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1, 11nm, " China Chip " officially went overseas! Foreign media: Chinese experts are right!
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4. Russia restricts gas supply to "unfriendly countries", South Korea's semiconductors are the first to be hit
5, the four major automotive chips IDMs, and rush to buy UD production capacity
6. A sudden earthquake occurred in Taiwan, China! TSMC and UMC responded...
7. Samsung suspended external procurement, impacting the display chip factory!
1, 11nm, "China Core" officially goes overseas! Foreign media: Chinese experts are right!
Under the background of fierce competition in global semiconductors, the slogans of "self-developed", "domestic", "support Chinese chips", and "don't be stucked" are getting louder and louder. But the slogan is the slogan, and there is only a slogan shouted out by a mouth. After the news of domestic chips came, it seemed so insignificant.
Just recently, Xiaomi officially announced at the press conference that it would launch PCCO C40 mobile phones overseas. This phone is equipped with a Chinese core JR510. Although Xiaomi announced a long time ago that this overseas sub-brand has begun to become independent, and we are not very clear about the current equity structure of this brand, it has always been related to Xiaomi.
can make an 11nm "Chinese core" officially go overseas, and Xiaomi has also made an indelible contribution. The most important thing is that this is the "Chinese chip" that has been launched into overseas markets again after Huawei . Although is not very good in performance, it is similar to Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 or MediaTek G35. It is also farther than Huawei's more advanced Kirin 9000 series chips. However, this has always been an important sign for China's core to go overseas again.
originally thought that everyone would be happy to see such a situation when the slogan was shouted so loudly. However, domestic netizens’ attitude towards this “Chinese core” is helpless.
"The most important thing in making a mobile phone is not the CPU, but the baseband. There is nothing to be happy about." "What we lack in China is not chip design, but the lithography machine ." "The 11nm chip is so low-end, there is nothing to be happy about when going overseas." There are many remarks like this. Admittedly, some remarks do make sense on the surface, but , but this makes people wonder, is this the attitude towards "Chinese core"?
There is a saying, so what about 11nm? It is really not high-end enough. If you want to say this, is it that SMIC is still being produced stably on 28nm? It is not as necessary for TSMC to immediately sprint to the high-end chip production of 2nm, and there is no need to develop it? . Is it necessary for chip design to bloom when there is a lack of a lithography machine and cannot overcome the difficulties of foundry? semiconductor is a very complex environment. As Ren Zhengfei said, they will not build chips by themselves, and every link in a supply chain should have a clear division of labor.
So why do we have such an attitude when facing the 11nm domestic chips going overseas? It’s okay if you are unhappy, but there is really nothing to be happy about with better chip technology design. However, under such remarks, the act of "singing bad things" really makes people mistakenly think that it is the beginning of "internal fighting". And the editor boldly guessed that in this environment, even if our Chinese chips make a bigger breakthrough in the future and are officially used on the product, the voice of the bad voice will still exist. This is like when a certain mobile phone was launched with a domestic chip, the chip configuration was completely criticized. From this we can see that the so-called slogan is really a slogan.
In fact, foreign media's evaluation of this is also very realistic. They said that Chinese experts are right that the development of China's semiconductors has been hit by public opinion to a large extent.
The editor has always agreed with this sentence. In the past, there have actually been many similar things happening to the present. They are not the most advanced technology to break through their disparity. They speak out and accus them of not being able to support the development of domestic semiconductors; when they take a big step towards not being bored, they start to pour cold water... Let's see, this is the "public opinion" environment of China's semiconductors.
may be too high expectations, or it may be that they are not optimistic at all, so they will have similar remarks. However, the editor still wants to say that if foreign media have repeatedly evaluated the development of China's semiconductors, it is worth the vigilance of overseas countries. We might as well be more confident in the development of China's semiconductors. Every small breakthrough is an important step in growth. (Electronic semiconductor industry trends)
2. In the second half of the year, the demand for power management chips has differentiated, and small and medium-sized manufacturers are facing pressure to destock;
Gi Micronet News, semiconductor shortages have been complicated since the first half of this year, and the demand for chips of different applications has diverged. Among them, the overall demand for power management chips is still relatively good, but due to widespread applications, it is also expected that the supply and demand situation will gradually differentiate in the second half of the year, among which automotive switching regulators, multi-channel power management chips, etc. are the strongest.
