Semiconductor Market News (NOV. 11 to NOV. 17)|TrendForce Forecasts Increased DRAM Shipments for 2025, Samsung's New Plant to Boost HBM Capacity...
01. SEMI Reports Q3 Silicon Wafer Shipments Peak, Forecasts 2025 Rebound
SEMI's recent report reveals that global silicon wafer shipments in Q3 2023 reached 3.214 billion square inches, a 5.9% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 6.8% rise year-on-year, hitting a five-quarter high. Despite not yet surpassing 2022's peak, shipments are projected to keep climbing through 2025. With supply chain inventories decreasing, stock levels remain elevated, and demand for advanced silicon wafers in AI is strong, while automotive and industrial demand remains sluggish. There's a modest uptick in demand for wafers in smartphones and consumer electronics. SEMI predicts a 2% decline in 2024 to 12.174 billion square inches (MSI), but a 10% rebound to 13.328 billion square inches (MSI) in 2025 as demand recovers. The upward trend is set to continue through 2027, propelled by AI and advanced manufacturing demands, with advanced packaging and HBM production driving additional wafer capacity needs, focusing on carrier wafers, interposers, chipset partitioning, and memory/logic array separation.
02. TrendForce Forecasts 25% Increase in DRAM Bit Shipments by 2025
TrendForce's latest forecast indicates a significant increase in global DRAM bit shipments for 2025, with a projected growth of 25% compared to 2024, or 21% excluding Chinese suppliers. This surge is partly attributed to the robust demand for HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) driven by artificial intelligence, which is expected to remain a key growth driver for the DRAM market. However, suppliers remain cautious, warning that a potential decline in demand could exert downward pressure on prices, particularly for older process products like LPDDR4x and DDR4. China's DRAM supply is also anticipated to outpace other countries, potentially impacting the global market.
03. Infineon and Stellantis Join Forces for Smart EV Power Tech
Infineon Technologies has entered a new partnership with Stellantis to develop a cutting-edge power architecture for Stellantis' electric vehicles, expanding on their 2022 collaboration where Infineon began supplying SiC semiconductors. The new agreement encompasses advanced power switches, SiC semiconductors, and microcontrollers, with reserved production capacity. Infineon's PROFET? smart power switches will replace traditional fuses in Stellantis' EVs, marking the first intelligent power network in the industry. The CoolSiC? semiconductors will boost efficiency and performance, extending the range and reducing costs, while AURIX? microcontrollers will enhance power distribution for Stellantis' STLA Brain platform. A Joint Power Lab will be established to develop scalable and intelligent power systems. Infineon's facilities are ready to meet automotive semiconductor demand and scale production. The partnership targets improved energy efficiency, range, and user experience, with a vision to make EVs safer, cleaner, more affordable, and accessible.
04. Samsung Expands HBM Production Capacity with New Fab by 2027
Samsung Electronics is set to increase its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) output with the expansion of its semiconductor packaging facilities in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, with a new facility expected to be completed by December 2027. The company will repurpose an idle LCD factory owned by Samsung Display in Cheonan into a semiconductor production site, with support from local authorities. This move comes as Samsung aims to strengthen its position in the global semiconductor market, particularly in the HBM sector where it has been lagging behind competitor SK Hynix. The new plant will feature advanced HBM chip packaging lines, which are crucial for AI computing and are expected to help Samsung meet the strong demand for HBM chips. Despite previous delays in supplying its fifth-generation HBM3E products to NVIDIA due to quality concerns, Samsung anticipates shipping HBM3E chips to customers in the fourth quarter, indicating "meaningful" progress in certification with major clients.
05. Amazon AWS Offers Free AI Semiconductors to Researchers, Competing with Nvidia
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has declared its intention to provide researchers with free computing power from its self-developed AI semiconductor "Trainium" to support the development of artificial intelligence models, as reported by Reuters on November 12th. This move is aimed at competing with Nvidia and enticing researchers to utilize AWS's cloud data centers. AWS plans to prepare 40,000 units of the first-generation Trainium for this initiative, having already garnered participation from prestigious institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Berkeley. AWS is employing a differentiation strategy to attract users in the AI semiconductor sector, where it faces competition from rivals like Microsoft, despite its leading position in the cloud services market.
06. Ubilink Supercomputing Center Launched by Foxlink, Full Capacity Expected in First Phase
Foxlink's inaugural supercomputing center, "Ubilink," officially commenced operations on November 14, with an initial investment of 2 billion NTD, projecting full capacity in its first phase with revenues potentially reaching 4 billion NTD. Foxlink plans to introduce NVIDIA GB200 AI servers next year, aiming to make Taiwan's computing power the leading in Asia. The company will also roll out GB200-related components, including AOC power cables, connectors, and thermal components, to capture opportunities in AI data centers. The computing power rental model is favored by semiconductor manufacturers and biomedical professionals, with full capacity expected for the next year and plans for a second phase already underway. Foxlink also intends to enter the GB200 AI server supply chain, targeting vertical integration and upstream component development. Ubilink, utilizing NVIDIA AI servers and Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking platform, boasts a computing power of 45.82 PFLOPs, ranking among the top 21 of the global 500 supercomputers, just after facilities in Japan and China in Asia. The construction speed of Ubilink set a record, making it the first green energy supercomputing center in Asia.