Micron will get $6.1 billion in US Chips Act grants to help build fabs in New York and Idaho.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York announced  the award and said the money would go towards building two fabs in New York by 2030 and one in Idaho.

US President Joe Biden is expected to make an announcement about the award on Thursday when he visits Syracuse, New York.

Syracuse is where Micron has said it intends to build up to four fabs over the next two decades at a cost of $100 billion.

Last week New York Governor Kathy Hochul said funding from the Chips Act would secure a $100 billion investment in the state.

Major Chips Act awards have now gone to Intel, TSMC, Samsung and Micron. In addition to the grants, the firms qualify for a 25% tax credit on the cost of building fabs.

Earlier today TSMC announced Q1 revenue up 12.9% y-o-y at $18.87 billion and profit up 8.9% y-o-y at $6.96 billion.

Compared to Q4, the Q1 revenue was down 5.3%  and net income was down 5.5%.

Gross margin for the quarter was 53.1%, operating margin was 42.0%, and net profit margin was 38.0%.

In Q1, shipments of 3-nanometer accounted for 9% of total wafer revenue; 5-nanometer accounted for 37%; 7-nanometer accounted for 19%.

Advanced technologies, defined as 7-nanometer and more advanced technologies, accounted for 65% of total wafer revenue

The Q1 smartphone market grew 7.8% q-o-q to 289.4 million units, says IDC. It was the third consecutive quarter of market growth,

Notes:

? Data are preliminary and subject to change.

• Company shipments are branded device shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
• The “Company” represents the current parent company (or holding company) for all brands owned and operated as a subsidiary.
• Figures represent new shipments only and exclude refurbished units.

2023  sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment fell  1.3% to $106.3 billion from 2022’s   record $107.6 billion, says SEMI.

China was the biggest market, growing 29% y-o-y to $36.6 billion, followed by Korea which fell 7% to $19.9 billion and Taiwan which fell 27% to $19.6 billion.

The US market rose 15%, the EU fell 3%, Japan fell 5% and RoW fell 39%.

“Despite a slight dip in global equipment sales, the semiconductor industry continues to show strength, with strategic investments fueling growths in key regions,” says SEMI CEO Ajit Manocha, “the  overall results for the year were better than anticipated by most industry followers.”

Wafer processing equipment sales rose 1%, other front-end segment billings increased by 10%, assembly and packaging equipment  fell 30% and test equipment fell 17%.

TSMC had Q1 revenue up 16.5% y-o-y at $18.54 billion up from $16.72 billion Q1 2023.

For March, TSMC had revenues that were  34.3% up y-o-y and 7.5% up m-o-m at $6.2 billion.

It was the biggest m-o-m rise since November 2022.

After two years of decline, the worldwide traditional PC market returned to growth during the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24) with 59.8 million shipments, growing 1.5% year over year, according to  IDC

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In Q1 2024, global PC shipments finally returned to pre-pandemic levels as volumes rivaled those seen in 1Q19 when 60.5 million units were shipped.

With inflation numbers trending down, PC shipments have begun to recover in most regions, leading to growth in the Americas as well as Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). However, the deflationary pressures in China directly impacted the global PC market.

As the largest consumer of desktop PCs, weak demand in China led to yet another quarter of declines for global desktop shipments, which already faced pressure from notebooks as the preferred form factor.

“Despite China’s struggles, the recovery is expected to continue in 2024 as newer AI PCs hit shelves later this year and as commercial buyers begin refreshing the PCs that were purchased during the pandemic,” says IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani.

Among the top 5 companies, Lenovo once again held the top spot and outgrew the market largely due to the steep decline in shipments experienced in 1Q23.

Apple’s strong growth was also due to an outsized decline in the prior year.

Notes:

* IDC declares a statistical tie in the Personal Computing Device market when there is a difference of one tenth of one percent (0.1%) or less in the shipment shares among two or more vendors.

• Traditional PCs include Desktops, Notebooks, and Workstations and do not include Tablets or x86 Servers. Detachable Tablets and Slate Tablets are part of the Personal Computing Device Tracker but are not addressed in this press release.
• Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the company/brand under which they are sold.

Earlier today, TSMC evacuated some of its fabs in Taiwan after an earthquake and is evaluating the loss of production.

“TSMC’s safety systems are operating normally,” says the company, “to ensure the safety of personnel, some fabs were evacuated according to company procedure. We are currently confirming the details of the impact.”

TSMC said construction sites were normal upon initial inspection, but the company decided to suspend work at the sites for the day.

Staff evacuated from some plants have started to return to work.

The earthquake measured 7.4 on the Richter Scale – the worst quake Taiwan has suffered for 25 years.

Sensors for electrification and ADAS are showing remarkably strong growth between 2019 and 2029, with 24% and 17% CAGR, respectively, reports Yole Developpement.

6.5 billion semiconductor sensors for automotive applications were shipped last year generating revenue of $9.3 billion and demand is pointing to a 9 billion unit market with revenue of $14.3 billion by 2029  at a 7% CAGR between 2023 and 2029.

“The upcoming years are poised to witness a dynamic transformation in automotive sensor technology driven by advancements in ADAS, autonomous driving, electrification, and the widespread adoption of sensors across global car fleets,” says Yole’s Pierrick Boulay, “consequently, substantial reorganization within the industry and its supply chain is anticipated.”

The biggest segments are radars and CIS, with more than $4 billion and more than $3 billion, respectively, in 2029. LiDARs will have the biggest growth at 48% to $649 million during the 2019-29 period.

Bosch, leads the market due to strong revenue in MEMS (pressure, accelerometer, IMU) and radar.

During these coming years, the automotive industry is expected to go through massive transformations in all four car domains:

In powertrain and electrification, the automotive industry is transitioning from cars based on internal combustion engines (ICE) to electrified cars, which are expected to represent 43% of production in 2029.

In terms of sensors, this segment will grow with a 3% CAGR between 2023 and 2029. In the long term, the electrification of cars will induce critical changes in the sensor landscape by giving birth to new applications while removing others.

In the ADAS and safety segment, cars are becoming more intelligent, enhancing safety while driving autonomously. Revenue is by far the largest of all segments and Yole  forecasts about $8 billion in revenue by 2029.

Infotainment and telematics: with customers demanding greater entertainment options for both drivers and passengers, this sector is projected to achieve a favorable 7% CAGR from 2023 to 2029. This segment should exceed $2.9 billion by 2029.

In the chassis domain, OEMs strive to improve passenger safety, send valuable data to the ADAS computing unit, and even remove hydraulic systems in the car. In this context, the global sensorization of cars is driving sensor volumes to a 3% CAGR between 2023 and 2029. In terms of revenue, Yole Group expects almost $1.9 billion to be generated in 2029.

As the industry fell  9% from $597.7 billion in 2022 to $544.8 billion last year, a new growth driver emerged – AI, says  Omdia,  with NVIDIA dominating the AI chip space so comprehensively that it took the No.2 slot in the overall semiconductor market.

NVIDIA  more than doubled its semiconductor revenue from 2022 to $49 billion in 2023. Before the pandemic, in 2029, NVIDIA’s  semiconductor revenue was under $10 billion.

High bandwidth memory (HBM) integrated with GPUs to facilitate AI is also seeing strong demand, with SK Hynix leading this segment and other major memory manufacturers venturing into this space.

The memory market had a down year in 2023 overall, while the HBM market had growth of 127% year-over-year in terms of 1Gb equivalent units, throughout 2023. Omdia forecasts that HBM is likely to record 2024 growth rates of  150-200%.

In 2023, the automotive segment exerted greater influence in the semiconductor market as it increased its revenue growth to over 15% in 2023 to over $75 billion. The demand for semiconductors in automotive accounts for approximately 14% of the entire semiconductor market.

The downturn has notably affected major memory makers, traditionally among the top semiconductor companies by revenue. Previously, from 2017 to 2021, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology were all ranked in the top five companies by revenue.

However, amidst the challenging memory market conditions, Samsung Electronics is now ranked third, SK Hynix is ranked sixth, and Micron Technology is ranked twelfth in 2023.

Resasas has put its in-house developed 32bit RISC-V core into a few-pin general-purpose MCU series, following earlier RISC-V projects with Anders and SiFive.

Announced last November, the core implementation can accommodate various standard RISC-V options, to which Renesas has added its own options including: a stack monitor register to protect against rogue software, a dynamic branch prediction unit improve the average execution throughput, and a context-saving register bank to speed interrupt response.

Two-wire compact JTAG debug can be implemented for low pin-count packages, and performance monitor registers can be added for benchmarking, as well as an instruction tracing unit.

The new microcontrollers, called the R9A02G021 group, come in packages with between 16 and 48pads: 2 x 2mm 16pad WLCSP and QFNs from 4 x 4 to 7 x 7mm with 24, 32 or 48pads – there is one part number for each of the four packages.

They implement the RV32I instruction set and include two-wire JTAG and the company’s core-local interrupt controller (CLIC)

Clocking is at up to 48MHz, delivering 3.27Coremark/MHz, and consumption is 162μA/MHz, or 300nA in stand-by with 4μs wake. Operation is over 1.6 to 5.5V and -40 to 125°C.

There is 128kbyte of instruction flash, 4kbyte of data flash and 16kbyte of ram, plus a 12bit ADC, an 8bit DAC and serial communication including UART, SPI and I2C.

The company’s ‘SAU’ peripheral is also included to implement up to six simplified SPI interfaces, up to three more UARTs or up to six simplified I2C interfaces, depending on package size.

To tempt potential adopters from more familiar architectures, Renesas has lined up plenty of support from the start, with the its e2 studio Eclipse-based IDE (integrated development environment) providing a code configurator and the LLVM compiler.

“Complete development environments are also available from IAR with its Embedded Workbench IDE and I-jet debug probe, and Segger with the Embedded Studio IDE, J-Link debug probes and Flasher production programmers,” it said.

FPB-R9A02G021 is the hardware development board (right).

No less than 18 application notes have been prepared to go along with the product launch, covering state-switching, boot firmware and many of the peripherals.

U.S. President Biden announced on Wednesday an agreement to provide Intel with $8.5 billion in direct funding and $11 billion in loans under the CHIPS and Science Act, reports Semiconductor Intelligence (SI). Intel will use the funding for wafer fabs in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon.

As SI reported in its December 2023 newsletter, the CHIPS Act provides a total of $52.7 billion for the U.S. semiconductor industry, including $39 billion in manufacturing incentives.

Prior to the Intel grant, the CHIPS Act had announced grants totaling $1.7 billion to GlobalFoundries, Microchip Technology, and BAE Systems, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

Grants under the CHIPS Act have been slow in coming, with the first grants announced over a year after passage. Some major fab projects in the U.S. have been delayed due the slow disbursement. TSMC also cited difficulties in finding qualified construction personnel. Intel said the delay was also due to slowing sales.

Other nations have also allocated funds to promote semiconductor production. The European Union in September 2023 passed the European Chips Act which provides for 43 billion euro (US$47 billion) of public and private investment in the semiconductor industry.

In November 2023, Japan allocated 2 trillion yen (US$13 billion) for semiconductor manufacturing.

Taiwan in January 2024 enacted a law to provide tax breaks for semiconductor companies.

South Korea in March 2023 passed a bill to provide tax breaks to strategic technologies including semiconductors.

China is expected to create a $40 billion fund backed by the government to subsidize its semiconductor industry.

What is the outlook for capital expenditures (CapEx) in the semiconductor industry this year?

The CHIPS Act was designed to spur CapEx, but much of the effect will not occur until after 2024.

After a disappointing 8.2% decline in the semiconductor market last year, many companies are cautious about CapEx in 2024.

SI estimates  total semiconductor CapEx in 2023 was $169 billion, down 7% from 2022. Our forecast is a 2% decline in CapEx in 2024.

The major memory companies are generally increasing CapEx in 2024 as the memory market recovers and new applications such as AI are expected to increase demand.

Samsung plans relatively flat spending in 2024 at $37 billion but did not cut CapEx in 2023.

Micron Technology and SK Hynix cut back CapEx significantly in 2023 and are planning double-digit increases in 2024.

The largest foundry, TSMC, plans to spend about $28 billion to $32 billion in 2024, with the midrange of $30 billion down 6% from 2023.

SMIC is planning flat CapEx while UMC plans a 10% increase.

GlobalFoundries expects a 61% cut in 2024 CapEx but will ramp up spending in the next few years as it builds a new fab in Malta, New York.

Among IDMs, Intel plans to increase CapEx in 2024 by 2% to $26.2 billion. Intel will increase capacity for foundry customers as well as for internal products.

Texas Instruments’ CapEx is roughly flat. TI plans to spend about $5 billion a year through 2026, primarily for its new fabs in Sherman, Texas.

STMicroelectronics will cut CapEx 39% while Infineon Technologies will cut by 3%.

The three largest spenders – Samsung, TSMC and Intel – will account for 57% of semiconductor industry CapEx in 2024.

What is the appropriate level of CapEx relative to the semiconductor market?

