1. The global scale of automotive sensors is expected to reach $14 billion by 2028
In 2022, the global automotive market shipped 5.4 billion sensors and generated revenue of $7.8 billion.
Yole predicts that from 2022 to 2028, the compound annual growth rate will be relatively strong, reaching 10%. It is expected that by 2028, global sensor shipments will reach 8.3 billion and revenue will increase to $14 billion.
2. NVIDIA Emergency Orders Increase Utilization of 5nm Nanowafer Plants
On May 26, 2023, according to industry insiders, the influx of Nvidia orders has supported the capacity utilization of the TSMC 5 nanoprocess platform to almost full capacity.
According to sources, NVIDIA is urgently booking H100 and A100 production capacity from TSMC, as well as H800 and A800 specifically designed for China. The source added that TSMC's SHR for NVIDIA's AI GPUs will continue throughout the year.
Nvidia's orders have increased the utilization rate of the TSMC7/6 nano process family. Previously, due to weak demand, the utilization rate of the family had been rapidly decreasing, while the utilization rate of the 5/4 process in this generation of factories was also rapidly increasing, almost reaching full capacity.
3. Japanese electronic component manufacturers turning to automotive applications for growth
Recently, it was learned that Japanese electronic component manufacturers such as Murata Manufacturing, Sun Indy, and TDK are mostly conservative towards the recovery of smartphone demand, and they are now pinning their hopes on orders for automotive electronic components.
4. It is reported that Samsung Q3 has reduced production by more than 10% of wafers
On May 26, 2023, Samsung Electronics, following a reduction in memory chip production, was rumored to be preparing to start reducing wafer production in the third quarter of 2023 due to poor performance in wafer foundry orders.
According to the report, Samsung Semiconductor will reduce its wafer production to at least 10% at the S3 factory in Huacheng Park starting from the third quarter. The S3 factory is a 12 inch production line built and put into operation by Samsung Semiconductor in 2018. Currently, it mainly produces 10nm to 7nm products and is also one of the main production factories for Samsung Semiconductor's advanced EUV technology. Samsung has deployed multiple ASML NXE3400 EUV lithography machines for it.
Industry insiders point out that this production reduction is Samsung's first artificial reduction in wafer production at a semiconductor factory in recent years.
5. The demand for NVIDIA AI chips has surged
On May 24, 2023, NVIDIA officially announced its financial results for the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year (as of April 30, 2023), with a total revenue of $7.19 billion, a 19% increase compared to the previous period, and a gross profit margin of 66.8%, exceeding analysts' expectations of $6.52 billion.
From the perspective of business distribution, Nvidia's two core businesses - data centers and games - both exceeded market expectations in terms of revenue. Although the gaming business continued to be hit by the economic downturn and saw a double-digit decline in revenue, it was significantly higher than market expectations.
Data center revenue, on the other hand, benefits from AI computing and is skyrocketing in double digits month on month. Among them, data center revenue was 4.38 billion US dollars, exceeding expectations by 10%.
Nvidia stated that the AI craze has been more intense than expected. The company's H100, Grace CPU, Grace Hopper, NvLink, Quantum 400 Infiniband, and BlueField 3 DPU have been put into production. And is significantly increasing supply to meet the growing market demand.
6. TSMC: MCU for aiming vehicles
Recently, according to foreign media reports, TSMC stated that negotiations with governments at all levels in Europe have been smooth, and it is expected to make a factory decision in August. In the future, the new factory will specialize in automotive chips, such as automotive MCUs based on the 28nm process.
Our goal is to be close to our customers, "TSMC Senior Vice President Kevin Zhang said at an industry event in Amsterdam this week. He stated that TSMC's board of directors will make a final decision on whether to continue advancing the project as soon as August.
German officials confirmed in early May that TSMC is planning to build a wafer factory in Dresden with manufacturers such as Bosch and Infineon, with a total investment of up to 10 billion euros, but it has not yet been finalized.
7. Microchip Announces New Radiation Resistant Gigabit Ethernet PHY
On May 26, 2023, Microchip Technology recently announced the expansion of its Radiation Resistant (RT) Ethernet PHY device with the new VSC8574RT PHY to simplify Ethernet implementation for aerospace and defense customers. VSC8574RT PHY supports Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (SGMII) and Quad Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (QSGMII) to reduce overall signal pins in the design and release host devices.
Space applications operate in environments that require enhanced radiation technology to withstand extreme temperatures and electromagnetic events. These events have reduced the performance of space-based systems and disrupted operations. VSC8574RT Ethernet PHY is based on Microchip's extensive commercial off the shelf (COTS) devices, allowing customers to start developing applications using the COTS version and replace the final task with RT devices.
VSC8574RT PHY is compatible with copper and fiber interfaces, making new application cases possible. Although today's designs mainly use copper cables, fiber optic interfaces are the trend for future space applications, as the industry requires data rates exceeding 1 gigabit.
8. Ansemy plans to invest $2 billion to increase SiC chip production
On May 22, 2023, it was reported that Ansemy is considering investing $2 billion to increase silicon carbide (SiC) chip production in the United States, Czech Republic, or South Korea.
Ansemy CEO Hassane El Khoury stated that the company's silicon carbide chip production is currently concentrated at a wafer factory in Fuchuan, South Korea.
Ansemy Semiconductor is a supplier in the automotive industry, providing not only chips for the powertrain of electric vehicles, but also other chips such as cameras and sensors to assist driver assistance systems. More than half of the company's chips are produced internally and have invested in the complete supply chain of new energy silicon carbide chips, producing raw materials and finished chips internally.
9.Kyocera plans to invest $2.9 billion to develop AI and high-end chip components
On May 24, 2023, Kyocera recently announced that it will invest 400 billion yen (approximately 2.9 billion US dollars) to build semiconductor related production facilities in fields such as artificial intelligence by March 2026.
The company's overall capital expenditure for the next three years will reach a maximum of 850 billion yen, of which 400 billion yen will be used for its core component business focused on semiconductors. This three-year capital expenditure plan will be the largest in Kyocera's history, both in terms of overall investment and semiconductor related investments.
Kyocera will increase its production capacity of packaging products and fine ceramic components for semiconductor processing equipment. In addition, Kyocera will begin building a new factory in Nagasaki Prefecture in March 2024, and two major factories in Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan will be expanded. It is expected that by March 2026, the output value of fine ceramic parts will reach 1.8 times that of March 2023.
We will leverage the demand for advanced semiconductor components related to ChatGPT. In addition, we plan to increase the production of automotive capacitors. With the development of autonomous driving technology, the demand for automotive capacitors is also increasing, "said Hideo Tanimoto, President of Kyocera.
