The Tech Week that was.. Jan 14th~18th

Here is my weekly summary of all the semiconductor technical news you need to know about but may have missed.

 TSMC, the bell-weather of the semiconductor industry announced 4Q 2018 results and gave a not so optimistic forecast for 2019. TSMC reported Q4’18 revenues of US$9.3b, up 4.4% yoy and 11.3% sequentially, driven by 7nm revenue which grew to 23% of total revenue in Q4. For 2018 as a whole TSMC revenue grew 6.5%, slightly outperforming the foundry market due to strong demand of 10nm & 7nm. For 2019 Q1 they are forecasting revenue to be around US$7.3b, and expect TSMC to grow much more slowly in 2019 with around 2% growth. They forecast a weak 1st half due to the weak high end smartphone demand and high inventory levels which will take until mid-year to deplete, but they expect 2nd half to recover especially as A.I. and 5G content to grow in smartphones.

Next week #4 equipment maker LAM and TI semiconductor will announce results, so it will be interesting to see how they see 2019.

Semiconductor Engineering gave a slightly more optimistic view of 2019 in an article by Brian Bailey, He thinks that demand for AI, 5G and autonomous cars will offset the loss of demand from smart phones and cryptocurrency. Whilst these are definitely areas that will grow, personally I’m not sure that they will grow fast enough in 2019 and 2020 will see most of the growth in these areas. 

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Apple supplier Foxconn has axed 50,000 seasonal jobs since October. Whilst Foxconn typically offloads its seasonal workers on this scale what is different this year is that it has happened much earlier than usual before the year end

Last year in October Micron announced it’s intention to buy out Intel’s share of their joint venture IM Flash Technologies. Micron has now exercised the buyout clause and the joint venture will end in the next 6~12 months at a date set by Intel. Micron will pay approx. US$1.5b in cash.  

The battle between Apple and Qualcomm is always in the news these days, with news coming from many fronts. In Germany, Apple has been ordered to stop using it’s press release claiming all iPhones would be available after it was earlier banned from selling iPhone7 & 8 models in Germany over a patent dispute. However in a separate German court, Qualcomms patent lawsuit to broaden the patent dispute to cover other iPhones was thrown out as groundless. Whilst in the press in the US Qualcomm have responded to comments made by Apple CEO Tim Cook claiming there had been no recent settlement talks between the iPhone maker and chip supplier in their global legal battle, saying that Cook’s remarks were misleading. In November Qualcomm's Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf in November made comments about the supplier's efforts to resolve the dispute.

Qualcomms battles don’t just end with Apple as the US FTC court case accusing Qualcomm of operating a monopoly in wireless chips forcing companies to pay excessive fees has started. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf has said in court that the way his company sells chips to smartphone makers is best for everybody involved and there is nothing wrong with the "no license, no chips" policy.

Another company in the news all the time at present is Huawei. Huawei’s troubles are also on many fronts. In Canada Huawei CFO was arrested last year accused of breaking sanctions with Iran, and many countries are reviewing whether to include Huawei in 5G networks due to concerns over spying. In Huawei’s defence their founder Ren Zhengfei finally came out Tuesday and denied claims that his company is used the Chinese government to spy, and denies the case against his CFO daughter.  In Germany the government is debating whether to follow the US in barring Huawei from 5G networks.  Whilst Canada which is also debating whether to ban Huawei from supplying 5G equipment, came under fire from the China government with threats of repercussions if it banned Huawei.

In the US, according the WSJ,  Federal prosecutors are investigating Huawei for stealing trade secrets from US businesses. Whilst separately in Congress a bipartisan group of US lawmakers have introduced bill to ban the sale of US chips and components to Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese telecom companies that violate US sanctions or export control laws. China calls this move “hysteria”

I don’t normally cover company product launches but these 2 products caught my eye as very interesting and unique.  Israeli start up Wiliot has demonstrated the first ever sticker sized Bluetooth sensor tag that is completely battery-free, it harvests energy from ambient radio frequencies.

Whilst the New York Times has an interesting article about a small high tech farm in Bulger that acts as a laboratory for applying technology to smaller farms. The 150 cows wear Fitbit like collars that monitor their movements, eating and rumination patterns, and are milked by robots. 

That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed this article, please help to like and share it. Please feel free leave your comments on your views on any of the news stories.