1、Infineon sees supply bottlenecks until end of 2022
On December 29, according to a Reuters report, The semiconductor industry's struggle to keep up with incoming orders looks set to continue as supply bottlenecks may last until the end of 2022, a member of German chipmaker Infineon's management board told the Handelsblatt newspaper on Wednesday.
"The bottlenecks will extend well into 2022 and could even last until the end of the year," Chief Marketing Officer Helmut Gassel told Handelsblatt.
At the same time, demand is continuously high due to the global push towards digitalization, Gassel added.
"So far, we haven't seen any cancellations of orders," he said.
2、Micron: Xi'an Lockdown Will Delay DRAM Deliveries
Micron said late Wednesday that the lockdown in Xi’an, China, will cause delays in the supply of its DRAM memory chips.
The company says it should meet most of its customer demand, but the restrictions have resulted in thinner staffing levels at its Xian test and assembly facility.
"We are tapping our global supply chain, including our subcontractor partners, to help service our customers for these DRAM products," Micron says.
Micron's warning follows earlier news from rival Samsung Electronics, which said its production in Xian also will be affected.
3、SK Hynix completes the first phase of Intel NAND business acquisition
SK Hynix said last Thursday that it has completed the first phase of its acquisition of Intel’s NAND and solid-state drive (SSD) business.
The South Korean chipmaker acquired Intel’s SSD business based in the US and their NAND flash fab in Dalian, China, after Chinese authorities approved the deal earlier this month.
SK Hynix will pay US$7 billion to Intel with the completion of the first phase.
In the second phase, which will now start and close in March 2025 after which there will be an additional payment of US$2 billion, the South Korean company will secure Intel’s remaining assets of its NAND business such as IP related to manufacturing and design of NAND flash wafers, research employees for NAND flash wafers and the workforce at the fab in Dalian as well as other associated assets, the company said.
4、Nintendo Switch shortages will continue into 2022, says Nintendo president
2022 may continue to bring about supply issues for Switch consoles, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said last week. This comes amid the usual reasons for semiconductors and logistical issues that we’ve been seeing not just across the gaming industry, but the larger technology field.
Furukawa did say that Nintendo’s end of 2021 sales were good, and the Switch OLED model contributed to that strong performance. However, Black Friday saw its fair share of issues. Nintendo used air transportation to help with demand and in Europe, the company used rail transportation for the first time.
Furukawa added that after Black Friday, Nintendo really didn’t have enough Switch supply for the demand. As far as 2022 is concerned, he said that “it will depend on demand, but as I feared, we won’t be able to make the number of units we wanted to.”
At the start of November, Nintendo lowered its sales forecasts for Switch due to supply issues. The company was originally targeting 25.5 million units but decreased that number to 24 million for the fiscal year ending in March.
5、Hon Hai formally apologized for the food poisoning incident of employees in the Indian factory, and employee salaries will continue to be paid
A food poisoning incident occurred at Hon Hai’s Chennai plant in India in the middle of the last month, resulting in 150 employees being admitted to the hospital. Hon Hai issued a statement on the incident on the 29th of last month.
According to Taiwan media, Hon Hai pointed out that the safety and well-being of employees have always been the highest principle of the group’s operations. The company has targeted employee facilities in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India. A special investigation team was launched recently and found that some dormitories outside the factory did not meet the standards required by the group. The company apologizes for the situation encountered by our employees and has immediately taken corresponding measures to improve the equipment and services we provide in the dormitory. At the same time, the group has also adjusted the local operating team and management system to ensure that high operating standards can be achieved and maintained.
In addition, Hon Hai emphasized that this incident has no significant impact on the company’s finances and business. Before the restart of operations, During the improvement of the dormitory environment, employee salaries will continue to be paid, The company will continue to work hard for employees to return to work in the future.
6、Intel is Looking into Establishing a Semiconductor Manufacturing Unit in India
Intel could be interested in setting up a wafer fab in India under the recently announced government incentive scheme, according to The Indian Express.
The new unit could be set up for the development and fabrication of test chips on Intel's 18A (18 angstroms or 1.8nm) manufacturing process, the publication said quoting unnamed sources.
The report came after an exchange of Twitter messages between Randhir Thakur, a senior vice-president and president of Intel Foundry Services, and Ashwini Vaishnav, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology in the central Indian government.
Vaishnav tweeted: "Intel – welcome to India" in response to Thakur who had tweeted congratulating the ministry on the setting up of the incentive scheme. "Glad to see a plan laid out for all aspects of the supply chain: talent, design, manufacturing, test, packaging and logistics," Thakur had tweeted.