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December 9
- Chips: Major Manufacturers Offer Deep Discounts on Mature Processes
➀ Manufacturers are offering significant discounts on mature process wafers to attract Taiwan IC designers, with prices as low as 60% off;
➁ The discounted products are mainly for mature process chips such as driver ICs, power management ICs, and MCUs;
➂ The demand for mature process products like driver ICs, microcontrollers, and power management ICs has weakened, leading to a buyer's market;
➃ The largest price reductions are seen in 40/45 nm processes, with 12-inch wafer prices being reduced to as low as 60% of Taiwan wafer manufacturers' quotes;
➄ There is a wave of switching orders as Taiwan IC designers increase wafer orders due to the significant discounts;
➅ The capacity utilization of Taiwan wafer fabs like United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) and TSMC, which rely heavily on mature processes, has fallen below 70%, negatively impacting revenue and margins.
- Marvell: The Quiet Rise of a Semiconductor Giant
➀ Marvell's market capitalization surpassed $100 billion for the first time after releasing its Q3 fiscal year 2025 financial results;
➁ Marvell's ASIC business is a key driver of its growth, with over 2,000 custom chips designed over 25 years;
➂ Marvell's custom AI chip services are becoming a major revenue source, with significant partnerships and a goal of capturing 20% of the $40 billion custom chip market in data centers;
➃ Marvell's interconnect business is growing rapidly, with advancements in PAM4 SerDes technology and optical interconnect solutions;
➄ Marvell's 3nm optical DSP and 5nm PCIe retimer products are set to drive future growth;
➅ Marvell's 51.2T Ethernet switch, Teralynx 10, is designed for low power and high performance in data center environments;
➆ Marvell's focus on AI and data center technologies is expected to continue driving growth and market capitalization.
- India's Insatiable Demand for Chips
➀ India's semiconductor import value grew by 18.5% in the fiscal year 2023-24, reaching 171 billion rupees.
➁ In the fiscal year 2024, India imported 18.43 billion semiconductor chips.
➂ The Indian government has initiated projects like 'India Semiconductor Show' to reduce dependence on imports by promoting domestic production and attracting foreign investment.
- Arm CEO's Perspective on Intel's Current Situation
➀ Arm CEO, Rene Haas, expresses his views on Intel's current situation, highlighting the importance of innovation in the tech industry.
➁ Haas discusses Intel's strategic challenges, particularly the IDM vs. Fabless debate, and his belief in the potential advantages of vertical integration.
➂ The CEO addresses rumors about Arm's potential acquisition of Intel and its plans to expand its chip manufacturing business.
- ASML Former Employee Banned from Entering the Netherlands for Stealing Technology
➀ Dutch Minister of Asylum and Migration has imposed a 20-year entry ban on a former ASML employee.
➁ The ex-employee, a 43-year-old Russian engineer, is also facing charges for violating sanctions regulations.
➂ He is accused of stealing ASML and Mapper Lithography chip technology documents over the years.
December 8
- Southeast Asia Semiconductors: Emerging or Just a Buzz?
➀ The US-China tension is fostering a tech hub in Southeast Asia with over $100 billion in foreign direct investment in Malaysia and Vietnam.
➁ The rise is driven by multinational corporations, governments, and startups developing AI and establishing chip manufacturing centers.
➂ Malaysia is expanding its chip manufacturing capacity and attracting foreign investment, aiming to become a high-income country.
➃ Vietnam's Bac Ninh province is becoming a high-tech industrial center with over 37,000 new jobs created.
➄ China's tech firms are setting up operations in Vietnam to avoid trade restrictions and access advanced chips.
➅ Singapore's Jurong district is becoming a hub for AI and data centers, with significant investments from Nvidia and Microsoft.
- 0.7nm Era Approaching: Imec and Intel Share Roadmap
➀ Intel, TSMC, and Samsung are advancing their processes to 1.8nm (18A) and 1.6nm (16A) with full-gate transistors (Intel calls them RibbonFET) and further to the 14A node.
➁ Imec is researching the next-generation complementary field-effect transistor (CFET) stacked transistors on the process roadmap.
➂ Imec will showcase its CFET standard cell at the 2024 IEEE International Electronic Devices Meeting (IEDM) this week, which includes two rows of CFET with a shared signal wiring wall, reducing the area of logic and SRAM units significantly.
