1. Samsung and SK Hynix will stop supplying DDR3
According to supply chain, Samsung and SK Hynix are shifting their focus to high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DDR5 memory, and will stop supplying DDR3 niche DRAM from the second half of the year.
According to insiders, SK Hynix transferred the DDR3 manufacturing process of its Wuxi factory in mainland China to DDR4 as early as the end of last year. Samsung also recently notified customers that it will discontinue DDR3 production at the end of the second quarter. As for Micron, in order to expand DDR5 and high-bandwidth memory production capacity, it has significantly reduced the supply of DDR3.
2. NVIDIA GB200 supply model is very different
According to reports, the supply model of NVIDIA GB200 is different from the past. It will mainly be shipped in the form of cabinets. Therefore, the business form has undergone different changes. According to Inventec, in the past, NVIDIA provided GPU modules or base versions, which were then paired with motherboards designed by various manufacturers to form servers for shipment.
3. SEMI: Chip manufacturing is improving
According to SEMI's latest report, with global electronic product sales rising, inventories stabilizing and fab capacity increasing, the global semiconductor manufacturing industry showed signs of improvement in the first quarter of 2024, and industry growth is expected to be stronger in the second half of the year.
According to the report, chip sales achieved strong year-over-year growth of 22% in the first quarter of 2024 and are expected to surge by 21% in the second quarter of 2024 as high-performance computing (HPC) chip shipments increase and memory pricing continues to improve.
4. Pegatron: Q2 NB shipments are expected to increase by 20% quarterly
Foundry Pegatron recently announced its first-quarter results. Revenue was 250.40 billion yuan (NT$, the same below), a year-on-year decrease of 21.3%; thanks to the improvement in production efficiency of some product lines, the gross profit margin reached 4.2%, an annual increase of 0.9 percentage points, a new high in six quarters, and operating profit 3.023 billion yuan, an annual increase of 9.6%, and after-tax net profit of 3.257 billion yuan, an annual increase of 8.3%.
Pegatron shipped 500,000-550,000 NB units in April, down from 650,000 units in March. It is expected that as customer demand for goods increases, NB shipments in the second quarter are expected to increase by 20% quarter-on-quarter. In terms of consumer electronics, still affected by the economic climate, the second quarter is tentatively expected to be flat. It is expected that as the peak season enters, shipments are expected to rebound in the third quarter.
5. Macronix: 4Gb 3D NOR Flash will enter the market in the second half of the year
According to reports, Macronix Electronics 3D NOR Flash completed chip testing last year, with the 4Gb product progressing the fastest. It is expected to enter the market in the second half of this year and be mass-produced next year. Macronix emphasized that the original NOR Flash products account for about 20% of the market share, and the exclusively developed 3D stacking products will target high-niche markets such as automotive.
The new 3D NAND Flash products are currently in the final process adjustment stage and are mainly shipped to Nintendo game consoles. Sample delivery is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.