IF / News

Samsung Electronics has announced a significant reduction in its foundry division’s facility investment for 2025, cutting the budget by more than half compared to the previous year. Samsung Foundry has set its facility investment budget at around KRW5T for 2025, a sharp decrease from the KRW10T on range invested in 2024. The foundry investment in 2025 will focus on the S3 plant in Hwaseong and the Pyeongtaek 2 plant (P2). At the S3 plant, part of the 3nm line will be converted to 2nm. This conversion involves adding some equipment to the existing line, which is not considered a large-scale new investment. Meanwhile, at the P2 plant, a 1.4nm test line with a capacity of 2,000-3,000 wafers per month is planned to be installed within 2025. Additionally, there will be small-scale investments to supplement various equipment and infrastructure at the Taylor plant in the US. (Phone Arena, Business Korea)

Nvidia has unveiled Project Digits, a USD3,000 personal AI supercomputer powered by a new GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip. The company’s CEO Jensen Huang has hinted that there are bigger plans for the Arm-based CPU within that chip, codeveloped with MediaTek. Huang has indicated that the company has plans for its own desktop CPU, referring to the new 20-core desktop CPU. Codeveloper MediaTek has its own ambitions, though, and Huang suggested that it may also bring the CPU to market, independent of Nvidia.  (VentureBeat, Reuters)

Aledia has unveiled its microLED factory and a USD200M production line to make augmented reality (AR) displays. Aledia’s microLED technology based on 3D gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon nanowires opens the way to the next generation of smart displays. The company said itss 3D GaN nanowire technology delivers enhanced brightness and energy efficiency compared to 2D LED, along with superior pixel density and resolution. The 3D structure allows precise and directive light emission, making Aledia’s displays highly efficient and suited for advanced applications like AR. By utilizing semiconductor-grade silicon in 8-inch and 12-inch formats, Aledia lowers production costs for large-scale production of microLEDs, accelerating widespread adoption in a wide range of displays. Aledia is ready and able to support customer demand ramp up to nearly 5,000 wafer starts per week.(VentureBeat, Business Wire, Microled-Info)

IDC posted its latest report on the foldable market in China, and it shows that Huawei dominated in the last quarter of 2024. The 48.6% of the 2.505M shipped units were made by Huawei, while Honor was a distant second with a 20.6% market share. However, interest in foldables seems to have faded, as shipments were almost 10% lower than in the same period 12 months ago. The 4Q24 period was the first time foldables saw a decline in shipments since tracking the segment began nine quarters ago. IDC pointed out that despite phones becoming thinner and lighter and companies coming up with bigger batteries and less visible creases, customers are not as keen on purchasing a foldable. (GSM Arena, IT Home, IDC)

Sony Japan has announced that it will no longer manufacture or sell blank Blu-ray Discs in its home market. Sony Japan explains that it will cease the production of “Blu-ray Disc media”, along with “MiniDiscs for recording” and “MD Data Discs for recording” in Feb 2025. This end-of-production notice exclusively applies to blank optical discs. Sony will continue manufacturing Blu-ray movies and video games. Sony never really marketed Blu-ray as a video recording solution in the United States or Europe. This is due to several factors, including the relative unpopularity of DVD recorders in Western markets, the delayed adoption of HDTV in the United States, and the rise of competing hard-disk formats like DVR. (CN Beta, Sony, Notebook Check, Blu-ray Forum)

SK Hynix reportedly plans to ship samples of HBM4 (6th generation high bandwidth memory) to Nvidia as early as Jun 2025. It is expected that product supply will begin around the end of 3Q25 at the earliest. This is a somewhat earlier schedule than the original supply in 2H25, and SK Hynix is ​​rushing to prepare for mass production in order to pre-empt the next-generation HBM market. HBM4 maximizes performance by integrating 2,048 I/Os (input/output terminals), which are data transmission channels, which is twice as many as the previous generation. Nvidia had originally planned to install 12-layer stacked HBM4 in the next-generation high-performance GPU ‘Rubin’ series in 2026, but it has brought forward the plan and is aiming for a release in 2H25.(CN Beta, ZDNet, The Elec)

