According to a report by Taiwan Economic Daily, industry sources have revealed that due to sluggish terminal demand and market competition, TSMC and Vanguard have recently been progressively lowering their prices for 8-inch wafer foundry services, with reductions as high as 30%.

While 8-inch wafer foundry services do not constitute a major portion of TSMC’s revenue, the company has historically maintained a relatively steadfast pricing strategy, refraining from frequent price hikes or reductions. The current reduction of up to 30% has raised significant attention.

The report states that the semiconductor industry is experiencing a downturn in prosperity, resulting in decreased capacity utilization at wafer foundries. Within this context, demand for 8-inch wafers is weaker compared to 12-inch wafers, leading some manufacturers to see their 8-inch wafer utilization rates drop to around 60%.

Regarding the price reduction, analysts at Nomura Securities suggest that this move is primarily aimed at countering Texas Instruments (TI), a global leader in analog ICs, which has significantly lowered prices for products such as power management ICs, triggering a worldwide semiconductor price war that has impacted related industries. In response, IC design companies are hoping for price reductions from foundries such as TSMC and to lower costs and compete against TI.

IC design firms have indicated that they have not received any official notification of price reductions for 8-inch wafer foundry services. They emphasized that TSMC has never implemented such a substantial reduction of up to 30% since its establishment, raising doubts about the authenticity of the news. TSMC has declined to comment on pricing matters.

(Photo credit: TSMC)

Sony, a major supplier of Apple’s camera sensors, suggests weaker demand for the upcoming iPhone 15 due to a lackluster year for Apple’s iPhone sales. Economic challenges have affected iPhone sales, though service revenues have offset losses. The flagship iPhone 15 series is scheduled for a September release.

Sony the world’s largest sensor supplier, had previously projected a gradual recovery in its smartphone imaging and sensing business by the second half of 2023. However, during its latest earnings call, the company revealed that this recovery might not take shape until 2024, mainly attributing the delay to underwhelming sales in the Chinese market.

Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony’s Senior General Manager of Finance, stated, “The recovery pace of the Chinese smartphone market has been slower than our expectations, and the situation in the US market is worsening. We originally anticipated the smartphone market to recover starting from the second half of this fiscal year, but our current assessment suggests that it might not happen until at least next year.”

Sony’s top brass attribute a cautious outlook to a sluggish global economy and geopolitical uncertainties, hinting at muted demand for the iPhone 15 series. This stance resonates with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo view at TFI Securities, forecasting that iPhone 15 might struggle to surpass iPhone 14 sales records, posing challenges to Apple’s suppliers in H2 2023.

Apple reported a 2.4% decline in iPhone sales for its third fiscal quarter, reaching $39.7 billion, slightly below analyst estimates of $39.9 billion. The US region saw a 5.6% year-on-year drop in sales, highlighting a performance that falls short of expectations.

(Source: https://news.cnyes.com/news/id/5282617)

In about a month’s time, the smartphone market is gearing up for Apple’s flagship iPhone 15 series of the year. This annual anticipation leads to a surge in online appearances of models for reference, typically emerging one to two months ahead of the new phone’s unveiling. TechNews, a Taiwanese tech media also acquired an accurate mock-ups mimicking upcoming iPhones, providing an advanced peek into the forthcoming changes in this year’s iPhone 15 series.

• Maintaining 4 Models, 2 Sizes

Similar to last year’s iPhone 14 series, Apple is projected to release 4 models in 2 sizes this year. These include the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 (which some suggest might grow to 6.2 inches) and the iPhone 15 Pro, along with the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max (which could potentially be renamed iPhone 15 Ultra).

• Entire Series Adopts Dynamic Island

Dynamic Island design made its debut in last year’s iPhone 14 Pro series, while the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus retained the traditional notch design. However, even the more affordable iPhone 15 variant will undergo a change, syncing with the Pro version by replacing the notch with a dynamic island design.

Notably, due to the adoption of the dynamic island design for the iPhone 15, some speculate that the screen size might marginally expand to 6.2 inches this year.

• All 4 Models Get a ‘Port’ Change

In response to EU regulations, rumors in the market suggest that Apple is set to switch all models in the iPhone 15 series from the previous Lightning port to the USB-C charging port. From the obtained muck-ups, it appears certain that the entire iPhone 15 series will indeed transition to USB-C ports.

