The Tech Week that was... Aug 9~14

Welcome to the latest edition of my weekly newsletter bringing you all the key semiconductor and technology news from around the world in one easy read.?Latest data from Taiwan shows the foundry and OSAT business is still booming with many predictions that the current shortage will last well into 2022.?

Market Research Reports

In the latest update from IC Insights they report that automotive MCU sales are forecast to increase 23% in 2021 to a record high of US$7.6billion.?They are predicting sales will continue to grow in 2022 by 14% and a further 16% in 2023.?TSMC have said they are on track to increase its 3Q21 wafer fab capacity by 60% for automotive microcontrollers compared to production outputs a year earlier and 30% higher than pre-pandemic levels.?More than 75% of these MCU’s will be 32bit and overall MCU ASP’s are expected to rise by 13% this year.

?Despite the increase in Fab output, car makers are still implementing production shutdowns die to chip shortages.?This week Volvo announced it has temporarily shutdown it’s Swedish plant in Gothenburg due to chip shortages.

Market researcher Yole forecasts that the CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) market will reach US$31.5billion by 2026, this up from US$20.7billion in 2020.?Until 2019 mobile camera devices were the main growth contributor in the market but in 2020, computing, automotive and security applications are now the main growth drivers. Mobile applications though still are the biggest market accounting for 68% of market revenues.?In 2020 Sony was the biggest CIS supplier with 40% market share from Samsung (22%) Omnivision(11%) and STMicro (6%).

?Taiwan Foundry and OSAT July Revenue

?The latest revenue figures for July from Taiwan foundries and OSATs were released this week.?Overall sales are still very strong especially compared to one year ago, with many foundries and OSAT reporting record high monthly revenue.

TSMC reported July revenue of US$4.47billion down 16% from it’s record high in June. Whilst down sequentially, revenue is still very strong is 17% higher than a year ago.?TSMC also announced it’s Board has approved capex of about US$17.57 billion next quarter for the installation of advanced, mature and specialty technology capacity, as well as the installation and upgrade of advanced packaging capacity.

Taiwanese foundries UMC and VIS both saw record July revenues.?Taiwanese foundry UMC reported July revenue of US$660million, around 6% higher than June and 18.5% higher than a year ago.?Whilst specialist foundry Vanguard (VIS) reported July revenue of US$132million up almost 3% on June.?Year to date revenue is US$826million up 22.5% compared to the same period last year.?Memory foundry Powerchip (PSMC) reported July revenue of 194million, up 3.8% compared to June, and a whooping 44% higher than 1 year ago.

All the leading BE OSATs in Taiwan recorded record monthly high revenues in July.?ASE reported July revenue of US$1.05billion for it’s ATM group which includes OSATs ASE and SPIL, up 7.8% sequentially and up 28% compared to a year ago.?ASE said that the shortfall in the supply of IC’s will persist into 2022.

BE OSAT Powertech (PTI) reported July revenue of US$270million, up 6.5% sequentially, and 19% YoY.?For the year to date PTI revenue is 1.6billion, up 5% compared to the same period a year ago.?Chipbond reported July revenue of US$84million, flat sequentially and up 27% year on year.?Test OSAT KYEC recovered from the shutdown of it’s facility due to COVID which impacted revenue in June to record revenue of US$106million in July, up 49% sequentially and up 20% YoY.

Other Industry News

Taiwanese OSAT ChipMOS is the latest OSAT to increase prices for it’s assembly and test services.?The company announced it is increasing capacity to meet demand from display driver and memory chip customers as demand outstrips capacity.?It also said that the supply of of raw materials and manufacturing equipment is unstable.

Samsung this week unveiled its new 5nm wearable processor as the company tries to increase its presence in the wearable device market.?The Exynos W920 is the industry's first wearable processor made using 5nm technology providing enhanced performance and power efficiency.?The processor will be used in Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch.?

Intel failed in it’s appeal to set aside a jury verdict in March ordering the chipmaker to pay VLSI Technology LLC $2.18 billion for patent infringement.?Intel said in a statement on Tuesday it was disappointed with the decision and intended to appeal.

Intel is rumoured to have bought up the majority of the 3nm node capacity at TSMC expected to start mass production in mid 2022, according to Chinese media outlet UDN.?Intel will use the capacity to fabricate its new GPU and server chips as it tries to regain it’s from rivals AMD and Apple. However according to Digitimes TSMC is on track to support 3nm technology for Apple devices from the 2nd half of next year.?One thing for certain seems to be that 3nm capacity will be very tight when released into volume production next year.?

Wafer substrate supplier Siltronic is expanding capacity.?Siltronic has announced it will build a new 300mm Fab at it’s existing site in Singapore, spending around US$2.4billion to support strong demand in a tight semiconductor market.?Construction is expected to start this year with production in 2024.?In addition, the company broke ground for the construction of it’s new extension of it’s crystal pulling Fab in Freiburg Germany. The extension is planned to be completed by the end of next year.

?Taiwanese LED equipment maker Fittech has announced it will invest US$1.8million in K-Jet Laser Tek to strengthen FitTech’s technologies of Micro LED mass transfer and removal as well as precision laser processing for PCB substrates.?K-JET is based in Hsinchu Taiwan and manufactures laser cutting assembly and packaging equipment.

Chinese company Hunan Sanan Semiconductor has ambitious plans to be a major SIC manufacturer.?In June it opened it’s first vertically integrated SIC line in Changsha.?The US$2.5billion integrated factory took less than a year to complete and handles everything from crystal growth to power device wafer manufacture and assembly and test.?Phase one has capacity for 15,000 6” wafers per month. Phase 2 will be a mirror image of phase 1 with capacity for a further 15,000 6” or 8” wafers forecast to be on-line in 2024.

Wales is planning on planning on establishing itself as a major hub for compound semiconductors.?2 new research centres, one based at Swansea University and the other at Cardiff University, are planned to open soon offering 6,000m2 of high tech cleanrooms and labs.

To finish this week an article about the threat of malvertising to attack smart home IoT devices.?Malvertising spreads malware through the injection of malicious code into online display ads via online advertising networks, exposing user networks and connected devices to the potential risk of infection.?Hackers then use this malware, which can be installed without even having to click a link,?to attack smart home IoT devices.

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed what you read, why don't you subscribe to my free newsletter and automatically stay up to date with all the industry news.

?Stay safe and healthy... bye.

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