Per a report by the Vietnam News Agency, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính recently signed Government Decree No. 791/QĐ-TTg on the establishment of the National Steering Committee for Semiconductor Industry Development.

The main tasks and functions of the steering committee include assisting the Prime Minister and the government in researching, guiding, and coordinating the resolution of important and cross-departmental matters related to promoting the development of Vietnam’s semiconductor industry; researching, consulting, and advising on directions and solutions to promote the industry’s growth; and guiding the coordination among various departments, government agencies, relevant organizations, and entities to vigorously advance the development of Vietnam’s semiconductor industry.

Semiconductor industry is one of the strategically important global industries, and it undoubtedly represents a significant development opportunity for Vietnam.

It is reported that the semiconductor, as one of Vietnam’s nine national-level products, has been included in the country’s key development priorities for the next 30 to 50 years.

According to its National Semiconductor Industry Strategy, Vietnam aims to become a global center for semiconductor chip design, packaging, and testing by 2030.

To achieve this goal, the Vietnamese government has introduced a series of preferential policies and incentives to encourage foreign enterprises to invest in the country.

Moreover, the government has established the National Innovation Center (NIC) to create a high-tech ecosystem and beef up the training of professionals to meet the needs of developing semiconductor industry.

Currently, Vietnam has drawn in investment from foreign enterprises such as Intel, ASE Group, Samsung Electronics, Amkor, Qualcomm, ONSemi, Renesas, Texas Instruments, NXP, Marvell, Synopsys, Hana, and Anpei. In fact, with global capital investment, Vietnam’s semiconductor industry ecosystem is gradually taking shape in recent years.

Vietnam’s Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Chí Dũng stated that Vietnam boasts some conditions and factors conducive to the development of semiconductor industry, involving a stable political system, a favorable geographical location, and attractive investment incentive policies.

The Vietnamese government has been committed to developing semiconductor industry and hopes to attract more and more large enterprises to invest in Vietnam.

Read more

• [News] Nvidia CEO Visits Vietnam, Plans to Establish Chip R&D Base

(Photo credit: Intel)

Amidst the tide of artificial intelligence (AI), new types of DRAM represented by HBM are embracing a new round of development opportunities. Meanwhile, driven by server demand, MRDIMM/MCRDIMM have emerged as new sought-afters in the memory industry, stepping onto the “historical stage.”

According to a report from WeChat account DRAMeXchange, currently, the rapid development of AI and big data is boosting an increase in the number of CPU cores in servers. To meet the data throughput requirements of each core in multi-core CPUs, it is necessary to significantly increase the bandwidth of memory systems. In this context, HBM modules for servers, MRDIMM/MCRDIMM, have emerged.

• JEDEC Announces Details of the DDR5 MRDIMM Standard

On July 22, JEDEC announced that it will soon release the DDR5 Multiplexed Rank Dual Inline Memory Modules (MRDIMM) and the next-generation LPDDR6 Compression-Attached Memory Module (CAMM) advanced memory module standards, and introduced key details of these two types of memory, aiming to support the development of next-generation HPC and AI. These two new technical specifications were developed by JEDEC’s JC-45 DRAM Module Committee.

As a follow-up to JEDEC’s JESD318 CAMM2 memory module standard, JC-45 is developing the next-generation CAMM module for LPDDR6, with a target maximum speed of over 14.4GT/s. In light of the plan, this module will also provide 24-bit wide subchannels, 48-bit wide channels, and support “connector array” to meet the needs of future HPC and mobile devices.

DDR5 MRDIMM supports multiplexed rank columns, which can combine and transmit multiple data signals on a single channel, effectively increasing bandwidth without additional physical connections. It is reported that JEDEC has planned multiple generations of DDR5 MRDIMM, with the ultimate goal of increasing its bandwidth to 12.8Gbps, doubling the current 6.4Gbps of DDR5 RDIMM memory and improving pin speed.

In JEDEC’s vision, DDR5 MRDIMM will utilize the same pins, SPD, PMIC, and other designs as existing DDR5 DIMMs, be compatible with the RDIMM platform, and leverage the existing LRDIMM ecosystem for design and testing.

JEDEC stated that these two new technical specifications are expected to bring a new round of technological innovation to the memory market.

