Electronics industry trends 2021

515 Comments

1. August 27, 2021 at 8:35 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/08/27/prosessorikauppa-kay-kuumana-5g-nostaa/

   Reply
2. August 27, 2021 at 12:31 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Financial Times:
   Sources: EU to launch a formal probe early next month into Nvidia’s planned $54B takeover of Arm, as Nvidia sets formal submission date in the week of Sept. 6
   https://t.co/3Uz3PUVu1u

   Reply
3. August 29, 2021 at 12:02 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Why is there a chip shortage?
   https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58230388

   Reply
4. August 29, 2021 at 12:03 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Loongson Rips MIPS: Uses Old Code for New CPUs
   By Anton Shilov 4 days ago
   MIPS continues to fuel Loongson’s platforms.
   https://www.tomshardware.com/news/loongson-continues-to-use-mips-code-for-loongarch-cpus

   Reply
5. August 30, 2021 at 8:34 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Mikroprosessoreja myydään ensimmäistä kertaa yli 100 miljardilla
   https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12485-mikroprosessoreja-myydaan-ensimmaista-kertaa-yli-100-miljardilla

   Älypuhelinten sovellusprosessorin myynnin kasvu on suurin syy siihen, että mikroprosessoreja myydään tänä vuonna ensimmäistä kertaa yli sadalla miljardilla dollarilla. Kasvuprosentiksi on tulossa 14,1, kertoo IC Insights.

   Kaikkiaan tutkimuslaitos ennustaa nyt, että mikroprosessoreja myydään 2,5 miljardia. Samaan aikaan piirien keskihinta kasvaa neljä prosenttia, minkä ansiosta 100 miljardin dollarin haamuraja menee rikki. Tarkalleen markkinat kasvavat 103,7 miljardiin dollariin.

   IC Insights ennustaa, että mikroprosessorien myynti kasvaa seuraavien viiden vuoden ajan 7,1 prosentin vauhtia. Tämä tarkoittaisi, että vuonna 2025 suorittimia myytäisiin 127,8 miljardilla dollarilla.

   Tänä vuonna matkapuhelinten sovellusprosessorien myynti kasvaa 34 prosenttia 35,7 miljardiin dollariin. Piirejä myydään vain 11 prosenttia viimevuotista enemmän, mutta kun keskihinta samalla nousee 20 prosenttia, päästään kännykkäpiireissäkin uusiin ennätyslukemiin.

   Reply
6. August 30, 2021 at 10:44 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   https://www.facebook.com/groups/sijoituskerho/permalink/6045137585527614/

   Näissähän kannattaa hahmottaa mitä nämä eri sirufirmat itse asiassa tekevät. Qualcomm ei ole TSMC:lle mikään haastaja, vaan asiakas, sillä Qualcomm vain suunnittelee siruja, ja valmistuttaa ne TSMC:llä ja Samsungilla.

   ns. High Endissä on siis seuraavanlaisia firmoja…

   a) integroidut valmistajat jotka suunnittelevat ja valmistavat itse, näitä on lähinnä Intel ja Samsung enää

   b) suunnittelufirmat jotka suunnittelevat siruja, mutta valmistuttavat muualla, näitä esim. Qualcomm, AMD

   c) sirutehtaat, kuten TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, myös Intel on tarjonnut valmistuspalvelua muille ja aikoo jatkossa panostaa siihen enemmän

   d) “työkalufirmat” jotka tekevät laitteita ja prosessitekniikkaa jota sirutehtaat ostavat, esim. ASML

   …mielestäni kaikki yllämainitut kategoriat ovat erittäin kiinnostavia sijoituskohteita.

   Reply
7. August 30, 2021 at 11:07 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Tin Prices Soar on Electronics Demand, Shipping Trouble
   The metal has climbed 46% in 2021 and is approaching record highs
   https://www.wsj.com/articles/tin-prices-soar-on-electronics-demand-shipping-trouble-11620811801

   Updated May 12, 2021 5:17 pm ET

   High demand for consumer electronics and difficulties shipping metal out of Asia have created a shortage of tin, pushing prices for the metal close to records for the first time in a decade.

   On the London Metal Exchange, the price of tin to be delivered in three months has soared 46% this year to $29,785 a metric ton, outstripping other metals such as copper and aluminum. Tin last fetched as much at the height of the run-up in metal markets in 2011, when prices crested at more than $33,000 a ton.

   Tin’s advance is one of the biggest moves in commodity markets that have ripped higher, feeding expectations among investors that inflation will accelerate, at least temporarily.

   Reply
8. August 30, 2021 at 1:56 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   TSMC: n hallituksen puheenjohtaja: Piiripulan syynä on kauppasota, ei valmistuskapasiteetti
   https://techbeezer.com/finlandeng/tsmc-n-hallituksen-puheenjohtaja-piiripulan-syyna-on-kauppasota-ei-valmistuskapasiteetti/

   Myös Taiwanin puolijohdevalmistajien teollisuusjärjestön hallitusta vetävän Mark Liun mukaan ilman kauppasodan aiheuttamaa epävarmuutta nykyinen valmistuskapasiteetti riittäisi vastaamaan kysyntään ja ylikin.

   Koronapandemian myötä kuluttajaelektroniikan kysyntä on räjähtänyt käsiin, mikä on näkynyt paitsi heikkona saatavuutena, myös kohonneina hintoina. Analyytikot ovat laskeneet, että maailmanlaajuinen tuotantokapasiteetti laahaisi jopa 30-50% perässä tämän hetkistä kissyntää.

   TSMC on viheltänyt nyt pilliin ja väittää omalta osaltaan väitteiden capacity in riittämättömyydestä olevan huuhaata. Yhtiön hallituksen ja Taiwanin puolijohdevalmistajien teollisuusjärjestön puheenjohtaja Mark Liu on kertonut Hsinchun kaupungissa pidetyssä tilanteessa, että tämänhetkisen tilanteen takana olisi todellisuudessa Kiinan ja Yhdysvaltojen välsen.