Samsung Electronics has reportedly decided to reduce NAND flash production, especially at its Xi’an plant in China. This appears to be a measure to protect profitability as prices are expected to plummet in 2025 amidst the ongoing global oversupply of NAND. Considering that SK Hynix is ​​increasing its NAND supply, Samsung Electronics appears to have decided that it cannot maintain the overwhelming productivity of the past with its current NAND process. The wafer production of the Xi’an plant, which was around 200,000 sheets per month on average, is expected to decrease to around 170,000 sheets. In addition, the Hwaseong Line 12 and Line 17 will also adjust their supply, resulting in a downward adjustment of the overall production capacity. According to market research firm DRAMeXchange, the fixed transaction price of NAND flash general-purpose products (128Gb 16Gx8 MLC) for memory cards and USBs was USD3.07 as of the end of Oct 2024, down 29.18% from the previous month (USD4.34). The price of this product has been falling for two consecutive months since Aug (USD4.90), and the decline last month was greater than in Sept (-11.4%). (CN Beta, TrendForce, Chosun)

Lenovo Group has announced that its subsidiary has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Infinidat, a global provider of high-end enterprise storage solutions. The acquisition is part of Lenovo’s growth strategy to bring differentiated technology solutions to market. This move will further strengthen Lenovo’s enterprise storage offerings globally and underscores a commitment to delivering innovative storage solutions that meet the evolving needs of modern data centers. (CN Beta, Techpowerup, Lenovo)

Samsung’s Senior Vice President and Head of the Digital Health Team at Mobile eXperience Business, Dr. Hon Pak, has said that the company is working on a new sensor algorithm that will help detect early signs of diabetes. Traditionally, people with diabetes check their glucose levels using devices that require a needle to access the bloodstream. Samsung wants to eliminate the needle from the picture and introduce non-invasive blood glucose monitoring. Apple is also rumoured to be working on including a blood pressure monitoring system inside the Watch Ultra 3 along with satellite connectivity. (Neowin, Samsung, GSM Arena)

Samsung Electro-Mechanics CEO Chang Duckhyun has said that the company to supply prototype small solid-state batteries this year and expand applicable products in 2026. The small solid-state battery is oxide based, which makes it stable, so it can be made in various form factors. It could replace lithium batteries in small tech devices such as wearable. Meanwhile, the company will also begin promoting samples of its glass core boards in 2025 and start production in 2027, the CEO said. Glass core boards changes the substrate core from plastic to glass, making it more heat resistant and providing great signal characteristics. They are being developed by parts makers for future application in server CPUs and AI accelerators. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is also planning to start silicon capacitor production, aimed at high-end chip packages and AI servers, in 2025.  (CN Beta, The Elec)

China’s battery maker CALB Group said Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) had sued the Hong Kong-listed peer for infringing a patent on battery modules. CATL is seeking compensation of CNY60M (USD8.19M) as part of the lawsuit. The patent involved in the litigation relates to battery modules, and there is no infringement involved in the products of the company. (CN Beta, Yahoo, Sina)

Samsung Galaxy S25 series are the first phones to officially support Snapdragon Satellite which would allow users to send and receive messages via satellite over narrowband (NB) to non-terrestrial networks (NTN). Qualcomm has confirmed the feature following the S25 series launch. Samsung did not discuss the Galaxy S25’s Direct-to-Device (D2D) messaging functionality through satellites during the Galaxy Unpacked event. It was Qualcomm that revealed that the phones in the Galaxy S25 series are the first commercially released devices to support Snapdragon Satellite. As satellite consultant, Christian Frhr. von der Ropp points out that Samsung is leaving it up to the telecom carrier to arrange satellite service on the Galaxy S25 series. Verizon is doing its part, reaching an agreement with Skylo to enable satellite messaging on the Galaxy S25 series in the US.  (CN Beta, Android Central, GSM Arena, Qualcomm, Android Authority, Light Reading)

DisplayLink, which is owned by Synaptics, demonstrated a docking solution that allowed users to drive multiple 4K displays, a keyboard, a mouse, storage, and even accessories – all powered by the processor and graphics inside a phone. The solution comes in two flavours: a wired version with the phone physically linking to the dock via USB-C, and a wireless option running over Wi-Fi to an external dongle. The idea is to essentially use your Android smartphone as the brains for a full desktop setup. DisplayLink says that flagship smartphone chips nowadays offer performance comparable to laptops with Intel Core i5 processors and integrated graphics.(CN Beta, Techspot, PC World)

