The Tech Week that was... Nov 18~22

Welcome to the latest edition of my weekly newsletter bringing you all the key global semiconductor and technology news from last week in one easy read

 In company news...

STMicroelectronics has announced it will partner with Chinese foundry Hua Hong to manufacture 40nm microcontroller products for the Chinese automotive market starting next year.  They argue that having local manufacturing in China is vital to remain competitive as the China EV market is the largest and most innovative.

Mitsubishi Electric this week announced that it will invest approx. US$64million yen to construct a new facility for the assembly and inspection of power semiconductor modules at its Power Device Works in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The plant, which was originally announced on March 14, 2023, is scheduled to begin operations in October 2026.

Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe will step down later this month, with the current Chairman Thomas Werner to act as Executive Chairman during the search process to find a new chief executive. The company has struggled recently with its transition to 200mm SiC wafer manufacturing as slowing EV sales have hit growth.

According to Reuters, Huawei is planning to mass produce it’s newest AI chip, Ascend 910C, in 2025 despite US restrictions.  The chip will be produced by SMIC using it’s N+2 process, which due to a lack of advanced lithography equipment causes chip yields to be low at around 20%.

NVIDIA reported record earnings for Q3’24 of US$35.1billion this week, up 17% sequentially and up 94% YoY, as the AI boom continues.  NVIDIA is forecasting that Q4 revenues will be US$37.5billion, up ~7% sequentially.

 UK-based epitaxial wafer and substrate provider IQE has reported that it expects its revenue for 2024 to remain flat compared to 2023 as the overall market recovery is weaker than anticipated. IQE also announced a strategic review of its assets, including the possibility of divesting its operations in Taiwan.

The automotive industry in Europe continues to be hard hit as automotive part supplier Bosch announced this week that it would cut up to 5,500jobs worldwide over the next 8years, with about half of the job losses in Germany. The job cuts at Bosch follow earlier announcements from Volkswagen that it will close 3 factories in Germany and lay off tens of thousands of workers, and earlier this week Ford announced it would cut 4,000jobs across Europe.  Whilst these announcements are not directly impacting semiconductors, the outlook for the automotive sector doesn’t look good.

Semiconductor manufacturer Infineon and Quantinuum have announced have announced a strategic partnership to develop the future generation of ion traps. The partnership will drive the acceleration of quantum computing and enable progress in fields such as generative chemistry, material science, and artificial intelligence.  Quantinuum is a global leader in integrated, full-stack quantum computing,

Government Funding…

 GlobalFoundries has been awarded US$1.5billion in direct funding under the CHIPS Act after it concluded it’s due diligence talks with the Department of Commerce for it’s investment of approximately US$13 billion over the next 10-plus years in its U.S manufacturing sites in New York and Vermont.

 U.S. Department of Commerce has started negotiations to invest up to $300 million in advanced packaging research projects in Georgia, California, and Arizona to accelerate the development of cutting-edge technologies essential to the semiconductor industry. The expected recipients are Absolics Inc. in Georgia, Applied Materials Inc. in California, and Arizona State University in Arizona.  

 The Japanese government plans to take a US$1.29 billion stake in chipmaker Rapidus in fiscal 2025, according to the Nikkei.  The move comes on top of US$5.9billion  in subsidies the government previously agreed to provide Rapidus as the Japanese company prepares to begin mass production in 2027.  An estimated total of US$32billion will be needed to begin mass production.

The new head of the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) has said that the European Commission should expand plans to strengthen its computer chip sector to include "foundational and legacy" semiconductors, where much of the region's strengths lie.  The European Commission is discussing a possible follow up to the European Chips Act

In market research news..

The global semiconductor manufacturing industry showed strong momentum in Q3’24 with all key industry indicators performing positive quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increases for the first time in two years, according to SEMI in collaboration with TechInsights.  IC sales also rose by 12% QoQ in Q3 2024 and are expected to grow another 10% in Q4 2024.  In Q3 2024, installed wafer fab capacity reached 41.4 million wafers per quarter (in 300mm wafer equivalent) and is projected to rise by 1.6% in Q4 2024, with foundry and logic capacity showing the biggest increases.

That's all for this weeks edition. I hope you enjoyed it.  Please remember to “like” or “share” the article so that others may also enjoy it. If you have not already done so, why don't you subscribe and automatically stay up to date with all the industry news in your inbox.

Stay healthy and safe... bye