Foxconn is stepping up its effort in the semiconductor industry and began installing equipment for packaging high-end ICs at plants in China, while Chromebook shipments will experience a major drop, due to weakening demand from the end market. Seeing demand for memory products is still rising, Macronix is planning to expand its 12-inch fab by investing NT$41.5 billion.
Macronix International, a maker of memory chips, has disclosed plans to expand its 12-inch fab capacity for 3D NAND and NOR flash with an investment of NT$41.5 billion (US$1.48 billion).
ROM and NOR flash memory maker Macronix International saw its net profits climb 110% sequentially to NT$1.93 billion (US$68.6 million) in the second quarter of 2021, buoyed by rising chip shipments and ASPs. EPS for the quarter came to NT$1.04.
The persistent tight supply of controller ICs for memory devices, particularly those built using a 28nm process node, will stretch into the end of 2022, with related suppliers expecting only to fulfill no more than 80% of their orders, according to industry sources.
SEMICON Taiwan 2021 has announced that starting from September, five online technology forums will be held as a prelude to its physical exhibition, which has been rescheduled to December. A spike in COVID-19 infections locally in Taiwan prompted the organization to postpone its physical event.
Niche-market DDR3 memory prices will continue to register double-digit increases in the third and fourth quarters of 2021, due mainly to supply-side constraints, according to industry sources.
Taiwanese industrial IT product makers, including Foxlink, Delta Electronics, AcBel Polytech, FSP, and Winmate, have all warned that component shortages have become an issue that all supply chain companies need to deal with, as extensions in component deliveries have become a norm.
Global sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment by original equipment manufacturers are forecast to surpass US$100 billion next year, a new high, after jumping 34% to US$95.3 billion in 2021 compared to US$71.1 billion in 2020, according to SEMI.
Memory module houses and channel distributors are less optimistic about the outlook for China's channel sales in the third quarter of 2021, despite an ongoing rally in contract market prices, according to industry sources.
Backend houses ChipMOS Technologies and Chipbond Technology are expected to raise again their backend service quotes later in the second half of 2021, as robust demand for car-use display driver ICs (DDI) and NOR flash chips continues to fill their factory capacities, according to industry sources.
Winbond Electronics is expected to post handsome profits in 2021, buoyed by rising NOR flash prices, as well as growing sales generated by its logic IC subsidiary Nuvoton Technology, according to industry sources.
Intel is looking to regain its lead in foundry business, but the US chip giant it may have a mountain to climb before catching up with TSMC. DRAM prices are expected to rise in the third quarter at a slower pace, but DRAM makers are still negotiating cntract prices with the clients. And sales of graphics cards will be slowing down in the third quarter as demand decelerates, thanks to China's crackdown on cryptomining.
Specialty IC foundry Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) and Winbond Electronics, a specialty DRAM and flash memory chipmaker, both saw their revenues hit record highs of NT$10.16 billion (US$362.4 million) and NT$25.23 billion, respectively.
TSMC is prioritizing supply of car-use ICs, and its newly-developed N5A process is set to be available in third-quarter 2022, enabling the foundry house to expand its presence in the automotive sector. TSMC has been devoting huge sums to R&D to enable its tech leadership, according to DIGITIMES Asia president Colley Hwang in the third part of his "TSMC dossier." Meanwhile, Nanya expects DRAM contract prices to continue rising in the third quarter of 2021.
Memory module maker Adata Technology expects DRAM contract prices to register a double-digit sequential surge in the third quarter of 2021, with an over 15% rise in low-power DRAM prices.
DRAM contract prices, which registered a substantial increase in the second quarter of 2021, are expected to continue their rally in the third quarter, according to chipmaker Nanya Technology.
Phison Electronics is expected to see its revenue hit another record high in the third quarter of 2021, buoyed by rising NAND flash prices and strong SSD sales, according to market sources.
Growth in memory chip demand for servers and data centers is poised to outperform that for handsets in the third quarter of 2021, according to Taiwan-based Supreme Electronics.
The global smartphone memory market generated revenue of US$11.4 billion in the first quarter of 2021, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung led the market with a 49% revenue share.
Macronix International is gearing up for a surge in shipments of its ROM memory for Nintendo's new-generation Switch console later in the second half of 2021, according to industry sources.
TSMC has plans to expand its wafer fab in Nanjing, China, but the US government reportedly has raised concerns about the expansion project over its implications in China's push to improve IC self-sufficiency. China-based CanSemi has completed a round of fundraising for expanding its 12-inch wafer fab. In the memory sector, module makers are expected to see impressive sales continue in third-quarter 2021.