   Liu tyrmäsi muun muassa Euroopan ja Yhdysvaltojen tavoitteet piirivalmistuksen omavaraisuudesta taloudellisesti epärealistisina ja johtavan ylikapasiteettiin.

   Reply
9. August 30, 2021 at 1:57 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Intel suunnittelee ainakin 20 miljardin dollarin sirutehdas­investointia Eurooppaan, tuotanto­laitokselle etsitään nyt paikkaa
   https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000008117564.html

   Saadakseen hankkeelleen vahvemman poliittisen tuen Euroopasta, Intel on suunnitellut hajauttavansa tuotantoa useampaan eri maahan.

   Reply
10. August 31, 2021 at 8:29 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    IDC:
    Global smartphone shipments are expected to grow by 7.4% in 2021, reaching 1.37B units, with iPhone shipments growing 13.8% and Android shipments growing 6.2% — While the supply chain situation hasn’t drastically improved, the smartphone market has shown positive results in recent quarters.

    30 Aug 2021
    Global Smartphone Shipments Continue to Grow Led by Strong Recovery in Many Emerging Markets, According to IDC
    https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS48194821

    Reply
11. August 31, 2021 at 10:44 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    TSMC: n hallituksen puheenjohtaja: Piiripulan syynä on kauppasota, ei valmistuskapasiteetti
    https://techbeezer.com/finlandeng/tsmc-n-hallituksen-puheenjohtaja-piiripulan-syyna-on-kauppasota-ei-valmistuskapasiteetti/

    Reply
12. September 1, 2021 at 9:23 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Western Digital Caught Bait-and-Switching Customers With Slow SSDs
    https://www.extremetech.com/computing/326200-western-digital-caught-bait-and-switching-customers-with-slow-ssds

    Guess that was too much to hope for. According to a report from Chinese tech site Expreview, the WD SN550 Blue — which is currently one of the best-reviewed budget SSDs on the market — has undergone a NAND lobotomy. While the new SSD variant performs on-par with the old drive that WD actually sampled for review, once you exhaust the SLC NAND cache, performance craters from 610MB/s (as measured by THG) to 390MB/s

    Et tu, Samsung? Samsung Too Changes Components for their 970 EVO Plus SSD
    https://www.techpowerup.com/286008/et-tu-samsung-samsung-too-changes-components-for-their-970-evo-plus-ssd

    by Raevenlord Thursday, 20:09 Discuss (48 Comments)
    A number of manufacturers have been caught red-handed, so to speak, by changing components on their SSD products without as much as a product specifications change. This has happened in the past with ADATA, Patriot, and more recently with Western Digital and its WD Blue SN550; now, it’s Samsung that’s being on the receiving end of a more attentive look at their recent batches of the 970 EVO SSD – particularly its 1 TB configuration.

    Reply
13. September 1, 2021 at 11:11 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia:
    Sources: Google is developing Arm-based chips for laptops and tablets that run on Chrome OS, set to launch around 2023

    Google developing own CPUs for Chromebook laptops
    US software giant ramps up hiring blitz for semiconductor and hardware ambitions
    https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tech/Semiconductors/Google-developing-own-CPUs-for-Chromebook-laptops

    Reply
14. September 1, 2021 at 4:24 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tehtaita suljetaan – Paheneva komponenttipula leviää kondensaattoreihin, joita on melkein joka laitteessa
    https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/kl/a42c7b94-bf1d-46de-b538-5b389141bf0d?ref=facebook%3A1335

    Pandemia on pakottanut elektroniikkakomponentteja valmistavia aasialaisyhtiöitä jopa sulkemaan tehtaitaan.

    Maailmanlaajuinen sirupula on laittanut elektroniikkateollisuuden ahtaalle ja esimerkiksi näytönohjaimista, suorittimista ja mobiililaitteiden järjestelmäpiireistä on ollut pulaa. Tilanne uhkaa pahentua entisestään, sillä pulaa voi pian olla myös kondensaattoreista, joita tarvitaan käytännössä kaikissa sähkölaitteissa.

    PC Magin mukaan moni yritys on huolissaan monikerroksisten keraamisten kondensaattorien saatavuudesta lähitulevaisuudessa. Koronapandemia on riehunut viime aikoina erityisesti Aasian maissa, joissa valtaosa maailman kondensaattoreista valmistetaan.

    Pandemic May Cause Shortage of Another Key Piece of Technology
    https://uk.pcmag.com/components/135389/pandemic-may-cause-shortage-of-another-key-piece-of-technology

    Multilayer ceramic capacitors are found in phones, EVs, and other products, and they may soon be in short supply.

    Reply
15. September 2, 2021 at 7:16 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    CPU & GPU costs could go up following TSMC’s reported price increase of chip production
    CPUs, GPUs, and other PC parts could see a price increase following TSMC’s reported change to its production prices.
    https://www.windowscentral.com/cpu-gpu-costs-could-go-following-tsmcs-reported-price-increase-chip-production

    What you need to know
    TSMC will reportedly increase the cost of its chip production in December 2021.
    The move could lead to higher prices for CPUs, GPUs, SoCs, and other PC parts.
    Several chip producers have raised prices in recent months, including GlobalFoundries, PSMC, SMIC, and UMC.

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will reportedly raise its prices for chip production. The move will likely improve TSMC’s margins but could also lead to increased prices for some of the best CPUs, best GPUs, SoCs, and some other PC parts. The price increases are in part due to an increased demand for semiconductors.

    According to a report by DigiTimes, the prices of wafer processing with TSMC’s 7nm and thinner fabrication processes will increase by up to 10%. A larger increase of 20% is planned for wafer processing with TSMC’s 16nm and thicker nodes. The increased prices will take effect in December, according to sources that spoke with DigiTimes.

