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Judge Sends Samsung CEO Back to Prison for 2½ Years

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Samsung vice chairman Jay Y. Lee
[Photo: AP]

Who Will Run the Company with Lee Incarcerated?

On Monday, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong – also known as JY Lee, J. Y. Lee or Jay Y. Lee – was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for his role in a bribery and embezzlement scheme to influence the President of South Korea in order to increase his share and power in the company. This development is big news in Korea. Samsung Electronics, part of the Samsung family of companies that is the largest conglomerate in South Korea, by itself represents almost 20% of the entire value of all exports from Korea.

See this sensational Samsung…ah…stuff!

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CES 2021: Sony Evolves From Hardware Maker to Experience Creator

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Sony Airpeak drone
Airpeak drone

“Please join us in looking forward as we continue to evolve as a ‘creative entertainment company,'” said Kenichiro Yoshida, Sony Chairman, CEO and President to kick off Sony’s presentation to the media on CES 2021’s press day this past Monday. It was a carefully crafted opening, with words of particular significance that contrasts strongly with previous company characterizations. Sony is changing.

Has the train jumped the tracks? Or has Sony hit the hyper-drive taking us to a new and exciting unexplored planet?

See more from Sony’s press presentation…

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AKM Fire Update: Sony Admits It Faces ‘Severe Shortage’ of Key Imaging Models

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Sony ZV-1 vlog camera

Most manufacturers in Tech have been reluctant to discuss the impact on the supply chain – and on the availability of their key models – as a result of the recent Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) factory fire in Japan. However, Sony – especially Sony Europe – has admitted to customers that it’s camera and video division, is “facing a severe shortage of key parts” for its compact cameras and video cameras. Although Sony did not specifically correlate their problem to the AKM situation, a large number of camera and photography media are saying that this is most likely the cause of the shortage to which Sony is referring.

See what Sony & other brands say about the AKM fire fallout…

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Sony to Close Major Malaysia Audio Factory; Begins Refocus Away from A/V

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Sony audio factory in Malaysia that is closing in September 2021
[Photo: Sony]

Closing a Separate Audio & TV Factory in Brazil as Well

Sony Corporation has two large factories in Malaysia – one manufacturing audio products, and the other manufacturing predominantly video products. A new report out of Japan indicates that the company plans to close its audio factory in Malaysia by no later than the beginning of 2022 – or in other words, during the upcoming year of 2021. This move is likely a result of a previously announced strategic refocusing on businesses other than a/v electronics at the major consumer electronics manufacturer.

See more on this expected/shocking move by Sony…

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EVA Automation Escapes Forced Bankruptcy; But Shuts Down Anyway

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eva automation executives
EVA Automation in happier times

EVA Admits ‘Financial Distress’ & A Business ‘Wind Down’

EVA Automation, the now former owner of Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) dodged a bullet when late last month U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, the Honorable Hannah L. Blumenstiel, entered an order dismissing the involuntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy brought against them by Top Victory Investments Limited (whose attorneys use the acronym TPV). With that decision, a forced bankruptcy was avoided. However, as court records clearly demonstrate, the company did feel some pain as a result of this filing, and according to their attorneys were in the process of conducting an orderly shut down of the business.

Not only that, but we learn much more about EVA Automation‘s relationship with Bowers & Wilkins – and their degraded circumstances based largely on the failure of their Formation wireless speaker line marketed under the B&W brand.

Learn more about EVA Automation’s situation…

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Onkyo Corp. is Insolvent; Now It’s in a Struggle to Survive

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image from Onkyo report on Fiscal 2020 results
Image from Onkyo report on fiscal 2020 results, heading section on new plans [Click to enlarge]

Onkyo Corporation had a really tough fiscal 2020 – the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2020. How tough was it? So tough that the company was forced to announce that a massive drop in revenues and record losses had pushed the company into insolvency – calling into question its ability to continue as a going concern. It doesn’t get much tougher than that. And this announcement triggered a Tokyo Stock Exchange action – invoking a rule that starts a clock on a limited grace period for the company to cure the situation – their insolvency – before a forced delisting from the JASDAQ stock exchange is implemented.

So what happens now with Onkyo?

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In Global Supercomputer War – Land of the Rising Sun Rises to Eclipse American Technology

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Supercomputer - Japan's new Fugaku supercomputer is the fastest in the world

On Monday morning, during my usual morning health walk, I listened to a podcast where the host proclaimed – quite proudly – that nobody is better at technology than the U.S. Just a couple of hours later, the Nikkei reported that Japan had bested both the U.S. and China with an all new and mightily powerful supercomputer. Step aside America!

Japan’s new supercomputer is 3 times faster than America’s IBM powerhouse…

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Strata-gee Survey Shows Coronavirus Response Places Supply Chain in Jeopardy

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Container ship at port

No Need to Panic Now, But Maybe Soon

I received a tip from a tech supplier here in the U.S. that the Coronavirus epidemic impacting China is a big problem getting bigger every day…and that our industry needs to think about – and prepare for – the impact on our supply chain. This week, Strata-gee surveyed several brands to learn their status on product supply…and what their perspective was on the near-term future impact of this epidemic taking place in China.

What top brands say about supply chain risk…

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Toshiba Launches Consortium of 100 Companies to Drive ‘Internet of Things’ Market

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Photo of Toshiba Corp.'s headquarters in Tokyo
The Toshiba Corp. headquarters stands in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Toshiba Corp. announced this week that it has launched a large consortium of more than 100 companies in Japan for the purpose of creating new services and products to attack and drive the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) market. Consortium participants are companies of varying size and capabilities that cover the entire spectrum of the market.

Learn more about the new Toshiba IoT consortium…

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LG Smokes Q3 Forecast for Record Financial Results

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LG OLED lighting

LG Electronics Inc. is on a roll, as evidenced by their fiscal third quarter results. The company says it has set an all-time record for third quarter revenues while at the same time booking their best quarterly profit in a decade.

See more details on LG’s Q3 results…

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