Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru highlighted the semiconductor industry’s economic importance and Japan’s pivotal role in the global supply chain, citing TSMC’s Kumamoto factory as a catalyst for local business and economic growth. The government intends to invest over 10 trillion yen by FY2030 to bolster semiconductors and AI, aiming to draw more than 50 trillion yen in investments within ten years.
In November, China’s IC production increased by 8.7% year-on-year to 37.6 billion units, with growth slowing due to escalating U.S.-China tech competition and stricter chip export controls. The National Bureau of Statistics data indicates this is the first single-digit growth in 2023. The total IC output for the first 11 months reached 395.3 billion units, a 23.1% increase from the previous year, while overall industrial output rose by 5.4%. The U.S. has tightened export controls, adding more chip-making equipment and software restrictions, and blacklisted 140 Chinese entities related to the chip industry, highlighting the semiconductor sector as a key arena in U.S.-China tech rivalry.
Onsemi and Japanese top-tier automotive supplier DENSO have announced that they will enhance their long-term partnership, especially in Autonomous Driving (AD) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technology. DENSO plans to acquire shares of Onsemi on the open market to deepen their collaboration further. Onsemi’s President and CEO, Hassane El-Khoury, stated that DENSO’s desire to establish a closer cooperative relationship with Onsemi demonstrates confidence in Onsemi’s innovative capabilities and professional technical support in the automotive technology sector. DENSO’s President, Shinnosuke Hayashi, emphasized that close cooperation with Onsemi is crucial for enhancing vehicle safety and autonomy, as well as ensuring the stability of the supply chain.
Micron Technology’s financial report released on December 18, 2024, revealed that the revenue from its data center business grew by over 400% year-over-year and by 40% quarter-over-quarter, accounting for more than 50% of Micron’s total revenue for the first time and setting a historical high. Despite the continued weakness in the global consumer market, the demand for data centers driven by AI has been strong, propelling Micron to achieve a record quarterly revenue performance.
Micron’s High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) performance stands out, with expectations of maintaining robust growth in the coming years, potentially exceeding a market size of $100 billion by 2030. Micron’s LPDDR5X memory solution offers attractive performance for AI platforms, with NVIDIA’s Grace CPU utilizing Micron’s LPDDR5X to provide additional system cache to meet the growing memory demands of AI workloads.
On December 19, IT Home reported that Microsoft is developing its own ARM architecture processors, which are expected to be used in new Surface products. This marks a potential first for Microsoft, using its chips in Surface products instead of those from Intel, Qualcomm, or AMD. This shift signifies Microsoft’s move to reduce reliance on Intel, opting for products from Qualcomm and AMD. Microsoft’s custom ARM chips will be utilized in Azure cloud platforms and consumer-focused Surface products, diminishing dependence on Intel CPUs.
This initiative by Microsoft has also been influenced by Qualcomm’s abandonment of server chipset plans based on ARM. These chips, primarily designed for servers, may also potentially be used in Surface devices. Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw stated that the company is investing in capabilities for in-house design, manufacturing, and tooling, while also strengthening cooperation with chip suppliers.
According to a December 20th report in the Economic Daily, Apple is advancing AI services in the Chinese mainland market and is in talks with tech giants Tencent and ByteDance for cooperation. The plan is to integrate AI model services from one of these companies into iPhones sold in China, filling the gap left by the absence of Apple Intelligence services there. This collaboration could trigger new demand for AI server construction. As a supplier of AI servers to both Tencent and ByteDance, Infortrend is poised to gain a substantial number of orders regardless of which company eventually prevails, with recent order momentum from mainland server clients exceeding expectations.
