According to a report from Economic Daily News, Innolux President James Yang announced on August 5 that the company is advancing its semiconductor fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) with three key processes, targeting to enter mass production as soon as year-end.

The chip-first process technology, set to be the first to reach mass production by the end of this year, is expected to significantly contribute to revenue by the first quarter of next year.

Additionally, the RDL-first process, which target mid-to-high-end products, is anticipated to enter mass production within one to two years. The most technically challenging Through-Glass Via (TGV) process, being developed in collaboration with partners, will require another two to three years before it can be mass-produced.

At yesterday’s earnings call, there was significant interest in whether Innolux’s 4th Plant in Tainan (5.5-generation LCD panel plant) would be sold to Micron or TSMC.

Innolux Chairman Jim Hung stated that, in addition to quantifying the value of the sale, it is also important to consider the qualitative aspect, such as the potential new business opportunities that the deal could bring for both parties.

He further pointed out that while 5.5-generation plants are not the most competitive in the panel industry, they could still be valuable to other manufacturers. The sale of this asset is expected to contribute to Innolux’s non-operating income.

Regarding the recent focus on FOPLP (Fan-Out Panel-Level Packaging) mass production progress, Jim Hung emphasized that Innolux’s technology is already prepared.

James Yang explained that Innolux’s panel-level fan-out packaging technology will initially be applied to mid-to-low-end products, with plans to later expand into mid-to-high-end products.

He added that by entering the FOPLP field, Innolux aims for this technology to become a part of the AI PC industry, viewing the asset disposal as an opportunity to develop new business models and collaborations.

Previously reported by Economic Daily News, Innolux has been promoting the transformation of its fully depreciated old plants. The 3.5-generation line at the Tainan facility has been repurposed for advanced packaging with FOPLP, and the 4-generation line has been converted to produce X-ray sensors (through Raystar Optronics), both of which are related to semiconductor products.

Read more

• [News] Innolux Confirms Sale of Tainan Plant 4, with Micron & TSMC Reportedly in the Bidding Stage
• [News] Venturing into AI, Innolux Reportedly Partners with Memory Giants, While Its 4th Plant in Tainan to Focus on Packaging Applications

(Photo credit: Innolux)

According to a report from Commercial Times, despite ongoing turbulence in the semiconductor industry, including Intel’s capital expenditure cuts and reported bottlenecks in NVIDIA’s B-series GPU, TSMC’s leading position in the industry may remain unshaken.

The sources cited in the report note that the issues with the B-series GPU, stemming from mask replacements to enhance chip stability, have been quickly resolved by the foundry.

The sources cited in the report believe that NVIDIA’s Blackwell started production at the end of the second quarter. To improve stability, NVIDIA replaced some masks, causing about a two-week production delay. The redesign has been completed, and large-scale production will proceed in the fourth quarter.

The same source do not believe it will affect TSMC’s CoWoS revenue, as the idle two-week capacity will be filled by the equally strong demand for H100.

On the other hand, Intel’s CPUs are reportedly facing issues as well. As per the company’s statement, the 13th and 14th generation Intel Core desktop systems are experiencing instability due to a microcode algorithm resulting in incorrect voltage requests to the processor.

Although the company has provided a two-year warranty extension and real-time updates to fix the errors, concerns about design flaws and manufacturing process issues still exist.

In 2024, Intel’s new platforms, Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake, will have their CPU tiles produced using TSMC’s 3nm process, accelerating the production schedule. Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake are expected to ship officially by the end of the third and fourth quarters of this year, respectively.

With the support of the 3nm technology, these measures are expected to alleviate market concerns.

The sources cited by Commercial Times estimate that TSMC’s competitor Intel has begun to strictly cut costs, reducing capital expenditures by 20%. This could affect key capabilities in mass production and defect resolution in wafer manufacturing.

Therefore, sources cited by the report believe that TSMC’s leading position remains difficult to challenge in the short term.

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• [News] TSMC Pushes for FOPLP Mass Production by 2027, Reportedly Eyeing on Innolux’s Plant
• [News] TSMC Reportedly Forms a Team on FOPLP Development, with Mini Line on the Road

(Photo credit: TSMC)

Automotive chip market, previously enjoying robust growth among the semiconductor sector, is now showing signs of slowing down.

According to a report from WeChat account DRAMeXchange, the major foundry UMC announced that it expects customer inventories in the communications, consumer electronics, and computer sectors to return to seasonal levels as usual in the second half of this year, and to reach healthy levels by the end of the year.

However, demand in the automotive end market remains weak, which may extend the period of inventory adjustment, with healthy levels anticipated only by the first quarter of next year.

Another foundry giant, TSMC, warned in its latest financial statement that the automotive market might decline this year in spite of a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5% in the revenue of its automotive electronics end market in 2Q24.

Meanwhile, the sluggish growth trend in the automotive chip market is also exemplified by the business performance of three leading automotive chip companies—Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, and NXP as they all saw declines in revenues.

Texas Instruments’ revenue for 2Q24 was USD 3.82 billion, down 16% YoY and the sales of its industrial and automotive business continue to decrease.

STMicroelectronics delivered revenue of USD 3.23 billion, down 25.3% YoY, with automotive business revenue falling short of expectation, offsetting growth in personal electronics sales.

