Bosch is planning to open a $1.2 billion wafer fabrication facility in June that will produce automotive components, principally sensor chips for electric and hybrid vehicles. The chipmaker will start with prototype production, transitioning to full-scale production by the end of 2021.

Huawei Technologies is said to be contemplating the construction of a wafer fabrication facility in Shanghai to circumvent the export restrictions imposed on the embattled Chinese company by the US government, the Financial Times reports. This analysis looks at the timeline of actions taken over the past three years.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. responded to news reports that the government of Japan is enticing the foundry to build a wafer fabrication facility in Japan, while it is going ahead with a new chip plant in the US. TSMC said it has no plans at present to put up a wafer fab in Japan, while adding that it could be open to such a proposal if its customers would call for it.

Huawei Technologies continues to produce carrier equipment and consumer devices at its factories in China, while Chinese chipmakers are running their wafer fabrication facilities at full capacity during the coronavirus outbreak. IHS Markit does expect some falloff in China's LCD production as a result of the outbreak.

China has 30 semiconductor manufacturing projects under construction or on the drawing board, the most of any country, SEMI's World Fab Forecast Report says. Of that total, 13 wafer fabrication facilities will address the foundry market, while the others will be used to make light-emitting diodes, memory chips and other products, the report notes.