---

With over 90,000 confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths, the coronavirus has already spread to over 70 countries in a matter of weeks. Although the situation in China appears to be stabilising, new cases from South Korea, Italy, Iran and beyond are being identified. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has increased the risk assessment of COVID-19 to 'very high' on a global scale, amid fear that the virus could go in ‘any direction’. The outbreak has eclipsed most headlines, and for good reason. The impact of COVID-19 on supply chain, logistics, and the global economy as a whole is worrying....

---

Electronic components are a popular target for counterfeiting, and are an ongoing problem that costs the electronics industry billions of dollars each year. To tackle the issue of counterfeits entering the supply chain, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have invented a tiny new ID chip that is small enough to fit onto small electronic components in order to verify their authenticity. While existing radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are becoming increasingly popular as a way of authenticating parts, they are costly to manufacture, too large to fit on tiny components, and require too much power to run...

---

The spread of the coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, has rattled the electronics industry. From smartphones to LCD televisions, a significant volume of the world’s consumer technology is manufactured in China, or relies on parts made there. China is the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones, computers and televisions, exporting billions of dollars of electronic goods annually. The new coronavirus has had an obvious and immediate impact on that productivity, with factories and offices halting operations across the country. According to analysts, the global electronic supply chain is likely to take a serious hit, depending on how quickly the virus spreads,...

---

Last year, the semiconductor industry suffered its worst downturn since the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, causing industry sales to plunge by 32%. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), 2019 was the industry’s worst annual slump in nearly two decades, with a 12.1% year-on-year drop in revenue to $412.1 billion. “Amid a confluence of factors, including ongoing global trade unrest and cyclicality in product pricing, worldwide sales of semiconductors were down considerably in 2019, falling 12% year-to-year,” commented John Neuffer, president and CEO of the SIA. Q4 2019 showed more promise, with a slower rate of decline in comparison...

---

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has announced that 2020 will see its consolidated sales increase by 17% year-on-year. During an investors conference, watched closely by the equity markets at home and abroad, TSMC’s chief executive officer, CC Wei, said that he predicts the company will benefit from higher demand this year for smartphones, high performance computer devices, automotive electronics, and the Internet of Things related applications. TSMC expects that its advanced 7 nanometer process, the latest technology which the chipmaker has started mass producing, will continue to make a significant contribution to the company’s sales...