NXP’s achieved revenue of USD 3.13 billion, down 5.2% YoY and its automotive business generated revenue of USD 1.728 billion, down 7.4% YoY, indicating the decline widened compared to the first quarter.

Despite the strong growth in the automotive chip market in 2023, the industry believes that as the overall automotive end market fails to advance as expected and there is an overcapacity in some automotive chip markets, automotive chip market growth will slow down in 2024, with the growth rate dropping to single digits in the coming years.

It’s learned that automotive semiconductor can be broadly categorized into microcontroller (MCU), computing chip (CPU, GPU, NPU, etc.), sensing chip (radar, image sensor, photoelectric sensor, etc.), memory chip (DRAM, NAND Flash, etc.), communication chip (CAN bus chip, connectivity chip, etc.), and power chip (IGBT, silicon carbide, etc.), among others.

In the view of the industry, current MCU and other chips are facing significant inventory pressure due to the declining automotive end market demand. However, power chip and autonomous driving chip continue to see strong demand driven by the wave of automotive electrification and intelligence.

Therefore, while the automotive semiconductor market may slow down in the short term, the automotive chip market still possesses growth potential in the long run with the continuous adoption of silicon carbide and autonomous driving chips in the increasingly popular EV and smart vehicle markets.

Read more

• [News] UMC Optimistic About Second Half Business Outlook, While AI Could Capture 10-20% Market Share
• [News] EU Reportedly Delays Decision on Imposing Tariffs on Chinese Electric Cars

(Photo credit: Pixabay)

According to a report from Tom’s Hardware citing industry sources, it’s indicated that Chinese memory giant ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has started mass production of HBM2. If confirmed, this is approximately two years ahead of the expected timeline, although the yield rate for HBM2 is still uncertain.

Earlier, Nikkei once reported that CXMT had begun procuring equipment necessary for HBM production, estimating it would take one to two years to achieve mass production. Currently, CXMT has ordered equipment from suppliers in the U.S. and Japan, with American companies Applied Materials and Lam Research having received export licenses.

Reportedly, HBM2 has a per-pin data transfer rate of approximately 2 GT/s to 3.2 GT/s. Producing HBM2 does not require the latest lithography techniques but does demand enough manufacturing capacity.

The process involves using through-silicon vias (TSV) to vertically connect memory components, which is rather complex. However, packaging the HBM KGSD (known good stack die) modules is still less intricate than manufacturing traditional DRAM devices using a 10nm process.

CXMT’s DRAM technology is said to be lagging behind that of Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix. These three companies have already started mass production of HBM3 and HBM3e and are preparing to advance to HBM4 in the coming years.

There also are reports indicating that Huawei, the Chinese tech giant subject to US sanctions, looks to collaborate with other local companies to produce HBM2 by 2026. Per a previous report from The Information, a group led by Huawei aimed at producing HBM includes Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit.

Moreover, since Huawei’s Ascend 910 series processors use HBM2, it has made HBM2 a crucial technology for advanced AI and HPC processors in China. Therefore, local manufacturing of HBM2 is a significant milestone for the country.

Read more

• [News] Bypassing U.S. Restrictions? CXMT Showcases GAA Technology for 3nm Chips
• [News] Progress Made in Chinese Consortium’s Development of HBM, Reportedly Targeting HBM2 Production by 2026

(Photo credit: CXMT)

According to a report from The Information, NVIDIA’s “world’s most powerful AI chip,” the GB200, is said to be experiencing yield issues, leading to a one-quarter delay in mass shipments.

As per sources cited by a report from the Economic Daily News, it’s suggested that the problem likely lies in the yield rates of advanced packaging, mainly affecting the non-reference-designed GB200 chips.

The supply of the reference-designed GB200 chips remains stable, with Foxconn being the sole contract manufacturer receiving an adequate supply of these chips. Foxconn is set to ship according to the original schedule in the fourth quarter.

Furthermore, the sources cited by the same report point out that Foxconn is currently the only manufacturer able to meet the scheduled shipment of the GB200 in the fourth quarter. This is primarily due to Foxconn securing NVIDIA’s reference-designed GB200 chips orders, which are prioritized for shipment amid the supply shortage.

The term “reference-designed” refers to the GB200 AI servers ordered by NVIDIA for production at Foxconn and other manufacturers. These products are made according to NVIDIA’s reference designs and are not customized. Once produced, they can be sold to cloud service providers (CSPs) and other clients.

In contrast, “non-reference-designed” refers to customized versions of the GB200, which are tailored to specific customer requirements. The current yield issues are affecting the production of these non-reference-designed items, with the priority given to shipping the reference-designed products first.

Following the reports addressing the tight supply of GB200, customers are said to be scrambling to secure their orders from Foxconn due to its ample chip supply. Foxconn, traditionally silent on customer and order details, will reveal the latest status of its product lines during the press conference on August 14th.

The GB200 was originally scheduled for mass shipments starting in the fourth quarter of this year. However, over the weekend, reports emerged about yield issues, pushing the mass shipment timeline to the first quarter of next year, causing a stir among the market.

Read more

• [News] GB200 AI Servers Generate USD 210 Billion Annual Revenue, Boosting Supply Chain Growth
• [News] Foxconn Rumored to Secure Exclusive NVIDIA GB200 AI Deal

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)