2003网站太阳集团(中国)官方网站

01

Policy Trend (November 20)

Micron will adopt pragmatic business strategy in China despite US restrictions

In the global semiconductor industry, Micron Technology, a leading memory chip manufacturer in the world, has attracted much attention in the Chinese market. Despite the restrictions and censorship from the US government, Micron still attaches important to the Chinese market and adopts a pragmatic strategy to maintain and deepen its business in China.

Microns investment and cooperation in China have not been stopped due to the US restrictions. It is reported that Micron plans to invest more than RMB4.3bn in upgrading a fab in Chinese mainland, showing its firm commitment to its business and team in Chinese mainland. In addition, Microns Xian fab has obtained the certificate of zero-carbon-emission fab (I-type five-star) and passed the gold-level verification of UL 2799 waste zero landfill, which shows its achievements in green manufacturing.

Micron continues to introduce new products to meet the demand of the Chinese market. For example, for data centers, automobiles, smart edge computing, and mobile devices, Micron has launched a wide range of high-performance memory and storage product portfolios covering DRAM, NAND and NOR. These products not only help Micron’s customers to achieve stronger competitiveness in the industry, but also contribute to the development of digital China.

Comments: Microns strategy in China reflects its long-term commitment and confidence in the Chinese market. Despite facing external pressures and challenges, Micron has demonstrated its flexibility and determination to adapt to market changes and policy restrictions through continuous investment, technological innovation and compliance management. This pragmatic strategy of Micron not only contributes to its stable development of in the Chinese market, but also makes a contribution to the stability and diversification of the global semiconductor supply chain. Microns actions indicate that market demand and the principle of win-win cooperation are still the key factors in the strategic decision-making of multinational enterprises although political and trade factors may bring short-term fluctuations in the market.

02

Company Trend (November 21)

Samsung to phase out MLC NAND capacity in 2025

Recently, it is rumored in the industry that Samsung will phase out its MLC NAND capacity in 2025. According to rumors in the market, Samsung is likely to stop selling MLC NAND in the spot market from the end of 2024, and it is expected to officially stop production of the same in June 2025. However, Samsung’s officials responded clearly that these rumors were not accurate and said that Samsung would continue producing MLC NAND in the future. Nevertheless, relevant supply chain enterprises disclosed that to avoid supply interruption, storage module manufacturers had put forward their final purchase requests to Samsung, which further aggravated the market’s guess that Samsung would stop production of MLC NAND.

MLC NAND (multi-level cell NAND Flash Memory) is favored in the market due to its high storage density and lower production cost. However, with the continuous progress of technology and the changing market demand, MLC NAND has gradually shown its limitations in some aspects. With the maturity and large-scale application of 3D NAND technology, its data transmission speed and power consumption performance have been significantly improved. Compared with traditional MLC NAND, 3D NAND features higher storage density and lower power consumption and can better meet the demand of modern applications for high-performance storage.

Comments: Samsungs adjustment of its MLC NAND capacity reflects the rapid changes in the storage technology market and the companys strategic transformation. Although there are rumors about its halting production of MLC NAND in the market, Samsungs official denial shows that the company is still evaluating market demand and technological development to develop a reasonable capacity plan. This decision may be related to Samsungs ongoing major personnel reorganization and product line adjustment, which is designed to optimize its management structure and improve operational efficiency.

From the perspective of technology development, with the emerging of new storage technologies such as 3D NAND, TLC (triple-level cell NAND) and QLC (quad-level cell NAND (QLC NAND) , the competitiveness of MLC NAND in the market has gradually faded away. These new technologies provide higher storage capacity and lower production cost, and meet the market demand for high-performance and large-capacity storage solutions.

In general, Samsung’s capacity adjustment shows its rapid response to market changes and its adaptation to technological trends. Although its capacity of MLC NAND may be adjusted, Samsung’s commitment to producing the product continuously shows that it is still looking for the market positioning of MLC NAND, and may maintain its competitiveness through technological innovation and product upgrading. Meanwhile, it also reminds other NAND suppliers that they have to accelerate their pace of technological innovation and product upgrading to adapt to the changing market demands.

