2003网站太阳集团(中国)官方网站

01

Company Trend (November 3)

The profits of the 3rd largest wafer foundry in Chinese mainland soared 700%+!

Nexchip released Q3 Financial Report 2024 The report shows that the companys operating income for the first three quarters was up to RMB6.775bn, up 35.05% YoY; its net profit attributable to parent company was RMB279mn, up 771.94% YoY; its net profit less non-recurring gains and losses was RMB179mn, up 243.91%YoY; the companys gross profit margin for the period was 25.26%, up 6.64% YoY; its net profit margin was 4.37%, up 5.68% YoY. The cost of the company for the period was RMB1.482bn, adding RMB392mn compared to the same period of last year, and the cost rate for the period was 21.88%.

The improvement in cash flow of the company was mainly due to the upturn in market performance and its increased cash received from the sales of goods and services due to its increased operating income. The development of its 40nm/28nm platforms goes smoothly and customers are keen to collaborate with the company. In addition, its 28nm OLED driver chip is expected to be released in mass volume in 2025. The company’s equipment purchase and delivery have not been affected by the restrictions of the USA.

Nextchips main operating revenue comes from the process nodes from 150nm to 90nm, and the percentage of its operating revenue from 55nm process node grows rapidly. Regarding the process node classification in H1 2024, its revenue from the process nodes of 55nm, 90nm, 110nm, and 150nm accounted for 8.99%, 45.46%, 29.40%, 16.14% of its main business revenue, respectively. Compared to H1 2023, the company’s revenue from 90nm and below process nodes accounted for 95.17% of the companys overall revenue for H1 2023. Of which, 90nm process node is the companys main revenue source, realizing revenue of RMB1.477bn, accounted for 49.92% of its total revenue, and its revenue from 110nm process node was RMB936mn, accounting for 31.65% of its total revenue, and its revenue from 150nm process node was RMB402mn, accounting for 13.60% of its total revenue. The companys revenue from its more advanced 55nm process node was RMB143mn.

Comments: Nextchip’s profit skyrocketed 700%, showing its strong market competitiveness and good operational efficiency. On the one hand, the company’s achievement was driven by the recovery of the semiconductor industry in general, especially the demand growth in the field of display drive chips and CIS chips, and on the other hand, this also reflects the successful strategy of Nextchip in terms of capacity utilization, product structure adjustment, and the adjustment of foundry prices. In addition, the growth of Nextchip’s revenue reflects that Chinese mainland holds a growing position in the global semiconductor industry chain. As technology advances and capacity expands, wafer foundries in Chinese mainland are becoming an important force in the field of global semiconductor manufacturing. However, facing the competition and changes in the global semiconductor market, the wafer foundries in Chinese mainland still needs to invest more in R&D, and improve technological level to maintain and strengthen their competitiveness in the market.

02

Company Trend (November 3)

Intel dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average!

According to the report of CNBC, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that GPU giant Nvidia will replace processor giant Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, marking a seismic shift in the semiconductor industry and another blow to Intel that was struggling to get out of its bottlenecked operation. In the last extended trading, the stock of Intel fell about 1% while Nvidia’s was up 1%. According to the report, Nvidias stock price has skyrocketed 170%+ so far in 2024 after its up 240% in 2023. Investors are rushing to buy shares of this AI chipmaker. At present, the market value of Nvidia has risen to USD3.3trn, which is second only to Apple among all listed companies.

The reason for the continuous growth of Nvidia’s revenue and the further rise of its stock price is that technology giants including Microsoft, Google and Amazon are buying a large number of GPUs from Nvidia, which makes its revenue more than doubled in each of the past five quarters, and at least tripled in three quarters. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang once said that the market has a crazy demand for the company’s new generation AI GPU based on Blackwell architecture. With Nvidia listed in Dow Jones Industrial Average, four of the six technology companies with current market value of trillions of dollars have been listed in the index, and only two of them are not included in the index, namely Alphabet and Meta.

Comments: Intels exclusion from DJIA is undoubtedly a blow to its market position and also reflects the markets concern about its future prospects. Intel used to be the leader in the chip manufacturing industry, but in recent years, it has lagged behind its competitor TSMC in process technology, and missed the opportunity to invest in AI. In addition, Intel’s stock price has declined 54% this year, making it the worst performer on the index. Although Intel showed some positive signs in its Q3 report, its prospects in Q4 is still full of challenges.

