The Tech week that was... Jan 22~26

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.?

?In industry news…

Intel and UMC have announced a partnership to develop and manufacture a new 12nm node jointly developed by the 2 companies.? Intel Foundry Services (IFS) will produce the new node in its Fabs 12, 22, and 32 in Arizona using fully depreciated tools already manufacturing 10nm and 14nm nodes. The new node is targeted primarily for mobile communication infrastructure and networking applications and will be made available to external customers. UMC will handle the go-to-market activities of bringing the new node to market.

Infineon extended and expanded ?it’s long term agreement (LTA) with Wolfspeed for?150mm Silicon Carbide wafer supply.? Infineon first signed a supply agreement with Wolfspeed in 2018.? Infineon also extended it’s LTA with GlobalFoundries for 40nm capacity to ensure growth of its automotive microcontroller business through 2030.

Intel opened it’s Fab 9 in New Mexico, USA this week to manufacture Intel’s 3D advanced packaging technology. The US$3.5billion investment in the site has created hundreds of jobs

Staff at Newport Wafer Fab travelled to Westminster this week to urge the government to speed up approval of the deal for Vishay to acquire the Fab and prevent further job losses.? Vishay agreed to acquire the Fab from Nexperia for US$177million ?last September after Nexperia was forced to sell the Fab due to national security concerns.?

In financial news..

Lithography tool manufacturer ASML reported full year revenue of almost US$30billion, up 31% YoY as it defied geopolitical headwinds in 2023.? Q4 also came in ahead of expectation’s reporting revenue of US$7.8billion and the company said booking in Q4 increase 3x to almost US$10billion.? ASML expects 2024 to be flat, before seeing significant growth in 2025.

Intel reported Q4’23 revenue of US$15.4billion, up 10% YoY, whilst full year revenue was US$54billion in 2023, down -14% YoY.? Intel is forecasting Q1’24 revenue of US$12.7billion at it’s midpoint.?

ST Micro reported Q4 revenue of US$4.3billion, down -3% QoQ and YoY.? For the full year revenues increased 7% YoY to US$17.3billion.? Full year revenue was up due to strong automotive sales, but in Q4, automotive sales growth slowed and they observed a deteriorating industrial market. ST Micro forecast Q1’24 revenue of US$3.6billion, down -15% QoQ and YoY.? For the full year in 2024 they expect revenues of US$16.4billion as they expect ?significant inventory correction in industrial in 1H’24 with growth only seen in 2nd half of the year.? They expect mid single digit growth for automotive segment.

Texas Instruments (TI) reported fourth quarter revenue of US$4.08 billion, down -10% sequentially and down -13% YoY due to increasing weakness across industrial sectors and a sequential decline in automotive.? 2023 full year revenue was US$17.5billion, down -12.5% YoY. TI are forecasting Q1’24 revenue to be US$3.6billion at it’s midpoint, down -12% due to weak industrial and automotive markets.

In market research news..

Apple became the leading smartphone manufacturer in China for the first time with 17.3% marketshare in 2023 according to the latest data from IDC.? China smartphone shipments were the lowest in a decade with 271.3 million units shipped in 2023, a decline of -5.0% YoY.? Honor was close in 2nd place with 17.1% marketshare, with OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi making up the top 5.? Although not making the top 5 for the full year, in Q4’23 Huawei did return the top 5 for the first time in 2 years, taking 4th position.

As Apple prepares to launch it’s Vision Pro VR device, Trendforce estimates that it could sell between 500~600 thousand units in 2024.

That's all for this week.

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