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November 9
- Wang Hong Wu Min-Qiu: US Demands Technology Transfer, TSMC May Hardly Say No | Anue Cnyes - Taiwan Stock News
➀ Wang Hong Wu Min-Qiu states that the US will undoubtedly demand TSMC to replicate and produce 5nm and even 2nm processes in the US, which is the true meaning of protectionist policy, and TSMC may not have the capital to say no.
➁ Wu Min-Qiu points out that although Taiwan has strict regulations on semiconductor technology exports, including restrictions from N-2 to N-1, under the dual considerations of the US' full-fledged development of AI and the tense situation across the Taiwan Strait, the best protection for the US is to require TSMC to replicate and produce its most advanced processes in the US.
➂ Regarding TSMC's technological advantages, Wu Min-Qiu analyzes that the key to TSMC's ability to achieve much higher yields than US manufacturers at the same process node lies in its powerful mathematical team, which uses AI big data analysis to produce and manufacture processes, quickly shortening the learning curve.
October 23
- TSMC Halts Shipments to Customer After Discovering Chips Were Used by Huawei
➀ TSMC stopped shipping chips to a specific customer in mid-October after discovering the chips were used in Huawei products;
➁ It is unclear whether the customer represents Huawei and where its headquarters are located;
➂ The incident provides new clues to recent reports, including those from The Information, which claimed the US recently contacted TSMC about producing chips for a blacklisted Chinese company;
➃ Huawei has relied on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) for its chip production, including the 7-nanometer chips used in its smartphones last August;
➄ TSMC stopped shipping chips to Huawei after September 15, 2020, and reiterated this point when asked about TechInsights' report;
➅ TSMC and Huawei representatives refused to comment on the reports;
➆ The US Department of Commerce acknowledged that there may have been violations of US export control regulations;
➇ TSMC stated that it is a law-abiding company committed to complying with all applicable regulations, including export control regulations;
➈ Huawei stated that it has not produced any chips through TSMC since the implementation of the Foreign Direct Product Rule (FDPR) in 2020;
➉ Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs stated that Taiwan respects the US' export control measures and will communicate fully with TSMC;
➊ The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) had a meeting with TSMC executives in October to discuss supply chain issues, including whether third-party distributors can provide restricted technology to China.
- ASML CEO Predicts Increased U.S. Pressure on Chip Exports to China
➀ ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet predicts the U.S. will increase pressure on semiconductor technology sales to China.
➁ Fouquet believes the key issue is what is beneficial for the Netherlands and Europe.
➂ ASML's business with China focuses on mature technology with low relevance to national security.
➃ Current export restrictions have caused China to lag behind in advanced technology by 10 to 15 years.
➄ Fouquet estimates the chip market will recover in 2025, with 2026 expected to be ASML's 'growth year'.
October 21
- Nvidia Develops New nGPT, Expected to Increase Training Speed by 20 Times | Anue Cnyes - Technology
➀ Nvidia researchers have proposed a novel neural network architecture called Normalized Transformer (nGPT);
➁ nGPT accelerates learning, reducing training steps by 4 to 20 times depending on sequence length;
➂ The technology can increase the training speed of large language models (LLM) by up to 20 times while maintaining model accuracy;
➃ The evolution from GPT to nGPT involves modifying the baseline Transformer to create a normalized version, focusing on the Transformer decoder and self-attention;
➄ The key modification involves limiting all embedding vectors to have unit norm and normalizing weights during training;
➅ nGPT utilizes feature learning rate, an innovative approach that applies learning rate to specific model dimensions to optimize attention and MLP block updates for better accuracy and stability.
October 19
- Amazon to Delay Launch of Systems with Nvidia's New Chipsets to 2025
➀ Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that the systems with Nvidia's latest Blackwell chipsets will be delayed until early next year, later than the originally expected timeline.
➁ The delay is due to production changes, known as 'respin,' which requires Amazon to wait for a large supply of chips to install in data centers.
