Author page description
October 29
- Semiconductor Equipment Crisis: ASM Restructuring and Mass Layoffs!
➀ ASM Korea, a Dutch semiconductor equipment giant focusing on ALD, PEALD, and epitaxy equipment, has undergone a series of restructuring actions involving personnel optimization and department migration.
➁ Despite this, some industry observers believe that the current situation is more a reflection of the competitive landscape in the AI field rather than a full-scale crisis in the semiconductor industry.
➂ The headquarters of ASM is not immune to the impact of semiconductor industry fluctuations, with market predictions suggesting that this impact may spread to the Korean branch.
- Hybrid Bonding: Progress and Challenges in Advanced Packaging
➀ Hybrid bonding is gaining attention in advanced packaging for its ability to provide the shortest vertical connections between chips with similar or different functions, as well as better thermal, electrical, and reliability results.
➁ Despite some chip manufacturers adopting hybrid bonding in large-scale manufacturing, the high cost of the process makes it unsuitable for mass adoption. Challenges include better copper dimple uniformity, faster wafer-to-chip placement, and better alignment, multiple bonding and debonding carriers (which increase costs), and low-temperature annealing capabilities.
➂ The development of AI chips and modules is a significant driver for hybrid bonding and advanced packaging. High-performance and high prices of these chips help to drive industry development.
- Chaining the Stars: CoreChip's AD1000 Autonomous Driving Chip Shines Bright
➀ CoreChip's AD1000 autonomous driving chip has achieved significant milestones in performance and verification;
➁ The chip has demonstrated exceptional performance in key indicators such as CPU, AI computing power, ISP processing, and NPU local storage capacity;
➂ The AD1000 chip is set to reshape the market landscape with its advanced capabilities and features, including support for Transformer large models and ASIL-D functional safety island.
- Exploring the New Path of Information Technology Innovation and Replacement: Lessons from 'Rongxin' Product Solutions
➀ The challenges faced by information technology innovation and replacement, including hardware performance gap, software ecosystem, product core IP sustainability, and market product cost-performance;
➁ Understanding the concept of 'hardware middleware' and its role in solving the problems of performance, ecosystem compatibility, and cost-performance of domestic CPUs, GPUs, and other components;
➂ Introduction to the products and solutions of 'Rongxin Yuanzhi', including data acceleration cards for domestic CPU servers, AI acceleration cards for domestic GPU scenarios, and data acceleration cards for storage business;
➃ Thoughts on the trend of information technology innovation and replacement, emphasizing the importance of reducing comprehensive costs while ensuring usability and ease of use.
- ECOC2024: TFLN MZM
➀ HyperLight Corp is promoting its end-to-end TFLN PIC solutions with excellent electro-optical bandwidth, low energy consumption, and mass production capabilities.
➁ HUST's MZM based on LNOI has a 3dB electro-optical bandwidth of over 67/67/48 GHz in the 800nm band.
➂ Southeast University has developed TFLN electro-optical modulators with a bandwidth of up to 110GHz and a half-wave voltage as low as 2V.
- Celestial AI's Connection Revolution: The Future of Photon Interconnectivity!
➀ Celestial AI has incorporated a thermally stable optical modulator in its chips, with power consumption of hundreds of watts, eliminating the need for a digital signal processor (DSP) due to its high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and low bit error rate (BER).
➁ Celestial's photonic interconnect module offers a memory capacity of 2.07TB and a bandwidth of 7.2Tbps, with a latency of just 100 nanoseconds.
➂ The system supports up to 115Tbps of network switching with 916 modules, providing 33Tb of memory capacity for backend/extended AI.
October 28
- Sensetime Secretly Spin-Offs Chip Business Post Layoffs!
➀ Sensetime has secretly spun off its chip business after layoffs, attracting widespread attention.
➁ The company has completed billion-level financing to alleviate financial pressure.
➂ Sensetime has been seeking breakthroughs in the AI chip field since 2018.
- 3D Optical Lithography: Techniques and Applications
➀ Introduction to 3D micro-nano pattern fabrication using optical lithography technology;
➁ Explanation of grayscale lithography and its technical realization;
➂ Principle and application of 3D interference lithography;
➃ Advantages and applications of stereolithography and 3D micro-printing technology;
➄ The development trend of optical lithography technology and its role in micro-nano processing field.
- Sanke Electric to Close Factory!