    Reply
16. September 2, 2021 at 2:52 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Lintilä pitää komponenttipulaa hallitsevana tekijänä talouden elpymisessä – Yrittäjä: Hankkeet menevät jäihin
    https://www.yrittajat.fi/uutiset/655646-lintila-pitaa-komponenttipulaa-hallitsevana-tekijana-talouden-elpymisessa-yrittaja?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=some_ad&utm_campaign=sy_jatkuva&fbclid=IwAR1ixjDBm9IVq6KcszvksyGx4xaMPf913H6ikF7aefkcY1sXBksGKX1SoZk

    Koronapandemia sulki tehtaita, eikä työvoima ole päässyt liikkumaan. Seuraukset tuntuvat nyt yrittäjien työmailla, kun materiaalien ja raaka-aineiden, kuten puun ja metallien hinnat nousivat pilviin. Elinkeinoministeri Mika Lintilä pitää komponenttipulaa kriittisenä tekijänä talouden elpymisessä.
    Teollisuusalan yritykset lähtevät syksyyn epävarmassa tilanteessa. Koronakriisi on heittänyt kapuloina rattaisiin niin työvoiman saatavuusongelmat, materiaalipulan kuin raaka-aineiden hintojen nousunkin.

    Kysyntä kasvaa, mutta siihen vastaamisessa on ongelmia.

    Elinkeinoministeri Mika Lintilä nosti komponenttipulan yllättäväksi ja kriittiseksi tekijäksi toimittajille pitämässään infotilaisuudessa, joka kantoi nimeä Elvytyksestä kestävään kasvuun.

    – Komponenttien saatavuus on iso asia, joka tulee hallitsemaan ja määrittelemään tilanteita. Komponenttien valmistus on keskittynyt Suomesta katsottuna itään. EU ei pysty vastaamaan omaan komponenttitarpeeseensa, vaan osat tulevat idästä. Miten tilannetta ratkotaan siellä, vaikuttaa suomalaisyritysten tilanteeseen. Tästä saattaa tulla kauppasotamaista käsittelyä komponenttien kanssa. Tällä voi olla geopoliittiseen tilanteeseen merkitystä, Lintilä sanoo.

    Metallialan raaka-aineiden ja osien saatavuus uhkaa urakoiden toteutumista, ja yrittäjät ovat joutuneet monia jo perumaankin koronakriisin aikana.

    – Materiaalien hinnannousu ja saatavuus nostaa kokonaiskustannuksia, jolloin on vaarana, että hankkeet menevät jäihin. Ei ole tekijöitä, eikä materiaaleja. Monella yrittäjällä on rahat loppu, jolloin ei uskalla, pysty tai halua lähteä tekemään urakkaa.

    Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliiton heinäkuun suhdannebarometrin mukaan komponenttipula ja raaka-aineiden hinnat ovat suurimpia tuotannon kasvun esteitä.

    komponenttien valmistus pitäisi saada takaisin kotimaahan.

    – Valmistus on siirtynyt ulkomaille, eikä kotimaisissa käsissä ole mikään.

    Teknologiateollisuuden raportin mukaan uusien tilausten arvo oli huhti–kesäkuussa 6 prosenttia suurempi kuin vuoden ensimmäisellä neljänneksellä ja 21 prosenttia suurempi kuin edellisvuoden vastaavalla ajanjaksolla. Tarjouspyyntöjä mittaava saldoluku oli heinäkuussa yli 30 eli lähes ennätyskorkea.

    Voimakas kysynnän kasvu on nostanut yritysten tuloksia ja talouskasvua, mutta talous on myös ylikuumentunut. Raaka-aineiden hintojen nousu, eli inflaatio, on kutistanut tuotteita valmistavien yritysten marginaalia ja kannattavuutta.

    – Ongelma korostuu suuremmissa pk-yrityksissä. Hinnoitteluvoimaa ei ole, eikä kaikkia kustannuksia pystytä siirtämään lopputuotteisiin. Raaka-ainehintojen merkitys on suurempi lopputuotteissa. Se luo haasteita yritysten kannattavuudelle, hän sanoo.

    Arto Korpela arvioi, että puutavaran hinnat alkavat jo osoittaa maltillistumisen merkkejä, ja metallialan raaka-aineet seuraavat perässä.

    – On jännä nähdä, mihin syksyllä mennään. Jäävuoren huippu on kuitenkin jo todennäköisesti ohitettu, hän sanoo.

    Petri Malisen mukaan raaka-aineiden korkeiden hintojen kanssa joudutaan elämään loppuvuosi.

    Reply
17. September 3, 2021 at 7:13 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
    General Motors says it is temporarily halting production at six of its North American factories due to the global chip shortage — ‘The situation remains complex and very fluid’ — General Motors, parent company of Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, said it was temporarily halting production …

    GM temporarily shuts down North American factories because of chip shortage
    ‘The situation remains complex and very fluid’
    https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/2/22654357/gm-factory-shutdown-chip-shortage-truck-suv?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

    Reply
18. September 3, 2021 at 3:27 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The classic analog-based low-dropout regulator is getting serious competition from digital implementations, but thus far only for on-chip versions.
    Read the full article: http://arw.li/6188yxA88
    #EDN

    Reply
19. September 4, 2021 at 11:27 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Covid-19 Surge in Malaysia Threatens to Prolong Global Chip Shortage
    Southeast Asia country is cited as auto makers cut production, highlighting little-known but critical link in semiconductor supply chain
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-surge-in-malaysia-threatens-to-prolong-global-chip-shortage-11630234802

    The Southeast Asia nation is one of the world’s top destinations for assembly and testing of the devices that control smartphones, car engines and medical equipment. Disruptions in Malaysia threaten to prolong uncertainty over chip supply well into next year, dashing hopes of relief in the second half of 2021.

