On August 8th, Japan experienced a magnitude 7.1 earthquake with the epicenter located off the coast of Kyushu, in the sea east of Miyazaki Prefecture, at a focal depth of 30 kilometers. TSMC’s Kumamoto plant (JASM), located in Kumamoto Prefecture, experienced a seismic intensity scale of level 4.

As per a report from Commercial Times, regarding the impact of the earthquake, TSMC stated that the seismic intensity scale at the Kumamoto plant did not reach the evacuation threshold and is not expected to impact operations.

The schedule for its Kumamoto fab to start mass production in the fourth quarter remains unaffected, and construction work on the second plant has already begun. Kumamoto Prefecture Governor Takashi Kimura is scheduled to visit Taiwan at the end of August to actively seek a third plant.

TSMC’s first JASM plant in Kumamoto is set to start mass production in the fourth quarter, focusing on 12nm and 16nm processes. Construction work on the site for the second plant began at the end of the second quarter, with the building scheduled to break ground in the second half of the year.

Notably, Takashi Kimura, who took office in April, stated in an report from Bloomberg on May 11th that he would spare no effort to persuade TSMC to establish a third fab in the region, believing that during the preparations for TSMC’s first fab in Kumamoto, the region already possesses better-quality road and water infrastructure and an education system that better supports international school students, which could be advantageous.

Kyushu is a key region for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. Recently, ASE Group, a leading packaging and testing company, decided to purchase land and establish a plant in Kitakyushu.

Testing company MA-tek, semiconductor materials distributor Topco Scientific, and Gudeng Precision have all set up bases in Kumamoto, while Gudeng is also planning to establish a new plant in Kurume, between Fukuoka and Kumamoto.

TSMC has indicated that most of its production sites, suppliers, customers, and upstream suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing services are located in areas susceptible to natural disasters.

Thus, to mitigate the risks that could lead to operational disruptions, TSMC has reportedly strengthened its ability to effectively respond to these risks through business continuity management to ensure operational resilience across its supply chain.

Commercial Times reported that from the very beginning of construction, TSMC has been reinforcing building structures, facilities, and equipment, along with implementing preventive measures. This is done to ensure that the plant remains undamaged, with no chemical leaks, equipment displacement, or injuries to personnel.

The evacuation standards for JASM are consistent with those of TSMC’s other plants in Taiwan. The recent earthquake did not meet the threshold for evacuation, so it is not expected to impact operations. This event also served as a stress test before mass production begins, the report noted.

Read more

• [News] TSMC’s Kumamoto Fab 2 Reportedly Begins Land Preparation
• [News] Kumamoto Vying for TSMC’s Third Fab, Looking to Build Semiconductor Hub

(Photo credit: TSMC)

Last week, semiconductor giant Intel reported weak quarterly earnings, with announcements made on a massive 15% cut of workforce and an over 20% reduction on capital expenditures in 2024. Now the company seems to make up its mind on cost-cutting, as it has started notifying attendees that its fall Innovation 2024 trade show has been postponed, according to a report by AnandTech.

The event, which is previously scheduled in late September, is now rescheduled for some time in 2025, according to a message the company posted on the Innovation 2024 website. However, Intel did not provide a clear timeline for when the event will return.

In a message posted on the Innovation 2024 website, Intel confirmed the postponement. Instead of the larger event, it plans to hold smaller developer gatherings.

According to the message, for the remainder of 2024, Intel will continue to host smaller, more targeted events, webinars, hackathons and meetups worldwide through Intel Connection and Intel AI Summit events, as well as have a presence at other industry moments.

According to another report by PCMag, Intel explained the reason for the postponement further, saying that given the company’s financial results and outlook for the second half of 2024, which is tougher than previously expected, it is having to make some tough decisions as it continue to align its cost structure and look to assess how it rebuild a sustainable engine of process technology leadership.

AnandTech further notes that the event, which has been hosting since 2021, is Intel’s regular technical event for developers, customers, and the public, serving as the successor to the company’s iconic IDF (Intel Developer Forum) show. However, without providing a clear timeline for when the Innovation event will return, its future is now uncertain.

In its Innovation event 2023, Intel introduced Meteor Lake, the first chips built on Intel’s 4 process (4nm) with a dedicated AI coprocessor inside.

Now, a few days after Intel revealed the progress on its next-gen 18A process, which is aimed for start production in 2025, the event has been postponed. The move also makes the public wonder about whether its next-gen processors, Panther Lake (AI PC client processor) and Clearwater Forest (server processor), will be released on schedule.

On the other hand, PCMag notes that the Innovation event could have provided Intel executives with a platform to address the controversy surrounding a CPU bug that can permanently damage 13th and 14th Generation Core desktop chips.

Regarding the issue, Intel has now extended the warranty by two full years on 24 different 13th Gen and 14th Gen desktop chips, including Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 models, after determining that many CPUs based on its Raptor Lake architecture are vulnerable to permanent damage. The problem stems from excessive voltage, causing some CPUs to degrade irreversibly.