• Larger Camera Modules, Slight ‘Slimming’ for Pro Models

Fitting iPhone 15 series muck-ups with protective cases designed for the iPhone 14 series reveals that, while all 4 models can accommodate iPhone 14 series cases, a closer examination of the camera reveals that the iPhone 14 series case slightly interferes with the lowermost lens.

Furthermore, this year’s iPhone 15 Pro series will have further narrowed screen bezels, down to 1.55mm from the previous 2.2mm. Consequently, the iPhone 15 Pro muck-up will be slightly slimmer than their iPhone 14 Pro predecessors, resulting in a slightly looser fit when encased.

Other Speculations

The information provided by the muck-ups remains limited, leaving us to wonder about potential additional changes to this year’s iPhone 15 series.

As expected, the iPhone 15 Pro series processor is likely to see an upgrade to the A17 Bionic chip (manufactured using TSMC’s 3nm process), while the more budget-friendly iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will possibly adopt last year’s A16 processor from the iPhone 14 Pro series (manufactured using TSMC’s 4nm process).

Regarding memory capacity, the iPhone 15 Pro series could see an upgrade from 6GB to 8GB, while the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus might retain 6GB.

Additionally, it’s rumored that the iPhone 15 series’ ultra-wideband chips will all be upgraded to U2 chips, with the manufacturing process transitioning from the previous generation U1 chip’s 16nm to a 7nm process; this is expected to enhance the energy efficiency performance through this improvement.

In terms of battery life, there’s speculation that the entire iPhone 15 series will adopt ‘stacked batteries’ to enhance endurance. The speculated battery capacities for the four models are as follows: iPhone 15 (3877mAh), iPhone 15 Plus (4912mAh), iPhone 15 Pro (3650mAh), and iPhone 15 Pro Max (4852mAh).

According to TrendForce research, demand for 100Hz LCD monitors surges, driven by gaming trends. Higher-performance gaming PCs in Chinese internet cafes and inventory restocking in global markets elevate the demand for 120Hz+ gaming panels. In 2Q23, LCD shipments with 100Hz+ rates surpass 10 million units, marking a remarkable 67.4% QoQ increase.

Of note, the shipment volume for 100Hz LCD monitor panels has surged by 273.9% in the same quarter, reaching a total of 2.2 million units. The cumulative shipment of 100Hz or higher monitor panels for 1H23 has reached 16.02 million units.

Anticipating 2H23, while early demand for 120Hz+ gaming models might taper, the shift to 100Hz models is expected to sustain shipments. The second-half volume is projected to grow by 21.4% from H1, reaching 19.4 million units, with a distribution split of 45.2% in the first half and 54.8% in the second half.

Expected to reach 35 million units, representing a remarkable year-on-year growth of 85.2%. Among these, an estimated 7.6 million units are attributed solely to the 100Hz models, with the possibility of further up

To counter the effect of 100Hz model demand on pure esports systems, gaming PCs are now defined as those with 120Hz+ panels. This could raise the annual gaming PC market size to 23-24 million units, signifying an 18.7% growth.

TSMC previously announced in November 2021 that it plans to establish two wafer fabrication plants for the 7nm and 28nm processes in Kaohsiung, a southern city of Taiwan. Construction was set to begin in 2022, with official production expected to commence in 2024. However, following the announcement, there have been changes in the progress of the Kaohsiung plant development.

Firstly, there were reports of adjustments to the 7nm plant by the end of 2022, in response to weakened demand in the smartphone and PC markets. Subsequently, there were also reports of changes to the 28nm plant’s plans.

It wasn’t until TSMC’s Q1 2023 earnings conference that they officially announced the adjustment of the Kaohsiung 28nm plant’s construction plans, focusing on capacity enhancement for more advanced process technologies.

At the time, TSMC didn’t specify the exact advanced process that would be introduced, only emphasizing that the construction of the wafer fab would proceed as planned. This triggered market speculation that TSMC was likely to adopt the advanced 2nm process technology at the Kaohsiung plant, in response to the rapidly growing demand in the artificial intelligence market.

This week, TSMC confirmed that the Kaohsiung plant will adopt the 2nm process technology. TSMC stated that the construction of the wafer fab in Kaohsiung will proceed as usual, but the previous expansion plans will be adjusted to accommodate the production of the 2nm advanced process technology, in response to strong market demand for advanced processes.

As for the specific details and contents of the plant development, they have not been further disclosed at this stage. According to TSMC’s plans, mass production of the 2nm process is expected to begin in 2025, with production bases including the previously announced Hsinchu and Taichung facilities, as well as the newly announced Kaohsiung facility.

(Photo credit: TSMC)