According to Chinese media ChinaFund, there are reports that TSMC is increasing prices for its advanced 3nm and 5nm process nodes and advanced packaging. The report also cites a Morgan Stanley Securities prediction that Hua Hong Semiconductor may raise prices by 10% in the second half of the year.

Notably, China’s wafer foundries are showing signs of reducing domestic competition. While foundry price increases are not yet confirmed, utilization rates at major foundries have significantly improved, with many operating at full capacity or even exceeding 100%.

Industry sources cited by ChinaFund believe that the sustained increase in utilization rates and full capacity at some foundries could lead to potential price hikes in the future.

TSMC was the first to signal a price hike in the wafer foundry sector. Reports indicate that the global leader in foundry will increase prices for its advanced 3nm and 5nm nodes, with a potential 5% increase for 3nm and a 10%-20% rise for advanced packaging next year.

TSMC’s 5nm node continues to receive AI semiconductor orders, maintaining high capacity utilization.

At the same time, a recent Morgan Stanley report stated that Hua Hong Semiconductor, one of China’s leading foundries, is currently operating at over 100% capacity and may raise wafer prices by 10% in the second half of this year.

In an interview with ChinaFund, United Nova Technology CEO Michael Zhao stated that the semiconductor industry’s basic pattern of change starts with memory, then digital, and finally analog ICs. “Whether it’s a downturn or recovery, this is the sequence,” he emphasized.

“We are experiencing the same trend in the power semiconductor sector. We were at full capacity in Q4 last year and saw a significant recovery in Q1 this year.”

According to tracked data cited by ChinaFund, power semiconductor manufacturers have collectively raised prices this year. Sanliansheng increased prices by 10%-20%, Bluecolor by 10%-18%, Gaoge Microchip by 10%-20%, and Jiejie Microelectronics raised prices for its Trench MOS by 5%-10%.

For the memory sector, TrendForce forecasts that Q2 DRAM contract prices will rise by 13%-18%, and NAND Flash contract prices by 15%-20%.

Huafu Securities projects that, given the gradual increase in foundry utilization rates and rising inventory levels in consumer electronics and other fields, end-market demand will clearly drive growth across the semiconductor supply chain.

ChinaFund reports that several chip companies have recently announced price increases, with some as high as 20%. For instance, Yaxin Microelectronics, Chiplink, and iCM have all issued price hike notices.

(Photo credit: SMIC)

South Korean patent management company Mimir IP, which acquired approximately 1,500 chip-related patents from SK hynix in May, has filed a complaint against Micron, accusing the US memory giant of infringing on its chip-related patents, the Korea Economic Daily reported. Sources suggested that if Mimir wins the case, the damages could amount to as much as USD 480 million.

The Korea Economic Daily learned that the lawsuit, filed on June 3, also targets four other companies that use Micron products: Tesla, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, while the patents involved are reportedly related to circuits, voltage measurement devices, and non-volatile memory devices.

The case has been filed with both the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which marks the first instance of a Korea-based non-practicing entity (NPE) that acquired patents from domestic chipmakers filing a suit against a US semiconductor company.

Officials from the involved parties were unavailable for comment, the report said.

SK hynix, the current market leader in HBM, has been facing heated competition from Samsung and Micron, both of which have recently developed their HBM3e chips, trying to win favor from the world’s leading AI chip designer, NVIDIA. Now it seems that the battleground for industry dominance is expanding from technology competition to patent disputes.

It is worth noting that transferring patents to non-practicing entity (NPE) has become more and more popular, as it seems to be a preliminary measure for companies to prepare for legal disputes with its competitors, the report noted.

The Big Three in the memory industry have made similar moves on their patent strategy recently. According to the report, Micron transferred over 400 chip-related patents to Lodestar Licensing Group in March, 2023, followed by Samsung, which transferred 96 US chip patent rights, including the right to file patent infringement complaints, to IKT, an affiliate of Samsung Display, in June 2023.

Read more

• [News] HBM Supply Shortage Prompts Micron’s Expansion, Expected Schedule in Japan and Taiwan Revealed
• [News] The HBM4 Battle Begins! Memory Stacking Challenges Remain, Hybrid Bonding as the Key Breakthrough

(Photo credit: SK hynix)

According to a report from Nikkei, Japanese memory manufacturer Kioxia has ended production cuts amidst a recovery in the memory market and has secured new bank credit support. The company’s plants in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, and Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, have restored their production lines to 100% capacity, focusing mainly on NAND flash production.

With improved business conditions, creditor banks have reportedly agreed to refinance a maturing loan of JPY 540 billion (roughly USD 3.43 billion) and have established a new credit line totaling JPY 210 billion (roughly USD 1.33 billion).

Kioxia had previously implemented production cuts in October 2022 due to sluggish demand for smartphone products, reducing output by over 30%. The planned launch of new production lines at the Kitakami plant, originally scheduled for 2023, has been postponed to 2025.

