Weiner’s World—May 2017

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

PCB maker Tripod Technology of Taiwan sold its factory and land in Zhejiang Province China for $10.7 million. It still has plants in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province and Xiantao, Hubei Province as well as in Taiwan.

PCB maker Unimicron has reported April consolidated sales revenues of $151.47 million down by 10.7% year-on-year and down by 7% from the previous month. For the year-to-date Unimicron sales were $635.89 million down by nearly 6% compared to the same period last year.

Board maker Zhen Ding Technology Holding reported net profits of $11.72 million for the first quarter of 2017, increasing 14.2% over one year ago.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to move its 7 nm process technology to volume production in 2018, an improved version of the 7 nm process using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) will be ready for volume production a year later, according to the company’s co-CEO C.C. Wei. TSMC's manufacturing technologies are targeting four main applications—mobile, high-performance computing, automotive and IoT, Wei indicated. TSMC has already moved its 10 nm process technology, focusing mainly on mobile devices, to volume production.

TSMC will offer its 7 nm process technology for mobile products, HPC and automotive applications. The foundry has had 12 7  nm tape-outs for mobile devices, and expects to finalize 7 nm chip designs for HPC, Wei said. TSMC's 7 nm process will meet the automotive AEC-Q100 (Grade 0) standard in 2018, according to Wei.

Asustek Computer will restructure in a bid to revitalize its growth momentum. It will establish a new business unit for gaming products. Revenue fell nearly 9% annually to $4.49 billion in the first four months of 2017.

Taiwan Flex has commercialized a new transparent heat resistant flexible circuit using transparent polyimide film and cover resin for LED modules.

Oki Cable will introduce new transparent heat resistant flexible circuits during the JPCA SHOW 2017 in Tokyo.

Hitachi Automotive Systems has developed a new 48-volt lithium ion battery with a high output density for the next generation of hybrid automobiles.

Going Up!

IC Insights revised its IC market outlook for 2017 and now shows DRAM average selling prices rising 50% in 2017, NAND flash ASPs increasing 28%, and the average selling price for automotive special-purpose logic devices increasing 34%. Electronic systems that improve vehicle performance, that add comfort and convenience, and that warn, detect, and take corrective measures to keep drivers safe and alert are being added to new cars each year. Consumer demand and government mandates for many of these new systems, along with rising prices for many IC components within them, are expected to raise the automotive IC market 22% this year to a new record high of $28.0 billion!

Nanya Technology, Taiwan’s biggest DRAM chip supplier, stated that its chip shortage would worsen next quarter as supply cannot catch up with rising seasonal demand for smartphones and consumer electronics. The prices for mainstream DDR4 chips are still increasing in the second quarter (even in the slack season) according to company president Lee Pei-ing. “The prices for consumer electronics also look quite stable. The outlook for next quarter is also positive as the consumer electronics industry enters peak season. Chinese mobile phone companies are resuming inventory restocking again ahead of new model launches,” Lee said. (Source: Taipei Times)

For the volatile DRAM industry, slight supply constraints could prompt significant price hikes, the company added. Prices will climb 10% this quarter from the previous quarter as demand growth is expected to be 1% faster than supply, according to Nanya.

Samsung Electronics’ plan to spin off foundry operations from the system LSI division is expected to increase Samsung’s share of global contract chip making at the expense of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and smaller rivals. Samsung's chip operations, consisting of memory and system LSI, will be split into three, making the foundry business an independent unit, according to the Korea Economic Daily.

The separation of Samsung’s contract chip making from its branded semiconductor business would remove a conflict of interest with potential customers such as Nvidia and MediaTek, and create a new threat to dedicated foundries such as TSMC, according to analysts such as Andrew Lu. (Source: EE Times)

The 15th China International Equipment Manufacturing Fair will be held September 1−5 at the Shenyang International Exhibition Center in Shenyang. The exhibition area will be 1,010,000 square meters! Exhibitors will be from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other 22 countries and regions.

Wow!

My latest LinkedIn post on workers for our industry got 1,066 views in the first 48 hours!

Please send news and comments to: gene@weiner-intl.com

References:

1. Moody’s Cuts Its China Rating for the First Time Since 1989

• < Previous Page