    Reply
20. September 4, 2021 at 2:11 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Will AMD Be Worth More Than Intel by 2025?
    David is growing larger as Goliath shrinks.
    https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/08/29/will-amd-be-worth-more-than-intel-by-2025/

    Key Points
    AMD’s market value has surged in recent years as it’s expanded its business and pulled customers away from Intel.
    Intel has struggled with shortages and delays, but it’s plotting an aggressive turnaround.
    AMD could become more valuable than Intel by 2025, but only if Intel’s turnaround plans fail.
    During the peak of the dot-com bubble in 2000, Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) market cap briefly surpassed $500 billion. At the time, its smaller rival AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) was only worth about $12 billion.

    Reply
21. September 4, 2021 at 2:20 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/covid19-surge-in-malaysia-threatens-to-prolong-global-chip-shortage-11630243820945.html

    Reply
22. September 6, 2021 at 6:11 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://m.economictimes.com/tech/tech-bytes/making-semiconductor-chips-in-india-for-the-world/articleshow/85940907.cms

    Reply
23. September 6, 2021 at 1:50 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nilay Patel / The Verge:
    Harvard’s Willy Shih on the global chip shortage, supply chains, and why Biden’s $52B for chip manufacturing may not be enough for the US to catch up to TSMC — Since the beginning of the pandemic, the demand for microchips has far exceeded supply, causing problems in every industry that relies on computers.

    Why the global chip shortage is making it so hard to buy a PS5
    https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/31/22648372/willy-shih-chip-shortage-tsmc-samsung-ps5-decoder-interview?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

    Harvard professor Willy Shih explains the existential problem affecting cars, phones, computers, and more

    SinceSince the beginning of the pandemic, the demand for microchips has far exceeded supply, causing problems in every industry that relies on computers. And if you’re a Decoder listener, you know that that is every industry. Right now, major automakers have unfinished cars sitting in parking lots waiting for chips to be installed. Game consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X are impossible to find. And even things like microwaves and refrigerators are impacted, because they contain simple controller chips.

    So we realized it was time to figure out what caused the chip shortage, why that happened, and how we are going to get out of it.

    Reply
24. September 7, 2021 at 7:14 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Asa Fitch / Wall Street Journal:
    A look at the substrates that connect chips to circuit boards, and how years of underinvestment in substrate manufacturing has worsened the global chip shortage — Sourcing a low-margin part called the substrate has become a priority for Intel, Nvidia and AMD

    The Chip Shortage Has Made a Star of This Little-Known Component
    Sourcing a low-margin part called the substrate has become a priority for Intel, Nvidia and AMD
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-big-hurdle-to-fixing-the-chip-shortage-substrates-11630771200?mod=djemalertNEWS

    The global chip shortage is giving rise to a small group of little-known companies whose products are increasingly essential to the plans of semiconductor industry titans.

    The companies make parts called substrates, which connect chips to the circuit boards that hold them in personal computers and other devices. The components are relatively simple but as vital to a computer chip’s operation as the silicon at its core.

    Substrate manufacturing has long been seen as a backwater of the global chip supply chain. The sector’s relatively low margins have led to underinvestment and, in recent months, added to the pain of a global chip shortage that has constrained personal computer sales, caused some auto makers to idle plants and raised costs for electronic devices.

    How Substrates Work

    A key concern of the global semiconductor shortage is the supply of so-called substrates, panels of resin embedded with wiring onto which central-processing units and other types of chips are attached.

    The substrate connects the die to the motherboard. The different contact points deliver power and data between the die and the rest of the computer.

    Supplies of substrates used in some of the most advanced chips are particularly tight, and some industry specialists said they could remain in short supply for years. That has made sourcing the products a priority for chip companies including Intel Corp. INTC -0.41% , Nvidia Corp. NVDA 2.00% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD 0.66% and given new clout to the unheralded companies that specialize in making them.

    “Right now, all you have to do is say you manufacture substrates, and you get business—it’s insane,” said Nicholas Stukan, chief business development officer at Zhuhai Access Semiconductor Co., a substrate manufacturer based in southern China. He said chip makers are begging for supply and are willing to pay much higher prices than usual to satisfy antsy customers.

    Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger discussed his company’s efforts to address substrate shortages in the company’s earnings calls this year—the first time in a decade the topic was featured in any meaningful way in Intel’s quarterly results presentation.

    Reply
25. September 7, 2021 at 11:05 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12523-yksi-valmistaja-dominoi-dram-moduulien-markkinoita

    Jos avaat läppärisi kotelon, löydät suurella todennäköisyydellä sen ala Kingstonin valmistaman DRAM-moduulin. Muistikammoissa Kingstonin markkinaosuus on Trendforcen mukaan 78 prosenttia.

    Tässä ei toki ole mitään uutta. Viime vuonna Kingstonin hallussa oli 80,3 prosenttia markkinoista. Kuvaavaa on, että toiseksi suurin DIMM-valmistaja on ADATA Technology ja sekin joutuu tyytymään reiluun kolmeen prosenttiin 16,9 miljardin dollarin markkinoista.

    Reply
26. September 8, 2021 at 8:06 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    China set to achieve 14 nm breakthrough in 2022
    https://www.totaltele.com/510253/China-set-to-achieve-14-nm-breakthrough-in-2022

    China consumes about 70% of global semiconductor production. But the country’s plans to mass produce 14 nm chips next year within the country is likely to make China the biggest semiconductor supplier globally.

    Right from gaming consoles, laptops and desktop to even digital thermometers have been faced with an acute chip shortage due to a sudden increase in demand, bringing to fore the importance of self-sufficiency in semiconductor manufacturing. China is taking a lead in addressing the global shortage of chips by accelerating the development and manufacturing of 14 nm chips, which are expected to go into mass production in the country in 2022.