The improved market environment is reflected in Kioxia’s financial report for January to March 2024, where the company achieved a net profit of JPY 10.3 billion, ending six consecutive quarters of losses. Demand for smartphone and personal computer chips has bottomed out and is starting to recover, while orders related to data centers have increased.

As per a previous TrendForce report, Kioxia’s Q1 output was still affected by production cuts from the previous quarter, resulting in a modest 7% QoQ increase in shipments. However, rising NAND Flash prices led to a 26.3% QoQ rise in revenue to $1.82 billion. Kioxia expects to grow Q2 revenue by approximately 20%, supported by increased supply bits and more flexible pricing, which will further expand enterprise SSD shipments.

Per the same report from Nikkei, led by a banking consortium including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and Mizuho Bank, Kioxia’s improved performance has led to relaxed loan terms and agreement on refinancing along with new credit limits. Additionally, the banks will assist in funding for equipment upgrades.

Read more

• [News] Kioxia Optimistic about NAND Market Sentiment; Price Hike Expected in Q2
• [News] NAND Flash Market Landscape to Change?

(Photo credit: Kioxia)

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, China’s 618 shopping festival has limited effects on demand, slowing down the digestion of existing inventory, causing DRAM and NAND Flash spot prices to slide further. However, DDR5 has been performing relatively better than older products such as DDR3 and DDR4 in sales. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

Spot prices continue to decline. China’s 618 shopping festival is generating a more significant extent of purchase sentiment regarding smartphones due to huge price slashes, while other end products, having yet to exhibit any signs of recovery in demand, have slowed down the digestion of existing inventory. Generally speaking, DDR5 has been performing slightly better in sales, while older products, such as DDR3/4, are sustaining a larger decrement due to transitions of platforms. Mainstream packaged DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s saw a price drop of 0.84% (from US$1.904 to US$1.888) this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

Spot prices for NAND Flash are maintaining a slow depletion. The recent 618 e-commerce promotions have proven to be confined in efficacy towards overall market demand, where the enervation seen from transactions of consumer products continues to aggravate the inversion between contract and spot prices. 512Gb TLC wafer spots have dropped by 1.74% this week, arriving at US$3.328.

Recently, Samsung Electronics announced that the development of its 8nm eMRAM has almost been completed and process upgrades is underway as planned.

According to a report from WeChat account DRAMeXchange, as a new type of non-volatile memory technology based on magnetic principles, eMRAM falls under the category of embedded MRAM (Magnetoresistive random-access memory). Compared to traditional DRAM, eMRAM offers faster access speeds and higher durability. Unlike DRAM, it does not require data refreshing, and its write rate is 1000 times that of NAND.

Due to these characteristics, the industry holds a positive outlook on the potential of eMRAM, especially in scenarios that demand high performance, energy efficiency, and durability.

Samsung Electronics is one of the main producers of eMRAM and is dedicated to promoting its adoption in the automotive sector. In 2019, Samsung developed and mass-produced the industry’s first eMRAM based on 28nm FD-SOI. After achieving the production capability of 28nm eMRAM, Samsung reportedly plans to mass-produce 14nm eMRAM in 2024, 8nm in 2026, and 5nm in 2027.

Samsung is confident about the application of eMRAM in future automotive uses, stating that its product’s temperature tolerance has reached 150-160°C, which can fully meet the stringent requirements of the automotive industry for semiconductors.

In recent years, the proliferation of big data and artificial intelligence applications has generated massive memory demands and placed higher requirements for memory technologies. Against this backdrop, new memory technologies have continuously emerged, among which SCM (Storage Class Memory) is a representative, which combines high-speed read and write performance of DRAM with the persistent storage capability of NAND flash, potentially addressing issues of small capacity, volatility, and high cost associated with DRAM. Key SCM products include phase-change memory (PCM), resistive RAM (ReRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), and nanotube RAM (NRAM).

Aside from Samsung, companies like Kioxia and ByteDance have also acted vigorously in the new memory field this year. In April, Kioxia’s CTO Hidefumi Miyajima stated that compared to competitors developing both NAND and DRAM, Kioxia is at a competitive disadvantage in terms of business diversity, making the cultivation of new memory product business like SCM a necessity. With this goal in mind, Kioxia reorganized its “Memory Technology Research Laboratory” into the “Advanced Technology Research Laboratory.”

In March, it was reported by South China Morning Post that ByteDance invested in a Chinese memory company Innostar, becoming its third-largest shareholder. Innostar focuses on the R&D of new memory technologies like ReRAM and related chip products covering three categories: high-performance industrial control/automotive-grade SoC/ASIC chip, computing-in-memory (CIM) IP, chip and system-on-memory (SoM) chip.

Read more

• [News] Intel’s Lunar Lake Bundled Memory Reportedly Causes Uproar in the PC Supply Chain
• [News] Battle in AI PCs: Exploring Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm Chips’ AI Computing Power

(Photo credit: Samsung)