The semiconductor market is notoriously volatile. Over the last 40 years, annual change has ranged from 46% growth in 1984 to a 32% decline in 2001. Although the industry has become somewhat less volatile as it has matured, in the last five years it has shown a 26% increase in 2021 and a 12% decrease in 2019.

Semiconductor companies need to plan their capacity several years out. It takes about two years to build a new wafer fab and additional time for planning and financing. As a result,the ratio of semiconductor CapEx to the semiconductor market varies greatly, as shown below.

The semiconductor CapEx to market size ratio has varied from a high of 34% to a low of 12%. The five-year average ratio ranges between 28% and 18%. Over the total period of 1980 to 2023, the total CapEx was 23% of the semiconductor market. Despite the volatility, the long-term trend of the ratio has been fairly consistent.

Based on expected strong market growth and a drop in CapEx, SI expects the ratio to drop from 32% in 2023 to 27% in 2024.

Most forecasts for semiconductor market growth in 2024 are in the range of 13% to 20%.  SI’s forecast is 18%.

By the end of 2024, the DRAM industry is expected to have allocated approximately 250K/m (14%) of total capacity to producing HBM TSV, with an estimated annual supply bit growth of around 260%, says TrendForce svp Avril Wu.

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.

The die size of HBM is generally 35–45% larger than DDR5 of the same process and capacity (for example, 24Gb compared to 24Gb).

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.

HBM has a longer production cycle than DDR5  – over two quarters from wafer start to final packaging.

Samsung’s total HBM capacity is expected to reach around 130K (including TSV) by year-end; Hynix’s capacity is around 120K.

The magnetic sensor market is expected to reach $3.7 billion in 2029, with an estimated 4% CAGR from 2023 to 2029, says Yole Developpement.

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A $1 billion investment surge from players like Allegro, TDK, Bosch, LEM etc. is leveraging the technology’s sensitivity, bandwidth, and low power consumption to sense position and current.

Magnetic sensors find widespread application across automotive, mobility, industrial, energy, medical, and consumer sectors. Their versatility has led to their adoption in various fields, propelling the market to a value of $2.9 billion in 2023.

“The automotive & mobility segment significantly dominates the market with sales of more than $2 billion by 2029,” says Yole’s Pierre Delbos, “this segment is driven by important shifts such as vehicle electrification and sensor integration. Conversely, consumer applications lead in terms of volume. At Yole Group, we anticipate a nearly $600 million market by 2029, also growing at a 4% CAGR between 2023 and 2029”.

The evolving landscape of magnetic sensor applications extends to the industrial & energy and medical sectors. By 2029, these sectors are expected to reach $830 million and $30 million, respectively.

Factors such as the proliferation of DC-charging stations with integrated current sensors due to vehicle electrification, the demand for position sensors, switches, and latches driven by Industry 4.0, and the potential implementation of predictive maintenance using current sensors contribute to the promising outlook in these sectors.

Q4 foundry revenues rose 7.9% to $30.49 billion, says TrendForce, primarily driven by demand for smartphone components, such as mid and low-end smartphone APs and peripheral PMICs.

The launch season for Apple’s latest devices also significantly contributed, fueling shipments for the A17 chipset and associated peripheral ICs, including OLED DDIs, CIS, and PMICs. TSMC’s premium 3nm process notably enhanced its revenue contribution, pushing its global market share past the 60% threshold this quarter.

Last year the foundry market suffered a 13.6% fall witnrevenue reaching $111.54 billion.

2024 promises better, says TendForce, with AI-driven demand expected to boost annual revenue by 12% to $125.24 billion.

In Q4,  top 5 foundries expanded  market share to 88.8% with TSMC taking  60%.

TSMC’s wafer shipments rose in 4Q23 thanks to demand from smartphones, notebooks, and AI-related HPC and its revenue jumped 14% over the quarter to $19.66 billion.

Revenue shares from processes 7nm and below climbed from 59% in Q3 to 67% in Q4, underscoring TSMC’s dependency on cutting-edge technologies. With the progressive ramp-up of 3nm production, the share of revenue from advanced processes is expected to surpass 70%.

Samsung also received orders for various new smartphone components, predominantly in mature processes above 28nm. Meanwhile, demand for advanced process main chips and modems saw steadier demand due to early procurement by clients, leading to a slight 1.9% QoQ drop in Samsung’s foundry revenue to $3.62 billion.

GlobalFoundries saw a modest 5% revenue growth in the automotive segment, primarily attributed to a surge in LTAs signed by numerous automotive clients and slight optimizations in ASP. However, shipments in key application areas such as smart mobile devices, communication, and home/industrial IoT witnessed declines, resulting in overall revenue reaching approximately $1.85 billion in Q4.

UMC experienced occasional spikes in orders from the smartphone and PC sectors, but a weak global economy, conservative wafer start decisions by clients, and inventory adjustments in the automotive sector led to a downturn in wafer shipments, resulting in a 4.1% decrease in Q4 revenue to about $1.73 billion.

SMIC enjoyed a 3.6% quarterly increase in revenue to roughly $1.68 billion, mainly due to urgent orders related to smartphones and notebooks/PCs, while shipments for network communications, general consumer electronics, and automotive/industrial control sectors saw declines.

Three significant changes occurred in rankings were, PSMC moved up to eighth place, benefiting from the recovery in specialty DRAM wafer outputs and urgent orders for smartphone components,  Nexchip reentered the top ten and secured the ninth spot, thanks to urgent TDDI orders and high-volume shipments of new CIS products, and VIS dropped to tenth place due to a slowdown in TV-related orders and inventory adjustments by automotive and industrial control customers.

IFS, which entered the top ten for the first time in 3Q23, was pushed out of the rankings by PSMC and Nexchip due to factors such as the transition between new and old generations of CPUs and lackluster inventory momentum at Intel.

Other companies, such as HuaHong Group and Tower, saw their revenue decrease by 14.2% and 1.7%, respectively. The minor decline in revenue for Tower is attributed to its long-term focus on niche markets like RFFEM, automotive, and industrial control, which shielded it from the impacts felt by companies primarily in the consumer electronics sector. However, as automotive and industrial control clients also began adjusting their inventories, the utilization rate of Tower further decreased in the fourth quarter

In Q3 2023 enterprise SSD suppliers cut production leading to a 15% Q4 surge in contract SSD prices, says TrendForce

This produced a 47.6% QoQ increase for Q4 enterprise SSD industry revenues which hit $23.1 billion.

Contract prices are now expected to increase by over 25% delivering 20% revenue growth in Q1.

SK Group recorded the highest growth rate in the enterprise SSD segment for 4Q23, with revenues hitting $766 million —a 96.9% jump.

Samsung secured the second-highest growth at 64.3%, reaching $961 million.

Micron saw a 6.8% rise to $250 million.

Kioxia had a 4.3% revenue increase in 4Q23 to $217 million.

Western Digital’s revenues fell to $113 million — a 23.4% decline.

Samsung says it has begun sampling solid state batteries to car manufacturers and will begin mass production of the batteries for EVs and other applications in 2027.

Last year, the company set up a pilot  line in Suwon and is using it to,refine the product and improve yields

The company says that its solid-state batteries will have an energy density of 900 watt-hours per litre which is 40% better than from its lithium-ion batteries.

As well as high energy density solid-state batteries have short charging times of around ten minutes and are lighter and safer than lithium-ion batteries.

Hyundai is also targeting 2027 for mass-production of solid state batteries and Toyota says it will start selling cars with solid state batteries in 2027-8.

Q4 saw  a 24.5% QoQ increase in NAND revenue reaching $11.49 billion, reports TrendForce.

Q1 is forecast to see a further 20% increase in revenues and a 25% increase in contract prices.

Samsung’s bit shipment volume increased by 35% QoQ, coupled with a 12% increase in ASP, boosting its revenue to $4.2 billion—a  44.8% QoQ growth.

Hynix had a 33.1% revenue jump to $2.48 billion.

Western Digital had 2% dip in shipment volume but a 10% increase in ASP, leading to a 7% revenue increase to $1.67 billion.

Kioxia had an 8% revenue increase to $1.44 billion in Q4.

Micron reduced its supply significantly to improve profitability, leading to a more than 10% QoQ decrease in bit shipments and a 1.1% decrease in revenue to $1.14 billion.

Government consent for the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab by Vishay has finally been given by Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office Oliver Dowden.

The site has now been renamed Newport Vishay.

Vishay’s $177 million offer for the fab was accepted last November but the government has been dragging its feet for four months over giving a final consent order.

The old Inmos fab, which opened in 1980, had been acquired by Nexperia, which is controlled by a China government-controlled fund called Wingtech. This was seen as a security risk.

Vishay says it will expand operations at the site, including R&D for compound semiconductor development.

Sourcengine has published its Q1 lead time report.

Volatile memory is at 11-17 weeks and going up and NV memory is at 13-19 weeks and is mostly going up or, if not, is stable.

Storage is at 10-15 weeks and mostly going up.

Discretes are at 20-47 weeks and stable

Standard logic and linear are at 7-20 weeks and mostly stable

Advanced analogue is at 23-41 weeks and mostly stable

Embedded processors are 15-48 weeks and mostly stable

Programmable logic is at 20-25 weeks and stable

Here is the full report

Over the past seven years, the smartphone market has contracted six times on an annual basis, however, 2024 is set to be the year when the market returns to growth, says IDC.

2024 smartphone shipments are expected to reach 1.2 billion units – up  2.8% y-o-y followed by low single-digit growth till 2028.

While overall volumes are still below pre-pandemic levels, IDC believes the market has corrected itself and is moving on from the bottom.

Foldable smartphone shipments are expected to grow 37%  and shipments will reach 25 million in 2024.

AI  has become part of the smartphone discussion, sparking interest in AI experiences on a handheld device.

The High End Router market declined 8% y-o-y in H2 2023, following an abrupt surge in equipment deliveries in the first half of the year, says Dell’Oro Group.

“The disruptions caused by component shortages and supply chain bottlenecks that started over two years ago are still occurring,” says Dell’Oro vp P Jimmy Yu,  “once supply freed up, router manufacturers were able to fulfill backlogged orders at a faster pace, driving High End Router revenue up 12 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2023. However, this turned into extra inventory at customer sites, causing them to rationalize future new orders. We believe it may be another two quarters before inventory levels return to normal levels at these service providers,” added Yu.

The High End Router market reached nearly $13 billion in 2023. The top three vendors by revenue share were Cisco, Huawei, and Nokia. The only vendors to gain more than one percentage point of market share were Cisco and Huawei.

Core Router revenue grew 14 percent in 2023. The top three vendors by revenue share were Cisco, Huawei, and Juniper. Cisco gained nearly 6 percentage points of market share and was the only vendor to gain market share in the year.

Edge Router and Aggregation Switch revenue was unchanged from the year ago period.

Power module revenue will grow from $8 billion in 2023 to $16 billion by 2029 representing a 12.1% CAGR between 2023 and 2029, according to  Yole Group.

The power module packaging costs fully depend on the packaging materials, such as die-attach and ceramic substrate materials, and the package size.

In 2023, it represented a $2.3 billion market in 2023, with the cost of materials for power module packaging representing about 30 % of the total power module cost.

Materials cost will have an 11% CAGR between 2023 and 2029, and the market should reach $4.3 billion by 2029.

The largest power module packaging material segment is the baseplate, which will be worth $1,070 million by 2029, against $651 million in 2023. Its CAGR will be 9% between 2023 and 2029, closely followed by the ceramic substrate market segment.

“Today, continuous improvements in module materials and packaging design are needed to take advantage of the benefits of SiC technology,” says Yole’s Shalu Agarwal, “however , the development is simultaneously focused on reducing the costs of power modules through “good enough” performance and reliability.”

“The power module packaging supply chain is continually being reshaped, with new companies entering power module manufacturing,” adds Agarwalm “these companies are expanding their product portfolios and forming new partnerships and M&As. In this dynamic context, the growth of Asian packaging material players puts intense cost pressure on European players.”

The leading power module suppliers are in Europe and Japan, with Infineon Technologies, Semikron Danfoss, Fuji Electric, and Mitsubishi Electric.

Meanwhile, the leading module packaging material suppliers are primarily located in the US, where Yole Group has identified Rogers Corporation, MacDermid Alpha, 3M, Dow, and Indium Corporation, in Europe with Heraeus, Henkel, for example, and in Japan, with FTH (formally known as Ferrotec), Proterial, Kyocera, Dowa, Denka, Tanaka, Resonac, and NGK Insulators.

The geographic expansion of packaging material providers is increasing. Japanese players have a powerful presence in materials but sometimes need help accessing other regions. Therefore, they are trying to grow their presence in China, Europe, and the United States and are investing in developing their businesses within these regions.

For example, Japan’s NGK Insulators is planning to manufacture ceramic substrates in Poland. Similarly, European and U.S. players, such as Heraeus, Henkel, MacDermid Alpha, and Rogers Corporation, are focusing on Asia, mainly China.

At the same time, several companies along the supply chain have either moved or are planning to transfer their production to countries with a lower cost of production to reduce costs, such as Vietnam, Hungary, Malaysia, and Romania.