• Micron’s MRDIMM DDR5 to Start Mass Shipment in 2H24

In March 2023, AMD announced at the Memcom 2023 event that it is collaborating with JEDEC to develop a new DDR5 MRDIMM standard memory, targeting a transfer rate of up to 17600 MT/s. According to a report from Tom’s Hardware at that time, the first generation of DDR5 MRDIMM aims for a rate of 8800 MT/s, which will gradually increase, with the second generation set to reach 12800 MT/s, and the third generation to 17600 MT/s.

MRDIMM, short for “Multiplexed Rank DIMM,” integrates two DDR5 DIMMs into one, thereby providing double the data transfer rate while allowing access to two ranks.

On July 16, memory giant Micron announced the launch of the new MRDIMM DDR5, which is currently sampling and will provide ultra-large capacity, ultra-high bandwidth, and ultra-low latency for AI and HPC applications. Mass shipment is set to begin in the second half of 2024.

MRDIMM offers the highest bandwidth, largest capacity, lowest latency, and better performance per watt. Micron said that it outperforms current TSV RDIMM in accelerating memory-intensive virtualization multi-tenant, HPC, and AI data center workloads.

Compared to traditional RDIMM DDR5, MRDIMM DDR5 can achieve an effective memory bandwidth increase of up to 39%, a bus efficiency improvement of over 15%, and a latency reduction of up to 40%.

MRDIMM supports capacity options ranging from 32GB to 256GB, covering both standard and high-form-factor (TFF) specifications, suitable for high-performance 1U and 2U servers. The 256GB TFF MRDIMM outruns TSV RDIMM with similar capacity by 35% in performance.

This new memory product is the first generation of Micron’s MRDIMM series and will be compatible with Intel Xeon processors. Micron stated that subsequent generations of MRDIMM products will continue to offer 45% higher single-channel memory bandwidth compared to their RDIMM counterparts.

• SK hynix to Launch MCRDIMM Products in 2H24

As one of the world’s largest memory manufacturers, SK hynix already introduced a product similar to MRDIMM, called MCRDIMM, even before AMD and JEDEC.

MCRDIMM, short for “Multiplexer Combined Ranks² Dual In-line Memory Module,” is a module product that combines multiple DRAMs on a substrate, operating the module’s two basic information processing units, Rank, simultaneously.

Source: SK hynix

In late 2022, SK hynix partnered with Intel and Renesas to develop the DDR5 MCR DIMM, which became the fastest server DRAM product in the industry at the time. As per Chinese IC design company Montage Technology’s 2023 annual report, MCRDIMM can also be considered the first generation of MRDIMM.

Traditional DRAM modules can only transfer 64 bytes of data to the CPU at a time, while SK hynix’s MCRDIMM module can transfer 128 bytes by running two memory ranks simultaneously. This increase in the amount of data transferred to the CPU each time boosts the data transfer speed to over 8Gbps, doubling that of a single DRAM.

At that time, SK hynix anticipated that the market for MCR DIMM would gradually open up, driven by the demand for increased memory bandwidth in HPC. According to SK hynix’s FY2024 Q2 financial report, the company will launch 32Gb DDR5 DRAM for servers and MCRDIMM products for HPC in 2H24.

• MRDIMM Boasts a Brilliant Future

MCRDIMM/MRDIMM adopts the DDR5 LRDIMM “1+10” architecture, requiring one MRCD chip and ten MDB chips. Conceptually, MCRDIMM/MRDIMM allows parallel access to two ranks within the same DIMM, increasing the capacity and bandwidth of the DIMM module by a large margin.

Compared to RDIMM, MCRDIMM/MRDIMM can offer higher bandwidth while maintaining good compatibility with the existing mature RDIMM ecosystem. Additionally, MCRDIMM/MRDIMM is expected to enable much higher overall server performance and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprises.

MRDIMM and MCRDIMM both fall under the category of DRAM memory modules, which have different application scenarios relative to HBM as they have their own independent market space. As an industry-standard packaged memory, HBM can achieve higher bandwidth and energy efficiency in a given capacity with a smaller size. However, due to high cost, small capacity, and lack of scalability, its application is limited to a few fields. Thus, from an industry perspective, memory module is the mainstream solution for large capacity, cost-effectiveness, and scalable memory.

Montage Technology believes that, based on its high bandwidth and large capacity advantages, MRDIMM is likely to become the preferred main memory solution for future AI and HPC. As per JEDEC’s plan, the future new high-bandwidth memory modules for servers, MRDIMM, will support even higher memory bandwidth, further matching the bandwidth demands of HPC and AI application scenarios.