Intel is facing various challenges, including backward technology, intensified market competition and changes in product demand. Although Intel is trying to transform itself, including layoffs, cost reduction and seeking new business opportunities, its future success will depend on whether it can make breakthroughs in key areas such as cost reduction, new foundry technology and AI chips.

03

Company Trend (November 6)

India starts its first 12-inch wafer fab, with a total investment of US$11bn

According to the news of the official website of PSMC, a foundry in Taiwan, PSMC announced that its plan to cooperate with Indias Tata Group to build Indias first 12-inch wafer fab was officially launched. According to the statement, PSMC has received the first payment of Fab IP from Tata Group, and it will actively advance the design of the new fab. At the same time, the high-capacity Interposer verified by customers will be mass produced for delivery.

In September this year, PSMC signed a final cooperation agreement with Tata Electronics, a subsidiary of Indias Tata Group. PSMC will provide technical authorization for Tata Electronics to assist it to build Indias first 12-inch wafer fab in Dholera, Gujarat, India, transfer mature process technology to India and train local employees.

According to the agreement between the two parties, the total investment of this 12-inch wafer fab will reach US$11bn, which will be provided by Tata Group and the Indian government, and the capacity of the fab will be 50,000 units per month. The fab will adopt the mature process technology of PSMC and plan to produce power management chips, panel driver chips and microcontrollers, and high-speed operational logic chips, which are mainly used for the end application markets such as automobiles, computing and data storage, wireless communication and AI.

Comments: The launch of Indias first 12-inch wafer fab is an important milestone in the development of the country’s semiconductor industry. The total investment of the project reaches US$11bn, showing that the determination of Indian government to promote the development of the semiconductor industry and the confidence of international investors in the Indian market. With the technical authorization and fab building experience of PSMC, combined with the financial support of Tata Group and Indian government, it is expected that the new fab will improve Indias position in the global semiconductor industry chain. However, the success of the semiconductor industry depends not only on capital investment but also on technology accumulation, personnel training and infrastructure improvement. India still faces many challenges in the development of its semiconductor industry, such as technology transfer, personnel training and supply chain construction. In addition, its necessary to consider other factors such as environmental protection and sustainable development in the construction and operation of fabs.

04

Policy Trend (November 6)

Trump declares victory in election! The chip industry faces more uncertainties!

US Republican presidential candidate Trump declared his victory in the 2024 presidential election. Trumps last presidential term began in 2017, and the US government put forward specific measures to control the semiconductor industry of Chinese mainland in 2018, in which the Entity List was a sharp tool for the USA. The Entity List was issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Department of Commerce to list the entities under export control measures, and it is a part of the US export control restrictions. All entities (including natural persons, enterprises, research institutes, government agencies and other organizations) included in this list subject to export restrictions of BIS.

The impact of the Trump administrations semiconductor policy has a significant and far-reaching impact. Due to the restrictions of the Entity List, the supply of chips for terminal brands in Chinese mainland is restricted, the local semiconductor industry is accelerating the pace of localization. As Trump won the election, it can be expected that Trump may impose more restrictions on the semiconductor industry of Chinese mainland other than reducing such restrictions. As a result, on the one hand, Chinese mainlands access to high-end technology continues to be restricted. Due to the technical restrictions of the USA, the enterprises of Chinese mainland cannot obtain the most cutting-edge chip making technology and chips, which affected the technical progress and product competitiveness of domestic semiconductor industry. On the other hand, Trump’s factor will continue to play a role in this regard. Chinese mainland will continue promote the localization process of the domestic semiconductor industry and will further enhance its determination and measures to "strengthen” and “supplement” the semiconductor industry chain.

Comments: Trumps victory in the election is an important turning point for the semiconductor industry. During his last term, Trump implemented a series of restrictive measures on Chinese mainlands semiconductor industry, which not only affected Chinas semiconductor enterprises, but also caused the redistribution of the global supply chain, thus accelerating the localization process of semiconductor technology in Chinese mainland. The policy orientation of the Trump administration, especially the restrictions under the Entity List, has had a far-reaching impact on the landscape of the global semiconductor industry.

Trumps victory in election may continue to promote this trend and pose challenges to the domestic semiconductor industry in Chinese mainland, but in the long run, these policies may also turn into the driving force for technological innovation and industrial chain optimization of the domestic semiconductor industry. Facing external pressure, the domestic semiconductor industry needs to invest more in R&D to speed up technological breakthroughs and improve independent innovation capability. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of the domestic industrial chain to improve its stability and competitiveness. Through these measures, the domestic semiconductor industry is expected to seize a more important position in the global semiconductor industry.