This leads to more robust competition, increased price pressure, and increasing motivation for partnerships and M&As.

Nvidia's Q4 proft was $12.3 billion.

It's full year revenue was up 126% y-o-y at $60.9 billion.

Q4 datacentre revenue was up 409% y-o-y at $18.4 billion.

Full year datacentre revenue was up 27% y-o-y at $47.5 billion.

Q1 revenues are forecast to be up 233% y-o-y  at $24 billion plus or minus 2%.

At last night’s close, Nvidia’s market cap was $1.7 trillion.

Although its customers are scrabbling to find proprietary or merchant market alternatives, so far Nvidia looks as if it can out-run them on the tech with better chips, while offering them ASIC solutions tailored to their particular needs.

The  Smart NIC market will top $5 billion by 2028, says Dell’Oro.

Accelerated computing will continue to push the boundaries in server connectivity, demanding port speeds of 400 Gbps and higher speeds.

“The Ethernet Adapter market is poised for a compound annual growth rate of 13 percent, fueled by the increasing adoption of higher-speed ports and Smart NICs within data center infrastructures,” says Dell’Oro’s Baron Fung, “the hyperscale cloud service providers will drive rapid development in server connectivity, including increasing the adoption of customized Smart NICs and DPUs, and server port speeds reaching 800 Gbps in the next several years for accelerated computing. The rest of the market, which lags the hyperscale market in the deployment of these technologies, will still be an attractive market for the open vendors offering off the shelf solutions.”

Total Ethernet Controller and Adapter market, not counting the AI back-end network market, is forecast to exceed $8 billion by 2028.

The majority of the accelerated servers will have server access speeds of 400 Gbps and higher by 2028.

Smart NICs are expected to cannibalise Standard NICs during the forecast period.

The METIS (MicroElectronics Training, Industry and Skills) study has concluded and finds that the Top Five Critical Job Profiles in the microelectronics sector in 2023 are:

• Data specialist
• Software engineer
• Design engineer
• Process engineer
• Maintenance technician

The Top Emerging Skills in 2023 are:

• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
• Data Analysis
• Systems Design and System Architecture (SoC, SiP, SoP, complex ASIC)
• Analog and Mixed-Signal Design
• Verification

The report considers the current skills gap in the microelectronics industry and provides a list of policy recommendations including:

Increase the involvement of the microelectronics industry in the education process.

Develop communications campaigns to improve the sector’s image.

Develop clusters and networks to encourage greater dialog between industry and education providers.

Read the full report here.

Semiconductor sales of $526.8 billion last year were 8.2% down on  2022’s  record-breaking total of $574.1 billion, says the SIA, which forecast a sales rise of  13% this year to almost $600 billion.

Q4 sales of $146 billion were up 11.6% y-o-y and 8.4% m-o-m..

“Global semiconductor sales were sluggish early in 2023 but rebounded strongly during the second half of the year, and double-digit market growth is projected for 2024,” says SIA CEO John Neuffer, “with chips playing a larger and more important role in countless products the world depends on, the long-term outlook for the semiconductor market is extremely strong. Advancing government policies that invest in R&D, strengthen the semiconductor workforce, and reduce barriers to trade will help the industry continue to grow and innovate for many years to come.”

Europe was the only regional market that experienced annual growth in 2023, with sales there increasing 4.0%. Annual sales into all other regional markets decreased in 2023: Japan (-3.1%), the Americas (-5.2%), Asia-Pacific/All Other (-10.1%), and China (-14.0%). Sales for the month of December 2023 increased compared to November 2023 in China (4.7%), the Americas (1.8%), and Asia Pacific/All Other (0.3%), but decreased in Japan (-2.4%) and Europe (-3.9%).

Several semiconductor product segments stood out in 2023. Sales of logic products totaled $178.5 billion in 2023, making it the largest product category by sales. Memory products were second in terms of sales, totaling $92.3 billion. Microcontroller units (MCUs) grew by 11.4% to a total of $27.9 billion. And sales of automotive ICs grew by 23.7% year-over-year to a record total of $42.2 billion.

Over the past nine years, the global investment in robotaxis, robot shuttles, and robot trucks has reached nearly $42.5 billion, says Yole Developpement, with the robotic vehicle processor market expected to reach $1 billion in 2034, with an estimated 48% CAGR from 2023 to 2034.

The expanding robotaxi market will see a division between processors tailored for automotive use and those specifically designed for the purpose.

Robotaxis and robot trucks are dominated by the US and China, with Europe trailing behind in robot shuttles.

Essential for achieving autonomy, robotic vehicle processors demand significant computing power for instantaneous decision-making.

Initially, server/PC-grade processors were employed due to their robust computing capabilities.

However, with advancements in the automotive processor market, those tailored for ADAS /AD functions have emerged as more cost-effective and energy-efficient alternatives for robotic vehicles.

“Nvidia, an early player, introduced high-performance processors with the Parker architecture in 2016, now widely utilised in numerous robotic vehicles,” says Yole’s Adrien Sanchez, “however, competition has intensified with the development of ADAS/AD processors, gaining momentum from companies like Mobileye, Qualcomm, and Huawei. Notably, startups such as Horizon Robotic and Black Sesame provide potential solutions, particularly for Chinese companies aiming for secure domestic supply chains.”

On the architectural front, diverse solutions are emerging. Mobileye, for instance, has pioneered a scalable processor family, departing from a fully centralized architecture based on a single processor.

This approach not only reduces development costs but also provides a flexible solution tailored to the specific needs of its customers.

Simultaneously, a prevailing trend among leaders in the robotic industry involves the in-house development of custom processors to precisely address specific requirements.

“The global landscape for robotic vehicles is characterized by three key regions: the United States, China, and Europe,” says Yole’s Hugo Antoine, “in the U.S, active testing of autonomous vehicles is underway, with robotaxi services already available in a few cities, and rapid progress in the deployment of robot trucks connecting the East Coast to the West Coast,”

China has asserted itself as a frontrunner in autonomous technology, with Baidu-Apollo leading in robotaxi and shuttle services, closely followed by dynamic companies like WeRide and Pony.ai.

Europe, too, is actively involved, particularly in robot shuttle companies and testing initiatives.

The Middle East, notably the UAE and KSA, is actively participating in robotic mobility projects through strategic partnerships with European, Chinese, and American companies.

In the autonomous vehicle industry, companies focusing on robotic vehicles initially prioritise their core segments to manage costs and enhance scalability.

In December, Korea’s semiconductor factory shipments rose 113.7% y-o-y – the biggest jump in a month since 1997, according to Statistics Korea, the national statistics office.

Inventories rose by 11.6% – the smallest rise since the collapse in demand in late 2022.

Production rose 53.3% y-o-y which was the biggest monthly rise since mid-2016.

Korea supplies two-thirds of global memory production.

The  compound semiconductor substrate market is expected to reach $3.3 billion in 2029, with a 17% CAGR between 2023 and 2029, says Yole Developpement.

Substrate players consistently craft new strategies to diversify their product portfolios and enhance their market presence.

Compound semiconductor technologies showcase diverse advancements across sectors:leg. SiC , GaN , InP and. have emerged as a transformative influence across various industries.

SiC’s dominance in the automotive sector, especially in the domain of 800V EVs , drives a billion-dollar market, while GaN power electronics is expanding its presence in both the consumer and automotive fields.

Yole expects a billion-unit opportunity in smartphone OVP (Over Voltage Protection) . In anticipation of a resurgence, RF GaAs aligns itself with 5G and automotive connectivity, while RF GaN establishes its presence in defense, telecommunications, and space industries, targeting high-power applications.

Within the realm of photonics, InP and GaAs take the lead, with InP experiencing a resurgence fueled by AI applications, while GaAs photonics sees more modest growth influenced by various market dynamics. Although MicroLEDs show potential, their widespread adoption is gradual,

“The CS industry is at the corner to transition to larger diameter substrates. In the Photonics sector,” saysYole’s Ali Jaffal, “AI is driving the demand of high-data-rate lasers, which could accelerate the transition to 6” InP substrates.

On the other side of the coin, GaAs explores 8” manufacturing for microLED, which is competing with OLED, facing yield and efficiency challenges, questioning its success but gaining momentum with substantial investments.”

Suppliers of GaAs and InP substrates, including Freiberger, Sumitomo Electric, and AXT, play a central role in the transition to larger diameter substrates. Photonics is part of this story, and the Power and RF markets further complement this narrative.

Wolfspeed is leading the change to supply SiC substrates for power electronics applications. It has recently transitioned to the larger 8” wafer fabs and is expanding its material capacity in line with its strategic vision.

Coherent, another leading player, focuses on photonic devices and dominates the SiC substrate market for both power and RF applications. It has made a number of strategic alliances, for example, with SEDI in RF GaN, to reinforce its position and has started supplying power SiC devices. Following these actions, it covers the whole value chain from substrates to advanced devices.

The landscape is continuously evolving, with multiple innovations on many fronts and strategic partnerships.

“Compound semiconductor technologies are advancing across sectors, notably in the booming SiC industry “ says Yole’s Taha Ayari “while 6” wafers are still standard, Wolfspeed’s $1.2 billion investment in MHV fab is pioneering the transition to 8″ wafer size. Other efforts focus on improving SiC wafer yield and supply, with innovations like engineered substrates from Soitec and Sumitomo Mining. Power GaN sees a shift to 8-inch GaN-on-Si, driven by expansion at Innoscience, STMicroelectronics, and Infineon Technologies”.

“RF GaN-on-Si is benefiting from synergies with the relatively more mature Power GaN to enter the telecom market and compete with established RF GaN-on-SiC technology,” says Yole’s Aymen Ghorbel, additionally, major changes in the RF GaN ecosystem, such as Wolfspeed RF business being acquired by Macom, could impact the RF GaN industry”.

Hynix had a Q4 profit of $260 million on revenues up 47.4%  at $8.5 billion compared with a loss of $1.4 billion in Q4 2022.

For the full year of 2023, Hynix had a loss of $5.8 billion on revenues which fell 27% y-o-y to $24.6 billion.

“We achieved a remarkable turnaround in the fourth quarter following a protracted downturn, thanks to our technological leadership in the AI memory space,” said CFO Kim Woohyun.

Hynix is working with Nvidia on HBM memories and is about to start producing the latest iteration – HBM3E.

“We are smoothly preparing for mass production of HBM3E as demand for the chips will occur in earnest this year. We plan to supply them during the first half,” said a Hynix exec on the results call.

The RAN market is headed down, says Dell’Oro.

Following the >40%  rise between 2017 and 2021, RAN revenues stabilised in 2022, and are on target to decline sharply in 2023.

Market conditions are expected to remain challenging in 2024 as the Indian RAN market pulls back, though the pace of the global decline this year and for the remainder of the forecast period should be more moderate.

“MBB (Mobile Broadband)-based investments are now slowing and the upside with new growth areas including FWA and private wireless is still too small to change the trajectory,” says Dell’Oro vp  Stefan Pongratz, “also weighing on the MBB market is the fact that the upper mid-band capacity boost is rather significant relative to current data traffic growth rates in some markets, which could impact the timing for capacity upgrades.”.

Worldwide RAN revenues are projected to decline at a 1% CAGR over the next five years.

AsiaPac  is expected to lead the decline, while easier comparisons following steep contractions in 2023 will improve the growth prospects in the North America region.

5G-Advanced is expected to play an important role in the broader 5G journey, however, it is not expected to fuel another major capex growth cycle.

TRAN segments that are expected to grow over the next five years include: 5G NR, FWA, mmWave, Massive MIMO, Open RAN, private wireless, small cells, and Virtualized RAN.

Ericsson CEO B?rje Ekholm says the telcos’ mobile infrastructure investments are  “unsustainably low”.

November semiconductor sales of $48 billion were up 5.3% on the November 2022 total of $45.6 billion and  up 2.9% on the October 2023 total of $46.6 billion, says the SIA.

“Global semiconductor sales increased on a year-to-year basis in November for the first time since August 2022, an indication that the global chip market is continuing to gain strength as we enter the new year,” says SIA CEO John Neuffer,  “looking ahead, the global semiconductor market is projected to experience double-digit growth in 2024.”

Regionally, year-to-year sales were up in China (7.6%), Asia Pacific/All other (7.1%), Europe (5.6%), and the Americas (3.5%), but down in Europe (-2.8%). Month-to-month sales increased in China (4.4%), the Americas (3.9%), and Asia Pacific/All Other (3.5%), but decreased in Japan (-0.7%) and Europe (-2.0%).

TSMC expects 25% growth this year after an 8.2% expected dip in Q1 revenues to between €18 billion and $18.8 billion.

In Q4, HPC revenues,  including AI, grew 17% q-o-q, smartphone  revenues grew 27% and auto grew 13%

Capex is expected to be between $28 billion and $32 billion.

Q4 net profit was 19.3% down y-o-y at $7.6 billion and Q4 gross margin was down 9.3% y-o-y.