research institution TrendForce pointed out that in the first half of this year, the demand for linear regulators, , and other markets with relatively simple functions and structures have decreased, and orders are expected to be even lowered by 15 to 30%. The multi-channel power management chip with a slightly longer delivery period is currently in the process of OEM and ODM control inventory of less than 2 months, and price competition pressure is expected to occur in the second half of the year. The industrial control and automobile markets have always been a must-fight for major manufacturers. They have high requirements for the voltage accuracy, temperature control, and reliability of power management chips. It is expected that the prices will continue to be strong in the second half of the year. However, most of this field is dominated by IDM manufacturers such as TI, Infineon , ADI, STMicroelectronics , and ON Semiconductor , and other manufacturers account for a relatively small market share. In terms of delivery time, TrendForce pointed out that from the perspective of IDM manufacturers with a market share of more than 61% of the power management chip, due to the complete product portfolio, stable quality and difficult to be replaced, new orders still face a long delivery time under the current strong demand for production capacity, with the average delivery time of switching regulators reaching 36 to 46 weeks and the delivery time of multi-channel power management chips reaching 40 to 50 weeks. However, some orders with original delivery time of more than 52 weeks can be shipped 4 to 16 weeks in advance. Small and medium-sized power management chip design companies are difficult to compare with IDM manufacturers in terms of product specifications, application scope, etc., and the delivery time is usually no more than 28 weeks.
TrendForce emphasizes that under the trend of moderate expansion of wafer production capacity and gradually becoming normal, dealers, agents, small and medium-sized design manufacturers, etc., which originally increased by 20 to 40% due to tight supply and demand, are under pressure to lower the pricing due to the rapid inventory accumulation speed. To this end, TrendForce expects that the Preferred suppliers of the Approved Vendor List (AVL) in the second half of the year will still maintain stable supply and demand, but manufacturers with non-Preferred, single product types, and limited application fields may need to reduce prices and maintain quantity to sell inventory. But overall, among all chip products, demand for power management chips is still relatively stable in the second half of the year.(Jiwei.com)
3. Samsung plans to start mass production of GAA-based 2nm chips in 2025
BusinessKorea reported on June 20 that Samsung Electronics plans to establish a 3nm GAA process in the next three years to narrow the gap with TSMC by seeking technological leap. Samsung placed the wafer in the 3nm GAA process for trial production in early June, becoming the world's first company to use GAA technology. Compared with the 5nm process, the 3nm process improves semiconductor performance and battery efficiency by 15% and 30%, respectively, while reducing the chip area by 35%.
Following the application of GAA technology to its 3nm process in the first half of this year, Samsung plans to introduce it to its second-generation 3nm chips in 2023 and mass-produce GAA-based 2nm chips in 2025. TSMC's strategy is to enter the 3nm semiconductor market in the second half of this year, adopting a stable FinFET process, while Samsung Electronics is betting on GAA technology. The GAA structure can control the current more accurately than the FinFET process. (Today's core news)
4. Russia restricts gas supply to "unfriendly countries", and South Korea's semiconductors are the first to be hit
semiconductor industry just can't stop.
After solving the supply bottleneck caused by the pandemic, chip manufacturers face a new challenge: Russia is one of the world's largest gas suppliers to make semiconductors, and it has begun to restrict exports.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, Moscow began to restrict the export of inert or "inert" gases to "unfriendly" countries at the end of May, including neon , argon and helium . All three gases are used to produce microelectronic chips in large numbers of consumer products, from smartphones to washing machines to cars, which have been in short supply for months.
This is the latest counterattack by Russian President Vladimir Putin countries that imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow for their attacks on Ukraine. Before the war, Russia and Ukraine accounted for about 30% of the neon supply in the chip industry, according to data from consulting company Bain.
export restrictions are at the time when the semiconductor industry and its customers are beginning to get rid of the worst supply crisis. According to LMC Automotive, automakers saw a 10 million vehicle production cut last year due to chip shortages, but supply is expected to improve in the second half of this year. "Obviously, what we don't need is another drama that could affect or even hinder the recovery," said Justin Cox, the global production director of
he told CNN Business that gas export restrictions were "worrying" but did not surprise chip manufacturers. He said the industry has been preparing for further supply disruptions in the region after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine eight years ago.
chip manufacturers have been preparing
In a process called lithography, neon plays a crucial role in semiconductor production. The gas controls the wavelength of light generated by the laser when the pattern is etched onto the silicon wafer that constitutes the chip.
Before the war, Russia collected raw neon at its steel plant as a by-product and then transported it to Ukraine for purification. Jonas Sundqvist, a senior technical analyst at market research firm Techcet, told CN Business Channel that the two countries have been the main producers of inert gases since the Soviet era, when the superpower used them to build their military and space technologies.
conflict has caused lasting damage to gas production capacity. Fierce battles in some Ukrainian cities, including two strategically important port cities, Mariupol and Odessa , have destroyed industrial bases, making exporting goods from the region extremely difficult.
