Weekly News

Contents:

1.?Robotics kicks off 2024 funding boom.?

2. Samsung, SK Hynix Intensify Competition with Increased HBM Production This Year.

3. India Eases Automotive Tariffs.

4. Biden administration unveils the strictest US car emission limits ever to boost EVs.

5. Chipmaker Micron's shares surge as AI boom drives strong forecast.

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1.?Robotics kicks off the 2024 funding boom.??

Recently, NVIDIA relaunched Project GR00T, a universal base model for humanoid robots, at the annual GTC conference. NVIDIA is quite bullish on the development of embodied intelligence and humanoid robots.

Since the beginning of 2024, financing in the robotics industry has been surprisingly booming more than in the drone, wearable device, and VR/AR markets.

The Chinese?robotics industry?saw 24 financing events from January 1 to March 20, 2024, involving enterprises in various fields such as surgical, industrial, cleaning, humanoid and mobile robots.

Comment:?

After the start of the year, Lenovo significantly increased its investment in robotics. So far, Lenovo has funded two robotics companies?founded in 2023.?In addition, the PC company?also financed?a robotics company founded in 2020,?Direct Drive Technology Limited.

2.?Samsung, SK Hynix Intensify Competition with Increased HBM Production This Year.??

TrendForce reports that by the end of 2024, the DRAM industry is expected to allocate approximately 250K/m (14%) of total capacity to producing HBM TSV, with an estimated annual supply bit growth of around 260%.

Additionally, HBM’s revenue share within the DRAM industry—around 8.4% in 2023—is projected to increase to 20.1% by the end of 2024.

Regarding production differences between HBM and DDR5, the die size of HBM is generally 35–45% larger than that of DDR5, which has the same process and capacity (for example, 24 GB compared to 24 GB). The yield rate (including TSV?packaging) for HBM is approximately 20–30% lower than that of DDR5, and the production cycle (including TSV) is 1.5 to 2 months longer than DDR5.

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Samsung and SK Hynix have the most aggressive HBM production plans by the end of this year. Samsung’s total HBM capacity is expected to reach around 130K (including TSV) by year-end; SK Hynix is around 120K, though capacity may?vary?based on validation progress and customer orders.

Comment:

Regarding market share for current mainstream HBM3 products, SK Hynix holds over 90% of the HBM3 market, while Samsung is expected to closely follow with the gradual release of AMD’s MI300 over the next few quarters.

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3.?India Eases Automotive Tariffs.??

With the upcoming elections, the Indian Modi government eventually?decided to reduce import tariffs for electric vehicle companies that intend to set up plants?locally to attract?international car makers, including Tesla.?Before the new policy,?India imposed?high tariffs of 70% on imported cars priced below $40,000 and up to 100% for cars priced over?$40,000.

According to a statement issued by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry last Friday, the companies will receive tax incentives if they commit to investing at least 41.5 billion rupees (about $500 million) and producing electric vehicles?in local factories within three years.

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Reportedly,?electric cars priced above $35,000 will enjoy a 15% import duty reduction over five years. Meanwhile, companies that promise?to plunge?over $800 million will have a total import quota of 40,000 electric cars annually, with 8,000?vehicles allowed annually.

Comment:

Electric vehicle sales in the country?accounted for only 2.3% of total sales last year. Despite the rapid growth in demand for electric motorcycles in the region, the low popularity of electric cars persists due to weak infrastructure, limited charging?facilities, and high prices.

4.?Biden administration unveils the strictest US car emission limits ever to boost EVs.? ?

The Biden administration took action on Wednesday to implement the strictest regulation on?vehicle exhaust emissions in a bid to accelerate the auto industry's shift to electric cars. This will push?automakers to quickly increase sales of battery?vehicles?and plug-in hybrid?cars.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?demonstrated that by 2032, automakers potentially?need to elevate?electric vehicle sales to 56% of total sales nationwide, with plug-in hybrid vehicles accounting for 13%, while traditional fuel?cars?would only make up 29%. Electric vehicles account for less than 8% of sales in the United States, and plug-in hybrid vehicles account for?less than 2%.

Comment:?

The latest requirements proposed by the Biden administration roughly align with previous forecasts, albeit with some concessions,?covering?more relaxed standards from 2027 to 2030 and a higher proportion of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles?to reduce vehicle exhaust emission. Nonetheless, the new regulation accelerates?automakers’?shift to zero-emission vehicles.

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5.?Chipmaker Micron's shares surge as AI boom drives strong forecast.? ?

Driven by the demand for artificial intelligence hardware, Micron Technology Inc., the largest memory chip manufacturer in the United States, on Wednesday?announced a second-quarter performance report that exceeded expectations and?a very promising outlook for the next quarter. Boosted by this report, Micron Technology's stock price surged more than 16% after hours.

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In the second quarter ending February 29th, Micron Technology achieved a revenue of $5.82 billion, a year-on-year surge?of roughly?57.7%, far exceeding the?15.6%?growth?of the first quarter and the?expectations of $5.35 billion.

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Furthermore, the adjusted operating income from December 2023 to February was $204 million, compared to analysts' expected loss of $238.4 million. The adjusted gross margin was 20%, beating?13.6%?as expected.

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Andrew Lu, Former Chief Semiconductor Analyst for Barclays/CitiBank, stated that Micron's better-than-expected revenue this quarter was mainly due to a 30% surge in data storage?NAND prices and a strong recovery in DRAM demand.

Comment:

Andrew Lu also mentioned that module and memory manufacturers have recently jointly raised prices by locking up inventory. The CEO will announce price hikes when module manufacturers buy a lot of inventory.

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