Samsung Electronics and Corning have announced that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will feature Corning Gorilla Armor 2, the industry’s first scratch-resistant, anti-reflective glass ceramic cover material for mobile devices. Gorilla Armor 2 is a landmark achievement in glass ceramic technology, combining superior toughness with excellent clarity on a smartphone display. In Corning lab tests, Gorilla Armor 2 survived drops of up to 2.2m on a surface replicating concrete. Alternative glass ceramic materials failed when dropped from 1m. Additionally, Gorilla Armor 2 maintained its exceptional scratch resistance, demonstrating over 4 times more scratch resistance than competitive lithium-aluminosilicate cover glasses with an anti-reflective coating. (Sammy Fans, Samsung, Corning)

Element Six (E6) will launch an innovative Cu-diamond product. Cu-Diamond is a copper plated diamond composite material that has a high thermal and electrical conductivity. Designed to address the increasingly critical thermal management challenges in advanced semiconductor devices, this cost-effective solution enables greater performance and reliability for applications such as AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and GaN RF devices. E6’s new copper diamond composite enables exceptional thermal conductivity, in the 800 W/mK range, optimized for high-demand applications. It provides high performance at a lower cost to facilitate widespread adoption and can be manufactured in complex shapes, allowing seamless integration into diverse 2.5/3D advanced packaging configurations.(CN Beta, Yahoo, Element Six)

Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL) has acquired a controlling 60% stake in Pegatron Technology India Private Limited (PTI) that operates an iPhone plant, near Chennai The purchase comes after TEPL’s acquisition of Wistron’s India operations at Narsapura, Karnataka less than a year ago in Mar 2024. The deal with the Taiwanese contract manufacturer is expected to ramp up Tatas’ presence in electronics manufacturing and supply to Apple. The Tata group also has a plant at Hosur, Tamil Nadu which produces components for Apple’s iPhones. (CN Beta, Telegraphic, Nikkei, India Times)

Samsung has reportedly made a change to the S Pen on the Galaxy S25 Ultra which removes remote control features that have been in place for years, and the reason is because essentially no one was using those features. Samsung has removed Bluetooth connectivity from the S Pen on Galaxy S25 Ultra which, in turn, removes remote control features. Features that came with Bluetooth in the S Pen includes a remote shutter for the camera, “Air” gestures for controlling the device from a slight distance, and more. The feature was removed because less than 1% of people with access to the feature actually ended up using it.(CN Beta, 9to5Google, Twitter)

Samsung has unveiled a new program named ‘Galaxy Easy Compensation’ to make it easier for customers to sell their old Galaxy smartphones. The program will begin on 14 Jan 2025, on Samsung.com. With ‘Galaxy Easy Compensation’, Samsung smartphone users can sell their used Galaxy phones anytime, without needing to buy a new one. This means that Galaxy phone users can easily sell their smartphones at a good price. Through this program, Samsung aims to help keep the value of Galaxy smartphones high and promote recycling. By buying back used phones, Samsung can reuse or resell them in the future, which helps reduce electronic waste and supports a circular economy.(CN Beta, Samsung, Sammy Fans, Gizmo China)

Microsoft allegedly plans to unveil two compact-size computers with ARM processors. One will join the Surface Pro lineup, while another one will be for those preferring traditional laptops. Despite the smaller sizes, Microsoft does not plan to compromise on the premium feel and quality, with the 11” Surface Pro aimed to directly rival Apple’s 11” iPad Pro. As for the smaller Surface Laptop, its purpose is to replace the Surface Laptop Go with its hardware compromises. The upcoming model will bring a backlit keyboard, a higher-resolution display with touchscreen support, and a fully metal casing, something that the current Surface Laptop Go is missing. (CN Beta, The Verge, XDA Developers, Neowin, Windows Central)

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the PlayStation brand’s launch in China, Sony has launched a PlayStation-themed fitness tracker. The fitness tracker is a customized version of the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro, that is painted in PlayStation colors. The fitness trackers offer a host of health-tracking features including, heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, sleep tracking, and period tracking. It also supports over 150 sports modes and comes with GPS tracking. The PlayStation-themed Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro starts at CNY399 (roughly USD55). (Neowin, Weibo, IT Home)