For the semiconductor industry overall, TSMC expects growth of 10%.

TSMC has said its second Arizona fab will be delayed for a year. Hiring difficulties and the payment of US government subsidies were blamed.

The company repeated that its 3nm process, now in production, is more comparable to Intel’s 2nm process called 18A, which is due for production this year, than it is to TSMC’s 2nm process.

The last time a company not named Samsung was at the top of the smartphone market was 2010. Now it is Apple.

Smartphone shipments declined 3.2% year over year to 1.17 billion units in 2023, says IDC.

While this marks the lowest full-year volume in a decade,  growth in the second half of the year has cemented the expected recovery for 2024.

Q4  saw 8.5% y-o-y growth and 326.1 million units shipped.

“While we saw some strong growth from low-end Android players like Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, stemming from rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple,” says IDC’s Nabila Popal, “not only is Apple the only player in the Top 3 to show positive growth annually, but also bags the number 1 spot annually for the first time ever. Apple’s ongoing success and resilience is in large part due to the increasing trend of premium devices, which now represent over 20% of the market, fuelled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.”

Q4 PC shipments of 67.1 million were down  2.7% y-o-y, reports IDC. It was the eighth consecutive quarter of y-o-y shipment volume contraction and the lowest Q4  volume since 4Q06.

In 2022, shipments fell  16.5% y-o-y and preliminary results suggest an additional 13.9% contraction in 2023 compared to 2022.

The top companies in the industry remain largely unchanged, and just like the overall market, they too are experiencing unusual quarterly growth swings.

Notes:

• Traditional PCs include Desktops, Notebooks, and Workstations and do not include Tablets or x86 Servers. Detachable Tablets and Slate Tablets are part of the Personal Computing Device Tracker but are not addressed in this press release.
• Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the company/brand under which they are sold.

November semiconductor sales of $48 billion were up 5.3% compared with the $45.6 billion of November 2022 and 2.9% up on the October 2022 total of $46.6 billion, says the SIA.

“Global semiconductor sales increased on a year-to-year basis in November for the first time since August 2022, an indication that the global chip market is continuing to gain strength as we enter the new year,” says SIA CEO  John Neuffer, “looking ahead, the global semiconductor market is projected to experience double-digit growth in 2024.”

Regionally, year-to-year sales were up in: China (7.6%), Asia Pacific/All other (7.1%), Europe (5.6%), and the Americas (3.5%), but down in Europe (-2.8%).

Month-to-month sales increased in: China (4.4%), the Americas (3.9%), and Asia Pacific/All Other (3.5%), but decreased in Japan (-0.7%) and Europe (-2.0%).

The US is preparing for a tsunami of legacy ICs from China.

Two Congressmen have written to US Secretary for Commerce, Gina Raimondo, expressing concern that China is “on track to flood the United States and global markets with foundational semiconductors.”

By ‘foundational’ they mean chips made on older nodes than 28nm.

In the 50nm to 180 nm range, China currently controls around 30% of global capacity and within a decade could control around 46%, says a Rhodium Group report.

The Congressmen are proposing import duties on ICs rather than duties on finished goods containing ICs.

The Commerce Department is initiating a survey this month to find out how US companies source legacy ICs.

Q1 NAND and DRAM prices are set to rise significantly, reports TrendForce.

DRAM contract prices are estimated to increase by approximately 13–18% in 1Q24 with mobile DRAM leading the surge.

It appears that due to the unclear demand outlook for 2024, manufacturers believe that sustained production cuts are necessary to maintain the supply-demand balance in the memory industry.

Despite facing a traditional low-demand season, buyers are continuing to increase their purchases of NAND Flash products to establish safe inventory levels.

In response, suppliers, aiming to minimise losses are pushing for higher prices, leading to an estimated 15–20% increase in NAND Flash contract prices in 1Q24.

A key point to note is the aggressive price hike initiated by NAND Flash manufacturers to offset losses. But, with demand struggling to keep pace with these rapid increases, future price escalations hinge on the resurgence of enterprise SSD procurement.

12.8 million EVs were sold last year (including BEVs (Battery EVs, PHEVs (Plud-In Hybrid EVs) , and FCVs (Fuel Cell Vehicles), says TrendForce.

Regional market sales shares were expected to be 60% in China, 22% in Western Europe, 11% in the US, and 6% in other regions.

With China’s subsidies gradually phasing out, the increasing market penetration of NEVs in the country and growing demand for EVs overseas, Chinese EV manufacturers are looking to expand internationally, particularly in Southeast Asia, where they are projected to hold a 67.5% market share in 2023.

TrendForce forecasts that China will export about 4.8 million automobiles in 2023, with NEVs making up approximately 25% of these exports.

The rising export volumes are exercising have caught governments worldwide as they try to balance the protection of local companies , maintaining competitiveness, and managing consumer costs.

For example, the US imposes a 25% tariff on vehicle imports from China,  states that  EVs and their batteries be assembled in North America and says that critical minerals in the batteries must originate from countries that have signed free trade agreements with the US to qualify for subsidies totalling US$7,500. As such, the Chinese supply chain is excluded.

The EU has initiated an anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese-made EVs, and France’s new subsidy regime for EVs requires compliance with carbon emission standards during manufacturing, effectively excluding many EVs imported from China

TrendForce reports that the global sales volume of NEVs (including BEVs, PHEVs, and FCVs) is estimated to reach approximately 12.8 million units in 2023. Regional market sales shares are expected to be 60% in China, 22% in Western Europe, 11% in the United States, and 6% in other regions, with China’s market demand distinctly in the lead. However, with China’s subsidies gradually phasing out and the increasing market penetration of NEVs in the country, the growth rate of China’s NEV market is starting to slow. This, coupled with the growing demand for electric vehicles in overseas markets, is prompting numerous Chinese automotive brands to expand internationally, particularly in Southeast Asia, where they are projected to hold a 67.5% market share in 2023.

Benefiting from early government and industry initiatives and supported by a large domestic market, China’s EV industry has developed a complete supply chain and cost advantages due to rapid technological evolution driven by intense competition. TrendForce forecasts that China will export about 4.8 million automobiles in 2023, with NEVs making up approximately 25% of these exports. The rising export volumes have caught the attention of governments worldwide, especially since many major manufacturers, not just Chinese brands, have factories in China. Exporting vehicles from China to other markets could reduce local production volumes and values of complete vehicles and components, further impacting employment rates and economic performance.

TrendForce notes that the automotive industry is currently facing high raw material and labor costs, as well as significant investments in electrification and autonomous driving. Balancing the protection of local enterprises, maintaining competitiveness, and managing consumer costs is an urgent task for governments worldwide. Most countries are focusing on the country of origin rather than the brand of vehicles in their restrictive measures. For example, the United States imposes a 25% tariff on vehicle imports from China and is discussing further increases.

Measures taken by the US—specifically for EVs—include requiring that EVs and their batteries be assembled in North America. Furthermore, critical minerals in the batteries must originate from countries that have signed free trade agreements with the US to qualify for subsidies totaling US$7,500. As such, the Chinese supply chain is excluded. The EU has initiated an anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese-made EVs, and France’s new subsidy regime for EVs requires compliance with carbon emission standards during manufacturing, effectively excluding many EVs imported from China.

Overall, under the restrictive measures imposed by various governments, international manufacturers need to assess tariffs, subsidies, and production costs before deciding on their production locations. TrendForce suggests that for Chinese automakers seeking to expand overseas, the high cost of exporting vehicles from existing factories in China could diminish their price competitiveness. Despite this, countries like Italy, Hungary, Thailand, and Indonesia maintain a positive stand toward Chinese automakers setting up local factories—given their significant advantages in the EV market.

China’s key factory activity gauge closed the year with a contraction for a third straight month, suggesting that the world’s second-biggest economy may need more policy support to accomplish Beijing’s economic stabilisation goals in 2024.December’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49 from November’s 49.4, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Sunday.

This was much worse than the median forecast for 49.5 in a Reuters poll, as China’s first post-Covid year ended with a weaker-than-expected recovery.Earlier this year, PMI readings fell for five months in a row starting in April. After a brief expansion in September, they started falling again in October.

A reading above 50 typically indicates expansion of activity, while a reading below that suggests a contraction.

The statistics bureau pointed to an “increasingly complicated, tough and uncertain” external environment as a key reason for the continued fall.

Q3 PC shipments were 7.2% down y-o-y at 68.5 million units in the third quarter of 2023, according to IDC, which expects full-year 2023  shipments to be down 13.8% y-o-y  which was itself a 16.6% down year on 2021.

Two consecutive years of double-digit year-over-year drops is unprecedented in the PC market.

IDC’s hopes for  a market rebound in 2024 rest on:

PC Refresh Cycle: The vast and aging installed base of commercial PCs surpassing the four-year mark by 2024 is expected to necessitate a refresh, coinciding with the pressing demand to migrate toward Windows 11. The total PC market of 2024 should see growth of 3.4% compared to 2023.AI Integration: The integration of AI capabilities into PCs is expected to serve as a catalyst for upgrades, hitting shelves in 2024 and at first aimed toward certain segments of the enterprise PC market. Over time, further advancement in use cases and cost reductions could spread to the broader market.Continued evolution and recovery of the consumer installed base.Beyond 2024, growth is expected to surpass pre-pandemic shipment levels and culminate in 285 million units by 2027.

“Perhaps historical context can offer some consolation to the tough slog the PC ecosystem is going through,” says IDC’sc Jay Chou, “while we still expect eight consecutive quarters of year-over-year volume declines from Q1 2022 through Q4 2023, it still pales to the 19 consecutive quarters of year-over-year PC declines from Q2 2012 to Q4 2016. Furthermore, notebooks are already at higher levels than 2019, signaling a sizable expansion of the notebook market even after COVID-induced purchases have subsided. We maintain that factors like hybrid work, commercial refresh, and growth in premium PCs can lead to a compound annual growth rate of 3.1% from 2023 through 2027.”

Korean semiconductor production rose 42% in November while shipments rose 80% says Statistics Korea.

The November rise was the largest increase in 18 months. November inventories rose by 36% – the smallest rise since February.

Korea’s  economy grew 5.3% in November. It is expected to grow 1.4% in 2023, down from 2.6% in 2022, and forecast to grow 2.2% in 2024.

Toshiba’s initial focus since going private on Wednesday will be on PMICs and making a ten percent operating profit, said CEO Taro Shimada (pictured) earlier today.

“In the short-term, expanding sales of power semiconductors is the first thing Toshiba should do,” said Shimada, “we’d like to ramp up the capacity as early as possible. Power semiconductors are selling like hotcakes because of strong demand for EVs.”Earlier this month Toshiba and Rohm announced a hook-up in PMICs.

Costs imposed by debt for the buy-out mean cost-cutting measures are needed and its four business units – energy, infrastructure, digital solutions and electronic devices –  will  consolidated and back-office efficiencies implemented.

Shimada said he expects the operating margin target of 10% to be achieved “early.”

“The issue with Toshiba was that it was unable to make any decisions and move forward,” Shimada said.

Shimada sees the data streams generated by Toshiba’s infrastructure businesses  – power plants, trains, elevators, retail point-of-sales systems and water treatment systems – as the basis for initiating digital services revenue streams

“Once we are able to monetise the data from our equipment, profitability will easily surpass 10%,” Shimada said.

Shimada, a former Siemens exec, said that climate-related technologies like bendable solar panels, carbon capture systems, measuring industrial emissions and next-generation nuclear power technologies are longer term opportunities.

5.4 billion sensors, including imaging sensors, magnetic sensors, MEMS pressure sensors among many others, for the automotive market were shipped in 2022, says Yole Developpement,  and with a 7% CAGR between 2022 and 2028, 8.3 billion sensors will be shipped in 2023.

For standard, or legacy, image sensors little has changed in terms of the main players, which remain onsemi, Omnivision and Sony. What has changed as safety features evolve, has been an increase in resolution, from 1-2Mpixel to today’s 8Mpixel cameras.

“We see the adoption of more and different sensors due to regulations and in-vehicle comfort levels. There are two routes to autonomous driving – incrementally from L2 to L4 or transitioning directly to L4 and robotaxis,” says Yole’s Yu Yang, “but this is proving more difficult than people first thought.”

On May 31, 2023, the NHTSA, in the US, proposed introducing a new standard that would make AEB mandatory for light-duty cars and trucks within four years of publication.

This regulation would be more stringent and would require detecting pedestrians even in dark conditions. This later condition could be a game changer as current AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking) works well with a radar and a visible camera, but this hardware have very low performance in dark conditions. That would mean that OEMs could implement another sensor to fulfil this condition.

Thermal cameras are insensitive to low light emissions making them superior to emergency braking systems based on a camera and radar. Thermal cameras perform well when the road bends, in poor weather or in low light conditions.

Adding an algorithm for pedestrian detection would be straightforward and this could be a great opportunity for thermal cameras to finally enter the automotive industry, but the cost of a thermal camera compared to a visual one is still the main obstacle to adoption.

Other sensors like gated imaging cameras or LiDAR could also be used to meet the performance required by this new AEB regulation.

