Today's hot topics
1. The US pushes the chip bill, which may severely hit global NAND output
2. Global server orders, and may be revised next year
3. Micro-Easy Innovation launches ultra-small USON6 package NOR Flash, with a maximum thickness of 0.4mm
4. IDCh: The global chip shortage has not ended yet, and the equipment factory will pass on the cost to customers
5. lithography machine leader ASML cut financial test, semiconductor chain has pressure
6. TSMC's reissuance of US dollar bonds has attracted attention
01
The US pushes the chip bill, which may hit global NAND output
According to Taiwan's Economic Daily, the United States plans to set limits on semiconductor manufacturers that have obtained US subsidies to set up factories in the United States, requiring no specific investment in China within ten years. Samsung is actively seeking subsidies for the establishment of factories in the United States. This move by the US will make Samsung invest in the world's most advanced flash memory factory in Xi'an face the dilemma of being unable to upgrade and expand production, which will hit global NAND output severely.
The industry pointed out that Samsung Xi'an factory is the group's most advanced and largest overseas NAND chip production base, with a monthly production capacity of up to 250,000 pieces, and the total production capacity of Samsung NAND Flash accounts for about 42.3% of the total production capacity of Samsung NAND Flash; from a global perspective, Samsung Xi'an factory accounts for as high as 15.3% of the global NAND Flash market output.
Industry insiders analyzed that Samsung Xi'an factory is not only very important to Samsung Group , but also one of the base camps for global NAND chip output. The factory dynamics are affecting the NAND market trend. Samsung is actively investing in the construction of new US factories, and is also striving for subsidies from the US side, competing with TSMC and Intel . Once the US side throws the tight curse of "semiconductor factories that receive subsidies are not allowed to make specific investments in the mainland within ten years", Samsung's Xi'an factory development will inevitably be hindered.
Industry insiders said that Samsung Xi'an factory is the group's most advanced NAND production base, and the process is also the most advanced technology. It is definitely a field that the US prohibits expansion. Once the factory cannot upgrade equipment for ten years, "How many generations will it lag behind the mainstream process if it does not upgrade for ten years?" It means that more than 15% of the world's NAND production capacity will have no production competitiveness in the future and will become invalid production capacity, which means that the global supply of NAND will also be greatly reduced.
02
Global server orders, and may be revised next year
According to Taiwan media "Business Times", there is a strong demand for building data centers to benefit from CSP (large cloud service providers). The global server market continues to heat up under the steady growth of ODM Direct OEM direct sales servers. Research and research institutions estimate that overall server shipments in 2022 and 2023 will increase by 4% and 7% a year. However, global economy is under pressure, and the orders of brand customers CSP manufacturers seem to show signs of loosening. The legal person is worried that the effect of down-revision of server orders may emerge in 2023.
CSP manufacturers continue to expand data centers, and key components such as power management ICs are no longer short of them in the second half of 2022. The legal person estimates that data center ODM Direct suppliers include Inert, QD and Weiying, etc. The previous orders that were deferred by about 10 to 20% will be shipped in the third quarter, pushing the proportion of ODM Direct server shipments in the overall industry to 39%, and driving the total global server shipments to increase by 4% annually, reaching about 13.5 million units.
However, , the new generation of server CPU platforms originally scheduled for mass production in the fourth quarter, cannot be reached as scheduled. Brand customers have delayed the delivery schedule to 2023, which will cause the overall server shipment in the fourth quarter to be quarterly reduced by , which will drive the total overall server shipment in 2023 to increase by 7% annually, reaching about 14.45 million units.
According to the manufacturer's feedback, American brand customers including Dell and HPE all have slight delays in order delivery. As for Chinese CSP manufacturers, in addition to ByteDance's active expansion of TikTok's overseas business, orders are still growing steadily, including Baidu , Alibaba , Tencent , etc., all lower orders in 2022.
Although American CSP manufacturers have not revised for capital expenditure in 2022, considering that the shadow of the global economic recession has not been eliminated, it is not ruled out that manufacturers may place relevant server orders. If other CSP manufacturers follow up, the impact on the overall server market in 2023 will expand.
03
MYI Innovation launches ultra-small USON6 package NOR Flash, with a maximum thickness of 0.4mm
Yesterday (20th), semiconductor device supplier GigaDevice announced the launch of the GD25WDxxK6 SPI NOR Flash product series, using 1.2mm×1.2mm The USON6 ultra-small plastic packaging, with a maximum thickness of only 0.4mm, has further improved its power consumption, voltage range and other aspects in such a compact and light space, providing an ideal choice for applications such as consumer electronics, wearable devices, the Internet of Things, and portable health monitoring devices that have strict demands for battery life and compact design.
