Electronic waste is defined as loosely discarded, surplus, obsolete, or broken electrical and electronic devices.It consists of secondary computers, electronics,LCDs,computers,mobile phones etc which have been discarded or thrown by the owners.The rapid decline in the cost of semiconductors due to Moore’s law has led to a rapid increase in the size of the electronics industry which is more than $1 trillion dollar globally.Millions of electronics items are thrown out each year leading to mountains of Electronic Waste.If not treated and Recycled,E-Waste can be hazardous to the environment and lead to wastage of precious materials which can be reused.Lost electronic devices contain a variety of materials, including metals that can be recovered for future uses. By dismantling and providing reuse possibilities, intact natural resources are conserved and air and water pollution caused by hazardous disposal is avoided.Electronic Waste Recycling companies are quite disorganized without major global e-recycling companies.The E-Waste Manageress industry still consists mainly of thousands of workers in developing countries like India where they continue to work in dangerous conditions.1,200 small companies generated revenue of around $5 billion last year.This is expected to treble by 2015 as more countries make electronic waste management compulsory and the sheer volume of electronics grows (think iPads)
Semiconductor and Electronics Giant Samsung is entering into production of polysilicon setting up a 10,000 ton plant in an equal JV with US Poly Producer MEMC.The plant will be set up in South Korea and will go onstream by 2013 as it takes around 2 years to set up a plant.Note Samsung had recently started production solar crystalline silicon solar panels which uses polysilicon as raw material.Samsung has a strategy for manufacturing crucial raw materials inhouse for its different product lines.For example Samsung has a multi billion dollar JV with Corning to manufacture LCD glass in South Korea and a JV to make wafers for semiconductors with Wacker.It uses the expertise and technology of its JV partners to get into raw material production.The JV partners get a huge customer for their products and are happy to go along with Samsung in these Joint Ventures.
Taiwan Companies Ramping up their Solar Plans Taiwan based semiconductor company TSMC ( Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation) is getting serious about investing in Solar Energy.Other Taiwanese Heavyweights like AUO,CMO and UMC are also in the process of ramping up their solar production plans.The European Crisis and the fall in Euro has led to a dramatic […]
Introduction to Semiconductor Foundry Model Semiconductor Foundry Leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.(TSMC) is facing a serious challenge for the No. 1 position from Abu Dhabi company Global Foundries.TSMC is a pioneer of the “Fabless” model in which Chip production is outsourced to specialized chip manufacturing companies like TSMC,UMC leaving companies to focus on the Design […]
Clean Technology is the the Industry that every country in the world is pursuing aggressively to gain an early mover advantage .Singapore which is a financial and trading hub is no different as it also tries to attract clean technology dollars to its shores.Norwegian Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) which is one of the biggest Solar […]
Technology has consolidated around 5-10 big players around the world who are gobbling up smaller companies and using their huge cash hoards to outspend the competition.Nothing reflects this better than Samsung’s massive capital spending plan this year.With a dominant share in the memory and LCD markets , Samsung with its huge capex spend this year […]