"Now we have permanently lost some purification capabilities in Mariupol and Odessa," Sundqvist said.
But since Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, semiconductor manufacturers have been reducing their dependence on the region.
Peter Hanbury, partner at Bain’s Americas manufacturing business, told CNN Business that chipmakers have redoubled their efforts after the February incident.
Hanbury said the industry's neon dependence on Ukraine and Russia was "very high in history", between 80% and 90%. But since 2014, chip manufacturers have reduced that proportion to less than one-third.
"The industry recognizes the risks associated with [the region] and begins to conduct basic certification of new sources, development new countries and specific suppliers," he added.
Price rises
Now it is too early to know how Russia's export restrictions will affect semiconductor manufacturers.
Hanbury said that so far, the war in Ukraine has not affected the production of chips.
"I don't think we're seeing an impact for at least a few months...I do think the impact we're seeing may be small," he said.
However, even if chip manufacturers can make up for the lost supply in the region, they may end up paying more for these important gases.
Sundqvist says it is difficult to track the prices of neon and other gases, as most are traded under private long-term contracts. But Techcet estimates that gas contract prices have risen fivefold since the invasion earlier this year and will remain high in the near term.
"[Russia's export restrictions] will certainly have an impact on any new contract," Sundqvist said.
He added that South Korea, which owns a huge chip maker Samsung (SSNLF), will feel the pain first because it relies on inert gas imports, and unlike the United States, Japan and Europe, it lacks large gas companies that can increase production.
According to data compiled by Counterpoint Research, Samsung surpassed Intel (INTC) last year and became the largest semiconductor manufacturer with revenue.
Another world's largest chip manufacturer, Micron Technology (MU), told CNN Business that it has seen rising prices of inert gases, but "supply is sufficient in the next few months" and is not expected to cut production in the short term.
"[We] are taking steps to ensure additional supply over a longer period of time," a company spokesperson said.
China may benefit
Two years later, countries are now competing to build their own chip manufacturing capabilities, which has cruelly exposed them to the fluctuations in global supply chains.
Intel has proposed to help the U.S. government implement its plan and announced earlier this year that it would invest $20 billion in two new factories. Last year, Samsung also promised to build a $17 billion factory in Texas.
More chip manufacturing may translate into higher demand for inert gases.
China may be a big beneficiary as Russia threatens to cut its exports. According to Sundqvist, they have the “largest, latest” production capacity.
Since 2015, the country has invested heavily in its own semiconductor industry, including the equipment needed to separate inert gases from other industrial products. He said China is now a net exporter of these gases to and claims to be self-reliant.
Sundqvist added that the world's demand for inert gases may be concentrated in China and the county will "get good prices for [its] products".( Semiconductor Industry Observation)
5, the four major automotive chip IDMs, and the purchase of UD production capacity
wafer foundry mature process production capacity is loose, international automotive chip manufacturers have recently come to NTU to grab production capacity. The "Four Heavenly Kings" of automotive chips, including leading Infineon, second brother NXP, Deyi, Microchip Technology (Microchiph), all seek UDU to increase the investment of chips, and shouted "How much production capacity is collected", which boosted UDU's capacity utilization rate and continued to be full, and the popularity continued to be safe until the end of the year.
Industry analysis, the large order report of automotive chips "Four Heavenly Kings" not only keeps UP's production capacity full, but also makes up for the gap in the decline in other chip markets in a timely manner, but also effectively alleviates the shortage of automotive chips that have plagued car manufacturers for a long time.
industry has also reported that although UMC has weakened demands and demanded a reduction in the situation of film investment, due to the promise of "receiving as much production capacity as possible", UMC unexpectedly did not require customers who intend to repair the production volume to force the purchase, but privately informed "to correct the production volume to report it immediately", so as to facilitate the internal quick production capacity to take over the orders of automotive customers and meet their needs.
Unplc has never commented on customers and orders, emphasizing that the demand for automotive market is still very strong. Not only does the capacity utilization rate this quarter exceed 100%, but the supply is still in short supply, it is expected that the production capacity will also maintain such a hot situation by the end of this year.
legal person pointed out that automotive chips have been in short supply in the past two years, and the delivery period starts at least ten months, which has led to chaos in the global auto market, which has caused the heads of the United States and the European Union to attach great importance to it and has repeatedly consulted indicator suppliers to discuss countermeasures.