MYI innovatively launched the GD25WDxxK6 SPI NOR Flash product series adopts an ultra-small USON6 package of only 1.2mm×1.2mm. Compared with the previous generation of 1.5mm×1.5mm USON8 package products, the footprint of is reduced by up to 36%, providing greater design freedom for space-constrained products. In terms of low-power design, Gioyi Innovation controls the power consumption of the GD25WDxxK6 series to an extremely low level. In standby state, the current is only 0.1μA, which can significantly extend the battery life of electronic devices.
In addition, in order to meet the storage needs of portable electronic products, provides a single-channel and dual-channel SPI mode, with a wide voltage working range of 1.65V~3.6V, supports different capacity selections of 512Kb~4Mb, with a maximum clock frequency can reach 104MHz, and has a 100,000 erase life of . The data can be effective for 20 years, and the entire series supports the temperature range of -40℃~85℃, -40℃~105℃, and -40℃~125℃.
Currently, the 512Kb~1Mb capacity products in the Gigabit Innovation GD25WDxxK6 series have been fully mass-produced; samples can be provided for 2Mb~4Mb capacity products, and mass production is expected to be achieved in mid-August.
04
IDC: Global chip shortage has not ended yet, and equipment factories will pass on the cost to customers
The chip shortage problem that has been ongoing for a long time has not been resolved until now. The IDC of the Science and Technology Municipal Commission for Research warned that the Russian-Ukrainian war continued to have an impact on the supply of key components.
CNBC reported that Vinay Gupta, director of IDC's Asia Pacific Research Department, said in an interview on the 19th that the supply of semiconductors may be difficult to increase immediately, and many raw materials and industrial gases are still in short supply. He said the Russian-Ukraine war has caused challenges in supply chains, and these two countries are the largest exporters of the inert gas "krypton".
neon (neon) is also a key raw material for chip manufacturing process and is used in the so-called lithography technology. Peter Hanbury, a semiconductor analyst at the research institute Bain & Co., pointed out that more than half of the world's neon gas is supplied by several Ukrainian companies.
Gupta pointed out that the supply chain is disturbed and the cost is increasing, which means that the average price of the device will be raised, and the sellers of basic equipment will also pass on the cost to customers.
05
leader in lithography machines ASML cut financial results, semiconductor chain pressure
According to Taiwan media Economic Daily, The global leader in semiconductor lithography machines, Dutch ASML announced on the 20th that its net profit increased by more than 35% in the previous quarter, but warned that it had cut the annual revenue growth rate estimate for the whole year due to supply chain problems and internal strategies, from the original estimate of 20% to 10% , the increase was halved, and the annual gross profit margin estimate was revised down for the second time, mainly due to the increase in additional costs and the impact of inflation pressure.
ASML supplies the most critical lithography equipment for semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC, Intel, and Samsung, and is also the exclusive supplier of extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) machines that are necessary for advanced processes. ASML cuts annual revenue estimates, and the industry is worried about revealing that the semiconductor economy is weakening and the industry's investment is slowing down.
ASML mentioned that some customers in the consumer market showed signs of slowing down, but strong demand driven by global trends such as automobiles, high-speed computing and green energy transformation are still observed.
06
TSMC's reissuance of US dollar bonds has attracted attention
According to Bloomberg recently quoted people familiar with the matter, TSMC is planning to sell two batches of US dollar bonds with different maturities. The initial price is set at a face rate of 150 basis points higher than US Treasury bonds and 200 basis points higher than 5-year and 10-year US Treasury bonds.
The sale of TSMC has attracted investors' attention after major customer Apple has announced plans to slow recruitment and spending next year to deal with a potential recession. TSMC warned last week that capital expenditures would slow down and revealed that the cost of building overseas factories has proven to be very high.
According to Bloomberg data, after TSMC issued 4-term bonds in April, the initial price yield of the bonds to be issued this time is at least 50 basis points higher than the existing US dollar bond yield of the same term.
Moody's Investment said in a report that TSMC's Aa3 credit rating is limited by capital-intensive and cyclical forces in the semiconductor industry and must bear large capital expenditures to fund continuous technology development and meet the growing demands of existing and new customers. Ting Meng, senior Asian credit strategist at Bank of Australia and New Zealand Group, said that although the chip industry is very cyclical and volatile, it is still expected to continue to grow rapidly.
