In October 2022, the U.S. imposed a new wave of chip controls on China, but TSMC ultimately received an extension of its exemption permit from the U.S. Department of Commerce for one year. This exemption is set to expire on May 31, potentially impacting the shipment schedule of the Nanjing plant.

TSMC stated that in October last year, the company applied for an indefinite exemption from the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the process is still ongoing. As per a report from Commercial Times, industry sources have noted that if a new permit is not obtained, the Nanjing plant will need to apply for export permits on a case-by-case basis for certain items sourced from the U.S. starting June 1.

The U.S.-China trade war, which began in 2018, saw the U.S. impose stricter export controls in October 2022 on certain high-performance computing chips and semiconductor production items when exported to specific countries. While South Korean semiconductor companies like Samsung have received indefinite extension exemptions for semiconductor equipment controls in China, TSMC’s Nanjing subsidiary only secured a one-year exemption from the U.S. government, drawing significant attention.

Currently, TSMC operates 12-inch fabs in both Nanjing and Songjiang, Shanghai, along with 8-inch fabs, catering to local chip design companies. The most advanced process is at 16 nanometers. Over the past five years, TSMC’s revenue share from China has gradually declined from 20% in 2019 to 12% in 2023.

The latest news from TSMC indicates that it has obtained “Validated End User (VEU)” authorization, according to Commercial Times. However, according to TSMC’s annual report, there is no guarantee that the authorization obtained will not be terminated in the future.

TSMC emphasizes that while global trade barriers may increase the company’s production costs, its operations have not been significantly impacted so far. However, with the deepening of global trade tensions, related regulations, laws, and measures may still have negative effects on its business and operations. TSMC also reiterates its commitment to continue monitoring changes in trade policies and measures among major economies and taking corresponding measures based on subsequent developments.

Industry sources cited by the same report predict that the need for TSMC’s Nanjing plant to apply for export permits on a case-by-case basis in the future will inevitably increase operational procedures and extend the wafer shipment schedule in that region.

Additionally, on June 4th, TSMC’s shareholders will hold a comprehensive election for the board of directors. One of the independent directors, Ursula Burns, also serves as the Vice Chair of the Supply Chain Competitiveness Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Commerce. Orders from specific countries will undoubtedly receive close attention from the board of directors in the future.

Besides China, TSMC’s global expansion has also reached locations in the United States, Japan, and Germany, solidifying its goal of being a “long-term and trustworthy provider of technology and capacity.”

TSMC’s Kumamoto Plant in Japan held its opening ceremony in February, with mass production expected to begin in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, as per a previous report from Reuters, TSMC will start construction of its first chip plant in Europe in Dresden, eastern Germany. The project is scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of this year, with production expected to begin in 2027.

In contrast, the construction progress of its Arizona plant in the United States has been relatively slow. Due to the delay in the first phase’s production timeline from the end of 2024 to the first half of 2025, the production schedule for the second phase will also be postponed to start after 2027.

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(Photo credit: TSMC)

The market was originally concerned that NVIDIA might face a demand lull during the transition from its Hopper series GPUs to the Blackwell series. However, the company executives clearly stated during the latest financial report release that this is not the case.

According to reports from MarketWatch and CNBC, NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress stated on May 22 that NVIDIA’s data center revenue for the first quarter (February to April) surged 427% year-over-year to USD 22.6 billion, primarily due to shipments of Hopper GPUs, including the H100.

On May 22, during the earnings call, Kress also mentioned that Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, announced the launch of its latest large language model (LLM), “Lama 3,” which utilized 24,000 H100 GPUs. This was the highlight of Q1. She also noted that major cloud computing providers contributed approximately “mid-40%” of NVIDIA’s data center revenue.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also stated in the call, “We see increasing demand of Hopper through this quarter,” adding that he expects demand to outstrip supply for some time as NVIDIA transitions to Blackwell.

As per a report from MoneyDJ, Wall Street had previously been concerned that NVIDIA’s customers might delay purchases while waiting for the Blackwell series. Sources cited by the report predict that the Blackwell chips will be delivered in the fourth quarter of this year.

NVIDIA’s Q1 (February to April) financial result showed that revenue soared 262% year-over-year to USD 26.04 billion, with adjusted earnings per share at USD 6.12. Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s data center revenue surged 427% year-over-year to USD 22.6 billion.

During Q1, revenue from networking products (mainly Infiniband) surged more than threefold to USD 3.2 billion compared to the same period last year. Revenue from gaming-related products increased by 18% year-over-year to USD 2.65 billion. Looking ahead to this quarter (May to July), NVIDIA predicts revenue will reach USD 28 billion, plus or minus 2%.

NVIDIA’s adjusted gross margin for Q1 was 78.9%. The company predicts that this quarter’s adjusted gross margin will be 75.5%, plus or minus 50 basis points. In comparison, competitor AMD’s gross margin for the first quarter was 52%.

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(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

Belgium-based IMEC Microelectronics Research Center has announced the leading role in establishing the NanoIC pilot line project, for which it has received a total of EUR 2.5 billion from public and corporate donations.

As one of the four advanced semiconductor pilot line projects designated by the European Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU), the NanoIC pilot line is to bridge the technology gap between the lab and the fab, accelerating the development, design, and testing of proof-of-concept products through small-scale production.