03

Company Trend (November 22)

GlobalFoundries accepted CHIPS Act incentive subsidy, obtaining award of up to US$1.5bn

Recently, the US Department of Commerce announced that it would award global famous semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries a subsidy of up to US$1.5bn to support its semiconductor capacity expansion plan in America. This decision reflects the determination of the US government to strengthen its domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry and is an important practical case under the CHIPS Act.

The direct funding of US$1.5bn for GlobalFoundries will be used to support its capacity expansion plans with a total investment of US$13bn in the next decade. These capacity expansion plans include investments to build a new large 12-inch wafer fab in the region of Malta, New York state and expand its existing facility to improve its semiconductor capacity for vehicles. At the same time, the 8-inch silicon-based GaN manufacturing technology will be introduced into the existing wafer fab in Burlington, Vermont, and a large-scale production line will be built. These measures will create thousands of jobs and promote local economic development.

Comments: GlobalFoundries’ subsidy of US$1.5bn is an important milestone under CHIPS Act, signifying that the US government has taken substantial steps in promoting the recovery of the domestic  semiconductor industry. This not only helps GlobalFoundries to expand its capacity in America and enhance its position in the global semiconductor supply chain but also reflects America’s strategic considerations in securing key technologies and supply chain security. 

This investment reflects the strategic determination of the US government to reshape its local high-tech industrial chain. On the one hand, by enhancing the cutting-edge technology R&D capability and production scale of domestic enterprises, the United States can effectively reduce dependence on external supply chains and safeguard national security interests; on the other hand, the United States hopes to stimulate the innovation vitality of the whole industry by cultivating more competitive enterprise groups, thus maintaining its long-term competitive advantages across the world. However, it is worth noting that in the process of the USA’s pursuing self-sufficiency of semiconductors, it is necessary for all sides to pay attention to its possible negative effects.

04

Market Trend (November 22)

The battle for EUV mask aligners faces drastic changes  

From previous DUV (deep ultraviolet) mask aligner to EUV mask aligner, and then to the latest High-NA EUV mask aligner, the iteration of mask aligner technology constantly promotes the improvement of lithography accuracy. In particular, ASMLs High-NA EUV mask aligner, with its significantly improved transistor density and performance, has become the key to mass production of chips of advanced processes below 2nm node.

In the battle for EUV mask aligner, Intel took the lead in ordering a new type High-NA EUV equipment EXE:5000 from ASML, and won the worlds first High NA EUV mask aligner in December 2023. Intel plans to use the equipment to produce its chips of 18A(1.8nm) and 14A(1.4nm) process nodes, showing its active layout in advanced lithography technology.

Samsung is facing challenges in mastering advanced chip manufacturing technology, and the decline of its market share highlights the fact that it invested too much in foundry business but failed to obtain enough customers and stabilize production technology. Samsung plans to mass-produce chips of 2nm process node in 2025, and gradually expands it to other application fields, showing that it is competing for the next generation lithography technology.

As a leader in the semiconductor industry, TSMC has taken steady measures to cope with the pressure from its competitors. It does not get involved in the competition for High-NA EUV equipment but develops advanced process nodes at its own pace. According to the latest news, TSMC is expected to receive the first batch of High NA EUV mask aligners from ASML at the end of this year, which will further consolidate its leading position in the field of semiconductor manufacturing.

SK hynix is also increasing its internal investment in the development of High-NA EUV technology and actively expanding its relevant R&D teams. It is expected that SK hynix will apply the technology to the large-scale production of DRAM of 0a (single digit nanometer) process node to enhance the competitiveness of its products.

Comments: The battle for EUV mask aligners is not only a technical competition but also a battle for the dominant position in the future market. As the global semiconductor industry further advances to smaller process nodes, High-NA EUV mask aligner has become the key to achieve this goal. The competitiveness among semiconductor giants such as Intel, Samsung, TSMC and SK hynix indicates that the semiconductor industry will usher in a new round of technological innovation and the climax of competition.

In this battle, the strategies and actions of all manufacturers will directly affect their position in the global semiconductor industry chain. Intels active arrangement, Samsungs technical challenges, TSMCs steady pace, and SK hynixs internal investment all show their determination to maintain and enhance their competitiveness. As Moores Law is approaching the limit, the process nodes below 2nm will become a new battlefield in which chip giants will compete with each other. How to maintain their technological leadership and market advantages in this competition will be an important challenge faced by these semiconductor giants.