05

Domestic News (November 4)

Jingfan Photonics launches its first wafer

According to the news of the official WeChat account of Jiangjin News, the first wafer launch & opening ceremony of Chongqing Jingfan Photonics Technology Co., Ltd. ("Jingfan Photonics") was held in Tuanjiehu Digital Economy Industrial Park, marking the completion and commissioning of the LCOS chip packaging & testing production line, the 8th production line in the world, the 4th in China and the 1st in Chongqing, which will surely provide strong support for the industry of Jiangjin to achieve the second take-off.

According to the responsible person, the first phase of the project can produce 2 million units per year, and the full capacity of the project will be 5 million units per year, including 8-inch and 12-inch wafers. At present, the project enters into the stage of equipment installation and commissioning, and it is expected that the project will be put into production in December, with its output and scale ranking first in Chongqing.

Jingfan Photonics Co., Ltd. is a professional semiconductor company specializing in the R&D, packaging & testing, and sales of LCOS light valve chips. The company set up an R&D headquarters in Nanshan, Shenzhen, and built two Class 100 clean LCOS packaging & testing production lines, one in Dongguan and one in Chongqing, respectively. At present, the company is China’s only company that has full process capability from LCOS chip design, packaging & testing pilot, mass production and optical design. Chongqing Jingfan packaging & testing mass production line is located at the intelligent manufacturing base of Tuanjiehu Digital Economy Industrial Park in Jiangjin district, Chongqing.

06

Domestic News (November 4)

Zhuhai Tiancheng Advanced Semiconductor’s 12-inch wafer-level TSV 3D integrated production line put into production

According to the news of the official Wechat account of Zhuhai Tiancheng Advanced Semiconductor Co., Ltd., the company’s 12-inch wafer-level TSV 3D integrated production line was successfully put into production. The wafer-level advanced packaging technology for the advanced mature process of Tiancheng will provide opportunities for the rapid development of the overall performance of China’s IC products.

It is reported that the commissioning of Tianchengs advanced 12-inch wafer-level TSV 3D integrated production line in Zhuhai will rapidly promote the extension, supplementing and strengthening of Zhuhais IC industry, build an industrial innovation system coping with new quality productivity, and advance the coordinated development of the front, mid and back IC industry chains of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. After the completion of the first phase of the production line, it will have a capacity of producing 240,000 units of TSV 3D integrated products per year, and after the completion of its 2nd phase, it can produce 600,000 units per year, which have a wide range of applications in AI, high-performance computing, auto pilot, sensing and imaging, radio frequency and communication, consumer electronics and biomedicine.

Later, Zhuhai Tiancheng Advanced Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Officially launched its "Jiuzhong" technology platform, which is the first wafer-level 3D integration technology system named in Chinese. The platform focuses on three technical directions: Zongheng (2.5D), Dongtian (3D) and Fangyuan (Micro Assembly).

07

Domestic News (November 5)

Chinas first national standard for organs-on-chips released

According to the news of Suzhou Science and Technology Town, Recently, Chinas first national standard in the field of organ chips -“General Technical Requirements for Skin Chips” (GB/T 44831-2024) was officially released, and the team of Professor Gu Zhongze of Suzhou Institute of Medical Devices of Southeast University in the function area of Taihu Lake Science & Technology Town, took the lead in completing the drafting of the standard. This milestone-like event marks an important step of China in the field of organs-on-chip standardization, which will effectively promote the industry norms and lay a foundation for China to take a leading position in international standards for organs-on-chips. At the same time, it will also empower the high-quality development of related industries in the region and create new quality productivity with international competitiveness.

It is learned that skin chip is a miniature cell and tissue culture device generated using an in vitro microfluidic chip that can mimic the biochemical and physiological properties of the skin, with barrier structure and function. The first national organs-on-chip standard released recently was drafted by the team led by Gu Zhongze from Suzhou Institute of Medical Devices of Southeast University by cooperating with 21 units including Southeast University, Boao Bio Group Co., Ltd, Jiangsu Ai Wei De Bio-technology Co. Ltd, Tsinghua University, etc. The standard mainly stipulates the definition of relevant terms of skin chip, its appearance, cell source, component performance, and biological performance of the technical requirements, applicable to the design, production and testing of skin chips with microfluidic chip as the carrier.