Read more

• [News] Samsung’s HBM3e Rumored to be Certified by NVIDIA, Boosting DDR5 Price Increases in Q3
• [News] Memory Giants Plan DDR5, HBM Expansion; No Immediate Impact on Taiwanese DDR4 Pricing

(Photo credit: SK hynix)

To revitalize its domestic semiconductor chip industry, Japan has launched several measures in recent years, including financial subsidies. According to Japanese media reports, many Japanese companies will invest JPY 5 trillion (Around USD 30.96 billion) to develop the semiconductor business.

Nikkei Asia reported on July 8 that eight Japanese companies, including Sony, Mitsubishi Electric, Rohm, Toshiba, Kioxia, Renesas, Rapidus, and Fuji Electric, will invest JPY 5 trillion in the semiconductor field by 2029, driven by the promising prospects of AI, EV, and carbon reduction markets.

As per Nikkei News, based on the capital investment plans from the fiscal 2021 to 2029 of these manufacturers, in order to rejuvenate Japan’s domestic chip industry, these companies will increase their investments in power semiconductor, sensor, and logic chip fields, which are seen as core technologies to the burgeoning sectors such as AI, decarbonization, and EV.

Among these, Sony plans to invest about JPY 1.6 trillion from fiscal 2021 to 2026 to ramp up its CMOS image sensor production capacity. Sony is a globally renowned image sensor manufacturer, and its chip business head, Terushi Shimizu, previously predicted that Sony’s market share in the global image sensor market would reach 60% by the new fiscal year starting April 2025.

In December 2023, Sony held a completion ceremony for the expansion project at its Nagasaki Technology Center (Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture), which produces image sensors. Sony also announced the plan to build a new image sensor production plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, matching the need to expand the Nagasaki plant to improve its supply system. Nikkei News reported in 2022 that Sony planed to invest several hundred billion yen in the new Kumamoto plant to produce smartphone image sensors, with construction expected to start as early as 2024 and production in 2025.

Toshiba and Rohm, positive about the expanding demand for AI data center and the EV market, project to jointly invest about JPY 380 billion to increase the production of silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors.

In December 2023, Toshiba announced that it had reached an agreement with Rohm to collaborate on manufacturing power devices. Both companies are expected to make efficiency investment totaling JPY 388.3 billion in silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) power devices fields, aiming to significantly strengthen their supply capacity and complement each other’s production capabilities.

Rohm plans to build a new plant in Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyushu Island and will allocate JPY 289.2 billion in silicon carbide wafer production. Toshiba will invest nearly JPY 100 billion to set up a cutting-edge 300mm wafer manufacturing plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan.

Mitsubishi Electric plans to invest JPY 100 billion to build a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture to produce silicon carbide power semiconductor, expected to commence operation in April 2026. Mitsubishi Electric aims to increase its SiC power semiconductor production capacity to five times the 2022 level by 2026. Mitsubishi Electric President Kei Urishima stated, “We will establish a system capable of rival global leader Infineon.”

In 2022, Renesas announced a plan to invest JPY 90 billion to convert its previously closed Kofu factory into a 12-inch wafer plant to meet the growing demand in the power semiconductor field. On April 11 this year, the factory officially resumed operations. Renesas previously estimated that the factory would start mass-producing IGBT and power MOSFET devices in 2025, doubling the company’s overall power semiconductor production capacity.

As to logic semiconductor industry, Japan’s new semiconductor player Rapidus plans to produce 2nm chip in Hokkaido, with a total investment of JPY 2 trillion, of which the Japanese government decided to subsidize JPY 920 billion. Rapidus plans to start trial production of 2nm logic chip in April 2025 and achieve large-scale mass production by 2027.

To capitalize on the expanding opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles (EV), and the carbon reduction market, eight Japanese companies, including Sony and Mitsubishi Electric, plan to invest JPY 5 trillion (around USD 30 billion) in semiconductors. According to a report by Nikkei on July 8, this investment is expected to increase the production of image sensors, power semiconductors, logic semiconductors, and other products.