➂ AWS CEO Matt Garman said that they are working with Nvidia to improve production, but it may take until early next year to get substantial quantities of the new chips.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Foundry Investigated by U.S. for Huawei Chip Production
➀ The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating TSMC for potentially producing AI or smartphone chips for Huawei.
➁ TSMC responds that the company is a law-abiding enterprise committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including export controls.
➂ There is a possibility that Huawei may have purchased chips from TSMC under different company names or through intermediary companies, and it is being investigated whether TSMC conducted due diligence on customers (KYC) when accepting orders.
October 17
- Rapidus Plans to Produce 2 Nanometer Chips, to Receive EUV Lithography Machines in December
➀ Rapidus aims to mass-produce 2 nanometer chips by 2027 in its plant in Hokkaido, Japan, and is set to start receiving Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines in December;
➁ The local media reports that the advanced process trial production line of Rapidus' Hokkaido plant is less than 6 months away from startup, and it is expected to bring over 1.8 trillion yen of economic benefits to the local area;
➂ The Hokkaido New Industry Cluster Bureau, an industrial organization supporting the establishment of a domestic semiconductor ecosystem in Japan, estimates that by the fiscal year 2036, the economic chain effect of Rapidus' plant in Hokkaido could reach as high as 1.88 trillion yen.
October 15
- NAND Flash Demand Weakness Expected to Lead to Q4 Contract Price Decline of 3-8%
➀ NAND Flash demand is weak, with contract prices expected to decline by 3-8% in Q4;
➁ TrendForce predicts that the decline in contract prices will be over 10% in Q4, with the exception of enterprise-level SSDs, which will only see a small increase of 5%;
➂ The demand for servers remains stable, but consumer markets are weak, and the supply exceeds demand due to overproduction and conservative procurement strategies.
October 9
- Jianxin Technology Optimistic About RISC-V Architecture's Future Development: Comprehensive Expansion in AI, Automotive Electronics, and IoT Applications➀ Jianxin Technology remains optimistic about the future applications of the RISC-V architecture across various fields, particularly in AI, automotive electronics, and IoT. ➁ The company expects a significant increase in licensing fee revenue in the second half of 2024 as customer projects restart. ➂ The royalty revenue is also expected to grow as chips begin mass production. ➃ Despite previous losses due to increased research and development expenses, Jianxin Technology is expected to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter of 2024.
October 4
- Taiwan's Zhang Zhongming Hopes for More Excellence in Three Fields in His Memoir's Second Volume➀ Zhang Zhongming's second volume of his memoir will be released at the end of November; ➁ He expressed his hope for more excellence in Taiwan's fields of financial management, science and technology, and cognitive education; ➂ Zhang Zhongming confirmed his attendance at TSMC's sports meet on October 26.
October 2
- ASML Accelerates Green Energy Adoption, Two Plants Reach 100% Renewable Energy Use in 2024➀ ASML has officially introduced green energy at its Taiwan facilities, aiming for 100% renewable energy use at Lin Kou and Tainan plants in 2024; ➁ ASML has been recognized for its sustainable efforts, including winning the外商企業組冠军 in the '天下永續公民獎' and placing second in the 外商企業組 of the '天下人才永續獎'; ➂ ASML focuses on extending product lifecycles and promoting circular economy, with over 130 refurbished machines back in the market since 2010; ➃ ASML collaborates with Taiwanese suppliers to reduce carbon emissions, including localizing packaging and optimizing logistics operations; ➄ ASML invests in STEM education, partnering with non-profit organizations and universities to promote semiconductor optical science education; ➅ ASML emphasizes employee training and development, offering a global career development platform and internal job rotation opportunities.
October 1
- Semiconductor Exports Boost South Korea's Record-Breaking September Trade➀ South Korea's exports surged 7.5% year-on-year in September, with semiconductors, wireless communication equipment, computers, cars, ships, and medical products leading the growth; ➁ Semiconductor exports, including memory chips, saw a significant increase, driven by the launch of new smartphones like the iPhone 16 and AI server investments; ➂ The country's trade surplus expanded to 67 billion USD, with exports to China and the US also witnessing growth.
