According to Bloomberg citing sources, the US government is considering adding Chinese semiconductor companies linked to Huawei to a blacklist. This move comes after Huawei made significant breakthroughs in technology last year, indicating a potential escalation in US efforts to curb China’s ambitions in AI and semiconductors.

As per a report from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), most of the potentially affected Chinese entities are identified as chip manufacturing facilities either acquired by or under construction by Huawei. Among them, companies that may be blacklisted include Qingdao Si’En, SwaySure, and Shenzhen Pengsheng Technology Co., Ltd.

Furthermore, US officials are also considering action against companies like Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT). A previous report from Bloomberg already indicated that the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) was contemplating placing CXMT on the entity list, which would restrict their access to US technology. Additionally, restrictions on five other Chinese companies are being considered, although the final list is yet to be confirmed.

Regarding this matter, the BIS and White House National Security Council declined to comment at that time.

In addition to companies involved in actual chip production, the United States may also consider sanctioning Shenzhen Pengjin High-Tech Co., Ltd. and SiCarrier. Per the report citing industry sources, there are concerns that these two semiconductor manufacturing equipment companies may act as agents to help Huawei obtain restricted equipment.

Currently, companies that have been listed on the entity list by the US Department of Commerce include Huawei, SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation), and Shanghai Micro Electronics. Additionally, China’s other major memory manufacturer, Yangtze Memory Technology Corp, was added to this restriction list in 2022.

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• [News] US Government Considers Adding ChangXin Memory Technologies to Entity List, Imposing Further Sanctions on Chinese Firms
• [News] Bypassing U.S. Restrictions? CXMT Showcases GAA Technology for 3nm Chips

(Photo credit: iStock)

NVIDIA unveiled its Blackwell architecture and the touted powerhouse AI chip GB200 at GTC 2024 held in San Jose, California, on March 19th. Manufactured using TSMC’s 4-nanometer (4NP) process, it is expected to ship later this year.

According to a report from TechNews, TSMC’s CoWoS technology comes in various forms, including CoWoS-R, CoWoS-L, and CoWoS-S, each differing in cost due to variations in the interposer material. Customers can choose the appropriate technology based on their specific requirements.

CoWoS-R, for instance, integrates InFo technology, utilizing RDL wiring in the interposer to connect chips, making it suitable for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and SoC integration.

On the other hand, CoWoS-L combines the advantages of CoWoS-S and InFO technologies, offering a cost-effective solution with the use of LSI (Local Silicon Interconnect) chips as the interposer for dense chip-to-chip connections. According to market reports, the Blackwell platform adopts CoWoS-L, as this technology is better suited for larger chiplets.

CoWoS-S, utilizing silicon as the interposer material, represents the highest cost variant and is currently the mainstream choice. Notably, NVIDIA’s H100, H200, and AMD’s MI300 chips all employ CoWoS-S.

NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell architecture features AI chips, including the B100, B200, and the GB200 with Grace CPU, all manufactured on TSMC’s 4-nanometer process. As per the industry sources cited by the report, insights suggest that production for the B100 is slated for the fourth quarter of this year, with mass production expected in the first half of next year.

Meanwhile, the B200 and GB200 are set to follow suit with mass production next year. As per a report from Tom’s Hardware, the AI computing performance of a single B200 GPU can reach 20 petaflops, whereas the previous generation H100 offered a maximum of only 4 petaflops of AI computing performance. The B200 will also be paired with 192GB of HBM3e memory, providing up to 8 TB/s of bandwidth.

TSMC’s advanced manufacturing processes and CoWoS packaging technology are expected to continue benefiting, particularly with the adoption of CoWoS-L packaging.

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• [News] TSMC’s 4nm Process Powers NVIDIA’s Blackwell Architecture GPU, AI Performance Surpasses Previous Generations by Multiples
• [News] NVIDIA and AMD Clash in AI Chip Market, as TSMC Dominates Orders with Strong Momentum in Advanced Processes

(Photo credit: TSMC)

TrendForce has released the latest panel quotations for late March. TV panel prices further grew due to the increasing purchasing power; monitor panel demand continue to rise, surpassing expectations; for notebook panel, the lack of clarity in demand release has posed challenges for panel manufacturers to gauge price hikes, forcing them to maintain current prices to avoid further declines.

More details are as follows:

• TV

In March, the purchasing power of TV brands further increased, driving a 7% quarterly growth in procurement for major brands in the first quarter. This also led to a rebound in panel manufacturers’ utilization rates to over 80%.

With the upcoming sports events in the second quarter, new product stocking, and promotional activities like China’s 618 sales, panel prices are expected to rise further. Despite the traditional off-season in the first quarter, brand procurement remains strong, with TV panel prices expected to see expanded increases in March.

Anticipated increases include 1 USD for 32-inch, 2 USD for 43-inch and 50-inch, 3 USD for 55-inch, and 5 USD for 65-inch and 75-inch.

• Monitor

In March, the ongoing price hikes in TV panels have prompted some panel manufacturers to reallocate resources towards TV products. Additionally, while standard surveillance monitor panels continue to incur losses, sales of TV and laptop panels are profitable. This may lead to a reluctance among panel manufacturers to produce surveillance monitor panels.