➀ Sanke Electric announced the closure of its滋贺工厂 due to damage from the 2024 January earthquake in Noto Peninsula;
➁ The closure is because the factory facilities are difficult to use after the earthquake;
➂ The production of the滋贺工厂 will be transferred to other Sanke Electric factories and overseas production bases by the end of April 2026.
- A Chengdu Semiconductor Company, After 15 Rounds of Financing, is Set to be Sold
➀ Chengdu semiconductor company Yichong Technology is set to be sold to Jinfeng Mingyuan;
➁ The company has completed 15 financing rounds with more than 30 investors;
➂ Jinfeng Mingyuan aims to strengthen its position in the consumer electronics and new energy vehicle markets through the acquisition.
- Intel Announces Expansion of Chengdu Packaging and Testing Base! Total Investment Exceeds $4 Billion!
➀ Intel announced the expansion of its Chengdu Packaging and Testing Base in Beijing, adding server chip packaging and testing services.
➁ The expansion aims to enhance local supply chain efficiency and support Chinese customers.
➂ The new Intel Customer Solution Center will be a one-stop platform for industry solutions.
➃ Intel has invested over $4 billion in the Chengdu base since 2003.
➄ Chengdu is a key production center for Intel's mobile device microprocessors.
- IBM's New Chip Outperforms GPUs
➀ IBM's researchers are inspired by the human brain to develop neuromorphic computing, aiming to mimic the brain's efficiency in processing vast amounts of data required for tasks like AI.
➁ The concept of neuromorphic computing involves designing a computing system that reflects the efficiency of the human brain, which consumes very little power and solves tasks effectively even with ambiguous or undefined data.
➂ IBM's NorthPole chip, an example of neuromorphic architecture, integrates memory and computation on the same chip to overcome the von Neumann bottleneck and reduce energy consumption.
➃ IBM's research teams are working on materials and algorithms to improve the performance and efficiency of neuromorphic chips, with the goal of creating more powerful and energy-efficient AI accelerators.
- TSMC Distributes 200,000 New Taiwan Dollars in Bonuses to Employees
➀ TSMC announced a special bonus of 20,000 New Taiwan Dollars for each of its grassroots employees, totaling about 1.2 billion New Taiwan Dollars for approximately 60,000 employees;
➁ Chairman and CEO of TSMC, Wei Zhejia, shared the news during the company's sports meeting, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and the spirit of perseverance;
➂ TSMC has achieved several milestones this year, including the progress of the 2-nanometer process and the launch of the A16 process, and continues to expand its technical leadership position globally;
➃ TSMC has also been expanding its talent acquisition efforts and has recently increased its workforce to about 67,000 employees in Taiwan, with an average bonus of 1.4952 million New Taiwan Dollars per employee;
➄ The TSMC board approved the issuance of restricted stock units for key talent to attract and retain high-level management and critical talent.
- ECOC2024: Silicon MZM Innovations
➀ Enhanced bandwidth for Silicon MZM by asymmetrically doped TID with increased loss;
➁ High-speed Silicon modulator with frequency-domain equalizer for increased bandwidth, larger size, and no increase in modulation efficiency;
➂ Micro-ring modulator based on MZM with increased bandwidth and halved Vpi, but with working wavelength issues;
➃ Double-segment traveling-wave MZM modulator for reduced design complexity and increased bandwidth up to 170-GBaud.
- GPU Virtualization: A Detailed Explanation of Common Techniques
➀ The need for GPU virtualization in resource sharing and isolation;
➁ Different types of virtualization at the user level, including local API interception and API forwarding, and remote API forwarding;
➂ The process of half-virtual API forwarding and its comparison with remote API forwarding;
➃ Kernel layer virtualization and its application in container and virtual machine scenarios;
➄ GPU hardware virtualization techniques, including NVIDIA vGPU, NVIDIA MIG, and AMD MxGPU;
➅ Comparison of GPU virtualization technologies.
October 27
- International First! This Chip Achieves Mass Production
➀ The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced that the internationally first X/γ nuclear radiation dose detection chip developed by its Institute of Nuclear Safety and Environmental Engineering Technology has achieved mass production.
➁ The chip has a range of 100nSv/h to 10mSv/h for X/γ ray dose rate and can detect energy ranging from 50keV to 2MeV. It has a size of 15mm×15mm×3mm and can operate within a temperature range of -20℃ to 50℃ with a low power consumption of 1mW.
