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01 Company Trend(Jan. 10)

Intel’s bets big on car chips to challenge Qualcomm & Nvidia

Intel Corporation is aggressively entering the automotive market. At CES, the company launched a new family of software-defined vehicle system-on-chips (SoCs), to deliver its generative AI-driven experiences to next-generation vehicles. SoCs are very flexible because developers will accurately bespeak what they want to do in a car. With this release, the company aims to challenge its competitors Nvidia and Qualcomm, which currently dominate the market of semiconductor, the brain of the next generation of smart cars.
“New Intel AI-enhanced software-defined vehicle (SDV) SoCs combine AI PC launched by the company recently but they will be adjusted to support the durability and performance for cars and other vehicles,” said Jack Weast, vice president and general manager of Intel Automotive, in the bulletin of CES. In addition to the new chips, Intel also announced its plan to acquire Silicon Mobility SAS, which designs SoCs and software for controlling EV motors and on-board charging system. Intel has not disclosed the amount it paid for acquiring Silicon Mobility.

Comments

Silicon Mobility’s SoCs feature industry-leading accelerators and highly advanced AI algorithms for significant gains in vehicle energy efficiency. This technology portfolio will extend Intel’s reach in the vehicle beyond high-performance computing into intelligent and programmable power devices.
Today, Intel has a presence in the market of infotainment system, and its SoCs are installed in more than 50 million vehicles. However, the company falls behind market leaders Nvidia and Qualcomm. Automotive chips are not only used for achieving autopilot but also for powering vehicle-mounted infotainment software and sophisticated instrument panel displays. It is expected that the electric vehicle market in China will become a hotly contested spot for Intel and its competitors. Chinese automakers are vying to introduce autopilot systems and more advanced infotainment features into their vehicles, and Zeekr is the client of both Nvidia and Intel.

02 Company Trend(Jan. 10)

STMicro to reorganize!

According to the news released on January 10th, STMicro, a chip giant, recently announced that its product department will undergo a reorganization, and its reorganization plan will officially take effect on February 5th, 2024. The news has attracted extensive attention of the industry.
It is reported that through this reorganization, the company will reorganize its three product groups into two product groups (APMS and MDRF) and the president of the former Automotive and Discrete Product Group of STMicro is leaving the company. Of which, the group of analog, power & discrete, MEMS and sensors (APMS) will integrate the analog product group of STMicro, including intelligent power solutions for automotive, power and discrete products (including SiC products), MEMS and sensors. The group of microcontrollers, digital IC and RF products (MDRF) covers STMicros Digital ICs, MCUs (including automotive MCUs), RF, ADAS and infotainment IC. MDRF will consist of two reportable market segments: MCUs and digital ICs & RF products.
In addition to its product group adjustments, STMicro also plans to launch innovative application marketing organizations in various regional markets to better meet the demands of four main terminal markets: automotive, industrial electronics and energy, industrial automation, IoT and AI, personal electronics, communication equipment and computer peripherals.

Comments

This organizational structure adjustment is part of the company’s measures to accelerate going public, strengthen product development innovation and improve operational efficiency. The company will better adapt to market changes with a more flexible structure, strengthen professional services for different market segments, and provide customers with better quality solutions. This reorganization reflects STMicro’s aggressive response to market changes and a strategic deployment for its future development. Through integrating resources and improving synergies, STMicro is expected to keep its competitiveness in a fierce competitive market and achieve more sustainable growth.

03 Market Trend(Jan. 10)

Wafer foundries target Singapore

The global semiconductor supply chain is relocating due to factors such as the complex international situation, and the Southeast Asian region, represented by Singapore, is becoming a top option.
In 2010, GlobalFoundries acquired Singapores Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and took over its wafer fab. In September 2023, GlobalFoundries announced the official opening of its US$ 4bn expansion fabrication plant to further expand its global capacity. The expanded wafer fab will additionally produce 450,000 units of 300mm wafers per year, increasing GlobalFoundries’s total capacity in Singapore to approximately 1.5 million units of 300mm wafers per year.
UMC has been operating its 12-inch fab in Singapore for over 20 years. In February 2022, UMC announced that its board of directors approved plans to expand a new advanced fab in the Fab12i area in Singapore. At that time, UMC estimated that the new fab would start mass production at the end of 2024. The latest news shows that the new fab is expected to commence mass production in early 2025.
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (VIS) currently operates an 8-inch fab in Singapore. In October 2023, news said that VIS plans to establish its first 12-inch fab in Singapore. This fab is mainly designed to meet the demand for automotive chips. This project, with investment of at least US$ 2bn, is expected to produce 28nm chips and will be competed as early as in 2026.

Comments

Although the demand from the consumer electronics market is still weak and has not yet fully recovered, the capacity expansion pace of wafer foundries remains unaffected. As for the newly added production capacity, Chinese mainland will grow rapidly, securing its top position, and Taiwan will keep its second position, followed by South Korea, Japan, America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. In the wafer manufacturing sector, IDM companies like Micron, Infineon, NXP Semiconductors, STMicro, and others, along with foundry enterprises like GlobalFoundries, UMC, and VIS are investing in building facilities in Singapore. The industry believes that demand from applications and terminals such as AI and High Performance Computing (HPC) will recover gradually, which will drive the capacity development of wafer foundries and help the semiconductor industry expand.