Because most automotive chips are produced in mature processes, the demand for driving ICs and some simulated ICs has weakened recently, and a single wave has occurred, resulting in a gap in the production capacity of mature wafer foundry processes. Major automotive chip manufacturers around the world must not miss the opportunity and actively seize production capacity.
It is understood that this time, the "Four Kings" of automotive chips including Infineon, NXP, Deyi, Microchip Technology, etc. all found UMC to increase the number of chips. According to the industry's initial estimate, these four customers account for more than 30% of the total global automotive chip market. UMC's operations are booming under the large order of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of automotive chips.
From the perspective of international major manufacturers, Infineon previously pointed out that, including unconfirmed orders, the amount of backlog orders in the first quarter of this year increased by 19.4% to 37 billion euros in the previous quarter, reaching 37 billion euros. More than 50% of them were automobile-related products, and the backlog orders were obviously far beyond Infineon's delivery capabilities.
NXP CEO Kurt Sievers also said that the company's expectations for strong growth in 2022 are being realized, customer demand is still strong, overall, market demand is still greater than supply, and inventory in all terminal markets is still low. (Economic Daily)
6. An earthquake occurred in Taiwan, China! TSMC and UMC responded...
At 9:5 am today (20th), a Ruishi-scale 5.9 earthquake occurred in the waters of Taiwan, China.
According to China Earthquake Network measurement, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred in Hualien County, Taiwan, China (23.66 degrees north latitude, 121.52 degrees east longitude), with a depth of 10 kilometers.
screenshot from Weibo @China Earthquake Network News (same below)
Subsequently, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake occurred in Hualien County, Taiwan, China (23.73 degrees north latitude, 121.50 degrees east longitude), with a focal depth of 10 kilometers.
It is understood that the epicenter of this address is located on the island, 153 kilometers away from Taipei City. The earthquake caused a strong tremor across the island, a significant tremor in Fujian, and netizens in Zhejiang also reported tremor.
In this regard, wafer foundry manufacturers TSMC and UMC have successively stated that all factory production and operations will not be affected by the earthquake.
Taiwan media reported that TSMC stated that the factory areas including Zhuke, Zhongke and Nanke are not affected by the earthquake. UMC also pointed out that the production and operation of Zhuke and Nanke factory areas will not be affected.
It is reported that the earthquake was 37.7 kilometers south and west of the Hualien County Government, located in Guangfu Township, Hualien County. The maximum quake in Hualien County is 5 weak, the maximum quake in Taichung City and Tainan City is 3, and the maximum quake in Hsinchu County and City is 2. (Xinwenshe)
7. Samsung suspends external procurement, impacting the display chip factory!
June 20th news, Samsung Group considers the surge in inventory and the impact of global inflation on consumption. It will suspend external procurement by the end of July, and requires many suppliers to delay the shipment of components and parts by several weeks, or reduce shipments.
Since Samsung is also the leader in smartphones, the market is concerned about whether the panel industry has become the hardest hit area for Samsung to suspend purchases. Fortunately, MediaTek, Daliguang , Shuanghong and other Samsung mobile supply chains said yesterday (16th) that the overall operation outlook remains unchanged, which means that Samsung mobile phone chains are relatively relaxed.
Industry insiders pointed out that compared with Apple highly relies on the Taiwanese factory to provide iPhone components, Samsung mobile phone components have a high self-made rate, almost achieving "one-stop production". Not only has its own processors, storage, OLEDs, and many ICs are self-made, only some processors are supplied by MediaTek, while Daliguang and Shuanghong provide some lenses and cooling modules.
MediaTek has never commented on the orders related to a single customer. Yesterday, it reiterated that the operating outlook for the second quarter remains unchanged.
MediaTek CEO Cai Lixing mentioned at the shareholders' meeting recently that although the global semiconductor industry has some headwinds, the long-term outlook is still optimistic, and the company's growth will be higher than the average growth rate of the global semiconductor industry.
Daliguang is a Samsung mobile phone lens supplier. Regarding the progress of mobile phone lens upgrades, Lin En, chairman of Daliguang, said recently that there are more 8P (eight-piece plastic lenses) models, and 9P has the opportunity to introduce them. However, he admitted that customers lack confidence in high-end models, and overall this year looks more pessimistic than last year, but there is still a better chance of operating in the second half of this year than in the first half of this year.
heat dissipation module factory Shuanghong said that the company has not received any message from relevant customers asking for a suspension of purchase, and the new and old mobile phone models of Samsung are still being shipped normally.
is the first to bear the brunt of the LCD panel field, and Samsung has issued a notice of stopping supply to panel suppliers such as AUO and Qunchuang. The current panel quotation fell below the cash cost, and the huge outlet of Samsung was missing, making the panel double tiger operation even worse. The storm related to
has also extended to monitor-related chips. With the constant noise in the semiconductor market, Samsung's move has once again wrinkled a pool of spring water in the semiconductor market. Especially the display-related chip factories Lianyong, Duntai, and surrounding IC factories Aegis, are facing challenges.
