The Tech week that was... Sept 6~10

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.?This week the revenue data from Taiwans foundries and OSAT’s show that the semiconductor segment is still going very strong. The latest news of new facilities from Samsung in the US & Intel in Europe, plus all the latest market analysis together with lots of other news.

The latest?economic indicators from the Taiwan foundries and OSAT’s show that the semiconductor boom continues with all foundries and OSAT’s posting August revenues at either record high monthly revenues or near to record highs, driven by strong demand and also ASP increases.?

The worlds largest foundry, TSMC, reported August revenue of US$4.97billion, 2nd highest monthly revenue behind Junes record revenue result and up ~12% yoy. Market analysts said the higher sales in August largely reflected an increase in orders from Apple Inc., which is expected to unveil its newest iPhone models later this month.?For the year to date, revenue was US$36billion, up 17% compared to the same period last year.?TSMC’s revenue is growing less compared to it’s smaller competitors as until August it held prices for most customers, whilst all the other foundries and OSATs have been increasing ASP’s for quite some time. It will only be in Q4 that the full extent of the TSMC ASP increases will be visible.

UMC posted a new record monthly high for revenue in August, reporting net sales of US$678million, up 2.3% on July revenue and up 26.6% yoy.

Specialist foundry Vanguard (VIS) also reported new monthly high with August revenue of US$145million, a 45%?yoy increase.?For the year to date revenue is US$977million, up 25.4% compared to the same period last year.

Memory foundry Powerchip also reported record monthly high revenue in August of US$21million, up 51% yoy.?For the year to date Powerchip revenue is US$1.4billion, continuing it’s record revenue year.

A similar story is seen in the OSAT’s.?Number 1 OSAT ASE, posted record high monthly revenue of US$1.1billion in August for the ATM group, which includes both ASE & SPIL OSATs, up 4.6% compared to July.?

Test specialist KYEC reported record monthly high revenue of US$110million in August, 3% up on July, and 21% up yoy.

OSAT Powertech (PTI), reported record monthly revenue of US$272million in August , marginally up on July and 20% up YoY.?For the year to date revenue is 1.96bliion, up 6% compared to the same period last year.

Market analysts Trendforce released it’s OSAT rankings for Q2 2021.?Revenue of the top 10 OSAT’s reached US$7.88billion in Q2 up 26.4% yoy, due to strong demand and package & test price increases.?ASE retained the top position with 24% market share from Amkor in 2nd position.?ASE reported revenue of US$1.86billion for Q2 up, 35% yoy, whilst Amkor reported revenue of US$1.41billion up 20%, as the OSAT’s gradually increase capacity to meet persistently growing customer demand. Chinese OSAT JCET took third position, from SPIL and PTI.

Industry organisation SIA released it’s July global semiconductor industry sales numbers, with a 29% yoy growth to US$45.4billion, and 2% higher than June. Regionally Europe showed the highest year on year increase showing 38% growth, compared to 29% in China and 27% in the Americas.?

Market analyst IC Insights expects Q3 semiconductors sales from the top 15 manufacturers to grow 7% compared to Q2, growing to US$119billion in Q3. Of the top 5 companies, only Intel is expected to show a -3% decline, as the other 4 top 5 companies Samsung, TSMC, SK Hynix and Micron are expected to see a 10~11% sales growth.

Whilst SEMI released it’s Q2 global equipment billings results which surged 48% yoy to a record high of US$24.9billion in Q2.?This was up 5% on Q1 2021.?By region China led the sales accounting for US$8.22billion up 79% yoy and 38% compared to Q1, followed by Korea US$6.62billion and Taiwan US$5.04billion.

Yole is predicting that InP bare die market will grow to US$5billion by 2026, driven by increasing demand from the datacom and teleco markets, and from emerging InP sectors like LiDAR for automotive, 3D sensing and wearables.

?In other industry News

Both Samsung and LG are reported to hiring thousands of workers in Vietnam as the 2 companies invest heavily in new factories in Vietnam.?Samsung is investing US$230 million to build a R&D centre in Hanoi, Vietnam, which will employ between 2,200 and 3,000 employees.?Construction started in April and is expected to be completed next year.?Whilst LG has also injected over US$2 billion into its manufacturing factory in Haiphong, Vietnam, and will be hiring hundreds of engineers and workers over the next year.

?Competition is hotting up in Texas in the bid to be the site selected for the new Samsung Fab.?The city of Taylor in Texas has said it will offer extensive property tax breaks if the city is chose as the site for the US$17billion Fab. ?Talyor is competing with the city of Austin, Texas, where the current Samsung Fab is located, to be selected. Samsung is also reported to considering Arizona and New York as potential sites.

Intel CEO Gelsinger has said that Intel plans to build a “big honkin’ fab” in Europe which will be the worlds most advanced.?The 10 year project to build 8 Fabs on the site could ultimately cost up to US$95billion and employ over 10,000 people, is part of Gelsinger’s plan to catch up to it’s competitors.?The site is expected to announced later this year with building to start in 2022.

Intel has also announced that it will establish committed foundry capacity at it’s Fab in Ireland and launch the Intel Foundry Services Accelerator to help automotive chip designers transition to advanced nodes.

Foundry UMC and Taiwanese OSAT Chipbond Technology have established a strategic partnership with a share swap that gives UMC with a 9% stake in the LCD driver packaging specialist.?The partners are aiming for a display driver market that’s expected to register a CAGR of 5% during the period 2021-2026.

Semiconductor manufacturer ROHM and Chinese automotive manufacturer Geely have entered into a strategic partnership to develop advanced SiC technologies for the automotive field.?Initially traction inverters equipped with ROHM’s SiC power devices are being integrated in electric vehicle platforms currently being developed by Geely.

Lam Research has announced it will open a new semiconductor equipment manufacturing facility in Oregon.?The new 45,000-square-foot facility in the city of Sherwood will open in December of 2021.?The new facility is Lam’s fifth manufacturing site in?the United States.

?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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