    “China has a lot of work to do, but the plan appears to address main areas of weaknesses—Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software and semiconductor equipment for lithography. China needs not just to fabricate the chips, but they also need to design software and equipment without having to rely on other countries for those. China has to approximately double its production of semiconductors for its own consumption from 15% of its needs to 30% to lessen the effect of supply disruptions and production of electronics,” says Christopher Taylor, Director, RF and Wireless at Strategy Analytics said while talking about the areas that need to be addressed by China in semiconductor production.

    Developing New Competencies
    In lithography, China’s Shanghai Microelectronics Equipment Company already offers the 600/20 flagship lithography machine, which uses an argon fluoride excimer laser generating 193 nanometers deep UV light and immersion lithography for 90 nm chips. By Q4 of this year, the company will offer machines capable of 28 nm, the equivalent of ASML’s 1980Di machine.

    “With this capability, Chinese semiconductor companies will not have to rely on buying machines from ASML and having them to be maintained and serviced,”

    He pointed out that with multiple patterning, it should be possible to make a more advanced version of the Shanghai Microelectronics machine capable of 7 nm chips, which is equivalent to more advanced ASML machines. “We think China will have its own 14 nm capable machines in 2022. In EDA, China has a world-class EDA company with worldwide customers. It also has some promising EDA startups,” he added.

    Reply
27. September 8, 2021 at 8:55 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Mediatek nousi kännykkäpiirien ykköseksi
    https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12531-mediatek-nousi-kaennykkaepiirien-ykkoeseksi

    Kysyy lähes keneltä tahansa, Qualcommin pitäisi olla älypuhelimien järjestelmäpiirien ykkönen. Ja Samsungin kakkonen. Mutta lukujen mukaan markkinajohtaja on taiwanilainen Mediatek. Counterpoint Researchin mukaan Mediatekin markkinaosuus oli toisella vuosineljänneksellä 43 prosenttia.

    Tutkimusjohtaja Dale Gain mukaan MediaTekin nousu älypuhelinpiirien ykköseksi perustuu ennen kaikkea keskihintaluokan ja edullisempien piirien hyvällä valikoimalla. Lisäksi 4G-piiirien kysyntä on edelleen vahvaa monilla kehittyvillä markkinoilla, mikä auttoi Mediatekiä.

    Qualcomm hallitsi 5G-kantataajuuspiirien markkinoita 55 prosentin osuudella. Tämän vuoden ensimmäisellä puoliskolla Qualcomm on kuitenkin kärsinyt tuotanto-ongelmista. Yhtiö on yrittänyt paikata vajetta varaamalla lisäkapasiteettia sekä TSMC:n että muiden sopimusvalmistajien linjoilta, ja onnistunutkin tässä.

    Reply
28. September 8, 2021 at 9:03 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wall Street Journal:
    Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger says the company plans to spend up to $95B on two new chip-making facilities in Europe — Semiconductor maker pledges to dedicate production capacity in Ireland to car chips to help mitigate shortages — Intel Corp. plans to build new chip-making facilities …

    Intel to Invest Up to $95 Billion in European Chip-Making Amid U.S. Expansion
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-plans-investment-of-up-to-95-billion-in-european-chip-making-amid-u-s-expansion-11631027400?mod=djemalertNEWS

    Semiconductor maker pledges to dedicate production capacity in Ireland to car chips to help mitigate shortages

    Intel Corp. INTC 0.26% plans to build new chip-making facilities in Europe valued at up to $95 billion, responding to a cross-border race to add manufacturing capacity at a time of a global chip-supply crunch.

    Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger on Tuesday said the company was planning two chip factories at a new site in Europe and could potentially expand it further, with the increases raising the total investment over about a decade to the equivalent of as much as €80 billion. The facilities would cater to meteoric demand for semiconductors as computers, cars and gadgets become more chip-hungry.

    “This new era of sustained demand for semiconductors needs bold, big thinking,” he said at an auto-industry event in Munich.

    Rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSM 0.59% , the world largest contract chip maker, this year said it would spend a record $100 billion over the next three years to increase production capacity. South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co. last month said it plans to boost investments by one third to more than $205 billion over the next three years, in part to pursue leadership in chip manufacturing.

    Reply
29. September 8, 2021 at 9:03 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-plans-investment-of-up-to-95-billion-in-european-chip-making-amid-u-s-expansion-11631027400?mod=djemalertNEWS

    The global chip shortage has hit auto makers particularly hard. Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. last week said they were curtailing production because of a dearth of chips. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. last month said that it would cut production by 40% world-wide in September.

    Reply
30. September 9, 2021 at 8:06 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Aoife White / Bloomberg:
    Filing: Nvidia requests European Commission approval of its Arm acquisition, beginning the EU’s official probe; provisional deadline for a ruling is Oct. 13 — – European Commission sets initial Oct. 13 deadline for review — Rivals and customers complain that deal risks open licenses

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-08/nvidia-s-eu-filing-for-arm-deal-kicks-off-tough-scrutiny

    Reply
31. September 13, 2021 at 11:52 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    How We Ran Out of New Cars
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mqqY-MDyZo

    COVID had a huge effect on the auto industry, and now manufacturers are removing features like auto stop/start because they don’t have the computer chips to operate car systems. Dealerships are also running low on inventory, with cars spending record low times on the lots.

    Reply
32. September 14, 2021 at 1:43 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Asa Fitch / Wall Street Journal:
    Car makers, who traditionally relied on parts vendors for chips, are establishing closer ties with chip makers, as shortages highlight their dependency on chips

    Chip Shortage Drives Tech Companies and Car Makers Closer
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/chip-shortage-drives-tech-companies-and-car-makers-closer-11631455202?mod=djemalertNEWS

    As vehicles become more digital, the two industries talk about the benefits of cooperation: ‘We need you, and you need us.’