05

Domestic News (November 19)

Homemade GPU to be taped out next year

On November 19th, Loongson Zhongke announced on an interactive platform that it will not release new product in 2024 but plans to release 3C6000 series server chips in 2025. It plans to freeze the codes of 9A1000 at the end of this year and tape it out next year.

It is reported that Loongson Zhongke’s server chip is a general-purpose chip. As the chip belongs to its incremental market, Loongson Zhongke will attach more importance to the chip in the early stage of expanding its market share. For example, it seeks to make a breakthrough in the storage server market. At present, Loognson Zhongke’s main server chips on sale are 16-core 3C5000 and 32-core 3D5000. Its next generation server chip 3C6000 series is still in the prototype stage. In the process of commercializing, the self-tested performance of its 16-core version is roughly equivalent to that of Xeon 4314, and the self-tested performance of its 32-core version is roughly equivalent to that of Xeon 6338. In addition, its 64-core version under packaging will be released at the end of the year. It is estimated that 3C6000 series will be commercialized and officially released in Q2 2025. As Loongson Zhongke adopts independent R&D, it enjoys cost advantage. It is expected that compared with the products of the same performance in the market, the 6000 series products of Loongson Zhongke will have certain advantages in price.

The positioning of Loognson Zhongke’s GPU is to achieve self-matching with CPU to reduce the system cost. The current 9A1000 under research is positioned as an entry-level GPU and for AI reasoning acceleration (32TOP) at terminals, and the performance of the GPU is to match that of AMD RX550. It is expected that the code of the GPU will be frozen by the end of 2024 or before the Spring Festival, so as to seek taping it out in H1 next year. The performance of 9A2000 to be developed as planned is 8-10 times that of 9A1000. On this basis, more advanced technology will be used to achieve the leap-forward development of 9A3000.

06

Domestic News (November 19)

Guangdongs first RF chip foundry launches the first wafer successfully!

Recently, Zhuhai Sinosemic Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (Sinosemic Microelectronics) started its first 6-in GaAs wafer production line and released the first 6-inch 2um GaAs HBT wafer, which will be mass produced in H1 2025. The wafer, due to its high gain and high efficiency, can be applied to advanced 5G Phase 7/8 mobile phone power amplifier modules and Wi-Fi 6/7 devices.

Sinosemic Microelectronics was established in 2023 in the high-tech zone of Zhuhai, and its Gechuang-Sinosemic GaAs wafer production base has been certified as a key project in Guangdong Province and an industrial pillar project in Zhuhai. Since the project started construction, it took only 184 days to complete the capping of the main building of the project, and it took 180 days to complete the installation and secondary distribution engineering of the equipment , and it took 90 days to complete the equipment debugging and put the production line into operation.

Gechuang·Sinosemic GaAs wafer production base focuses on the innovation of compound semiconductor wafer foundry technology and is committed to building the world’s leading compound semiconductor process platform, introducing quality and high-yield process technology, sparing no efforts to support domestic enterprises to realize localized RF chips, and making itself the largest RF wafer foundry in Chinese mainland to promote the self-reliance of RF technology.

07

Domestic News (November 21)

ST announces foundry by Hua Hong!

On November 21st, STMicroelectronics (ST) announced a new plan to cooperate with a Chinese wafer foundry Hua Hong Semiconductor and will cooperate with Hua Hong to produce 40nm MCU in Chinese mainland! ST said that it is cooperating with Hua Hong, the second largest custom chip manufacturer in China, to produce 40nm MCU chips in Wuxi by the end of 2025.

The CEO of ST said at the event that China is the largest market with the most innovative EVs, which is indispensable for ST, and it is impossible for the company to compete outside the market. ST is applying the best practices and technologies learned from the Chinese market to the western markets. According to ST manufacturing director, the reasons for the company to choose direct production in Chinese mainland include the cost-effectiveness and compatibility of the local supply chain, and to do so can also speed up the response of ST to the demand of the EV industry and ensure to keep up with the development pace of Chinese enterprises.

According to Reuters, this remark came at a time when EU, the USA and the PRC are requiring more chips manufactured in their own countries. However, many chip manufacturers are expanding their business in Singapore and Malaysia to serve the Asian market. In this regard, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong published an editorial article saying that ST showed extraordinary foresight and courage in this deal and did not give up the huge Chinese market just due to the “bashing" voice of the USA.