01. Kioxia will expand NAND Flash production in March
According to a report by Japan's Kyodo News on March 1, Kioxia will review its production reduction strategy from 2022.
The source also said that the company, which ranks fourth in the NAND Flash market share, plans to resume production scale within this month and increase the utilization rate (operating rate) to 90%.
02. The PC market continues to recover, with GPU growth of 20% in 2023Q4
Jon Peddie Research reports the growth of the global PC-based graphics processor unit (GPU) market reached 76.2 million units in Q4’23 and PC CPU shipments increased an astonishing 24% year over year, the biggest year-to-year increase in two and a half decades.. Overall, GPUs will have a compound annual growth rate of 3.6% during 2024–2026 and reach an installed base of almost 5 billion units at the end of the forecast period. Over the next five years, the penetration of discrete GPUs (dGPUs) in the PC will be 30%.
03. Electric vehicle market slows
Recently, the electric vehicle market has experienced headwinds. Not only have international companies given up on developing new generation products, but the domestic market has also shown signs of slowing down.
Due to insufficient demand, Apple announced that it would give up building cars; General Motors has lowered its production target for electric vehicles; Ford Motor Company has also reduced the production of electric vehicles. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bluntly pointed out the problem of plummeting demand for electric vehicles.
According to Morgan Stanley in a recent report: "Global electric vehicle development momentum is waning, and market supply has exceeded demand."
04. Intel revives Altera name for FPGA spinoff
March 1, 2024, Intel announced the official launch of Altera, its new standalone FPGA company. Chief Executive Officer Sandra Rivera and Chief Operating Officer Shannon Poulin unveiled their strategy to secure leadership across a $55 billion-plus market opportunity; to expand the company's portfolio, including the only FPGA with AI built into the fabric; and to help solve mounting customer challenges. They also announced Altera as the new company's brand.
05. NVIDIA’s China-Exclusive H20 to Begin Pre-sales Next Month
NVIDIA, the global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) chips, is set to commence pre-orders for its AI chip H20 specially designed for the Chinese market by the end of March this year in response to US export bans, according to sources cited by a report from STAR Market Daily.
However, due to consecutive reductions in specifications, the cost-performance ratio has diminished, prompting cautious attitudes among Chinese distributors.
06. TI lays off power chip R&D team in Beijing
February 29, 2024, According to supply chain insiders, Texas Instruments recently laid off one of its chip design teams in Beijing, which was mainly responsible for the research and development of low-end power chips.
The insider said that TI's layoffs were affected by the sluggish demand in the entire consumer market. On the other hand, competition from Chinese power chip manufacturers also forced TI to make this decision.
07. Dell Leak Reveals NVIDIA’s Potential B200 Launch Next Year
NVIDIA has yet to officially announce the exact release dates for its next-generation AI chip architectures, the Blackwell GPU, and the B100 chip. However, Dell’s Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Clarke, recently revealed ahead of schedule during Dell’s Q4 2024 Earnings Call that NVIDIA is set to introduce the Blackwell architecture next year, with plans to release not only the B100 chip but also another variant, the B200 chip.