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Commentary / Analysis

• North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts June 2020 Billings (Friday Jul. 24, 2020)
  North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.32 billion in billings worldwide in June 2020 (three-month average basis), according to the June Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI .
  
  
• Softbank talks to Apple and Nvidia about Arm sale (Thursday Jul. 23, 2020)
  SoftBank has talked to both Nvidia and Apple about selling all or part of Arm to them, reports Bloomberg.
  
  
• Moore's Law Isn't Slowing down - Just Ask System Companies (Tuesday Jul. 21, 2020)
  Moore’s Law, the tenet that the number of transistors on a chip will double every 18-24 months, has driven the electronics industry for decades. Today, there’s no denying that Moore’s Law is showing its age, with some semiconductor industry leaders going so far as to rewrite its definition.
  
  
• SMIC: Advanced Process Technologies and Gov't Funding (Part 2) (Monday Jul. 20, 2020)
  With the Trump Administration preventing SMIC from accessing some of the latest manufacturing equipment, can SMIC keep offering cutting-edge process technologies required by leading developers of system-on-chips (SoCs) in the long run?
  
  
• TSMC Raises Capital Expenditure Plan on Improved Outlook (Friday Jul. 17, 2020)
  
  
  
• Buying Avatar, Siemens Revives Legendary Place & Route Tool (Thursday Jul. 16, 2020)
  Siemens has struck a deal to buy Avatar Integrated Systems Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.), a developer of place & route software. Avatar’s tool was once highly rated but discredited by Synopsys back in 2017. The acquisition by Siemens revives it as a strong contender in the place-and-route software segment of the EDA market.
  
  
• 1Q/4Q "Direction Indicator" Signals Rebound in the 2020 IC Market (Thursday Jul. 16, 2020)
  After dropping by 15% last year, the worldwide IC market is expected to show single-digit growth in 2020, even with the disastrous effects of Covid-19 on the global economy.
  
  
• Softbank Said to Have a Buyout Offer for Arm (Wednesday Jul. 15, 2020)
  Softbank is said to have been weighing the possibility of holding an initial public offering (IPO) for Arm Holdings, but now there’s said to be at least one company out there that wants to straight-up buy Arm from Softbank.
  
  
• SMIC: Advanced Process Technologies and Gov't Funding (Wednesday Jul. 15, 2020)
  Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. has begun producing 14nm chips, and has joined the relatively small club of semiconductor makers that can build finFETs. The company is on the verge of a stock offering that could reap in excess of $7 billion to keep investing in its business.
  
  
• Maxim Integrated Deal Cements Analog Devices at No 2 in Analog (Wednesday Jul. 15, 2020)
  The $21 billion acquisition of Maxim Integrated by Analog Devices ranks in the top three among mega-semiconductor company acquisitions in recent years (the others include Avago’s acquisition of Broadcom for $37 billion and SoftBank buying Arm for $32 billion).
  
  
• ESD Alliance Reports Electronic Design Automation Industry Revenue Growth for Q1 2020 (Monday Jul. 13, 2020)
  The Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance Market Statistics Service (MSS) today announced that the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry revenue increased 3.5 percent in Q1 2020 to $2,698 million, compared to $2,606.4 million in Q1 2019.
  
  
• Apple to Start Mass Producing Self-Designed Mac SoC, Projected to Cost under US$100, in 1H21, Says TrendForce (Tuesday Jul. 07, 2020)
  The first Mac SoC, projected to cost under US$100, will be mass produced with TSMC’s 5nm process technology. The low cost of the Mac SoC makes it an extremely cost-competitive option.
  
  
• Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 5.8 Percent Year-to-Year in May; Annual Sales Projected to Increase 3.3 Percent in 2020, 6.2 Percent in 2021 (Monday Jul. 06, 2020)
  The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors were $35.0 billion in May 2020, an increase of 5.8 percent from the May 2019 total of $33.0 billion and 1.5 percent more than the April 2020 total of $34.4 billion
  
  
• Taiwan Edges South Korea as Largest Base for IC Wafer Capacity (Thursday Jun. 25, 2020)
  China capacity expansion forecast to push the country into second place in the regional rankings in 2022, trailing only Taiwan in size.
  
  
• Apple Moving Macs from Intel to Arm (Thursday Jun. 25, 2020)
  After two years of rumors, at this year’s (virtual) World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), Apple finally announced that it was going to migrate all its Mac products from Intel processors to the company’s own Arm-based silicon.
  