The automotive camera and image sensor markets have seen substantial revenue growth due to increased demand and higher prices driven by safety regulations and the chip shortage.

The automotive camera market should rise from 5.4 billion to $9.4 billion in 2028, a CAGR of 9.7%. ADAS cameras will be present in 94% of cars by 2028, while in-cabin cameras for DMS (Driver Monitoring System) and OMS (Occupancy Monitoring System) will experience rapid growth.

The number of radar modules per car will increase from 1.7 in 2022 to 3.1, on average, in 2028. As a result, the automotive radar module is expected to realise a CAGR of 12% between 2022-2028, growing from $6.7 billion to $13.5 billion. 4D radar is expected to dominate and therefore generate around 60% of the market revenue in 2028.

To replace legacy radar, 4D radar comes with the elevation capability and a better resolution. Indeed, 4D radar brings 1° angular resolution which dramatically improves object differentiation compared with 3D radar, which has an angular resolution of 4-6°. But such an increase in performance requires more computing power to process all these data.

Here, innovation is being driven by Arbe Robotics (More News), Uhnder and Metawave. These start-up companies are either using [AMD/Xilinx] FPGAs or, in the case of Arbe Robotics, producing their own ASICs to replace classic MCUs.

In 2023, the computing is usually embedded in the radar module, but in the coming years, we expect to see an increase in the computing part being separated from the radar module.

The LiDAR market for passenger cars has increased 285% since 2021.  In 2022, and for the first time, the market for LiDAR in passenger vehicles surpassed the LiDAR market for robotaxis. The LiDAR adoption is driven by Chinese OEMs and in particular new ones making fully electric vehicles.

Innovusion, Valeo, Hesai and RoboSense lead this market (More news about LiDAR companies: Here). Valeo has dominated the passenger cars LiDAR market shares, with partnerships with Audi and Mercedes, for example, but dropped from 79% market share in 2021 to 24% in 2022, with the emergence of Chinese suppliers.

In 2022, Innovusion was leading the market thanks to its partnership with Nio but as the LiDAR market is quite young, we expect that the ranking could change rapidly. Indeed, Hesai and Robosense have partnered with more than 14 OEMs each and their respective market shares should change in 2023 and 2024.

Chinese OEMs are rapidly implementing LiDAR using local suppliers to the extent that Chinese LiDAR manufacturers controlled 73% of the market in 2022. They have little traction in Europe, mostly because there are no large programs from OEMs yet and the market is limited to high end, low volume vehicles, mostly supplied by Valeo.

Another consideration relates to an earlier discussion about electrification. China was incentivised to begin electrification 20 years ago and is now developing new platforms for ADAS and AD, which will implement more and more sensors, including LiDAR, camera and radar,” says Yole’s Pierrick Boulay, “for example, the latest BYD model, the Yangwang U8 SUV has 24 sensors between camera, radar and LiDAR, which is more than the fourth-generation of Waymo robotaxi, implementing only 18 of them.

An increasing number of sensors having better performance in terms of range and resolution directly impacts the need for computing power in passenger cars. Computing revenue for ADAS and cockpit processor is increasing quickly, with a 13% CAGR between 2022 and 2028 and reaching a value of $12.7 billion in 2028.

Among these two categories, ADAS is the largest segment, representing more than 60% of the revenue in 2028.

Mobileye has dominated the automotive vision processor market for a long time, accounting for 52% market share in 2022, followed by players like AMD, Nvidia or Tesla.

The cockpit processor market is dominated by Qualcomm, a new player compared to competitors, Renesas or NXP.

Qualcomm entered the automotive market through the cockpit, leveraging its knowledge in user experience, acquired in the smartphone market. But the ultimate goal of Qualcomm is not the cockpit market, it is the much more lucrative ADAS market.  Yole expects that Qualcomm will rapidly gain some market share in the ADAS domain and quickly become a significant player to compete with Mobileye.

Already some players, such as BMW and Volkswagen, are moving away from Mobileye to Qualcomm. Other new players e.g., Nvidia, Horizon Robotics and Black Sesame have a low but rapidly growing market share,thanks to partnerships with Chinese OEMs.

Today, Chinese companies like Horizon Robotics, Black Sesame or Hisilicon, among others, are gaining design wins and their market share is expected to increase significantly in the next five years. They are very active in both ADAS and cockpit domains.

In 2023, several car models from Chinese OEMs were released with a number of sensors that was much higher compared to other car models released by European or US OEMs. But these Chinese cars are still classified in the hands-off category, like Tesla to give a comparison, due to a lack of regulation.

If the regulation changes, we could expect more complex automated driving applications that would be enabled via OTA updates, as the sensor and computing hardware is already in place.

Regarding eyes-off applications, there is no regulation in place in China to allow such applications, but Chinese OEMs are developing NOA (Navigation On Autopilot) systems. Regarding the rest of the world, eyes-off regulation is already in place in Japan, Europe (Germany) and it is also gathering pace in the UK and some states in the U.S, for example, California and Nevada.

Without doubt, the main driver of the automotive semiconductor industry is electrification and ADAS.

The cost of semiconductor devices in cars reached around $540 per car in 2022. In 2028, this figure will grow to about $912 entirely through the implementation of both market drivers.

The related market is showing a significant 11.9% CAGR between 2022 and 2028 to peak at $84.3 billion during this period. Behind this figure, Yole expects a 100 billion semiconductor device market.

Although semiconductors are critical to the on-going disruptive transition in the automotive industry, most players, whether OEMs or Tier 1s, do not yet have a well-defined strategy for semiconductors.

Specific expertise in semiconductor technologies and the supply chain is needed to prepare for the future. There is a need to manage semiconductor complexity. OEMs need to prioritize essential ECUs and semiconductors and establish new relations with device manufacturers and foundries.

OEMs need to secure their supply chain and to do that they are developing new strategies with semiconductor manufacturers, whether it is direct sourcing by partnering with companies like Infineon or onsemi, for example, or by co-development, partnering with companies like STMicroelectronics or Foxconn.

The global supply chain is evolving from OEMs buying a black box to Tier 1 players being more involved in the development of their products. Some OEMs, like BYD, Toyota, or Geely, can be vertically integrated in some domains and able to manufacture their own semiconductors.

Others, like Li Auto or Tesla, can control the design of their devices and only use foundries to manufacture them. Here are only few examples of these changes and 2024 will be a strategic year for all automotive companies

Q3 revenues for the fabless top ten rose 17.8% q-o-q to $44.7 billion.

Nvidia’s Q3 revenue rose 45.7% to $16.5 billion. Cirrus Logic grew 51.7% to $481 million take the No.10 slot driven by smartphone stockpiling demand. Will Semiconductor grew 42.3% in Q3 to $752 million.

Qualcomm’s Q3 revenues rose 2.8% to $7.4 billion but Nvidia’s success trimmed Qualcomm’s market share to 16.5%. Broadcom’s Q3 revenues grew 4.4% to $7.2 billion.

AMD’s Q3 revenue grew 8.2% to $5.8 billion. . MediaTek’s Q3 revenue rose by 8.7% to $3.5 billion as smartphone stocks were replenished.

Marvell’s Q3 revenues were up 4.4% at $1.4 billion. Novatek and Realtek saw revenues decline by 7.5% and 1.7% respectively.

Has the US Chips Act been successful in increasing investment in semiconductor wafer fabs in the U.S? asks Semiconductor Intelligence.

SI’s answer is the table below of major U.S. fab projects announced in the last few years.

The total near term investment is $142 billion. Most of these projects were announced before the passage of the Chips Act.

However, these companies likely expected future U.S. government subsidies. The subsidies listed in the table are from state and local governments. The organization Good Jobs First tracks government financial assistance to business.

Would these fabs have been built in the U.S. without the expectation of U.S. government assistance? Let’s look at each company.

TSMC – the largest semiconductor wafer foundry, based in Taiwan. TSMC has six current 300mm wafer fabs. All are based in Taiwan except for one in Nanjing, China.

TSMC’s third quarter 2023 report shows 69% of its revenue came from companies based in North America (primarily the U.S.). TSMC has been facing pressure from both the U.S. government and its U.S. customers to build a fab in the U.S.

This pressure combined with the hope of U.S. government funding most likely drove its decision to build a fab in Arizona. TSMC is reportedly seeking about $15 billion in funding through the CHIPS Act. TSMC is also planning an $11 billion wafer fab in Dresden, Germany in a joint venture with Bosch, Infineon and NXP.

The German government planned to contribute about 5 billion Euros ($5.4 billion) towards the fab. However, a recent court ruling places the German subsidies in doubt.

Texas Instruments – TI currently has 300mm wafer fabs located in Dallas, Texas; Richardson, Texas; and Lehi, Utah.

The Lehi fab was purchased from Micron Technology and converted by TI to produce analogue ICs. TI in the past has located fabs in Europe and Asia, but in the last several years has only build fabs in the U.S. TI’s proposed fabs in Sherman, Texas are about a one-hour drive from TI’s headquarters.

TI has had operations in Sherman for over 50 years. The city, school district, and county will provide about $2.4 billion in subsidies for the Sherman fabs, primarily through tax breaks.

Any money TI receives through the CHIPS Act will be a bonus. However, it is likely TI would have built its new fabs in Sherman without the CHIPS Act.

Samsung – Most of Samsung’s fabs are in South Korea. Samsung built a fab in Austin, Texas which opened in 1996. The Austin fab operates as a wafer foundry.

Samsung’s announced fab in Taylor, Texas – about 45 minutes from Austin – will also be a wafer foundry. The company will continue to make major fab investments in South Korea with $230 billion planned over the next 20 years, primarily for memory fabs.

Samsung will receive about $1.2 billion in local subsidies from Taylor area governments. The proximity to its Austin fab and the local incentives were most likely the primary drivers for Samsungs Taylor fab.

Funds from the CHIPS Act were probably also a factor, but Samsung presumably would have built the fab in Taylor without CHIPS money.

Intel –  Intel has major U.S. fabs in Chandler, Arizona; Hillsboro, Oregon; and Rio Rancho, New Mexico. It also has fabs in Leixlip, Ireland; Jerusalem, Israel; and Kiryat Gat, Israel.

Intel is building a new fab in Kiryat Gat with about $3 billion in Israeli government subsidies. The company also plans a fab in Magdeburg, Germany with about $11 billion in German government aid. However, as with TSMC, the German funding is uncertain.

Intel will receive about $2.4 billion in local aid for its fab in New Albany, Ohio. Intel announced the Ohio fab in January 2022 – before the CHIPS Act was passed but when passage appeared likely. Intel has shown a willingness to locate fabs outside of the U.S. for the right incentives. The CHIPS funds were certainly a major factor in deciding on the Ohio location.

Micron Technology – Micron has fabs in Boise, Idaho; Taichung, Taiwan; Hiroshima, Japan; and Singapore.

The foreign fabs were all procured through Micron business acquisitions: Rexchip Electronics in Japan, Intotera Memories in Taiwan, and Texas Instruments’ memory business in Singapore. Micron plans to expand its fabs in Taiwan and Japan.

The Japanese government will subsidize Micron’s new Hiroshima fab with about $1.3 billion. Micron will build new fabs in Boise, Idaho and Clay, New York over the next several years. Micron will receive about $6.4 billion in state and local incentives for its New York fabs.

The new fabs will produce DRAMs, which Micron currently makes only in Taiwan and Japan. Micron’s strategy is to eventually produce 40% of its DRAMs in the U.S. The new U.S. fabs were announced in September and October of 2022, well after the passage of the CHIPS Act.

Since Micron has shown a willingness to expand its overseas fabs, the CHIPS funds were undoubtedly a major factor in deciding on its Idaho and New York fabs.

In summary, was the CHIPS Act a deciding factor in locating these new fabs in the U.S.? Asks SI.

We say yes for TSMC and probably for Micron and Intel, answers SI. TI and Samsung would likely have made their fab location decisions without the CHIPS Act. It remains to be seen how the CHIPS Act will affect future fab decisions.

Companies decide to build new fabs based on their anticipated capacity needs. Fab locations are based on many factors including proximity to company headquarters, infrastructure, workforce, political stability, customer proximity, and logistics.

Government subsidies may influence the country for the fab and the location within the country but are generally not the primary driving factor.

The SI June estimates for 2023 semiconductor capex were about $156 billion, down 14% from 2022. Most companies appear to be holding to their plans.

One exception is Intel, which we had estimated at $20 billion in 2023 CapEx. Through the third quarter of 2023, Intel capex was $19.1 billion, which means the full year will likely be around $24 billion.

The largest spender, TSMC, confirmed in October their 2023 capex target of $32 billion, down 12% from 2022.

Few companies have indicated their capex plans for 2024.

Micron  ended its 2023 fiscal year in August with $7.0 billion in capex. Their guidance for fiscal 2024 capex was “slightly above” fiscal 2023.

Infineon’s fiscal year 2023 ended in September with 3 billion euro ($3.2 billion) in capex. Infineon plans to increase capex to 3.3 billion euro ($3.6 billion). The SI preliminary estimate for 2024 total capex is a 10% to 20% increase from 2023, in the range of $172 billion to $187 billion.