September 3
- European Semiconductor Industry Calls for New Chip Regulations, Enhanced Subsidies, and Reduced Export Restrictions➀ The European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) has urged the EU to expedite aid and revise the 'Chips Act 2.0' to support local semiconductor industries, including appointing a special envoy for the sector. ➁ ESIA advocates for a more open trade policy in the semiconductor industry, emphasizing the global nature of the sector and the need for high openness in supply chains. ➂ The association also calls for a proactive economic security approach based on support and incentives rather than defensive measures like restrictions and protections.
- Wistron Partners with Zettabyte to Build Taiwan's First Ultra-Large-Scale AI Data Center➀ Zettabyte and Wistron announce a strategic alliance to build Taiwan's first ultra-large-scale AI data center. ➁ The collaboration aims to meet the growing demand for AI and machine learning technologies in Asia. ➂ The data center will leverage Wistron's ICT expertise and NVIDIA's AI hardware platform to enhance Taiwan's global AI ecosystem. ➃ The project is expected to strengthen Taiwan's AI infrastructure and competitiveness, benefiting sectors like semiconductors, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and smart cities.
September 2
- SJTU Team Achieves Breakthrough in Miniaturized High-Performance LiDAR➀ Foxconn's research institute and the team from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University have developed a high-frequency, high-efficiency laser driver circuit based on gallium nitride transistor complementary architecture. ➁ The research team has applied for patents related to the complementary pulse laser driver method using gallium nitride transistors. ➂ The developed high-frequency short-pulse laser driver features a switching frequency of up to 50MHz, pulse width less than 10 nanoseconds, and peak power of 50W, with a conversion efficiency of 75%.
- Wu Tianyu: Increasing Difficulties in AI Hardware Technology Require Cross-Domain Collaboration in Semiconductor Industry➀ Wu Tianyu, COO of ASE Technology Holding, emphasizes the need for cross-domain collaboration in the semiconductor industry to address increasing technical challenges in AI hardware. ➁ He notes that Taiwan's dominance in advanced manufacturing is not matched in areas like memory and materials, necessitating broader partnerships. ➂ Wu suggests that the industry must choose the right partners to tackle complex semiconductor issues, involving memory, equipment, materials, and packaging.
August 31
- Samsung Considers Acquiring Nokia's Network Assets to Counter Huawei➀ Samsung has expressed preliminary interest in acquiring parts of Nokia's assets to expand its wireless access network capabilities. ➁ The potential acquisition is still in early stages, with the total value of the assets estimated at around $10 billion. ➂ Nokia remains committed to its mobile network business, which is strategically important for the company.
August 27
- Intel Unveils Four Technical Papers at Hot Chips, Xeon 6 SoC to Launch in H1 2025➀ Intel presented four technical papers at Hot Chips 2024, detailing the Xeon 6 SoC, Lunar Lake client processor, Gaudi 3 AI accelerator, and OCI chiplet. ➁ The Xeon 6 SoC (Granite Rapids-D) is set to launch in the first half of 2025, featuring improved performance and efficiency. ➂ Intel highlighted advancements in AI applications across data centers, cloud, and edge computing, showcasing the industry's first fully integrated optical compute interconnect chiplet.
August 26
- Manz Seizes Panel-Level Packaging RDL Opportunity with 700mm Equipment Delivery➀ Manz, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer, has delivered 300/510/600/700mm panel-level packaging RDL production lines to multiple international clients. ➁ The company emphasizes the importance of panel-level packaging due to its higher area utilization and lower production costs, especially in the context of growing AI server demands. ➂ Manz is focusing on advancing RDL technology, particularly in high-density glass and diversified chemical processes, to meet the increasing requirements for advanced 2.5D and 3D packaging.