Samsung Electronics is ramping up its entry into the semiconductor glass substrate market by advancing its equipment procurement and installation to September, with trial production slated to begin in the fourth quarter, one quarter earlier than originally planned. According to a report from South Korean media outlet ETNews, Samsung Electronics aims to commence mass production of glass substrates for high-end System-in-Package (SiP) applications starting in 2026.

In order to manufacture highly complex multi-chiplet SiPs, Samsung has decided to expedite the trial production schedule at its Sejong plant in South Korea to gain more expertise in glass substrate manufacturing. Samsung’s competitor, Intel, also plans to offer packaging technology on glass substrates in the future.

Reportedly, Samsung Electronics plans to have all necessary equipment installed on the trial production line by September and commence operations in the fourth quarter. Partners for the trial production line include companies such as Philoptics, Chemtronics, Joongwoo M-Tech, and Germany’s LPKF, which will provide equipment components.

According to a report from Tom’s Hardware, Compared to traditional organic substrates, glass substrates offer significant advantages, including excellent flatness, which enhances exposure and focusing capabilities, as well as outstanding dimensional stability suitable for next-generation chip interconnects with multiple small chips. Additionally, glass substrates exhibit better thermal and mechanical stability, making them suitable for high-temperature durable applications in data centers.

Intel has been developing glass substrates for nearly a decade and plans to introduce commercial products by 2030. Intel believes that the characteristics of glass substrates will significantly increase interconnect density, which is crucial for efficient power transmission and signal routing in advanced SiP technology.

Previously, Intel also elaborated on its progress on the glass-based substrate packaging technology. According to Intel’s previous press release, glass substrates can tolerate higher temperatures, offer 50% less pattern distortion, and have ultra-low flatness for improved depth of focus for lithography as well as the dimensional stability needed for extremely tight layer-to-layer interconnect overlay.

As a result of these distinctive properties, a 10x increase in interconnect density is possible on glass substrates. Furthermore, improved mechanical properties of glass enable ultra-large form-factor packages with very high assembly yields.

Meanwhile, Absolics, a subsidiary of SKC America, aims to start production of glass substrates for customers as early as the second half of 2024.

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• [News] Samsung Bullish on Glass Substrate Applications, Setting Up Production Line for Mass Production Starting in 2026
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(Photo credit: Intel)

SK Hynix has reportedly decided to sell the subsidiary equipment of its Chinese manufacturing plant to an investment company owned by the Wuxi Municipal Government, leading to speculation that SK Hynix may be withdrawing from its Chinese manufacturing business.

According to reports from The Korea Economy Daily and Reuters, industry sources have revealed that SK Hynix’s subsidiary, SK Hynix System IC, which operates 8-inch wafer manufacturing, recently held a board meeting and decided to sell a 21.3% stake in SK Hynix System IC (Wuxi) for KRW 205.4 billion (roughly USD 150.8 million) to Wuxi Industry Development Group.

Additionally, as per the Reuter’s report, SK Hynix System IC said it will also sell its intangible assets, including process technology to its Wuxi unit for KRW 123.8 billion.

The sources cited by The Korea Economy Daily‘s report have revealed that Wuxi Industry Development Group has additionally issued new shares to acquire a 28.6% stake, indicating that SK hynix is highly likely to sell nearly 50% of its shares.

Just in March, per a report from Chosun Daily, SK Hynix planned the closure of its Shanghai-based company established in 2006, shifting its focus to Wuxi, where its semiconductor manufacturing plant is located, making it the new business hub in China. However, this recent withdrawal suggests that SK hynix may be considering a complete exit from the Chinese semiconductor foundry market.

SK Hynix’s decision to downsize its Chinese foundry business comes amid a worsening semiconductor market, compounded by aggressive capacity expansions by domestic companies, making it difficult to maintain competitiveness. Additionally, China is actively expanding its 8-inch wafer plants to counter US export restrictions and is heavily investing in nurturing leading domestic foundry enterprises such as SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor.

As per data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, semiconductor capacity in China surged by 40% in the first quarter, with SMIC’s overall capacity increasing by over 12%, despite a slowdown in foundry demand.

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(Photo credit: SK Hynix)

Microsoft President Brad Smith announced the investment of USD 3.3 billion to construct an artificial intelligence data center in Wisconsin, aiming to make the state a core driver of the innovation economy. Notably, the site of the facility was originally intended for a LCD panel plant promised by Foxconn six years ago.

According to Microsoft’s press release, the AI data center in Wisconsin is expected to create 2,300 union construction opportunities by 2025 and will provide long-term employment opportunities over the next several years.

