TSMC's price hike accepted by customers as Japanese semiconductor makers focus on production expansion

1. Sony, Rohm, Renesas and other 8 Japanese semiconductor manufacturers focused on expanding production

According to the science and technology board daily quoted Nikkei Asian news, because of optimism that AI, carbon reduction market will expand, Sony, Mitsubishi Electric, Rohm, Toshiba, armour man, Renesas, Rapidus, Fuji Electric 8 Japanese companies will be up to 2029 until the semiconductor investment of 5 trillion yen, used to increase the production of power semiconductors, image sensors, logic semiconductors and other products.

Among them, Sony will invest about 1.6 trillion yen in 2021-2026 annual period, increase production of CMOS image sensors and other products, plans to build a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture. In addition, the Japanese factory has increased production of power semiconductors, Toshiba and Rohm will invest a total of about 380 billion yen to increase the production of power semiconductors, and Mitsubishi Electric plans to SiC power semiconductor production capacity in 2026 will be increased to 5 times the annual 2022, will invest about 100 billion yen in Kumamoto County to build a new plant.

2. TSMC a number of customers agreed to price increases in exchange for stable supply

According to fast technology news quoted relevant reports, Macquarie Securities revealed an important industry dynamics: through in-depth supply chain investigation, found that TSMC has successfully reached a consensus with the majority of customers to price increases in exchange for a more stable supply chain security, this move is undoubtedly for TSMC's gross margin climb injected into a strong impetus.

The logic behind this price increase is widely believed in the industry to stem from a combination of surging market demand, tight production capacity and rising costs. Particularly notable is that Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA and AMD and other technology giants have increased the booking of TSMC's 3nm advanced process capacity, the order boom continues to rise, and the waiting list has been extended to 2026, fully demonstrating the urgency of the industry's demand for high-end chips and TSMC's technology leadership.

3.SIA: May semiconductor sales rose 19.3% year-on-year to $49.1 billion

According to the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) recently issued data, the global semiconductor industry in May 2024 reached $ 49.1 billion in sales, an increase of 19.3% year-on-year, an increase of 4.1%. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS).The SIA accounts for 99 per cent of the US semiconductor industry's revenues and nearly two-thirds of non-US chip companies.

Regionally, sales increased year-over-year in the Americas (43.6%), China (24.2%), and Asia/Pacific/All Other (13.8%), and declined in Japan (-5.8%) and Europe (-9.6%). Americas (6.5%), China (5.0%), Asia-Pacific / all other regions (3.0%) and Japan (1.6%) sales growth year-on-year, but Europe (-1.0%) sales decline.

4. Roma subsidiary SiCrystal announced the expansion of silicon carbide wafers

July 4, power semiconductor original Rohm subsidiary SiCrystal GmbH announced that it will be in the northeast of Nuremberg directly opposite the existing factory to create a new additional production area, the new building will provide an additional 6,000 square metres of production space, and will be equipped with the most advanced technology to further optimize the production of silicon carbide (SiC) wafers. The close proximity to the existing plant will ensure tight integration of production processes. total SiCrystal capacity will be approximately three times higher in 2027 than in 2024.

5. Samsung rumoured to slow down the development of automotive semiconductor projects, AI priority

According to IT home quoted Korean media Businesskorea reported that Samsung Electronics is responsible for chip design system LSI department is in business and organisational restructuring, will give priority to the development of AI chips. As part of the strategic restructuring, Samsung Electronics has reallocated personnel from its automotive processor Exynos Auto project to the AI chip team According to the report, Samsung has now concentrated 100-150 designers dedicated to the development of AI chips.

The report also pointed out that the recent phenomenon of "electric car gap" (i.e., a temporary slowdown in demand before the large-scale popularity) and the global automobile manufacturers to develop their own chips and other factors also promote this strategy change.

6.UMC Q2 revenue rose slightly, optimistic about demand in the field of AI

According to China Taiwan Business Times news, wafer foundry UMC June consolidated revenue of NT$17.548 billion, a decrease of 10.05% sequentially and 7.91% year-on-year. Second quarter consolidated revenue of NT$56.799 billion, up 3.97% sequentially and 0.89% year-on-year. UMC's second quarter wafer shipments grew slightly, the average selling price of stable expectations, UMC also previously optimistic that the second half of the market conditions will be better than the first half of the year, will also be beneficial to the company's operating performance.

UMC said that in the short term, the current observation of the automotive and industrial parts of the semiconductor demand since the beginning of this year, some correction, if the medium and long term, these two areas are still very important growth momentum. Generative AI market potential is huge, but also optimistic, including high-speed transmission, PMIC, MCU and other related market chips will benefit from growth. UMC also expects that at least 10% to 20% of the market demand for AI-related applications will be achieved in the future.

7. ON Semiconductor released EliteSiC M3S power devices, suitable for charging pile programme

ON Semiconductor (onsemi) has released the EliteSiC M3S power device, which provides a new option for DC ultra-fast bi-directional charging piles for electric vehicles. The silicon carbide-based solution will offer higher efficiency and simpler cooling mechanisms, significantly reducing system cost, up to 40% in size and 52% in weight compared to traditional silicon-based IGBT solutions.

The more compact and lighter charging platform will provide designers with all the key building blocks needed to rapidly deploy reliable, efficient and scalable DC fast-charging networks, enabling the charging of EV batteries up to 80 per cent in as little as 15 minutes.