  
• North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts May 2020 Billings (Friday Jun. 19, 2020)
  North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.35 billion in billings worldwide in May 2020 (three-month average basis), according to the May Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI.
  
  
• Awaiting a Deal, TSMC Chairman Reiterates Support for Arizona Fab (Thursday Jun. 18, 2020)
  
  
  
• Distributed In-Chip Thermal Sensors Improve Multicore CPU Monitoring (Thursday Jun. 18, 2020)
  With silicon geometries scaling to 5nm, thermal activity escalates and monitoring becomes critical to maintaining accuracy and reliability. To address this, Moortec, a provider of in-chip monitoring, telemetry and analytics technology, has introduced a distributed thermal sensor (DTS) on TSMC’s N5 process, which it claims is significantly smaller and more accurate compared to current in-chip thermal sensor solutions.
  
  
• Automotive IC Market Forecast With Strongest CAGR Through 2024 (Thursday Jun. 18, 2020)
  Automotive IC segment to show robust average annual growth but still hold less than a 10% share in 2024. Communications and Computer segments remain largest applications.
  
  
• Intel's 10nm Node: Past, Present, and Future - Part 2 (Thursday Jun. 18, 2020)
  Originally promised to hit the market in the second half of 2016, Intel’s Cannon Lake processor was first delayed to the second half of 2017, and then was quietly launched in limited quantities in 2018.
  
  
• Intel's 10nm Node: Past, Present, and Future (Thursday Jun. 18, 2020)
  Intel is making progress with its10nm process, but with TSMC and Samsung working at nodes they’ve labeled 7nm, 6nm, 5nm, and smaller, where exactly is Intel today?
  
  
• U.S. Chip Revival Gains Traction (Wednesday Jun. 17, 2020)
  A new front has opened in efforts to revive U.S. chip manufacturing as lawmakers propose billions of dollars in spending and tax incentives to promote technology innovation across the entire semiconductor ecosystem — from post-Moore’s Law basic research to advanced chip packaging.
  
  
• TSMC to Face Inventory Glut Caused by US-China Trade War (Thursday Jun. 11, 2020)
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and analysts who cover the company recognize an inventory glut in the electronics supply chain.
  
  
• Arm falls out with Arm China (Thursday Jun. 11, 2020)
  Yesterday Arm said that Arm China CEO Allen Wu was being dismissed for “serious irregularities including failing to disclose conflicts of interest and violations of the employee handbook,” and that Wu would be replaced by Phil Tang and Ken Phua.
  
  
• Total Foundry Revenue Increases by 20% YoY in 2Q20, While Market Uncertainties Remain in 2H20, Says TrendForce (Thursday Jun. 11, 2020)
  The combined revenues of the top 10 foundries increased by more than 20% YoY in 2Q20.
  
  
• Semiconductor Fabs to Log Record Spending of Nearly $68 Billion in 2021 After 2020 Lull, SEMI Reports (Thursday Jun. 11, 2020)
  2021 is poised to mark a banner year for global fab equipment spending with 24 percent growth to a record US$67.7 billion, 10 percent higher than the previously forecast US$65.7 billion, and all product segments promising solid growth rates
  
  
• Qualcomm Retakes Market Leadership in 1Q20 Revenue Ranking of Global Top 10 IC Design Companies, Says TrendForce (Thursday Jun. 11, 2020)
  According to the 1Q20 revenue ranking of global top 10 IC design companies compiled from TrendForce’s latest data, Qualcomm was able to stop the trend of continuous YoY revenue declines, which lasted for the six previous consecutive quarters, because of its effective 5G product strategy and the considerable growth in WFH and distance learning demand.
  
  
• Arm China CEO: Good or Gone? (Wednesday Jun. 10, 2020)
  On the morning of 10th June, Chinese local media reported that Arm China executive chairman and CEO Allen Wu was removed from his post. Reportedly, Arm China’s board of directors has appointed two other people as Arm China’s interim co-CEOs to succeed Allen Wu.
  
  
• TSMC Discloses "Secret" 4nm Node (Tuesday Jun. 09, 2020)
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) today lifted the veil on a previously unannounced manufacturing process between the 5nm and 3nm nodes that are already on the company’s roadmap. It’s 4nm.
  
  
• Sampling of 2Q Semiconductor Sales Guidance Now At -5% (Monday Jun. 08, 2020)
  Six companies expecting an increase in 2Q sales; 15 anticipating a decline or flat sales.