According to the European Chips Act, which has a total budget of EUR 15.8 billion by 2030, the “European Chips Initiative” is regarded as a key part. This initiative aims to significantly enhance advanced chip technologies and innovation. The European Chips Initiative will gather EU, member states, and resources from the stakeholders from third-party countries related to EU programs, which is expected to be driven by the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU).

In addition to spearheading the NanoIC pilot line project, IMEC will also be a part of two other projects: the advanced FD-SOI process pilot line and the advanced heterogeneous system integration pilot line. The NanoIC pilot line will focus on developing sub-2nm process SoC, providing prototype development PDK to participants from academia to industry, thereby reducing the risk of chip R&D and improving development efficiency.

Of the EUR 2.5 billion in funding, EUR 1.4 billion comes from Chips JU and the Belgian government, while the remaining EUR 1.1 billion comes from partners such as  ASML. IMEC President and CEO Luc Van den hove stated that the support from the EU, the Belgian government, and corporate partners will enable IMEC to maintain a top position and better align with market demands.

This investment will double output and learning speed, accelerate the pace of innovation, strengthen the European chip ecosystem, and hence promote economic growth in Europe.

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(Photo credit: IMEC)

Sources have revealed that major Chinese chip manufacturers such as SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) and CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies) are striving to localize the supply of critical chip materials and chemicals. This move is expected to counteract U.S. export controls and could potentially exclude global suppliers from the Chinese market.

According to a report from Nikkei News, since last year, SMIC has accelerated its efforts to require customers to help monitor, verify, and adopt local suppliers. This adoption covers a range of materials used in the chip manufacturing process, including wafers, chemicals, gasses, and other essential materials. Since being added to the U.S. entity list at the end of 2020, SMIC has been continuously exploring local supply alternatives.

Reportedly, CXMT is also actively launching a similar initiative to investigate local suppliers to replace foreign sources.

These actions indicate that China’s latest localization efforts extend beyond merely increasing the use of local chip manufacturing equipment. They now encompass hundreds of chemicals, materials, and gasses, which could potentially push foreign suppliers out of the local market.

Another source cited in a report from Nikkei news mentioned that chip manufacturers are maintaining ties with global suppliers of chip chemicals to avoid sudden impacts on production quality. However, strong incentives are stimulating the development of Chinese material suppliers. For example, National Silicon Industry Group is growing into a competitor against industry leaders like Shin-Etsu Chemical, Sumco, and GlobalWafers.

Chinese chip manufacturers are also expanding their use of local sputter targets, polishing pads, slurry, and ultra-high purity chemicals and gasses. These critical chip manufacturing materials markets have traditionally been dominated by foreign suppliers such as 3M, DuPont, and Sumitomo Chemical.

Sources cited in Nikkei’s report further indicate that these actions initially apply to less advanced chip manufacturing processes, such as 55nm and 40nm, but will eventually extend to processes below 28nm.

However, as per another report from Economic Daily News, some Taiwanese companies have indicated that the impact is limited. The areas that Chinese manufacturers can capture are mostly lower-end products, while mid-to-high-end products still heavily rely on foreign suppliers for the time being.

Taiwanese companies cited by Economic Daily News point out that China has been promoting the localization of its semiconductor supply chain for many years. While policy does provide some momentum, the key issues remain quality and yield rates. Customers are said to be reluctant to frequently adopt new suppliers, making it difficult to achieve comprehensive replacement.

Industry sources cited in the same report further note that China’s localization efforts in semiconductors are primarily focused on mature processes, with more noticeable progress in the mid-to-low-end sectors. For advanced materials like photoresists and polishing slurry, products from Japan and Western countries still hold a competitive advantage in terms of yield.

Additionally, industry sources mention that China is advancing its localization efforts more rapidly in the area of small-sized silicon wafers, which are mainly used for testing rather than production. However, for 8-inch and 12-inch silicon wafers, the market is still predominantly controlled by major foreign manufacturers.

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(Photo credit: SMIC)

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, sellers, in particular Samsung, have increased the chip supply, therefore pushing DRAM prices downward, while DDR4 products suffer from higher inventory. Regarding NAND Flash prices, the retail market is less willing in replenish orders, together with how wafer prices have been surging from the bottom, the depletion of spot prices could carry on. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

The spot market has yet to show a demand turnaround; and sellers, in particular Samsung, have increased the chip supply, thereby pushing prices back down again. Looking at different types of DRAM products, module houses and channels have relatively high inventory levels for DDR4 products. Hence, the downward pressure on spot prices of DDR4 products is greater compared with spot prices of DDR5 products. Overall, even though contract prices have again registered significant increases in 2Q24, this rally has no positive effect on spot prices. Instead, spot transactions continue to show declining quantity, and the downward price pressure has become more pronounced. The average spot price of mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) has dropped by 1.19% from US$1.940 last week to US$1.917 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

The Chinese government’s cracking down on smuggling of memory products, as well as the persistently sluggish demand from the retail market, have prompted module houses to amplify their sales intensity to actively pursue transactions, which led to a loosening in prices. Without replenishment of orders within the retail market, together with how wafer prices have surged from rock bottom to nearly 80% by now, the depletion of spot prices could carry on in the near future. Spot price for 512Gb TLC wafers has dropped by 2.61% this week, arriving at US$3.579.