Microsoft’s press release highlights that this investment will be utilized for constructing cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure, establishing the first AI co-innovation lab in the United States focused on the manufacturing industry, and promoting AI training programs with the goal of enabling over 100,000 Wisconsin residents to acquire necessary AI skills.

The press release also notes that Microsoft will collaborate with Gateway Technical College to establish a Data Center Academy, aiming to train more than 1,000 students within five years, equipping them to enter roles in data centers or information technology departments.

Microsoft’s new facility in Racine County, Wisconsin, was originally intended to be the site of a LCD panel plant planned by Foxconn, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (Foxconn Group), according to a report by CNA.

In June 2018, then-chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, and then-US President Donald Trump attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the panel plant. Foxocnn announced an investment of USD 10 billion, and Trump described the project as the “8th wonder of the world.”

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• [News] Microsoft Reportedly Stockpiling AI Chips to Boost Hardware Capability
• [News] Breaking Away from NVIDIA Dependency, Microsoft Reportedly Developing In-House AI Server High-Speed Network Card

(Photo credit: iStock)

The latest challenger has emerged in the battle for dominance in China’s GPU and graphics card market. China’s LinJoWing has unveiled its self-developed second-generation graphics processing chip, the GP201, reportedly boasting performance metrics surpassing that of AMD’s E8860 embedded graphics card.

According to a report from global media outlet Tom’s Hardware, LinJoWing, despite being only three years old, has demonstrated with its GP201 GPU performance comparable to AMD’s E8860 integrated graphics card from a decade ago. While the GPU is already in production and available in China, it has yet to surface on American shopping websites.

As per a report from Chinese media outlet IT Home, the GP201 outperforms the AMD E8860 embedded graphics card in various aspects such as 3D performance, 2D polygon rendering, ellipse rendering, pixel and image shifting, window rendering, and support for the domestic OpenCL library platform.

Additionally, LinJoWing’s GP201 GPU supports multiple Chinese-made processors and operating systems, with single-precision floating-point computing power reaching 1.2 Tflops. It supports 4K 60Hz display and H.265 decoding, with a maximum power consumption of 30W. Currently, five models of the GPU have been released in full-height, half-height, MXM, and other forms.

Tom’s Hardware believes that the performance of the GP201 is actually unimpressive. NVIDIA’s entry-level product, the GT 1030, released in 2017, matches the GP201 in terms of clock speed, TFLOPS, and power consumption, with eBay prices generally below $50. The GT 1030 benefits from mature NVIDIA drivers, making it difficult for LinJoWing to reach this level. However, LinJoWing’s ability to enter production after only three years of establishment gives it a competitive edge over other Chinese graphics cards.

This year, LinJoWing also surpassed its competitor Loongson in the low-end GPU market. However, challenging its biggest competitor, Moore Threads, will require further effort. Currently, Moore Threads’ flagship GPU’s specifications can rival NVIDIA’s RTX 3060 Ti.

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• [News] China Allegedly Orders Telecom Companies to Phase Out Foreign Chips, Impacting Intel and AMD
• [News] AMD Reportedly Faces Obstacles in Selling Custom AI Chips to China

(Photo credit: AMD)

“The Dawn of Generative AI Has Come!” This new chapter in the course of human technological evolution was first introduced by NVIDIA’s founder, Jensen Huang. Qualcomm’s CEO, Cristiano Amon, also shares this optimism regarding generative AI. Amon believes this technology is rapidly evolving and being adopted for applications such as mobile devices. It is expected to have the potential to radically transform the landscape of the smartphone industry. Similarly, Intel has declared the arrival of the “AI PC” era, signaling a major shift in computing-related technologies and applications.

This year, AI is transitioning from cloud computing to on-premise computing. Various “AI PCs” and “AI smartphones” are being introduced to the market, offering a wide range of selections. The current year of 2024 is even being referred to as the “Year of AI PC,” with brands such as Asus, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and LG actively releasing new products to capture market share. With the rapid rise of AI PCs and AI smartphones, revolutionary changes are expected to occur in workplaces and people’s daily lives. Furthermore, the PC and smartphone industries are also expected to be reinvigorated with new sources of demand.

An AI PC refers to a laptop (notebook) computer capable of performing on-device AI computations. Its main difference from regular office or business laptops lies in its CPU, which includes an additional neural processing unit (NPU). Examples of AI CPUs include Intel’s Core Ultra series and AMD’s Ryzen 8040 series. Additionally, AI PCs come with more DRAM to meet the demands of AI computations, thereby supporting related applications like those involving machine learning.