The next edition of the 3GPP 5G Advanced standard (Release 19) is expected to bring ambient IoT within 6G to increase connectivity from billions of devices to trillions.

Voting in December, the telecom companies and mobile operators that make up 3GPP membership will define what is to be in the latest standard.

“Ambient IoT will almost certainly be part of the release, the question is will it be a Study Item or a Work Item.  We believe that Ambient IoT will be as big as the advent of the smartphone in terms of its impact on customers, businesses and society, and that it’s better to move forward incrementally and iteratively using the lessons learnt from deployment that have proven successful using other wireless technologies like Bluetooth ambient IoT,” said Steve Statler, CMO of Wiliot.

IoT has the potential to open up new revenue streams as well as help end consumers. Wiliot announced its IoT Pixels at MWC 2022. “While 5G tracked cars, appliances and shipping containers, 6G will track everything in those cars, appliances and shipping containers,” Statler said at the time. The IoT Pixels device can attach to any product and powers itself using recycled ambient energy waves to provide real time visibility in supply chains, monitor conditions (e.g., temperatures) and stock levels on a real time basis rather than daily updates for efficient deliveries.

Ambient IoT can be used to track the minutiae, such as food, clothing and medicine, rather than the expensive objects containing these individual assets. It uses low-cost, ubiquitous radios and does not rely on manual scanning but automatically senses the things nearby and automates the connectivity rather than relying on handheld scanners, explained Statler. Radios in phones, cars, appliances and other equipment will be upgraded to provide the energy and read the signals from the battery-free postage stamp sized smart tags. “Ambient IoT connections are the tendons connecting the bones of the real world to the computing muscle in the cloud,” he added.

Data centre capex is forecast  to grow 11% in 2024 as select hyperscale cloud service providers return to an expansion cycle and the spending freeze in the enterprise markets thaws, says Dell’Oro..

“Worldwide data centre capex is projected for only a 4% growth in 2023,” says Dell’Oro’s Baron Fung, “ the slowdown in general-purpose server and storage deployments weighed down the market despite increased AI-related investments. While Microsoft, Google, and Oracle have increased their data centre investments in 2023 year-to-date, other cloud service providers such as Amazon and Meta have  trimmed their data centre capex.”

“Our outlook for 2024 is more optimistic,” added Fung, “AI applications such as generative AI will be a key investment driver in the cloud and enterprise. Furthermore, we anticipate demand for general-purpose servers to recover following a prolonged correction, and as customers make a transition to new server platforms that enable  more efficient computing.”

Server and storage system revenue is forecast for growth greater than 20 percent in 2024, while network and physical infrastructure revenues grows single digits.

Dell led all OEMs in server revenue in 3Q 2023, followed by IEI Systems (formerly Inspur) and HPE. White box server vendors gained 8 points of revenue share year-over-year compared to the OEMs.

The hyperscale cloud service providers are forecast to increase their data centre capex by 13 percent in 2024

The share of the foundry industry now held by Taiwan and Korea will shrinkto 41% and 10% respectively by 2027, says TrendForce.

Currently Taiwan holds approximately 46% of global semiconductor foundry capacity, followed by China (26%), South Korea (12%), the US (6%), and Japan (2%).

In advanced manufacturing processes (including 16/14nm and more advanced technologies), Taiwan leads with a 68% global capacity share in 2023, followed by the US (12%), South Korea (11%), and China (8%).

Taiwan holds nearly 80% share when it comes to EUV generation processes (such as 7nm and beyond).

While the US’s share of advanced process capacity is expected to increase to 17% by 2027,  TSMC and Samsung will still account for over half of this capacity as they ramp up their US production sites.

China is focusing aggressively on mature process technologies (28nm and older). By 2027, China’s share in mature process capacity is expected to reach 39%, with room for further growth if equipment procurement proceeds smoothly.

As Chinese manufacturers rapidly expand their mature process capacities—backed by government subsidies—this could lead to intense price competition in products like CIS, DDI, PMIC, and power discrete, impacting Taiwan-based foundries like UMC, PSMC, and Vanguard.

Vanguard is expected to be most affected due to its product line including LDDI, SDDI, PMIC, and power discrete. Other companies like UMC and PSMC will maintain their advantages in the 28/22nm OLED DDI and memory sectors.

In response to chip shortages and geopolitical influences, fabless customers are diversifying risk by working with multiple foundries, potentially leading to increased IC costs and concerns over duplicate orders.

Customers are also requiring global validation of production lines, even with long-term foundry partners, to enable flexible capacity adjustments.

Snartphone shipments will grow more than 10% q-o-q and 2% y-o-y reaching over 300 million units, says Digitimes Research.

The sequential increase is driven primarily by Apple’s iPhone shipments.

Demand for smartphones has started recovering in emerging markets, such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa, in the latter half of the third quarter of 2023.

Global smartphone shipments for the third quarter of 2023 totaled nearly 275 million units, narrowing the annual decline to 0.6%.

2023 smartphone shipments for 2023 are forecast at 1.1043 billion units.

In the Chinese market, Q3 shipments have slightly increased to 61.3 million units, with a year-on-year growth rate of 5%.

Outside of China, due to the recovery in demand from emerging countries, shipments have been revised upward to 213.5 million units, narrowing the annual decline to 2.1%.

2023 5G smartphone shipments are forecast to be 571.5 million units, representing a 2.9% decline from 2022.

Q3 wearables shipments grew 2.6% y-o-y at 148.4 million units, according to the  (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker   which out-shipped 3Q21 (142.1 million) and 3Q22 (144.6 million) when sales were driven by pandemic-related spending.

The growth is largely attributed to the rise of smaller brands and emerging categories.

“Health and fitness tracking has come a long way since the original Fitbits and Pebble watches but the greatest driver of wearables has been the emergence of smaller and sleeker designs,” saisvIDC’s Jitesh Ubrani, “smart rings from newer brands such as Oura, Noise, BoAT, Circular and others are expected to jumpstart the new form factor in the coming quarters.”

Sales of total semiconductor manufacturing equipment by original equipment manufacturers are forecast to reach $100 billion in 2023, a contraction of 6.1% from the industry record of $107.4 billion posted in 2022, SEMI announced today in its Year-End Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – OEM Perspective at SEMICON Japan 2023.

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment growth is expected to resume in 2024, with sales forecast to reach a new high of $124 billion in 2025, supported by both the front-end and back-end segments.

“We anticipate a temporary contraction in 2023 due to the cyclical nature of the semiconductor market,” sai Ajit Manocha, SEMI President and CEO. “2024 will be a transition year. We then expect a strong rebound in 2025, driven by capacity expansion, new fab projects, and high demand for advanced technologies and solutions across the front-end and back-end segments.

After registering a record $94 billion in sales last year, the wafer fab equipment segment, which includes wafer processing, fab facilities and mask/reticle equipment, is projected to slip 3.7% to $90.6 billion in 2023.

This contraction marks a significant improvement from the 18.8% decline forecast by SEMI in its Mid-Year Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – OEM Perspective. The upward revision is primarily due to strong equipment spending by China.

Wafer fab equipment segment sales are projected to grow at a modest 3% in 2024 from the revised 2023 base due to limited memory capacity addition and the pause of mature capacity expansion.

A growth path with a further 18% expansion in 2025 is expected as new fab projects, capacity expansion and technology migrations drive investments to nearly $110 billion.

The decline in back-end equipment segment sales started in 2022 and continued in 2023 due to challenging macroeconomic conditions and softening semiconductor demand.

Semiconductor test equipment market sales are projected to contract by 15.9% to $6.3 billion in 2023, while assembly and packaging equipment sales are expected to drop by 31% to $4.0 billion in the same year.

The test equipment and assembly and packaging equipment segments are forecast to expand by 13.9% and 24.3%, respectively, next year.

Back-end segment growth is expected to continue in 2025, with test equipment sales rising 17% and assembly and packaging sales increasing 20%.

Equipment sales for foundry and logic applications, accounting for more than half of total wafer fab equipment receipts, are expected to log a 6% increase year-over-year to $56.3 billion in 2023 despite softer end-market conditions.

The application segment is forecast to contract 2% in 2024 as mature technology expansion slows and spending on leading-edge technology improves.

Foundry and logic equipment investments are projected to increase 15% in 2025 to $63.3 billion, driven by increased capacity expansion purchases and the introduction of new device architectures.

As anticipated, memory-related capital expenditures will see the sharpest decline in 2023.

NAND equipment sales are predicted to drop by 49% to $8.8 billion in 2023 but will surge 21% to $10.7 billion in 2024 and rise another 51% to $16.2 billion in 2025.

DRAM equipment sales are expected to remain stable, growing by 1% and 3% in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Supported by continuous technology migration and expanding demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM equipment segment sales are expected to increase an additional 20% to $15.5 billion in 2025.

China, Taiwan and Korea are expected to remain the top three destinations for equipment spending through 2025.

China is projected to maintain the top position over the forecast period as the region’s equipment billings continue to soar. Equipment shipments to China are projected to surpass a record $30 billion in 2023, widening its lead with other regions.

While equipment spending for most tracked regions is expected to fall in 2023 before resuming growth in 2024, China is expected to see a mild contraction in 2024 after heavy investments in 2023.

The following results reflect market size by segment and application in billions of U.S. dollars:

Source: SEMI December 2023, Equipment Market Data Subscription

* Total equipment includes new wafer fab, test, and assembly and packaging. Total equipment excludes wafer manufacturing equipment. Totals may not add due to rounding.

The SEMI forecast is based on collective input from top equipment suppliers, the SEMI Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) data collection program and the industry-recognized SEMI World Fab Forecast database.

Q4 is expected to see a further 5–10% QoQ increase in production.

The  downturn in global smartphone production for 2023 is expected to be limited to less than 3%, with total annual output estimated to reach approximately 1.16 billion units.

Samsung continues to lead the market after recording an 11.5% increase in its Q3 production at 60.1 million units – only 5 million more than apple.

Apple saw its Q3 production climb 17.9% to reach approximately 49.5 million units. However, it had  a 1.5% YoY market share decline, with annual production at 2022 levels.

Huawei’s re-entry with its flagship phones is anticipated to significantly impact Apple’s production performance in the upcoming year.

Xiaomi (including Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO) saw Q3 production jump by 22.3% to approximately 42.8 million units.

Oppo (including Oppo, Realme, and OnePlus) experienced a 15.2% increase in its Q3 output to 38.7 million units.

Transsion (including TECNO, Infinix, and itel) produced 26.5 million units—a 5.6% increase QoQ.

Vivo (including Vivo and iQoo) saw its Q3 production rise to 24.5 million units, marking a 6.5% increase and placing it in the sixth spot.

October semiconductor sales of $46.6 billion were up 3.9% on the $44.9 billion of September but 0.7% less than the October 2022 total of $46.9 billion, says the SIA.

A WSTS industry forecast  projects 2023 sales will decrease 9.4% y-o-y in 2023 but increase 13.1% in 2024.

The forecast puts 2023 sales at $520 billion in 2023, down from the 2022 sales total of $574.1 billion.

In 2024,  sales are projected to reach $588.4 billion.

“The global semiconductor market grew on a month-to-month basis for the eighth consecutive time in October, demonstrating clear, positive momentum for chip demand as 2023 winds down,” says SIA CEO John Neuffer, “moving forward, we forecast year-end sales for 2023 will be down compared to 2022, but the global semiconductor market is projected to rebound strongly next year with double-digit growth projected for 2024.”

Regionally, month-to-month sales increased in China (6.1%), Asia Pacific/All Other (4.9%), the Americas (2.9%), Japan (0.6%) and Europe (0.2%). Year-to-year sales were up in Europe (6.6%) and Asia Pacific/All other (0.4%), but down in the Americas (-1.6%), China (-2.5%), and Japan (-3.1%).

The top ten foundries grew revenues 7.9% to $28.29 billion, and Q4 revenues could grow faster, reports TrendForce.

TSMC, with 58% market share, grew Q3 revenue by 10.2%—reaching $17.25 billion. The 3nm process alone contributed 6% to TSMC’s Q3 revenue, with advanced processes (≤7nm) accounting for nearly 60% of its total revenue.

Samsung grew foundry revenue by 14.1%  to $3.69 billion in Q3,  driven by orders for Qualcomm’s mid-to-low range 5G AP SoC, 5G modems, and mature 28 nm OLED DDI processes.

GlobalFoundries maintained a stable performance in Q3, with its revenue approximating $1.85 billion, similar to the previous quarter.

UMC’s Q3 revenue declined 1.7% to $1.8 billion. Revenue from its 28/22 nm products saw a near 10% increase, representing 32% of UMC’s total revenue.

SMIC had a 3.8% Q3 revenue increase to $1.62 billion.  However,  the revenue share from American clients decreased to 12.9%. Conversely, revenue from Chinese clients increased to 84% due to the government’s localisation initiatives and urgent orders for smartphone components.

