that foundries will increase the proportion of advanced process photomask outsourcing. Top three South Korea-based electronics companies?? procurement expenses of their major business divisions showed significant fluctuations, mainly by inflation, supply chain disruption, and market demand. CATL recently announced a new battery plant in Hungary, the company??s second one in Europe. With policy support, Hungary in Central Europe has become the base of European power battery production.

At RISC-V Summit China 2022, Alibaba Group’s chip design subsidiary,T-Head Semiconductor, launched the Wujian 600 development platform based on the open-source architecture. According to the company, the development platform supports both Linux and Android operating systems, and has been used by T-Head to develop its own TH1520 high performance SoC prototype.

Li Auto broke ground recently on its power semiconductor R&D and production base in Suzhou, China, a milestone for the electric vehicle (EV) maker. The move is a strategic one, which will allow Li Auto to develop and mass-produce its own silicon carbide (SiC) power modules.