On the demand side, due to the red sea crisis, some brands need to increase their inventory levels. Coupled with warming demand in certain regional markets and the anticipation of panel price hikes and potential supply shortages, current panel demand orders continue to rise, surpassing expectations. This trend is driving an upward trajectory in panel prices. LCD monitor panel prices, including Open Cell panels and panel modules, are expected to rebound across the board in March.

Open Cell panel prices are projected to increase by approximately 0.5 USD, while prices for 23.8-inch and 27-inch panel modules are expected to rise by 0.3 USD to 0.5 USD.

• Notebook

Entering March, the notebook panel market has reached the end of the first quarter’s off-season. It is currently expected that inventory demand will gradually strengthen from the second quarter onwards. Meanwhile, TV panel prices have been on the rise since February, and monitor (MNT) panel prices are expected to increase from March. These factors have heightened expectations for price hikes in notebook panels.

However, brands are currently relatively conservative in releasing demand, perceiving a sluggish momentum. This lack of clarity in demand release has made it difficult for panel manufacturers to gauge price hikes, leaving them with no choice but to maintain panel prices to prevent further declines.

The expected price trend for notebook panels in March indicates that 16:9 panel models will remain stable overall, while 16:10 panel models may experience slight downward pressure, with anticipated decreases ranging from 0.2 USD to 0.3 USD.

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• [Insights] Late February Panel Prices Update, TV Panel Prices Return to Rising Trend
• [Insights] Early February Panel Prices Update, TV Panel Returns to an Upward Pricing Trend

Following NVIDIA’s launch of the new computing platform GB200, as per a report from Commerical Times, Taiwanese supply chain players including Quanta, Pegatron, Wiwynn, Wistron, Gigabyte, and Foxconn’s subsidiary Ingrasys have showcased their solutions and related cooling technologies based on the GB200 at the latest GTC conference, aiming to capture opportunities in the next-generation AI server market.

Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT), a subsidiary of Quanta Computer, demonstrated its systems and AI applications based on the NVIDIA MGX architecture, announcing support for the upcoming NVIDIA GB200 superchip and NVIDIA GB200 NVL72.

QCT showcased their NVIDIA MGX architecture systems, featuring the NVIDIA GH200 chip, employing a modular reference design. System manufacturers can utilize the NVIDIA MGX architecture to tailor models suitable for applications like generative AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and edge deployments.

Pegatron, on the other hand, has become one of NVIDIA’s global partners in advanced GPU computing technology, particularly with the latest NVIDIA GB200 chip. Reportedly, Pegatron is actively developing the GB200 NVL36, designed as a multi-node, liquid-cooled, rack-level platform dedicated to processing compute-intensive workloads. Equipped with the NVIDIA BlueField-3 data processing unit, it enables network acceleration in ultra-scale AI cloud environments and fulfills various GPU computing functionalities.

GIGABYTE, a key supplier of high-end AI GPU servers for NVIDIA last year, showcased their latest offerings at this year’s GTC exhibition. Their subsidiary, GIGABYTE Technology, unveiled the GIGABYTE XH23-VG0, a 2U server featuring the NVIDIA H100 GPU and GH200 architecture, capable of transferring data at speeds of up to 900GB per second. Additionally, they announced the readiness of their product line for the next-generation Blackwell platform, including HGX boards, superchips, and PCIe expansion cards, which will be released gradually over the coming months.

Meanwhile, Wiwynn, included in the first wave of suppliers for the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 system, showcased its latest AI server cabinet solution based on the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 at the GTC exhibition. They also presented their newest comprehensive liquid-cooled management system, the UMS100.

Ingrasys also showcased a range of innovations at the exhibition, including NVIDIA MGX architecture servers and the GB200 NVL72 solution. They also demonstrated advanced liquid cooling technologies such as the liquid-to-gas Sidecar technology and liquid-to-liquid Cooling Distribution Unit (CDU).

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• [News] TSMC’s 4nm Process Powers NVIDIA’s Blackwell Architecture GPU, AI Performance Surpasses Previous Generations by Multiples

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)

DRAM Spot Market:

The spot market has not changed noticeably from the previous week and still lacks significant demand momentum. Therefore, spot prices of DDR4 and DDR5 chips have maintained a mostly flat to slightly downward trend. Module houses also hold a conservative demand outlook, so they have yet to actively raise the spot prices of their products.

Currently, the overall price trend remains steady due to suppliers’ efforts to limit supply and prop up prices. However, more chips will be released into the spot market in 2Q24. This supply increase will be especially noticeable for DDR5 products, and spot prices, on the whole, will probably weaken as a result. The average spot price of the mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) fell by 0.05% from US$1.940 last week to US$1.939 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Market:

Despite enervation from end demand, quotations for NAND Flash wafers and other related products have yet to loosen under the stimulation generated by the ongoing increment of contract prices, and prices are still somewhat being supported on the whole. Additionally, provision from suppliers has not expanded significantly, where overall price dynamics are slightly better than that of DRAM spots. 512Gb TLC wafer spots have risen by 8.26% this week, arriving at US$3.840.