Notable changes in the rankings from sixth to tenth position include VIS and IFS, with the latter entering the global top ten for the first time since Intel’s financial restructuring.

VIS’ Q3 revenue increased by 3.8% to $333 million—surpassing PSMC to take the eighth position.

IFS had a 34.1% increase in revenue to approximately $311 million.

HuaHong saw a 9.3% decrease in Q3 revenue to about $766 million.

HHGrace maintained steady wafer shipment levels from the previous quarter, but a roughly 10% decrease in ASP led to a decline in revenue.

Tower Semiconductor saw stable demand in the smartphone, automotive, and industrial sectors, maintaining revenue at around $358 million in Q3.

PSMC witnessed a 7.5% drop in revenue to $305 million, with PMIC and Power Discrete revenues declining nearly 10% and 20%, respectively, impacting overall performance.

2024 semiconductor sales are projected to grow 16.8% in 2024 to total $624 billion, according to Gartner after a 2023 market which is forecast to decline 10.9% to $534 billion.

“We are at the end of 2023 and strong demand for chips to support artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), is not going to be enough to save the semiconductor industry from double-digit decline in 2023,” says Gartner vp  Alan Priestley, VP“Reduced demand from smartphones and PC customers coupled with weakness in data center/hyperscaler spending are influencing the decline in revenue this year.”

However, 2024 is forecast to be a bounce-back year where revenue for all chip types will grow (see Figure 1), driven by double-digit growth in the memory market.

Figure 1. Semiconductors Revenue Forecast, Worldwide, 2021-2025 (Billions of U.S. Dollars)

Source: Gartner (December 2023)

The worldwide memory market is forecast to record a 38.8% decline in 2023 and will rebound in 2024 by growing 66.3%.

Anaemic demand and declining pricing due to massive oversupply will lead NAND flash revenue to decline 38.8% and fall to $35.4 billion in revenue in 2023.

Over the next 3-6 months, NAND industry pricing will hit bottom, and conditions will improve for vendors. Gartner analysts forecast a robust recovery in 2024, with revenue growing to $53 billion, up 49.6% year-over-year.

Due to high oversupply level and lack of demand, DRAM vendors are chasing the market price down to reduce inventory.

Through the fourth quarter of 2023, DRAM market’s oversupply will continue which will trigger a pricing rebound. However, the full effect of pricing increases will only be seen in 2024, when DRAM revenue is expected to increase 88% to total $87.4 billion.

Developments in generative AI (GenAI) and large language modelsare driving demand for deployment of high-performance GPU-based servers and accelerator cards in data centers. This is creating a need for workload accelerators to be deployed in data center servers to support both training and inference of AI workloads.

Gartner analysts estimate that by 2027, the integration of AI techniques into data center applications will result in more than 20% of new servers including workload accelerators.

Last year, Aubrey Dunford, the ECSN (Electronic Components Supply Network) market analyst declared the UK electronics components market had returned to normality. At this year’s Electronics Components Forecast, he reclassified its status as a new, new normal.

2024 total forecast 1.6% (min) to 4.1% (max)

At the end of 2022, ECSN suppliers were preparing for 2023 with strong order books and confidence in customer demand and an expectation that prices will generally be maintained. Another prediction for 2023 was that growth in the first half of this year was likely but the second half would be less certain as pent-up demand for 5G and smart vehicle infrastructure systems could bear fruit. The book-to-bill ratio was expected to remain strong in 2023 as lead times returned to more normal levels albeit with some shortages expected. All of this came to pass despite uncertainties such as product availability, global trade and political tensions and falling consumer confidence. At the time, Dunford maintained that authorised distributors are “key to helping the industry find its way through uncertainties”.

Component market sales in 2023 were high with a DTAM of ￡1886m and a TAM of ￡4254m, compared to ￡1722 (DTAM) and ￡3938m (TAM) in 2022.

For 2024, ECSN members are cautious, based on many statistics. Firstly, inventory is still high, making it difficult to judge demand. Price pressures will be minimal and price levels achieved in 2023 are expected to be maintained. A flat first half is expected, supported by the HM Treasury’s comparison of independent forecasts predicts UK economy average growth of 0.5% for 2023 and 0.4% for 2024. The second half of the year will depend on trade and political tensions, with the added unrest in the Middle East and what effect that will have, not least in terms of oil price rises.

There is still a demand for 5G and vehicle infrastructure systems and some strong demand particularly in the industrial sector as UK manufacturing output rises. There are indications that some market sectors will remain strong, said Dunford, but the overall picture is uncertain. A growth in UK consumption may not be reflected in sales in 2024. It is important to note, said Dunford that manufacturers do not know how much stock is out there, as double ordering of inventory through the pandemic is still to be worked through. The DTAM quarter-on-quarter growth since 2021 is related to price increases in a commodity market rather than increased unit sales, he added.

The one seeming certainty is moderate growth in the first half of 2024, said Dunford, followed by a slight to moderate (~1.4% growth), he estimated.

Q4 smartphone shipments will see 7.3% y-o-y growth, says IDC. “The tide has finally turned, ” says IDC’s Nabila Popal.

The market recovery will continue in 2024 with 3.8% growth expected, followed by low single-digit growth for 2022-27 for a 1.4% five-year CAGR.

For the whole of 2023,  smartphone shipments are forecast to decline 3.5% y-o-y to 1.16 billion units.

Smartphone ASP is expected to rise 5.5% in 2023 to $438, marking a fourth consecutive year of growth as the premium market continues to grow across all regions.

However, ASP growth is expected to taper off and gradually decline to $396 by 2027, which remains higher than prior forecasts.

iOS market share grew 0.6% growth in Q3, achieving a record share of 19.6% this year, while Android is forecast to decline 4.4%.

Over the long term, Android will grow slightly faster than iOS, increasing its share of the market to 81.3% by the end of the forecast period.

Foxconn is expected to increase its Indian production of iPhones from 12-14% in 2023 to 20-25% in 2024.

Earlier this week the company filed a securities notice in Taiwan that it would build a plant costing $1.54 billion at an unnamed location in India, reported The Nikkei.

According to reports in the Taiwan press,  the plant will  be used for iPhone production.

It was also reported that the Indian plant would be used for iPhone product development and test production.

Currently 90% of iPhone assembly is done in China and Foxconn accounts for 60-70% of iPhone assembly.

Foxconn has been assembling iPhones in India since 2019 at Sunguvarchatram but it has been a less profitable operation than at its assembly plants in China because of higher material costs and a higher percentage of defective phones.

Tech investment in Europe will amount to about $45 billion this year compared to $82 billion last year, says a report from Atomico.

Worst hit will be companies at the growth stage requiring late-stage capital injections to scale up.

But Europe is the only region where investment  has risen from 2020 levels – by 18% – whereas the US expected figure of  $120 billion is a 1% drop from 2020 and the figures for China and RoW are expected to drop by 7% and 8%, respectively.

Investment in European late-stage tech startups has  almost dried up as the IPO market makes exits unappealing.

Looking at funds which invest in both public and private companies – so-called cross-over funds – Atomico found only four such investments this year compared with 82 in 2021.

Over the past 12 months, raising capital was the most frequently cited challenge by founders and senior startup leaders, with 38% saying it was their biggest challenge. Securing customers was next on the list of anxieties, with 37% saying it was their biggest challenge.

Founders aren’t particularly bullish for 2024 — 41% said raising capital would be one of their biggest challenges and 44% said securing customers would be

While the rate that founders are starting new companies has fallen 30% since its peak in 2020, there are more new first-time founders in Europe than there are in the US.

Koike of Japan and the Japan National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have come up with a single-crystal material that could be used as an electrolyte in solid-state batteries.

The company will soon begin sampling battery manufacturers, with production envisaged in 2027/28.

When used for a battery electrolyte the new material material is claimed to reduce electrical resistance by nine-tenths.

To prevent degradation, a liquid is applied to the electrodes, making the battery a type of “semisolid-state” battery that uses both solids and liquids.

Used in such a battery in a pacemaker, the material could extend pacemakers’ battery life from 10-15 to 50 years.

Koike makes monocrystalline wafers and has developed  monocrystals with a diameter of 25mm for batteries.

Over the last eight quarters shipments have been:

The smartphone market turned up in October, says Counterpoint Research which is the first month it has grown y-o-y for two years. For Q3, Counterpoint is forecasting the first growth quarter for eight quarters.

October shipments grew 5% y-o-y which is the first month in 27 consecutive months since June 2021 to show y-o-y growth.

2021 Q4 371.4

2022: Q1 326.4 Q2 294.5 Q3 301.9 Q4 303.9

2023:  Q1 280.2 Q2 268 with a forecast for Q3 of 299.8

Propelling October’s  growth was a recovery in smartphone sales in the emerging markets – notably an upswing in the Middle East and Africa, a resurgence by Huawei in the China market and the arrival of the festive season in India.

“Following strong growth in October, we expect the market to grow year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2023 as well, setting the market on the path to gradual recovery in the coming quarters,” the market research firm said.

For the full year, Counterpoint’s forecast is:

Driving growth are: inventory depletion in PCs, smartphones, automotive and industrial; electrification in automotive and industrial; AI PCs and AI smartphones and rising memory ASPs.

Wafer capacity pricing is expected to remain flat next year as foundry suppliers gradually improve utilisation rates and demand returns from their core fabless customers.

CapEx is expected to improve by 2H24 as revenue shipments match end demand and regional ChipAct incentives stimulate investment across the supply chain.

By 2026, IDC expects that AI silicon will account for almost $200 billion in semiconductor revenues.”

“Leti and the LSTC wish to establish a long-term and sustainable collaboration in different advanced semiconductor fields, including materials, devices, processes, and technology,” says Leti, “the aim is to further strengthen global collaboration in the semiconductor industry over the next decade and to jointly define long-term R&D roadmaps.

Leti’s role will be in the development of new transistor structures for 1.4-1nm processes.

Rapidus is currently  working with IBM and Imec on developing a 2nm process. Rapidus intends to have a 2nm pilot line running in April 2025 and a volume 2nm line in Hokkaido in 2027.

The company expects revenues of €17 billion at a 24.2% margin in 2024.

For FY 2023 to September 30, Infineon had revenues if €16.309 billion, up 15% on FY 2022 for a profit up 30% y-o-y at €4.399 billion with a margin of 27% and free cash flow of €1.158 billion.

Free Cash Flow adjusted for investment in frontend buildings and the acquisition of GaN Systems should be around €2.2 billion and reported Free Cash Flow around €400 million

For calendar Q4 (fiscal Q1) Infineon expects revenues of around €3.8 billion at a margin of 22%.

“In the 2023 fiscal year, Infineon has set new records for revenue and profitability. The results are an initial confirmation of our more ambitious course we embarked on as a company a year ago,” says Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon (pictured) “nevertheless, we find ourselves in an environment that continues to present challenges. We are seeing different trends in our target markets. Structural semiconductor growth in the areas of renewable energy, electromobility – especially in China – and microcontrollers for the automotive industry remains unabated. In contrast, consumer, communication, computing and IoT applications are experiencing a temporary period of low demand. Overall, we are expecting revenue growth to continue in the 2024 fiscal year but at a slower rate. We are reacting decisively to the market situation. At the same time, we are continuing to implement our strategy consistently with regard to structural growth opportunities and we are reinforcing our leading position in power systems and IoT with long-term investments.”

Q4 sales of electronics are forecast to rise 22% q-o-q after a 7% rise in Q3, says SEMI, and IC sales are expected to rise 4% sequentially after improving 7% in Q3 2023 as end demand improves and inventories normalise

However, despite  the improvement in electronics and IC sales, semiconductor manufacturing indicators remain soft. Fab utilization rates and capital expenditures continue to decline in the second half of this year.

Overall, CapEx on non-memory is expected to outperform memory in 2023, but even spending in the non-memory segments has begun to weaken.

Total capital expenditures in Q4 2023 are hovering at the levels seen in Q4 2020.

While overall semiconductor capital equipment sales are declining in line with capital expenditures, the contraction in wafer fab equipment spending has turned out to be much shallower than expected this year. Furthermore, back-end equipment billings are projected to increase in Q4 2023.

“While semiconductor markets have seen year-over-year declines the last five quarters, year-over-year growth is expected to return in the fourth quarter of 2023 as production cuts have worked their way through the supply chain,” says TechInsights’ Boris Metodiev,  “on the other hand, front-end equipment sales have been performing much better than the IC market, buoyed by government incentives and the filling of backlogs, strength expected to continue next year.”

“Despite low fab utilisation rates and slowing capital expenditures in the second half of 2023, we expect back-end equipment billings to bottom in Q4 2023,” says SEMI’s Clark Tseng, “this will mark an important turnaround for the chip manufacturing industry, signaling a recovery from the downturn with building momentum in 2024.”

TSMC had October revenues of $7.8 billion up  34.8% from the $5.6 billion revenues of September 2023 and an increase of 15.7% from the October 2022 revenues of $6.5 billion.

Revenue for January through October 2023 totalled $57.26 billion, a decrease of 3.7% compared to the $59 billion revenues for the same period in 2022.