Microsoft’s role is crucial in this context, as the company has introduced a conversational AI assistant called “Copilot” that aims to seamlessly integrate itself into various tasks, such as working on Microsoft Office documents, video calls, web browsing, and other forms of collaborative activities. With Copilot, it is now possible to add a direct shortcut button for AI on the keyboard, allowing PC users to experience a holistic collaborative relationship with AI.

In the future, various computer functions will continue to be optimized with AI. Moreover, barriers that existed for services such as ChatGPT, which still require an internet connection, are expected to disappear. Hence, AI-based apps on PCs could one day be run offline. Such a capability is also one of the most eagerly awaited features among PC users this year.

Surging Development of LLMs Worldwide Has Led to a Massive Increase in AI Server Shipments

AI-enabled applications are not limited to PCs and smartphones. For example, an increasing number of cloud companies have started providing services that leverage AI in various domains, including passenger cars, household appliances, home security devices, wearable devices, headphones, cameras, speakers, TVs, etc. These services often involve processing voice commands and answering questions using technologies like ChatGPT. Going forward, AI-enabled applications will become ubiquitous in people’s daily lives.

Not to be overlooked is the fact that, as countries and multinational enterprises continue to develop their large language models (LLMs), the demand for AI servers will increase and thus promote overall market growth. Furthermore, edge AI servers are expected to become a major growth contributor in the future as well. Small-sized businesses are more likely to use LLMs that are more modest in scale for various applications. Therefore, they are more likely to consider adopting lower-priced AI chips that also offer excellent cost-to-performance ratios.

TrendForce projects that shipments of AI servers, including models equipped with GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs, will reach 1.655 million units in 2024, marking a growth of 40.2% compared with the 2023 figure. Furthermore, the share of AI servers in the overall server shipments for 2024 is projected to surpass 12%.

Regarding the development of AI chips in the current year of 2024, the focus is on the competition among the B100, MI300, and Gaudi series respectively released by NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. Apart from these chips, another significant highlight of this year is the emergence of in-house designed chips or ASICs from cloud service providers.

In addition to AI chips, the development of AI on PCs and smartphones is certainly another major driving force behind the technology sector in 2024. In the market for CPUs used in AI PCs, Intel’s Core Ultra series and AMD’s Ryzen 8000G series are expected to make a notable impact. The Snapdragon X Elite from Qualcomm has also garnered significant attention as it could potentially alter the competitive landscape in the near future.

Turning to the market for SoCs used in AI smartphones, the fierce competition between Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300 series is a key indicator. Another development that warrants attention is the adoption of AI chips in automotive hardware, such as infotainment systems and advanced driver assistance systems. The automotive market is undoubtedly one of the main battlegrounds among chip suppliers this year.

The supply chain in Taiwan has played a crucial role in providing the hardware that supports the advancement of AI-related technologies. When looking at various sections of the AI ecosystem, including chip manufacturing as well as the supply chains for AI servers and AI PCs, Taiwan-based companies have been important contributors.

Taiwan-based Companies in the Supply Chain Stand Ready for the Coming Wave of AI-related Demand

In the upstream of the supply chain, semiconductor foundries and OSAT providers such as TSMC, UMC, and ASE have always been key suppliers. As for ODMs or OEMs, companies including Wistron, Wiwynn, Inventec, Quanta, Gigabyte, Supermicro, and Foxconn Industrial Internet have become major participants in the supply chains for AI servers and AI PCs.

In terms of components, AI servers are notable for having a power supply requirement that is 2-3 times greater than that of general-purpose servers. The power supply units used in AI servers are also required to offer specification and performance upgrades. Turning to AI PCs, they also have higher demands for both computing power and energy consumption. Therefore, advances in the technologies related to power supply units represent a significant indicator this year with respect to the overall development of AI servers and AI PCs. Companies including Delta Electronics, LITE-ON, AcBel Polytech, CWT, and Chicony are expected to make important contributions to the upgrading and provisioning of power supply units.

Also, as computing power increases, heat dissipation has become a pressing concern for hardware manufacturers looking to further enhance their products. The advancements in heat dissipation made by solution providers such as Sunon, Auras, AVC, and FCN during this year will be particularly noteworthy.

Besides the aforementioned companies, Taiwan is also home to numerous suppliers for other key components related to AI PCs. The table below lists notable component providers operating on the island.

With the advent of generative AI, the technology sector is poised for a boom across its various domains. From AI PCs to AI smartphones and a wide range of smart devices, this year’s market for electronics-related technologies is characterized by diversity and innovation. Taiwan’s supply chain plays a vital role in the development of AI PCs and AI servers, including chips, components, and entire computing systems. As competition intensifies in the realm of LLMs and AI chips, this entire market is expected to encounter more challenges and opportunities.

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(Photo credit: Qualcomm)