01. Texas Instruments: Demand for analog chips improves
April 25, 2024, Texas Instruments recently said that the company's second-quarter sales are expected to be as high as $3.95 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.78 billion.
Texas Instruments optimistically predicts that improving demand for consumer electronics products indicates that analog chip inventory adjustments may be easing, and that the decline in demand for industrial and auto parts is easing.
After eight consecutive quarters of downturn, global PC shipments grew by about 3% in the first three months of 2024, according to research firm Counterpoint.
Summit Insights analyst Kinngai Chan said the analog device industry will see more typical seasonal demand in the coming quarters.
TI said most customers of industrial equipment makers, the company's largest segment, have completed inventory reductions, even if some are still completing the process.
02. Global semiconductor industry outlook for 2024
KPMG and the GSA conducted the 19th annual global semiconductor industry survey in the fourth quarter of 2023. The survey captured insights from 172 semiconductor executives about their outlook for the industry in 2024 and beyond. More than half of the respondents were from companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
The Semiconductor Industry Confidence Index score is 54 for the upcoming year (a value above 50 indicates a more positive outlook than negative). This is similar to last year (56), yet still lower than each of the previous five years. The primary drivers are the somewhat muted outlooks for workforce growth, research and development (R&D) spending, and capital expenditures. In fact, 51 percent of executives said their company already has, or in the next year plans to, postpone capital expenditures.
However, More than 8 in 10 (83 percent) project their company’s revenue will grow over the coming year, which is in line with last year’s 81 percent.
03. Japan’s semiconductor equipment exports to China show significant growth
April 25, 2024, According to reports, Japan's exports increased for the fourth consecutive month in March, with semiconductor manufacturing equipment driving growth in shipments to China.
Reports show that Japan’s total exports in March reached 9.46 trillion yen (US$61 billion), a year-on-year increase of 7.3%. Total imports were 9.1 trillion yen, a decrease of 4.9%, marking the first trade surplus in three months. Automobile exports increased by 7.1%, and exports of electronic components, including semiconductors, increased by 11.3%. The growth of Japan's exports to China was mainly driven by the growth of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, with an increase of 82.4%.
At the same time, as of April, Japan's chip equipment global market share (in terms of sales) has reached 30%, ranking second in the world after the United States.
04. The world’s electric car fleet continues to grow strongly, with 2024 sales set to reach 17 million
April 23, 2024, More than one in five cars sold worldwide this year is expected to be electric, with surging demand projected over the next decade set to remake the global auto industry and significantly reduce oil consumption for road transport, according to the new edition of the IEA’s annual Global EV Outlook.
The latest Outlook, published today, finds that global electric car sales are set to remain robust in 2024, reaching around 17 million by the end of the year. In the first quarter, sales grew by about 25% compared with the same period in 2023 – similar to the growth rate seen in the same period a year earlier, but from a larger base. The number of electric cars sold globally in the first three months of this year is roughly equivalent to the number sold in all of 2020.
05. Honda and Toyota are investing billions to build more EVs in North America
April 25, 2024, Honda announced today that it will spend $11 billion to expand its electric vehicle manufacturing presence in North America. The Japanese automaker already has a number of factories in the US, Mexico, and Canada, and it's this last one that will benefit from the expansion, with four EV-related plants planned for Ontario.
And Toyota — despite its reluctance to make EVs over hybrid vehicles — is undertaking a $1.4 billion investment to prepare its factory in Princeton, Indiana, to make a new three-row battery electric SUV. Toyota has poured more than $8 billion into the Indiana factory so far.
The latest investment will go toward providing infrastructure to build the new car and add a new battery pack assembly line supplied with lithium-ion batteries from Toyota’s in-progress manufacturing plant in North Carolina. The $13.9 billion facility is set to begin production in 2025.