    Cooperation between semiconductor companies and the automotive industry is moving into the fast lane, driven by a chip shortage and a recognition that cars are becoming ever-more digital.

    More than a year into the crisis, executives from car and chip makers are establishing closer ties to address the shortage and working together to introduce new products. The shift was on display as executives from such chip companies as Intel Corp. INTC 2.14% , Qualcomm Inc. QCOM 0.51% and Nvidia Corp. NVDA -1.45% flocked to Munich last week for an annual auto show, lured by the promise of selling chips for new car displays, driver-assistance features and other vehicle applications.

    The chip crisis highlighted to car makers how dependent they have become on semiconductors, but Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger told car industry officials at the event Tuesday that the appetite of the auto industry for processors is making it a more critical customer segment for semiconductor companies. A fifth of the cost of the materials that go into making premium-segment cars, he said, would be semiconductors by 2030, up from 4% in 2019.

    “We need you, and you need us,” he said at the event. “This is a symbiotic future that we are off innovating and supplying as the automobile becomes a computer with tires.”

    Even as cars started to sport more chips in recent years, the relationship between auto and chip makers often remained indirect. Car makers largely relied on their parts vendors to buy the chips their vehicles needed. That disconnect contributed to the auto industry’s chip crisis of recent months, car and chip-industry executives have said. Those ties are being reset, industry officials are now saying.

    Daimler AG DMLRY 4.24% CEO Ola Källenius told The Wall Street Journal last week that the company was now in direct contact with chip makers to monitor supply. The German company’s luxury-car business, Mercedes-Benz, has had to juggle chip supplies, encountering delays for some models and giving priority to its most-profitable vehicles for processor allocations.

    Cristiano Amon, chief executive of the mobile-phone-chip company Qualcomm, said Wednesday in Munich that the deployment of superfast 5G communications networks would help enable new car features, including the deployment of self-driving cars. Car companies, he said, “should all be seen as technology companies and part of the tech sector.” That means auto makers need to have direct ties to tech companies, he added.

    Analysts expect that the chip and car industries’ interdependence will only accelerate. The research firm IHS Markit Ltd. estimates that the automotive chip market will be worth around $85 billion in 2027, up from around $52 billion this year.

    The automotive sector provides chip makers with considerable expansion opportunities, unlike in more-mature semiconductor markets, said Phil Amsrud, an IHS auto analyst. New mobile-phone sales largely rely on people replacing old devices, he said, while chips going into cars are growing in number and sophistication.

    Reply
33. September 15, 2021 at 7:36 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    ASML: TSMC’s Critical Supplier, Explained
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFsn1CUyXWs

    TSMC is the world’s largest independent semiconductor foundry. It has a 50% share in the market. They supply fabless chip designers like Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm and AMD. There has been a lot of press and interest recently in its work.

    But TSMC has its own suppliers too. These are the people who make the super cutting-edge machines that TSMC operates 24/7. Dutch multinational ASML is TSMC’s most important supplier and the maker of the EUV equipment critical to its N7+ and N5 processes.

    In this video I am going to profile this rather obscure company and examine its relationship with TSMC. I’ll also help answer the question of who is “more important” so that the fanboys can better score points against each other on internet boards. Face-off! Who matters more!?

    Spoiler alert: They both matter a whole lot to each other.

    Reply
34. September 15, 2021 at 10:47 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Samsung Foundry vs TSMC
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4L1IdbQyLg

    Samsung Foundry is just one of the many arms of the sprawling Samsung Group chaebol. But it has pushed itself into the top echelon of the standalone foundry industry.

    In recent months they have been aggressively taking on client business from the market leader TSMC. The race between the semiconductor foundry industry leaders is heating up. And in this video, I want to compare the two guys at the front.

    Reply
35. September 15, 2021 at 10:48 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Why making chips is so hard
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkNn98WE5_k

    From sand to silicon, the semiconductor industry is one of the most complex in the world. In this video I break down the most important players, trends and technologies from ISAs all the way to fabrication and packaging.

    EUV: Lasers, plasma, and the sci-fi tech that will make chips faster | Upscaled
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIiqVrKDtLc&t=132s

    Microchips are one of the most complicated objects humanity has created, packing billions of transistors into a chip only a few centimeters across. These transistors keep getting smaller and more efficient, and the current process to make chips is already astounding, requiring dozens of steps, fantastically complicated machines, and atomic-scale precision. But the current state of the art has reached its physical limits. The structures on a chip are now smaller than the wavelength of light used to make them, and any more progress will require a big change.

    That change is EUV, a radically new way of making chips that uses super high energy UV light created from a complex process involving plasma and lasers. EUV will enable our devices to keep getting smaller, faster, and more efficient, but where the current process to make chips already feels like sc9i-fi technology, EUV feels like magic.

    Reply
36. September 15, 2021 at 12:47 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    How ASML Builds a $150 Million EUV Machine
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJIO7aRXUCg

    ASML is a critical supplier of semiconductor lithography machinery for foundries like Intel and TSMC. In my video discussing TSMC’s $28 billion capital expenditure, I briefly discussed their situation. Their CEO said in an earnings call that they can make 50 high-end EUV lithography machines a year. That’s it. Without those machines, the foundries cannot churn out more 5nm chips.

    So why not make more of these machines? ASML itself has thousands of suppliers making parts that end up into its machines. Coordinating and integrating all of these parts together into a single smooth-running machine is immensely challenging.

    In this brief video, we will continue our deep dive into ASML and look at how the company puts together centi-million dollar lithography machines for multi-billion dollar semiconductor companies. And how EUV makes it so much harder.