➃ Intel has made breakthroughs in 2D transistor technology using beyond-silicon materials, chip interconnects, and packaging technologies.
➄ Intel's RibbonFET is the company's first new transistor design since the introduction of FinFET 13 years ago and is the company's first full-gate (GAA) transistor.
December 7
- El Salvador's $3 Trillion Gold Discovery: A Blessing or a Curse?
➀ El Salvador has discovered up to $3 trillion in unmined gold.
➁ President Nayib Bukele is pushing to repeal the mining ban regulation to allow mining.
➂ The environmental impact is being criticized, but the economic benefits are seen as a solution to water problems.
➃ The gold discovery is considered a gift for the country's perseverance.
➄ The value of the gold is more than 8,800% of El Salvador's current GDP.
➅ The economic growth and job creation are expected to be significant.
➆ Bukele's presidency and social media use are highlighted.
December 6
- US Imposes Full Blockade on China's Semiconductor Industry: The Most Focused News of Recent Days
➀ The US expands its blockade on Chinese semiconductor companies, including 140 new entities on the Entity List.
➁ China's four major industry associations voice opposition, suggesting cautious procurement of US chips.
➂ Huawei, the only domestic company offering a full range of self-developed AI infrastructure, outlines its strategy to counter the blockade.
➃ Huawei's 'super-node + cluster' architecture enhances training efficiency and reduces failures.
➄ Huawei Cloud's new CloudMatrix architecture to launch in 2024, providing high-efficiency and reliable AI computing services.
➅ China's industries are increasingly adopting AI, with Huawei Cloud supporting numerous large models.
- Vietnam Welcomes NVIDIA, Establishing Dual AI R&D and Data Center Bases
➀ Vietnam's Prime Minister and NVIDIA CEO signed a cooperation agreement to establish an AI R&D center and data center in Vietnam;
➁ The Prime Minister praised NVIDIA's contribution to Vietnam's development through AI technology;
➂ NVIDIA's CEO expressed high praise for Vietnam's potential in AI and technology development;
➃ Vietnam plans to invest in infrastructure and human resources to integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain;
➄ Vietnam's semiconductor industry is attracting global attention, and the government has announced a strategic development plan to deepen integration into the global supply chain;
➅ Vietnam's policy support for the semiconductor industry is driving industry upgrades and positioning the country as a key player in the global supply chain.
- NXP Chips to Achieve Purely 'Made in China'!
➀ NXP and World Advanced are constructing a 12-inch wafer factory in Singapore with an investment of 7.8 billion USD, aiming to start mass production in 2027 and reach a monthly capacity of 55,000 12-inch wafers by 2029.
➁ NXP is actively seeking to establish a supply chain in China to serve customers needing Chinese production capacity.
➂ NXP plans to move some chip front-end manufacturing to China and establish a complete Chinese supply chain.
December 5
- Over 200B Investment in 5 New SiC Projects
➀ Five new SiC-related projects have been announced with an investment exceeding 200 billion yuan;
➁ Tarq Semiconductors and HCL's Vama Sundari Investments are investing 27.65 billion yuan in two semiconductor manufacturing factories in Yeadon, India;
➂ Shanghai Fuanyuan Technology Co., Ltd. is investing 115 million yuan in a SiC module packaging equipment R&D and production project;
➃ Huaxin邦 is investing in a SiC chip advanced packaging process line in Haikou, Hainan Province;
➄ Powerex has received 2 million yuan in subsidies from the U.S. Chips and Science Act to expand SiC module production lines;
➅ Heraeus has opened a ceramic substrate factory in Changshu, Jiangsu Province.
- China Takes a Historic Step Against U.S. Chip Imports!
➀ The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has implemented stricter export controls on dual-use items to the U.S., including a ban on the export of certain semiconductor materials such as gallium, germanium, antimony, and ultra-hard materials;
➁ Chinese industry associations have criticized the U.S. for using national security as a pretext for arbitrary export restrictions and have called for domestic companies to seek alternative chip sources;
➂ This action follows the U.S. government's recent tightening of export controls on Chinese semiconductor companies, which has further restricted the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and memory chips to China;
➃ China has responded with criticism, labeling the U.S. actions as economic coercion and unilateral bullying.