Read more

• [News] Intel’s 18A to Start Production in 2025, Featuring Processors for AI PCs and Servers
• [News] Intel’s Earnings Fall Short, Cutting Over 15% of Workforce

(Photo credit: Intel)

The U.S. Department of Labor released data on August 8th showing that initial jobless claims for the previous week stood at 233,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the revised figure of the prior week, and better than the market expectation of 241,000. The four-week moving average was 240,750, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 238,250.

Meanwhile, continuing claims reached 1,875,000, an increase of 6,000 from the revised figure of 1,869,000 from the prior week.

Amid last week’s weak manufacturing PMI and employment situation data, the market was gripped by fears of an impending economic recession. However, these concerns eased somewhat with the better-than-expected service PMI and jobless claims data. According to FedWatch, the probability of a 50 basis point rate cut at the September FOMC meeting surged from 11% to 85% within a week, before falling back to 56%. It is expected that the market will be highly sensitive to any labor market data leading up to the September FOMC meeting. Therefore, close attention should be paid to whether the job market deteriorates in the coming weeks.

Read more at Datatrack

On August 8, 2024, Black Sesame Technologies, a company specializing in AI chip for smart vehicles, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Founded in 2016, Black Sesame is a provider of automotive-grade intelligent vehicle computing chips and chip-based solutions. The company has established research and sales centers in Wuhan, Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Singapore.

Currently, Black Sesame has launched two major product lines: the Huashan series designed for autonomous driving and the Wudang series focused on cross-domain computing.

The SoCs of Huashan A1000 family is designed for autonomous driving and supports BEV fusion algorithms for L3 and below application scenarios.

The Huashan® A1000 automotive-grade high-performance autonomous driving chip applies to L2+ and L3 level autonomous driving, which is currently the most widely used autonomous driving chip in Chinese mass-produced car companies and the only local chip platform capable of backing integrated domain controllers with a single chip.

It’s reported that Huashan A1000 chip has been in full mass production and adopted by several leading Chinese car manufacturers, including FAW Group, Dongfeng Group, Geely Group, and JAC Group, and has been used in mass-produced models including Lynk & Co 08, Hycan V09, Dongfeng eπ007, and its first pure electric SUV Dongfeng eπ008. The next-generation SoC, Huashan A2000, is currently under development and is expected to be launched in 2024.

The Wudang C1200 family of intelligent vehicle cross-domain computing chips was rolled out in April 2023. It has completed full testing after tape-out, with successful functional and performance verification, and sample chips are now available to customers.

As an “All in one” chip, the C1200 family targets multi-domain integration and cross-domain computing, covering core scenarios of intelligent vehicles with a single chip and thus empowering smart vehicles as a whole. Black Sesame expects to generate revenue from C1200 in 2024 and achieve mass production before 2025.

Read more

• [News] China Reportedly Demands Automakers Increase Local Chip Procurement to 25%
• [News] Chip to be the Game Changer in EV Market, Battery Becomes the Past

(Photo credit: Black Sesame Technologies)

According to a report from The Chosun Daily, major tech companies like NVIDIA are considering using Intel’s foundry services (IFS) as an alternative due to TSMC’s packaging capacity shortages. While packaging is a core competency for semiconductor foundries, Samsung, which is facing difficulties in attracting customers, will need to exert maximum effort to secure orders.

It’s highlighted by the report that the demand for AI accelerators is growing rapidly, but TSMC’s AI chip production capacity is unable to keep up.

Furthermore, per The Chosun Daily citing sources, major clients like NVIDIA and Apple have secured TSMC’s 3nm advanced process capacity, pushing order backlogs into 2026.

Therefore, major tech companies seeking alternatives are turning to Intel’s IFS. Since Intel’s Foveros is said to be comparable to TSMC’s CoWoS-S, it has made Intel’s advanced packaging a viable option to ensure supply.

TSMC and Intel offer advanced packaging services to customers under the names CoWoS and Foveros, respectively. Both CoWoS and Foveros are advanced packaging technologies that connect two or more semiconductor chips on a wafer and then place them onto a packaging substrate.

Reportedly, in addition to NVIDIA and Microsoft, Amazon and Cisco are considering outsourcing to Intel Foundry to reduce their dependence on TSMC.

The report further emphasizes that this market trend is likely to cause anxiety for Samsung, which competes with TSMC and Intel in advanced processes.

Recently, Samsung’s former clients, Google and Qualcomm, have chosen TSMC, while Intel, seen as a latecomer, is catching up by securing advanced packaging orders from major tech companies, potentially narrowing the gap with Samsung.

Kim Hak-sung, head of Hanyang Institute of Smart Semiconductor, said that packaging is a technology that critically influences customer acquisition in the AI semiconductor era, where various types of chips are interconnected.

He noted that although there may not be a substantial technical capabilities difference between Samsung Electronics and Intel, as mass production experience allows the process to stabilize and become more appealing to customers.

Kim eventually addressed that to stay competitive, Samsung needs to focus on capturing the volumes that TSMC cannot accommodate, positioning itself ahead of Intel.

Read more

• [News] TSMC Reportedly to Raise 3nm & 5nm Prices Soon, Looking to Maintain Long-Term Profit Margins 
• [News] Major Clients Reportedly Fully Allocate TSMC’s Production Capacity Until 2026, 3nm Process in High Demand
  

(Photo credit: Samsung)