    Bookmarks
    1:35 The Supplier Network
    3:16 Why Outsource?
    5:25 Process Steps
    7:45 Servicing a Machine
    9:03 Chain Management Challenges
    10:42 EUV
    13:35 Conclusion

    How Carl Zeiss Crafts Optics for a $150 Million EUV Machine
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V__HbVlnICc

    Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography is the next step on the semiconductor fabrication roadmap. It is a disruptive technology using a new ultraviolet wavelength.

    Dutch company ASML is currently the only company shipping these million dollar machines. But ASML in turn relies on Carl Zeiss in Germany for the all-important optics system. The two are intimate strategic partners.

    The key issue that ASML and Carl Zeiss engineers had to overcome is that high-energy UV light gets absorbed by virtually all materials, which means that lenses are not feasible. The lens material will literally just eat up those rays. Thus, Zeiss crafted an optics system entirely out of multi-layer mirrors.

    It is super cool. In my last video I gave a brief overview of Carl Zeiss the company and a few of their products. In this follow up, we are going to go deeper and look at how Zeiss made a EUV optics system.

    Reply
37. September 15, 2021 at 12:48 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    30 Years of ASML – From Shed To World Leader
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfnGaEeze5o

    In 1984, ASML’s first office was a shed outside a Philips building. Just 30 years later, all of the world’s top chipmakers are our customers. What made us who we are today?

    Interesting how all money in the world can’t buy ingenuity and passion. And to think the whole semiconductor idea came from a bunch of immigrants working together, difference aside, trying new things in countries which favored innovation.
    The fact this video has so little views astonishes me. I think very people are aware of what this company really means at this critical point in history.

    Love this company, Pushing the hi-tech equipment that humans could ever achieve.

    Reply
38. September 16, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Euroopan vahvistettava siruomavaraisuuttaan
    https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/09/16/euroopan-vahvistettava-siruomavaraisuuttaan/

    Piiripulan rassaama autoteollisuus on nostanut vaateita oman puolijohdeteollisuuden voimistamisesta. ”Muuten emme saavuta digitaalisuutta Euroopassa, sanoi Euroopan komission puheenjohtaja Ursula von der Leyen eilisessä puheessaan. Euroopalla on jo vahvaa alan tutkimusta, joitakin sirutaloja ja alan osaamista esimerkiksi puolijohdelaitteiden valoituslaitteissa, mutta piirien volyymituotanto on edellen pääosin Aasiassa.

    Digitaalisuus on Euroopalle ratkaisevan tärkeää. Tarvitsemme omaa puolijohdeteollisuutta enemmän kuin ehkä koskaan ennen. Jo nyt puolijohdepulan vuoksi tuotantolinjat toimivat kasvavasta kysynnästä huolimatta. Varsinkin autoteollisuus on ollut vaikeuksissa komponenttipulan takia.

    ”Euroopan osuus arvoketjussa – suunnittelusta valmistuskapasiteettiin – on pienentynyt. Olemme riippuvaisia Aasiassa valmistetuista huippusiruista. Kyse ei siis ole pelkästään EU:n kilpailukyvystä. Kyse on myös teknologisesta suvereniteetista”, Ursula von der Leyen (kuvassa) sanoi puheessaan.

    ”Aiomme esittää uuden EU-säädöksen, joka koskee mikropiirejä. Meidän on kytkettävä maailmanluokan tutkimus-, suunnittelu- ja testauskapasiteettimme yhteen. Meidän on koordinoitava EU:n ja jäsenvaltioiden investointeja arvoketjussa”, von der Leyen sanoi.

    Tavoitteena on hänen mukaansa luoda yhdessä huippuluokan eurooppalainen siruekosysteemi, jossa myös tuotanto on mukana. Vain näin voimme taata toimitusvarmuuden ja kehittää uusia markkinoita uraauurtavalle eurooppalaiselle teknologialle

    ”Tiedän, että joidenkin mielestä se ei voi toteutua, mutta samaa sanottiin Galileo-järjestelmästä 20 vuotta sitten. Ja katsokaa, mitä tapahtui”, von der Leyen sanoi.

    Reply
39. September 16, 2021 at 2:06 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Intel to Commit Foundry Capacity for Chip-Starved Auto Industry
    Sept. 10, 2021
    As the industry enters the era of electric and increasingly connected vehicles, Intel predicts chips will account for 20% of the bill of materials (BOM) cost of a premium vehicle by 2030, up from 4% in 2019.
    https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automotive/article/21174750/electronic-design-intel-to-commit-foundry-capacity-for-chipstarved-auto-industry

    Reply
40. September 21, 2021 at 1:20 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Pádraig Belton / The Guardian:
    As TSMC pledges to reach net zero emissions by 2050, a look at how the semiconductor industry is tackling its huge carbon footprint and resource consumption — As demand for chips surges, the semicondutor industry is trying to grapple with its huge carbon foot print — he semiconductor industry has a problem.

    The computer chip industry has a dirty climate secret
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/18/semiconductor-silicon-chips-carbon-footprint-climate

    As demand for chips surges, the semicondutor industry is trying to grapple with its huge carbon foot print

    The semiconductor industry has a problem. Demand is booming for silicon chips, which are embedded in everything from smartphones and televisions to wind turbines, but it comes at a big cost: a huge carbon footprint.

    The industry presents a paradox. Meeting global climate goals will, in part, rely on semiconductors. They’re integral to electric vehicles, solar arrays and wind turbines. But chip manufacturing also contributes to the climate crisis. It requires huge amounts of energy and water – a chip fabrication plant, or fab, can use millions of gallons of water a day – and creates hazardous waste.

    As the semiconductor industry finds itself increasingly under the spotlight, it is starting to grapple with its climate impacts. Last week Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest chipmaker, which supplies chips to Apple, pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The company aims to “broaden our green influence and drive the industry towards low-carbon sustainability”, said the TSMC chairman, Mark Lui.

    But decarbonizing the industry will be a big challenge.