- CXL 3.2 Officially Released
➀ The CXL 3.2 specification has been officially released by the CXL consortium, focusing on optimizing the monitoring and management of CXL memory devices and enhancing their functionality for operating systems and applications.
➁ The specification also extends security through Trusted Security Protocol (TSP) and ensures full backward compatibility with previous CXL specifications.
➂ The CXL technology is designed for high-performance data center servers, allowing processor modules to share memory and providing low-latency interconnect paths for memory access and communication between host processors and devices that need shared memory resources.
- TSMC's 2nm Technology Dominates Rivals with Its Weapons
➀ The article discusses the SRAM density of Intel's 18A process and TSMC's N2 process, highlighting the advantages of TSMC's N2 in terms of SRAM density and GAA technology.
➁ TSMC's 2nm process is expected to be introduced in 2025, with key technologies including GAA transistors and backside power supply networks.
➂ The challenges of manufacturing 2nm technology, including the complexity of GAA transistors and the dependency on EUV tools, are also addressed.
- Optical Chip Breaks New Ground in Machine Learning Speed and Efficiency
➀ The current state-of-the-art machine learning applications use deep neural network models that have become so large and complex that they have exceeded the limits of traditional electronic computing hardware.
➁ Researchers at MIT and other institutions have developed a new type of photonic chip that can overcome these barriers.
➂ The optical device can complete the key calculations of machine learning classification tasks in less than half a nanosecond while achieving an accuracy rate of over 92%.
- The New Target for NAND: 1000 Layers
➀ The chip industry is striving to increase the stack height of 3D NAND flash memory from 200 layers to 800 layers or more in the coming years to meet the endless demand for various types of memory.
➁ The additional layers will bring new reliability issues and a series of incremental reliability challenges, but the NAND flash memory industry has been steadily increasing the stack height over the past decade.
➂ The development direction of 3D NAND is from 500 to 1,000 layers. However, achieving so many layers is not just a matter of doing more of what we have been doing.
- AWS's Strongest AI Chip: Deep Dive!
➀ Amazon is investing heavily in AI cluster construction with large-scale deployment of Hopper and Blackwell GPUs.
➁ AWS has allocated billions of dollars in capital expenditures to Trainium2 AI clusters.
➂ The article discusses the limitations of AWS's previous Trainium1 and Inferentia2 chips and the advancements made with Trainium2.
- Zhu Xiaohu Accuses Zhang Yutong of Hiding 14% Free Shares and Deceiving Shareholders, Leading to Her Dismissal
➀ Zhu Xiaohu, a partner at GSR Ventures, directly accused Zhang Yutong of hiding 14% free shares and deceiving shareholders, leading to her dismissal.
➁ Zhang Yutong was a key figure in the establishment and rapid high-valued financing of the Dark Side of the Moon, which caused disputes and conflicts with GSR Ventures.
➂ The conflict involves the division of shares between the Dark Side of the Moon and its parent company, Loop Intelligence, with Zhang Yutong holding a higher proportion of shares than expected.
December 4
- Another Major Corporation Lays Off Thousands!
➀ Analog Devices (ADI), a semiconductor manufacturer based in Massachusetts, has laid off thousands of employees globally and locally in 2024.
➁ As of November 2, 2024, ADI had approximately 24,000 employees, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous global employee count as of October 28, 2023, representing an 8% decrease.
➂ ADI's revenue for the fourth quarter was $2.443 billion, and for the fiscal year 2024, it was $9.43 billion, down 23% from the previous year. ADI expects revenue of $2.35 billion for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.
- Hefei's 5 Billion Yuan Semiconductor Project Halted: No Hope of Resumption
➀ Hefei's 12-inch MEMS manufacturing line project, with an initial investment of 5.1 billion yuan, has been halted due to external factors.
➁ The project was initially a framework agreement and has not yet been constructed or launched, and it will not affect the company.
➂ There is currently no hope of restarting the project.
- Major News: 21 Chip Engineers Arrested!
➀ A former Samsung Electronics engineer was arrested for allegedly poaching core semiconductor talent from Samsung and leaking 20nm DRAM memory chip technology to Chinese companies.
➁ The man, a former employee, is accused of running an unregistered human resources agency in2018, offering high salaries to lure key Samsung Electronics talent to help replicate a DRAM factory in China, which was successfully produced in just 1 year and 3 months.