TSMC October Revenue Report (Consolidated):

(Unit: NT$ million)

Discrete semiconductor and passive electronic component maker Vishay Intertechnology Inc of Malvern, PA, USA has agreed to acquire Newport Wafer Fab in South Wales, UK from Nexperia B.V. of Nijmegen, The Netherlands (a subsidiary of Wingtech Technology Co Ltd) for $177m in cash. ATREG Inc, the Seattle-based global firm for initiating, brokering and executing the exchange of semiconductor manufacturing assets, served as Nexperia’s transaction advisors.

Located on 28 acres and the largest semiconductor manufacturing plant in the UK, Newport is an automotive-certified, 200mm wafer fab that supplies primarily automotive markets.

“Under new leadership in early 2023, Vishay set an ambitious goal of investing approximately $1.2bn in capacity over a three-year period in order to position the company to seize the opportunities created by the megatrends of e-mobility and sustainability needed for a Net Zero economy,” says president & CEO Joel Smejkal. “While this transaction is supplemental to our capex investment strategy, adding Newport Wafer Fab to our manufacturing footprint will be instrumental to achieving our goal of expanding capacity for our customers and to accelerating our SiC [silicon carbide] strategy,” he adds.

“By agreeing to acquire Newport Wafer Fab, our goal is to safeguard the positions of the highly skilled and dedicated employees and to invest the necessary capital to set up production for our SiC trench MOSFETs and diodes. With its solid balance sheet and ample liquidity, Vishay will immediately bring stability and its reliable cash flow generation to ensure the facility becomes a fully operational and profitable fab” reckons Smejkal.

“For Vishay, acquiring Newport Wafer Fab brings together our capacity expansion plans for our customers in automotive and industrial end markets as well as the UK’s strategic goal of improved supply chain resilience. In addition to expanding capacity, we intend to collaborate with the Compound Semiconductor Cluster in South Wales and to join with key stakeholders committed to developing the semiconductor industry in the UK including university and community partners in the UK and particularly South Wales,” concludes Smejkal. “We look forward to welcoming Newport Wafer Fab’s employees into Vishay and to partnering with local authorities and the Welsh and UK Governments to both ensure long-term growth for the fab and deliver value to our customers and stockholders.”

“Vishay’s board made a critical decision last year to pivot the company toward profitable growth under new leadership, leveraging the company’s solid cash flow generation, sound operational capabilities and broad product portfolio,” notes executive chairman Marc Zandman. “A key element of this strategic shift is the investment in technologies and incremental capacity to position Vishay to capitalize on the megatrends in e-mobility and sustainability. Acquiring Newport Wafer Fab demonstrates Vishay’s commitment to executing this strategic shift,” he adds.

“Nexperia would have preferred to continue the long-term strategy it implemented when it acquired the investment-starved fab in 2021 and provided for massive investments in equipment and personnel,” says Toni Versluijs, country manager Nexperia UK. “However, these investment plans have been cut short by the unexpected and wrongful divestment order made by the UK Government in November 2022. The UK Government’s order, in combination with a weakness in the global semiconductor market, recently led us to announce the intention to reduce the number of employees at the site by at least 100. The site needs clarity about its future to avoid further losses,” he adds. “Of all options, this agreement with Vishay is the most viable one to secure the future of the site as Vishay – like Nexperia – has a solid customer base for the fab’s capabilities. For the site, Vishay’s commitment to further make the Newport Wafer Fab a success story is encouraging. Nexperia’s position with regards to the UK Government’s order remains unchanged.”

The closing of the Newport Wafer Fab transaction is subject to UK government review, the purchase rights of a third party, and customary closing conditions, and is expected to occur in first-quarter 2024.

Nexperia states that, while working to ensure that all conditions to the sale are met as soon as possible, it will continue to own and manage the site and support the employees.

Vishay is to buy Newport Wafer Fab after years of wrangling over whether it could be owned by Nexperia which is owned y the Chinese  company Wingtech.

Vishay paid $177 million cash for the company. Nexperia bought it in 2021 for $63 million. Vishay will set up a SiC line to make Trench MOSFETs and diodes.

“Adding Newport Wafer Fab to our manufacturing footprint will be instrumental to achieving our goal of expanding capacity for our customers and to accelerating our SiC strategy,” says Vishay  CEO Joel Smejkal, “Vishay will immediately bring stability and its reliable cash flow generation to ensure the facility becomes a fully operational and profitable fab.”

“Of all options, this agreement with Vishay is the most viable one to secure the future of the site, as Vishay – like Nexperia – has a solid customer base for the fab’s capabilities,” said Nexperia’s UK country manager Toni Versluijs.

“The decline in global silicon shipments continued as a result of the ongoing broad-based inventory correction cycle,” said Anna-Riikka Vuorikari-Antikainen, Chairman of SEMI Silicon Manufacturing Group, “silicon wafer shipments for the computing, communications, consumer and memory markets saw the most pronounced declines due to a softening in demand and continuing economic uncertainties, while the automotive and industrial sectors were resilient during this period.”

Millions of Square Inches

Data cited in this release include polished silicon wafers, including those used as virgin test wafers, as well as epitaxial silicon wafers, and non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to end users.

The battery cell supply chain is primarily led by Asian players: China accounting for 57%, with South Korea at 25% and Japan at 7% following.

In the coming years, there will be a growing need to recycle tons of end-of-life xEV battery packs.

The total annual demand for lithium-ion battery packs used in PHEVs and BEVs is projected to experience substantial growth, surging from approximately 430 GWh in 2022 to roughly 1,500 GWh by 2028, says Yole.ev

This represents a more than threefold increase in demand. The primary driver of this demand will be BEV applications, which are expected to require a battery capacity of 1,370 GWh, constituting 90% of the total market in terms of GWh by 2028.

“The overall annual market for Li-ion battery packs designed for BEVs and PHEVs is anticipated to expand from about $70 billion in 2022 to approximately $180 billion by 2028,” says Yole’s Shalu Agarwal,  “in 2022, CATL from China is the leading manufacturer of EV battery cells, followed by LG Energy Solution, BYD from China, and Panasonic from Japan. While Europe focuses on establishing local cell suppliers, US automakers primarily collaborate with Asian suppliers, like Tesla partnering with Panasonic, LG Energy Solution, and CATL, and GM Motors with LG Energy Solution.”

Battery production capacity is rapidly expanding, with manufacturers announcing expansion plans, particularly in regions with xEV manufacturing facilities.

Many Chinese players, including BYD, CATL, Gotion, and EVE, plan to increase capacity in countries like India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

BATTERY PACK FOR AUTOMOTIVE 2021-2022 MARKET SHARES

The urgent need for increased battery cell manufacturing capacity arises due to the surging demand for EVs.

Projections suggest global battery manufacturing capacity will exceed 6 TWh by 2030, four times the demand, although some announced projects may never materialize.

However, overreliance on China could pose long-term challenges for startups and smaller battery manufacturers.

Europe and the USA face cost disadvantages in the EV battery industry compared to China, mainly due to higher manufacturing costs.

This cost discrepancy is linked to lower material costs in China, driven by advanced supply chains with vertical integration of material supply, processing, and manufacturing.

The relationship between car OEMs and cell suppliers is complex and often involves multiple partnerships. Vertical integration in battery manufacturing is increasing for cost efficiency and supply security reasons.

Both cell makers and automakers are seeking strategic deals with raw material mining companies to secure their supply chains.

Low cobalt-content batteries like NMC 811 and cobalt-free LFP batteries are highly sought-after cell chemistries. Initially used by Chinese companies, LFP cells are now adopted by various global automakers.

The trend is shifting towards a cell-to-pack approach to enhance energy density and reduce weight in battery packs, with some companies like Tesla, BYD, and Leap Motor integrating cells directly into the vehicle chassis.

Battery recycling has become a strategic focus for many battery manufacturers and car OEMs. Players are venturing into the recycling sector through subsidiaries, in-house processes, partnerships, or joint ventures with battery recyclers.

The devices will be called STM32C071, are scheduled to arrive by mid-2024, to be followed by 256kbyte flash STM32C091 models sampling later that year.

This is not to say that the company is deserting 8bit MCUs: “ST remains dedicated to its STM8 series,” it said. “Some companies need the eerprom available in our 8bit MCUs, while others depend on the AEC-Q10x automotive qualification of some of our devices.”

While the smallest 32C0 has 16kbyte flash and 6kbyte ram, STM32C071 will put 24kbyte of ram alongside its 128kbyte of flash.

“Products that had to adopt significantly more expensive devices because of memory constraints can now exist in entry-level markets and, because we anticipate a lot of these systems to use USB to deliver power, we added a crystal-less USB controller.”

Interfaces for SPI and I2C, and a 32bit timer will also be included. Pin-out similarities with the next-level-up STM32G0 series will be retained, said the company.

The processor remains the same: a 48MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ that scores 114 in the EEMBC CoreMark benchmark.

C0 series MCUs are planned in packages as small as 3 x 3mm 20pad QFN or WLCSP12. Mass quantities of STM32C0 devices are available today in packages including SO8N, TSSOP20, LQFP32 and LQFP48.

“Distributed aperture radar offers a path to enhance the resolution of radar systems while eliminating the need for thousands of antenna channels,” according to NXP. “It coherently fuses information from multiple radar sensors on a vehicle to create a larger effective antenna. The technology enables angular resolution below 0.5°, offering lidar-like performance for precise mapping of the environment – conventional radar sensors operate between 2 and 4°.”

The start-up is Zendar

“Distributed aperture radar technology is fundamentally early fusion from distributed radar modules,” said Zendar CEO and founder Vinayak Nagpal. “The lidar-like performance is a breakthrough for next-generation ADAS.”

Both cameras and lidar can be fooled by rain, fog and dusty conditions. Radar is immune to these, is less expensive, but has far lower resolution that might not reveal the shape of objects.

Zender concept combines the outputs of multiple inexpensive radar front-ends in a central computer, and claims that is can achieve 10x resolution compared with conventional radar, and it is able to “provide high fidelity information, enabling higher levels of autonomy and ADAS under all weather conditions.”

In the NXP case, the software will be implemented on NXP’s SAF8x ICs that combine multiple RF channels with microcontroller cores and specialist radar processing accelerators, and its S32R radar processors.

The combined ICs and software is being offered to vehicle OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. “Application development can start immediately, and the launch is expected to be scheduled for next-generation OEM platforms,” said NXP.

Global sales in Q3 2023 6.3% higher than Q2 2023 and 4.5% lower than Q3 2022

WASHINGTON—Nov. 1, 2023—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced global semiconductor sales for the month of September 2023 increased 1.9% compared to August 2023 and fell 4.5% compared to September 2022. Worldwide sales of semiconductors totaled $134.7 billion during the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 6.3% compared to the second quarter of 2023 and down 4.5% compared to the third quarter of 2022. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average. SIA represents 99% of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms.

“Global semiconductor sales increased on a month-to-month basis for the seventh consecutive time in September, reinforcing the positive momentum the chip market has experienced during the middle part of this year,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “The long-term outlook for semiconductor demand remains strong, with chips enabling countless products the world depends on and giving rise to new, transformative technologies of the future.”

Regionally, month-to-month sales increased in Asia Pacific/All Other (3.4%), Europe (3.0%), the Americas (2.4%), and China (0.5%), but decreased slightly in Japan (-0.2%). Year-to-year sales increased in Europe (6.7%), but decreased in the Americas (-2.0%), Japan (-3.6%), Asia Pacific/All Other (-5.6%) and China (-9.4%).

Initial parts are general-purpose and consigned to what Renesas has named the RA8M1 group of the RA8 series.

Common specs of RA8M1 parts are: 480MHz Cortex-M85 with Helium and TrustZone, 1 or 2Mbyte programme flash, 12kbyte data flash, 1Mbyte sram, octal SPI with execute-in-place and decryption-on-the-fly, CAN-FD, Ethernet, USB (full/high speed), 16bit camera interface and I3C serial. Package options are 224pad BGA, or LQFP with 100, 144 or 176 pads.

Eight parts in total have been introduced, giving all four package options, with 1 or 2Mbyte of programme flash.

“Renesas today introduced the world’s most powerful microcontrollers,” it claimed, “delivering performance over 3000 CoreMark points, and deterministic low-latency real-time operation. RA8 Series MCUs are the industry’s first to implement the Arm Cortex-M85 processor, enabling the devices to deliver 6.39 CoreMark/MHz. This performance will allow designers to use the MCUs in applications that previously required microprocessors.”

Arm’s Helium vector extension are included for DSP and machine learning algorithms, said by Renesas to make such processing four times faster compared with using a Cortex-M7 processor.

“RA8 series MCUs enable edge and end-point devices to implement natural language processing in voice AI and predictive maintenance applications, using Helium to accelerate the neural network processing,” it added.

Security is high on the last of priorities with these MCUs: the company has designed RA8 series for PSA Certified Level 2 + secure element, NIST CAVP, and FIPS 140-3 certification.