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is announcing that Fitbit has agreed to pay a USD12.25M civil penalty. Fitbit Ionic smartwatches contained a defect that could create a substantial product hazard and created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death to consumers. During 2018 and 2019 and continuing into 2020, Fitbit received numerous reports of the Ionic smartwatches overheating while being worn by consumers, causing some consumers to sustain burns including second-degree and third-degree burns on their arms or wrists.  In early 2020, Fitbit initiated a firmware update to mitigate the potential for battery overheating; however, Fitbit continued to receive reports of consumers suffering burns due to the product overheating. (Phone Arena, CPSC)

HTC and Google have announced a definitive agreement under which HTC will receive USD250M in cash from Google, and certain HTC employees from its XR team will join Google. As part of the transaction, Google will receive a non-exclusive license for HTC’s XR intellectual property (IP). Following this agreement, HTC and Google will explore future collaboration opportunities. HTC Chairman Cher Wang emphasized that the company will continue to build the VIVE brand and focus on high value-added XR products. Cher Wang also said that this cooperation with Google is expected to have a profound impact on the global XR market, promote the maturity of the Android XR system, and enhance overall market competitiveness. (CN Beta, WCCFTech, Yahoo, GSM Arena, Reuters, VIVE, Google)

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes that Apple executives involved in the development of Apple Glass say that the device is at least 3 years away. Before any AR glasses are released, Apple plans on releasing cheaper and possibly less capable versions of the Vision Pro. Other possibilities include AirPods with miniature cameras and perhaps glasses that would compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses. (Bloomberg, Phone Arena)

Samsung has presented the Samsung Vision AI which will enhance the AI capabilities of Samsung TVs. The new TVs will be equipped with features that will aim to improve the viewing experience. Marquee features of Samsung’s Vision AI include Click to Search which will offer information on what’s playing on the screen like the characters, landmarks, etc. unobtrusively, and the Live Translate feature will make foreign language movies easier to understand with real-time translated subtitles with the on-device AI translation model. Samsung is also offering users to create their own wallpaper with the Generative Wallpaper feature. The Samsung Vision AI also aims to be hubs for SmartThings, giving users real-time updates about their homes and alerting on any unusual behaviour in pets or humans. (VentureBeat, SammyHub, Samsung)

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has said that Apple’s new HomePod-like smart home hub with a 7” display remains on track to launch in 2025. Gurman believes the home hub will be “Apple’s most significant release of the year 2025”, as it represents the company’s “first step toward a bigger role in the smart home”. Apple’s hub would compete with products like Google’s Nest Hub and Amazon’s Echo Show. It is unclear if Apple will actually use HomePod branding for the device, or if it will opt for an all-new name, such as the Apple Home. (CN Beta, Digital Trends, MacRumors, Bloomberg)

Apple has removed that 2024 date from its website for its next-generation CarPlay. Apple however said that “several” car manufacturers would be incorporating CarPlay 2 into their vehicles, and that each company would share more details at the appropriate time. However, there was no indication of when that might be. Apple is committed to the current generation of CarPlay, which it says is available in over 98% of new cars sold in the United States.(MacRumors, TechRadar, Apple Insider)

LG Electronics has agreed to acquire an additional 30% stake in Bear Robotics, a California-based startup it previously backed that is building AI-powered server robots for restaurants. The deal gives LG a majority ownership of 51% in the startup, which will now become a subsidiary of the larger company. Bear Robotics is known for its expertise in AI technology that is capable of controlling multiple robots, specifically the management of fleets remotely. (TechCrunch, LG)

Chinese startup DeepSeek has released a new open-sourced “low cost” artificial intelligence (AI) model R1, rivalling OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The AI company, which seems to match OpenAI’s newer 01 model in several benchmarks, claimed in a study that it spent less than USD6M to train its model compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars that American companies pour to train theirs. After “comprehensive evaluations”, DeepSeek said its AI model “outperforms other open-source models and achieves performance comparable to leading closed-source models”. (Gizmo China, DeepSeek, BBC, Yahoo)