➂ The escaped technology is valued at 4.3 trillion KRW (about 30.4 billion USD), with an even larger economic loss when considering related economic benefits.
- The 12-Round-Funded Chip Unicorn Is Up for Sale
➀ A star unicorn company, Yunyinggu Technology, is planning to sell its controlling interest to Huizhong Technology through an equity and cash deal.
➁ Yunyinggu, founded in 2015, specializes in OLED display driver chips and has raised 12 rounds of financing, including investments from Xiaomi, Huawei, and Jingdong.
➂ Huizhong Technology, founded in 2002, has been focusing on fingerprint and touch chips and is looking to expand into the display chip market with the acquisition.
December 3
- Microchip to Close Down a Factory!
➀ Microchip Technology is planning to close a factory in Tempe, Arizona, impacting approximately 500 employees;
➁ The closure is due to high inventory levels and the company's ability to expand capacity in other factories;
➂ The company's CEO has retired, with the board chair stepping in as interim CEO and President.
- ASML's Export Controls and Impact on China's Semiconductor Industry
➀ ASML's overlay tool (YieldStar) and OPC mask making software (Tachyon suite) sales impacted by new export controls;
➁ Updated export control regulations include metrology and software in restricted technologies list;
➂ Additional fab locations in China added to US restrictions list;
➃ Commerce issued three new documents clarifying new export control rules;
➄ China's semiconductor phone book copied-pasted in the new export control list;
➅ ERC added 106 entities to the Entity List.
- Sudden Retirement Announcement: Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger Steps Down!
➀ Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced his retirement after over 40 years of outstanding career;
➁ Intel appointed David Zinsner and Michelle (MJ) Johnston Holthaus as interim co-CEOs;
➂ Intel's board is searching for a new CEO to replace Gelsinger.
- Cisco Demands Suppliers Exclude China-Made Chips
➀ Cisco has issued a notice to suppliers to strictly enforce the provision of chip origin certificates, requiring products to be free of China-made chips;
➁ The standard for COO certification has been upgraded from the final packaging location to the production site of the chips and masks, to ensure no 'origin washing';
➂ Cisco's network communication equipment involves national security considerations, necessitating strict tracing of chip origin;
➃ Dell, another PC manufacturer, has also planned to stop using China-made chips by 2024;
➄ HP, another PC manufacturer, is transferring some production capacity out of China, with the exclusion of China-made chips in the supply chain still under evaluation;
➅ The exclusion of China-made chips by US manufacturers could have a severe negative impact on local supply chain vendors in China;
➆ If US manufacturers want to retain the Chinese market, they may not require the exclusion of China-made components in products sold in China.
- 140 Chinese Semiconductor Companies Added to Entity List: Impact Analysis
➀ The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has added 140 Chinese semiconductor-related companies to the Entity List.
➁ The focus of the crackdown is on domestic semiconductor manufacturing equipment manufacturers, including North Microelectronics, Top Technology, and Shanghai Shengmei.
➂ The impact on the Chinese semiconductor equipment industry is significant, with many leading domestic companies facing sanctions and restrictions on procurement of U.S. components.
December 2
- US Imposes New Round of Sanctions on Chinese Semiconductor Industry, Restricts Exports to 140 Companies!
➀ The US is set to impose new sanctions on China's semiconductor industry, restricting exports to 140 companies, including chip equipment manufacturers like North华创科技集团.
➁ The measures are aimed at hindering China's chip-making ambitions and preventing the production of chips that could threaten US national security.
➂ The restrictions include limiting exports of advanced memory chips, 24 chip-making tools, and 3 software tools, as well as new export controls on chip-making equipment produced in Singapore, Malaysia, and other countries.
- Analysis of the Suspension of 7nm Supply: Implications and Preparations
➀ The U.S. government's recent suspension of 7nm and below process AI chip manufacturing by TSMC and Samsung has raised concerns about the implications and future impacts;
➁ The details of the sanctions, including the conditions for restriction and the potential for future policies, are discussed;
➂ The article analyzes the broader implications of the sanctions on the AI and GPU industries, as well as the potential impact on cloud computing and autonomous driving chips;
➃ The necessity for China to accelerate its 7nm development and the importance of a coordinated national effort are highlighted;
➄ The challenges and opportunities for China's semiconductor industry in the face of the global shift towards advanced technologies are discussed.