Industry insiders said that the market demand is not good now. The key is to see that the first half of the year is about to end, and the semi-annual reports of the supply chain will be released one after another. At that time, you can observe the inventory situation of each manufacturer to decide how to adjust the next step.
part of IC design manufacturer that has a cooperative relationship with Samsung said that due to the signing of the two parties, Samsung is still continuing to pull goods, and the quantity has not decreased, but the price has indeed been revised down with the fluctuations in the market.
Lianyong is a large panel driver IC manufacturer. The company recently pointed out that due to the suppression of terminal consumption buying, the market situation in the third quarter is not so clear. Next, observe the sales of the 618 promotion schedule and the September return to school wave. In the wafer production capacity and feeding, inventory adjustments will inevitably be made according to demand.
Lianyong emphasizes that it is a long-term partnership with customers and suppliers. As long as there is a contract with suppliers, it will also sign contracts in terms of customers. The company's product lines are diverse, such as the application of driver ICs from 1 inch to 100 inch products, covering large, medium and small sizes and different fields, so the capacity application is more flexible. Lian Yong has been very strict in inventory control in the past, and hopes to maintain a controllable level in the future.
Regarding the inventory issue, Lian Yong said that inventory existence will increase in the short term because of the long production cycle. The part of who has placed orders for has changed due to demand, the sales period may be lengthened, and the inventory will increase. This is difficult to change within one quarter, and it will take about two quarters to adjust. Although ASUS does not comment on Samsung's order status, they believe that there should be seasonal demand in the next third season.
Duntai mainly supplies Samsung OLED touch chips. The company previously mentioned that the mobile phone market conditions are affected by external environmental factors, and the downstream pull-in power this quarter should not be very strong, but due to long-term contracts with customers, the momentum of pulling goods should be restored after inventory decreases in the second half of the year.
In addition, industry insiders analyzed that Samsung's largest out-of-procurement parts are LCD panels that have just finished their own production. Samsung, as the world's largest TV brand, has a great demand for LCD. Since it no longer has self-made capabilities, it must rely on out-of-procurement. The procurement targets cover BOE , Huike , Super Video Sakai, Qunchuang, AUO, etc. Therefore, Samsung's suspension of external procurement this time has the greatest impact on the LCD industry.
AUO and TCM both said yesterday that they would not comment on market rumors and reports; Taiwan’s Samsung did not respond to this. Another saying is that Samsung has suspended procurement from component suppliers this time, covering areas such as smartphones, TVs, and monitors. Among them, panel-related applications that are still falling continuously with the current quotations, they have become the biggest hit areas.
Industry news came out that Samsung has notified panel suppliers such as Huike, Super Video Sakai, and BOE, and the business department of the Taiwan factory has also received relevant notices one after another.
Industry analysis shows that downstream demand and excessive LCD panel inventory are the reasons why Samsung's big moves to suspend procurement. It is reported that the current Samsung LCD panel inventory water level is as high as 16 weeks, and the access inventory water level in North America and Europe has also reached a high point. Therefore, Samsung had previously reported that it had cut orders for the second season of TV panels, reducing at least two or three million films. Now it has suspended the delivery of goods from suppliers, which is even more unfavorable to suppliers such as AUO and Qunchuang.
industry judges that Samsung should hope to reduce panel inventory to a normal water level of 10 to 12 weeks in more than one month. Since the production plan of panel factories in June is already underway, if Samsung suspends procurement, Taiwan's two largest panel factories may not have time to reduce production.
panel quotations have continued to break the bottom recently. In early June, the prices of TV panels of all sizes fell by more than 50% from the high of July last year, and all fell below cash costs. Now Samsung has suspended procurement, which means that panel manufacturers such as AUO and Qunchuang are facing greater pressure to lose money.
Industry insiders pointed out that Samsung has close cooperation with UMC. After Samsung released its 28nm image signal processor (ISP) to UMC for OEM, this year, the two sides also cooperated in OLED driver ICs and 22nm high-voltage processes and expanded production capacity. UMC emphasized yesterday that it would not comment on rumors and customers, but the company's outlook for the quarter remains optimistic and maintains previous laws and would predict it. (China Semiconductor Forum)
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