04 Market Trend(Jan. 10)

Malaysia doubles down investment in chips

Malaysia is doubling down on the semiconductor industry to capture growth in the growing electric vehicle market. In an exclusive interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday, the Trade and Industry Minister of Malaysia pointed out that EV makers procure components from Malaysia “in billions of dollars”. As a result, “they want to realign the supply chain to ensure the security and resiliency of their supply chain, so they are coming closer to Malaysia and we are inviting many EV makers to come”, he said. The goal was to encourage EV makers to expand their presence in the country. He pointed out that Tesla is already one of Malaysia’s major charging station providers.
EV will boost the export growth of Malaysias manufacturing industry, and Malaysia remains an attractive destination for EV investors. Semiconductors are an integral to the manufacturing of cars, but even more so in EVs. A normal car contains about 5,000 chips, but an EV can require up to 15,000 chips. So, Malaysia is there in that supply chain and wants to take advantage of that.

Comments

Malaysia aims to focus on the “front end” of the chips industry, instead of just the “back end.” Malaysia has established a national semiconductor strategic taskforce to develop the country’s semiconductor ecosystem and attract strategic investments. The industry is critical to the national electrical and electronic (E&E) industry, EVs and other industries, accounting for 7% of the countrys GDP and half of its exports. The taskforce will not only seek to develop the semiconductor industry in Malaysia, but will also seek to secure a “talent supply chain” in the country. Malaysia needs 50,000 electrical and electronics engineers every year, and there is a shortage of them in the country. However, Malaysia remains well positioned to achieve the goal of growing its semiconductor industry. The industry started in early 1970s and has a strong foundation to move up the value chain.

05 Company Trend

A major breakthrough: the world’s first functional semiconductor made from graphene!( Jan. 8)

Recently, the research team from China created the worlds first functional semiconductor made of graphene! The related article is titled "Ultrahigh-mobility semiconductor epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide” and released in Nature, the world’s leading multidisciplinary science journal.
Graphene is mainly divided into graphene powder and graphene film, and graphene powder occupies most of Chinas graphene product market. Graphene film is used in mobile phone screen or flexible display. As the related technology is not yet mature, the application of graphene film is still in the stage of technology development in the market, and its market share is relatively small.
It was reported that the research was mainly led by a research team of Tianjin University, not by a foreign university. Through the precise regulation of epitaxial graphene growth process, the band gap is successfully introduced in graphene, creating a new stable semiconductor graphene. This cutting-edge technology ensures that carbon atoms can form a highly ordered structure on the silicon carbide substrate by strictly controlling the temperature, time and flow of gases in the growing environment. This kind of semiconductor graphene has 10 times greater electron mobility than silicon and has unique properties not found in silicon.

NAURA made breakthrough in 12-inch device!( Jan. 9)

Recently, Orion Proxima, a 12-inch high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDPCVD) device developed by NAURA was officially delivered for validation by the client. This marks that NAURA has made a new breakthrough in the insulation media filling process technology, and it also laid a solid step for NAURA to enter the 12-inch media film device sector, opening up the RMB 10bn market.
This device can effectively fill the insulation media between high-depth-to-width ratio troughs through the deposition-etching-deposition process. With NAURA’s accumulation of etching technology, the device shows the advantages of high deposition rate, excellent hole filling capacity and reaction at low temperature to achieve high density media film, which has gained the wide attention of many customers in the industry.
At present, the technological performance of Orion Proxima has reached the advanced level in the industry after iterative upgrades. Through the combination of scheduling optimization of flexible and controllable software system and independently developed unique transmission platform, the device can achieve a great increase in production capacity; By providing different hardware configuration options, it can meet the process requirements including hole filling capacity, film quality, and particle control and can provide a full coverage of customers’ needs in logic, storage and other specialty processes.

Ascenpower to produce 240,000 units of 6-inch automotive SiC chips by the end of the year(Jan. 11)

According to the news released on January 11th, Ascenpower, as a major “Strengthening Chip Project” in Guangdong, Ascenpower is ramping up capacity in phase I and can achieve its designed capacity of 240,000 units of 6-inch automotive SiC chips by the end of the year.
According to the working staff, Ascenpower’s plant is ramping up capacity and can achieve its designed capacity of 240,000 units of 6-inch automotive SiC chips by the end of the year. The reserved 8-inch production line is located next to the 6-inch production line, and will have the capacity to produce 240,000 units of 8-inch automotive SiC chips per year upon completion. It is learned that the total investment of Ascenpower’s SiC chip manufacturing project is RMB 7.5bn. Upon completion, the project will have the capacity of producing 240,000 units of 6-inch SiC chips and 240,000 units of 8-inch SiC chips per year.
With the strong support of the government of Guangzhou and Nansha District, Ascenpower can complete the project and put it into operation within 15 months, and the dust-free plant was officially put into operation in November 2022, now achieving production capacity of 10,000 units of chips per month. The automotive chip and industrial control chip have been taped out successfully and samples have been sent, and the certification of automotive chip is to be completed soon.