    TSMC alone uses almost 5% of all Taiwan’s electricity, according to figures from Greenpeace, predicted to rise to 7.2% in 2022, and it used about 63m tons of water in 2019. The company’s water use became a controversial topic during Taiwan’s drought this year, the country’s worst in a half century, which pitted chipmakers against farmers.

    In the US, a single fab, Intel’s 700-acre campus in Ocotillo, Arizona, produced nearly 15,000 tons of waste in the first three months of this year, about 60% of it hazardous. It also consumed 927m gallons of fresh water, enough to fill about 1,400 Olympic swimming pools, and used 561m kilowatt-hours of energy.

    Chip manufacturing, rather than energy consumption or hardware use, “accounts for most of the carbon output” from electronics devices, the Harvard researcher Udit Gupta and co-authors wrote in a 2020 paper.

    A global shortage of high-end chips, as the pandemic boosted demand for electronics and Covid outbreaks closed fabs, has increased focus on the industry.

    Reply
41. September 22, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Washington Post:
    A look at the strengths and weaknesses of US and Chinese tech industries, including China’s supremacy in network equipment, commercial drones, and batteries — Chinese and American companies are locked in a hard-fought battle for technological primacy. Here’s a look at where that competition is headed.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/21/us-china-tech-competition/

    Reply
42. September 23, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Keith Naughton / Bloomberg:
    Research: automakers globally will produce 7.7M fewer cars this year due to the chip shortage, costing them $210B in sales, as chip lead times slip to 21 weeks

    Worsening Chip Woes to Cost Automakers $210 Billion in Sales
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-23/worsening-chip-shortage-to-cost-automakers-210-billion-in-sales

    The cost of the intractable semiconductor shortage has ballooned by more than 90%, pushing the total hit to 2021 revenue for the world’s automakers to $210 billion.

    That’s the latest dire forecast from AlixPartners, which predicts global automakers will build 7.7 million fewer vehicles due to the chip crisis this year. That’s almost double the consultant’s previous estimate of 3.9 million. Despite ongoing efforts to shore up the supply chain, semiconductor availability has worsened as automakers exhaust stockpiles and other industries have no more to spare.

    “The barrel is empty, there’s nothing left to scrape,” Dan Hearsch, managing director of AlixPartners automotive and industrial practice, said in an interview. “Going forward, sales will suffer. Sales hadn’t suffered because there was enough inventory to draw from. It’s not there anymore.”

    Manufacturers have begun warning the problems are metastasizing and could crimp third quarter earnings, with suppliers Faurecia SE and Hella GmbH & Co. on Thursday joining Volkswagen AG’s truck unit Traton SE as the latest to sound the alarm. Last week, forecaster IHS Markit made the biggest adjustment yet to its auto-production projections, which have been falling all year due to the global chip shortage.

    Key supply centers in Southeast Asia have been hit with factory shutdowns as Covid-19 outbreaks spread. It now takes a record 21 weeks to fill chip orders and auto executives say the shortage could last for years.

    “It certainly feels like the most protracted supply shortage the industry has seen because it’s not over,” Hearsch said. “It’s certainly the most far-reaching. This is every place. This is everybody.”

    Reply
43. September 24, 2021 at 4:40 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    European Processor Initiativen ensimmäiset EPAC1.0 -testipiirit on tuotettu onnistuneesti
    https://www.io-tech.fi/uutinen/european-processor-initiativen-ensimmaiset-epac1-0-testipiirit-on-tuotettu-onnistuneesti/

    EPI EPAC1.0 RISC-V Test Chip:ksi ristittyjä testipiirejä valmistettiin 143 kappaletta ja ne ovat ehtineet jo antaa muun muassa vastauksen elämään, maailmankaikkeuteen ja kaikkeen muuhun sellaiseen.

    Reply
44. September 25, 2021 at 4:37 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    AMD: We Stand Ready to Make Arm Chips
    By Paul Alcorn 9 days ago
    The ARMy grows
    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-we-stand-ready-to-make-arm-chips

    Reply
45. September 25, 2021 at 4:41 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Industrial memory demand slowing down
    https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20210914PD206.html

    Industrial memory demand picked up in the second quarter, but has started slowing down during the latter half of the third quarter due to seasonal factors, according to industry sources.

    Reply
46. September 25, 2021 at 4:48 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    It Shouldn’t Be Just Chips
    Rebuilding the U.S. Electronics Manufacturing Industry Is About Much More
    https://www.eetimes.com/it-shouldnt-be-just-chips/

    Reply
47. September 25, 2021 at 5:01 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Three Chinese chip distributors fined for abnormal price increases as prolonged chip shortage raises costs for carmakers
    https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3148394/three-chinese-chip-distributors-fined-abnormal-price-increases

    China’s market regulator fined the chip distributors nearly US$390,000 for price increases above what it considers the normal 7 to 10 per cent
    The global chip shortage has hit China’s automotive industry especially hard, as the country relies on imports for 90 per cent of semiconductor products

    Reply
48. September 25, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Intel to Invest Up to $95 Billion in European Chip-Making Amid U.S. Expansion
    Semiconductor maker pledges to dedicate production capacity in Ireland to car chips to help mitigate shortages
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-plans-investment-of-up-to-95-billion-in-european-chip-making-amid-u-s-expansion-11631027400

    Reply
49. September 25, 2021 at 5:21 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tech giants are rushing to develop their own chips — here’s why
    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/06/why-tesla-apple-google-and-facebook-are-designing-their-own-chips.html

    KEY POINTS
    Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Baidu are all shunning established chip firms and bringing certain aspects of chip development in-house, according to company announcements and media reports.
    At this stage, none of the tech giants are looking to do all the chip development themselves.
    Setting up an advanced chip factory, or foundry, like TSMC’s in Taiwan, costs around $10 billion and takes several years.

    Reply
50. September 25, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chip-shortage-to-continue-until-next-year-bwk28zlcj

    Reply