01.Sensor Sales Stay Strong Due to Biggest ASP Rise in Two Decades
Fueled by the spread of “smart” embedded controls and higher selling prices due to tight supplies in the market, semiconductor sensor sales are forecast to continue to register double-digit percentage growth in 2022 compared to last year, says IC Insights’ upcoming November 4Q22 Update of The McClean Report service. However, weakening economic conditions and high inflation rates around the world have slowed sensor unit demand in consumer electronics, personal computers, and mainstream smartphone segments since the start of summer.
Sensor unit shipments are forecast to grow just 1% in 2022, but will nudge up to a record-high 30.8 billion devices compared to 30.4 billion in 2021. Total sensor sales in the fourth quarter were on an annual pace to grow 13% in 2022 to an all-time high of $14.4 billion from $12.7 billion last year, according to IC Insights’ 4Q22 Update forecast.
02.Micron to reduce memory chip supply by 20%
Micron recently issued a statement stating that due to the decline in market demand, the company will reduce the operating rate of DRAM and NAND wafers by about 20%.
Micron said recently that the market outlook for 2023 has weakened. It is expected that the supply of DRAM bits will shrink year-on-year, and the supply growth of NAND bits will also be significantly lower than previously expected. In addition, Micron also disclosed that the company is working to further reduce capital expenditures.
"We are taking bold and aggressive steps to reduce supply growth to limit the size of our inventory. We will continue to monitor industry conditions and make further adjustments as needed," said Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.
03.Samsung 3nm GAA Yield Rate at an Abysmal 20%
Samsung may have beaten TSMC in the race to produce cutting-edge 3nm GAA chips, but that does not mean the company’s progress is moving smoothly. According to the latest report, the Korean manufacturer is experiencing a terrible yield rate at just 20 percent and aims to bring that figure up with its latest partnership with a U.S. firm.
04.Apple To Start Sourcing iPhone Memory Chips From Samsung
Apple and its supply chain have reportedly hit a temporary roadblock, with the company attempting to scale this obstacle by sourcing iPhone memory chips from Samsung. With a U.S. trade ban in effect, Apple is barred from conducting business with Chinese suppliers, and the technology giant will need to start relying on other manufacturers.
05.Apple to Start Sourcing Chips Made in the U.S., Through an Undisclosed Plant
Apple currently purchases all of its chips that are manufactured in Taiwan, but such plans are never set in stone, and there is always an opportunity to diversify for various reasons. One report believes that the technology giant will start acquiring these chips from a U.S. plant as early as next year.
06.TSMC is expected to win Tesla's FSD chip order
According to supply chain, TSMC will win a large order for Tesla's assisted driving (FSD) chip and produce it with a 4/5nm process. Tesla is expected to become TSMC's top seven customers next year, which will be the first electric vehicle customer among TSMC's main customers.
Tesla is committed to developing a fully automatic assisted driving system. Chips integrating high-performance computing, AI and other functions need to be produced using advanced manufacturing processes.
Tesla has previously stated that relying on the expansion of a fully automatic super factory, simplifying the design of components, and matching the production capacity of foundry partners, it plans to increase the scale of mass production by 50% per year.
As Tesla develops a new generation of fully automatic assisted driving chips, it will switch to TSMC's 4/5nm process for the main supply, while Samsung will provide part of the production capacity of the previous generation of old chips and memory chips.
According to Tesla's production plan, Tesla's production scale next year is expected to start from 3 million vehicles. If the order is placed centrally with TSMC under a long-term contract, the order volume is estimated to reach nearly 15,000 pieces, and it will continue to grow rapidly.
07.Top-5 notebook brands see shrinking shipments in October
The global top-5 notebook brands' combined shipments (not including Apple) went down 13% from a month ago and nearly 40% on year in October due to the slow inventory digestion at the consumer retail channel and ongoing shrinkage of demand from the enterprise and education sectors.
Lenovo overtook HP by a small margin to become the largest notebook brand in October, while Dell was the only top-5 brand to see on-month shipment growth in the month because of a low comparison base in September led by weak enterprise sector demand, according to data from the Notebook Tracker report.
Taiwan-based Acer and Asustek Computer both saw shipments plunge over 20% on month in October because of lackluster consumer demand.
The top-3 ODMs' combined notebook shipments plummeted 13% on month in October. Quanta's shipments took a major dive in the month as most of the deferrer orders from Apple were satisfied in September.