➂ The chip has a wide application prospect and can be easily integrated into various intelligent equipment such as smartphones, tablets, smart helmets, and drones, making it suitable for radiation detection in nuclear fields and other radiation dose monitoring scenarios.
- Tech Company SOPHGO's Supply Chain Stopped by TSMC Amidst US Investigation
➀ TSMC stopped supplying chips to SOPHGO, a Chinese tech company, amidst an investigation by the US商务部;
➁ SOPHGO released a statement denying the reports and providing evidence of its innocence;
➂ SOPHGO is a RISC-V and TPU processor developer with a strong R&D team and ties to Bitmain.
- An Analysis of Intel Xeon 6's E\P Core and AP\SP Platform Product Logic
➀ The E-core and P-core of Intel Xeon 6 are designed to better meet diverse business needs, with E-core focusing on light loads and P-core on high-performance loads.
➁ The AP and SP platforms are designed to match different slot sizes for different series of CPUs, with the 6700 series using LGA4710 and the 6900 series using LGA7529.
➂ Key points about Intel Xeon 6 include the distinction between AP and SP platforms and P and E cores, as well as the differences in product specifications between the 6700 and 6900 series.
- Tesla Plans to Spend $1 Billion on SSDs, Solidigm's Large Capacity Disks in High Demand
➀ Tesla is in talks with SK Hynix for a $725 million enterprise SSD order;
➁ SSDs are seen as core components for AI chips, holding significant importance in the AI field;
➂ Solidigm, a subsidiary of SK Hynix, has developed a 61TB enterprise SSD that is in high demand and experiencing supply shortages;
➃ Musk's cost control experience is evident in his approach to purchasing enterprise SSDs for Tesla's AI supercomputing system;
➄ The global enterprise SSD market is expected to reach $20 billion by 2027, with a significant demand for AI storage chips.
- The Challenges Faced by Chinese Companies in Mexico: A Reality Check
➀ The article discusses the challenges faced by Chinese companies in Mexico, including high costs, bureaucratic hurdles, and corruption.
➁ The author highlights the issue of government involvement,中介 involvement, and the high cost of labor.
➂ The article also touches upon the economic and political relationship between Mexico and the United States, and how it affects Mexican businesses.
October 26
- A1chip Debunks 'Huawei White Glove' Rumor
➀ A1chip has issued a clarification stating that the rumors about 'Huawei white gloves being A1chip' false;
➁ A1chip emphasizes that there is no direct or indirect business relationship between the company and Huawei;
➂ A1chip is a semiconductor company listed in Taiwan, but its main business is in mainland China, with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuxi, Hefei, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Jinan;
➃ A1chip's main business is chip backend design, helping chip design companies integrate IPs, design processes, chip layouts, and DFT for physical design;
➄ A1chip's clients include cloud service providers like Baidu, Google, and Amazon, chip design companies like Intel and MediaTek, and system integrators like Sony, Tesla, and Xiaomi.
- Sony Leads Image Sensor Market Share, China's Influence on Future Trends
➀ Sony holds over 52.5% of the market share in CMOS image sensors for smartphone cameras, widening the gap with Samsung to 37 percentage points.
➁ The global shipment of image sensors in 2023 was $18.589 billion, a 1.4% decrease from 2022.
➂ China's encouragement for domestic image sensors could impact future market share changes.
October 25
- EUV Masking Column - The Game Changer of Multi-Beam Lithography
➀ The 11th Luminaries survey report by eBeam Initiative indicates a strong purchase prediction for multi-beam mask writers, promoting the growth of EUV and step-and-repeat lithography masks.
➁ Experts discussed the challenges faced in the adoption of step-and-repeat lithography masks at an event held concurrently with the SPIE Mask Technology Conference.
➂ The survey involved industry leaders from 44 companies in the semiconductor ecosystem, with Aki Fujimura, CEO of D2S, Inc., and Naoya Hayashi, DNP Honorary Researcher, leading the discussion on the survey results.
- Just Launched: XinQing's 7nm Chip!
➀ XinQing Technology, a leading domestic intelligent cockpit chip manufacturer, has made a significant breakthrough in the field of autonomous driving with the launch of the full-scenario high-level autonomous driving chip 'Xingchen No. 1' (AD1000);
➁ The 'Xingchen No. 1' chip has achieved all performance design goals ahead of schedule and will be mass-produced in 2025 and widely used in 2026;
➂ The chip uses a 7nm automotive-grade process, meets AEC-Q100 standards, and has a multi-core heterogeneous architecture that enhances the computing power of intelligent driving.
