01. South Korea's Semiconductor Exports Grow Against the Trend in April, with High-Value-Added Products like HBM
On May 7, Phison Electronics CEO Kevin Tu announced that the prices of NAND Flash original manufacturers have increased, with the business opportunities of AI edge devices emerging and the market supply and demand becoming tight in the year's second half. NAND Flash original manufacturers have reduced production to adjust market prices, with some original wafer quotes rising by 9% to 11%. The price increase is expected to continue until the third quarter of 2025. The rebound in PC market demand has led to a shortage of PCIe 4.0 SSD controller chips.
02. DDR4 Prices Rise by 20%, with the Entire Industry Adjusting Prices
According to a report from IT Home on May 12, citing unnamed industry sources from Electronic Times, Samsung Electronics reached an agreement with major customers at the beginning of this month to increase the prices of DRAM chips. The specific increase varies by customer, but the average increase rate has been determined:
·DDR4 DRAM prices have risen by a double-digit percentage on average.
·DDR5 DRAM prices have risen by a single-digit percentage. The report mentioned that DDR4 prices have reportedly increased by 20%, while DDR5 prices have risen by about 5%. Samsung Electronics has signed DRAM supply contracts with customers at the increased prices, stating that DRAM prices in the entire semiconductor industry are rising. Additionally, sources reported that SK Hynix recently raised DRAM prices by 12%.
03. Samsung Plans to Use Hybrid Bonding Technology for HBM4 Memory Production
On May 12, at the AI Semiconductor Forum held in Seoul, South Korea, Samsung Electronics announced that it will use hybrid bonding technology to produce its HBM4 memory in order to reduce thermal resistance and achieve ultra-wide memory interfaces. This technology replaces traditional microbumps by directly connecting copper-to-copper and oxide-to-oxide surfaces, enabling thinner and more efficient 3D stacking. Hybrid bonding supports interconnect pitches of less than 10 micrometers, reducing resistance and capacitance and improving signal integrity.
Samsung plans to start producing HBM4 in 2026. If the hybrid bonding technology is successfully adopted, it may gain competitive advantages in terms of performance, thermal characteristics, and signal density, and thus reclaim market share.
04. Murata Plans to Expand Vietnam Factory to Meet Growing Demand for Automotive Inductors
According to news on May 15, Murata Manufacturing plans to build a new production building at its factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to expand its inductor coil capacity in response to the growing demand in the automotive and electronics sectors. The expansion is scheduled to begin in May 2025, with an additional floor area of 10,576 square meters, and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. The company plans to invest approximately 3 billion yen, covering both construction and production equipment costs.
Murata stated that this project is part of its long-term strategy to enhance its supply capabilities for passive components used in automotive, power management systems, and high-frequency communications. This move also highlights Vietnam's increasingly important role in the global electronics manufacturing network. The new building will be dedicated to coil production, helping to ensure the stability of long-term supply to global customers in the automotive and ICT industries.
05. TSMC's US Plant Costs Soar! RTX 5090 and Other GPUs See Across-the-Board Price Hikes
On May 12, it was reported that TSMC is aggressively expanding its fabs in the United States, leading to a significant increase in costs. Since April, President Trump has imposed reciprocal tariffs, prompting NVIDIA to quickly respond to the "US manufacturing reshoring" initiative. NVIDIA announced a plan to invest $500 billion in the US over four years, in collaboration with TSMC, Foxconn, and other major manufacturers, to build AI server fabs. The Blackwell chips, which use a 4nm process, have already begun production at TSMC's wafer fab in Arizona.
Under these circumstances, NVIDIA must shoulder the increased costs associated with reshoring. To maintain stable profitability, NVIDIA has raised the official prices of almost all its products and allowed its partners to adjust prices accordingly. The supply chain has indicated that the shift of Blackwell chip production to TSMC's US fabs has led to a noticeable increase in foundry prices, as well as related material and logistics costs. NVIDIA, like TSMC, has the capability to pass on these costs, making the price hikes expected.
06.China's Industrial Automation and Robotics Industry Sees Demand Recovery, Accelerating Domestic Substitution
According to a research report released by Macquarie on May 14, China's industrial robots and automation market saw a significant recovery in the first quarter of 2025, with industrial robot sales increasing by 11.6% year-on-year and collaborative robot production surging by 41.4%. The downstream demand has warmed up, driven by sectors such as automotive, semiconductor, and lithium battery industries. Domestic manufacturers continue to break through in core technologies and market share, bringing the industry into a phase of "quantity and quality improvement." The dual logic of "demand recovery + domestic substitution" in industrial automation is clear, and sub-sectors such as new energy equipment and collaborative robots are expected to become new growth engines.