- TSMC Announces Price Increase Again! Up to $30,000
➀ TSMC has released 2025 foundry quotes to reduce the impact of high operating costs and 2nm deployment costs;
➁ The price increase for 5nm, 4nm, and 3nm process technology is higher than previously expected, with a maximum increase of 10%;
➂ The price increase for 2nm is even higher than expected, possibly exceeding $30,000;
➃ TSMC's advanced process prices are rising, indicating increasing development costs;
➄ The cost of developing advanced process technology has seen exponential growth;
➅ The development of advanced process technology is a long and resource-intensive process, often requiring 7 to 10 years.
- Xin Yisheng's Third Quarter Net Profit Up 453.07% in 2024
➀ Xin Yisheng reported a revenue of 2.403 billion yuan in the third quarter of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 207.12%; net profit of 781 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 453.07%.
➁ The company's cumulative revenue for the first three quarters reached 5.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 145.82%, with a net profit of 1.646 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 283.2%.
➂ Xin Yisheng showcased 100G to 800G/1.6T series high-speed optical modules at CIOE, designed for data center and AI/ML cluster internal interconnection needs.
- How Does NVIDIA Make Money?
➀ NVIDIA's total revenue in 2023 was $60.922 billion, with a gross margin of 72.7% and a 98% market share in the data center GPU market. As of October 6, 2024, NVIDIA's market value reached $3.064 trillion, ranking third globally.
➁ NVIDIA's success is driven by three dimensions: product depth, product breadth, and sales channels. The company continuously expands its product range, integrates new technologies, and optimizes its product offerings.
➂ NVIDIA has transformed from a PC graphics chip company to a provider of complete solutions for key vertical fields, focusing on the 'GPU+DPU+CPU' strategy and data center products.
- ECOC2024: Huawei's Application of APD in Lidar
➀ Commercial APDs typically consist of InGaAs/InAlAs and InGaAs/InP, but they have high noise factors and require high-power lasers for long-range detection.
➁ Huawei has developed an APD structure with a 1.5μm InGaAs absorption layer and a 0.55μm Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 layer on InP, achieving a 200 μm radius photosensitive area with an anti-reflection coating.
➂ AlGaAsSb APD demonstrates higher gain (127) and lower noise factor (4.0) compared to InP APD.
➃ AlGaAsSb APD has a sensitivity advantage of over 5dB at temperatures below 20°C and maintains a 2dB advantage at 105°C.
➄ In a laser radar system, AlGaAsSb APD provides four times the signal of InP APD, reducing the required laser power by 66%.
➅ AlGaAsSb APD passed reliability tests with a breakdown voltage decrease less than 1V and dark current increase less than 30% after 2000 hours of aging.
October 24
- First Industry-Level RISC-V Computing Power Ecosystem for Large-Scale Models Debuts
1. China emphasizes digital and intelligent development, focusing on digital economy growth and integration of the internet, big data, AI, and real economy.
2. SimCom Computer Technology Co., Ltd. (SimCom) is a company dedicated to RISC-V-based AI processors, providing a comprehensive solution for digital transformation.
3. SimCom's products include Jiuzhou large model, Xuan Shu data governance platform, and Qingtian intelligent agent development platform, creating an efficient data processing ecosystem.
4. SimCom's RISC-V-based solutions aim to address the AI computing power anxiety and provide a stable and secure computing environment.
- EDA Giants Compete for Altair Acquisition?
➀ PTC and Cadence are rumored to be interested in acquiring software company Altair Engineering.
➁ Siemens is in negotiations to potentially acquire Altair Engineering, which could be the German giant's largest merger ever.
➂ Altair Engineering is a U.S.-based company specializing in simulation, IoT, HPC, data analysis, and AI, providing software and cloud solutions.
➃ Altair's products and services are utilized in various industries for innovation and smart decision-making.
➄ Altair's financial performance has been impressive with a 27% stock increase this year and a market value of $9.1 billion.
➅ Altair's product portfolio includes design phase solutions, HyperWorks solutions, electromagnetic and electronic solutions, and data analytics and machine learning.
➆ Altair has been actively investing in the EDA field, acquiring several companies in recent years.
➇ The acquisition of Altair by EDA giants could disrupt the semiconductor and EDA markets.