Reportedly, eight Japanese companies, including Sony, are planning to invest JPY 5 trillion in semiconductors by 2029, driven by the optimistic outlook for the AI and carbon reduction markets. The report compiled by Nikkei surveys the equipment investment plans of eight major Japanese semiconductor manufacturers for the period from 2021 to 2029: Sony, Mitsubishi Electric, Rohm, Toshiba, Kioxia, Renesas, Rapidus, and Fuji Electric.

The report indicates that Sony will invest roughly JPY 1.6 trillion from 2021 to 2026 to increase the production of CMOS image sensors and other products, with plans to build a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture. Additionally, Japanese manufacturers are expanding the production of power semiconductors in response to the growing AI data center and EV markets.

Toshiba and Rohm plan to invest a combined total of around 380 billion yen to increase production of silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors. Mitsubishi Electric aims to increase its SiC power semiconductor capacity to five times the 2022 level by 2026 and will invest about 100 billion yen to build a new factory in Kumamoto Prefecture. Mitsubishi Electric President Kei Urushima stated that they aim to establish a system capable of competing with its rival Infineon, which is the global leader in the SiC power products.

Reportedly, Japanese semiconductor companies held a 50% global market share in 1988. However, after the 1990s, they lost the competition to Taiwanese and South Korean manufacturers, leading to their withdrawal from advanced process research and development in the early 2000s. By 2017, Japan’s market share had fallen below 10%.

In recent years, the Japanese government has been actively revitalizing the semiconductor industry. In the field of advanced logic semiconductors necessary for AI, the Japanese government has decided to provide up to 920 billion yen in support to Rapidus. Rapidus plans to begin trial production of 2-nanometer chips in April 2025 and commence mass production in 2027.

Read more

• [News] Semiconductor Equipment Sales Soared in Chinese and Japanese Markets
• [News] Booming GPU and HBM Demand Pushes Japanese Chip Equipment Annual Sales to Record High

(Photo credit: Mitsubishi Electric)

Recently, according to sources from an official platform of Shanghai Construction No.4 (Group), Huahong Group has topped out the main building of FAB9 of the Huahong Manufacturing (Wuxi) project. This is reportedly the second phase project with a total construction area of about 530,000㎡, which is projected to construct a 12-inch characteristic process production line with a monthly capacity of 83,000 wafers.

It can be seen that the 12-inch wafer field is greeted by high enthusiasm. Previously, companies such as Renesas Electronics, PSMC, TSMC, and UMC have all announced plans to build new 12-inch fabs. As for China, as per earlier industry reports, 12-inch fabs scheduled to start production in 2024 include CR Micro, ZenSemi, and CanSemi, all located in Guangdong Province.

• Investment Enthusiasm in 12-Inch Fabs Unabated

On April 11, Renesas officially restarted its previously closed factory in Kofu. It was announced in 2022 that Renesas would invest JPY 90 billion to convert the plant into a 12-inch fab in a bid to meet the increasing demand in the power semiconductor sector.

The fab has a cleanroom with an area of 18,000㎡, and it will start mass production of IGBTs, power MOSFETs, and other power devices in 2025, which is expected to double Renesas’ overall power semiconductor capacity.

On March 13, PSMC and India-based Tata Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for their joint 12-inch fab. The fab comes with a total investment of INR 910 billion (Around USD 11 billion), which is estimated to produce a monthly capacity of 50,000 wafers, covering various mature nodes such as 28nm, 40nm, 55nm, 90nm, and 110nm.

On February 24, TSMC’s Japan Kumamoto fab (JASM) was officially opened, marking TSMC’s first plant (Fab23) in Japan. TrendForce stated that the plant will possess a total capacity of up to 40~50Kwpm in the future, with the process mainly focusing on 22/28nm and a small amount of 12/16nm. This will pave the way for developing the main process of the Kumamoto Fab2 later.

Previously, TSMC had announced that in response to customer demand growth, construction of JASM’s second fab in Japan is planned to commence at the end of 2024 and start operation in late 2027. Media reports stated that TSMC would invest JPY 2 trillion in the second fab in Kumamoto, which will adopt advanced processes of 6nm and 7nm. The monthly total capacity of 12-inch wafers in JASM Kumamoto fab is expected to exceed 100,000 pieces in the future.

In January, it was reported that UMC’s new fab in Singapore is scheduled to complete construction by mid-2024 and start mass production in early 2025. UMC said that to meet the demand for capacity construction, its board of directors approved a capital budget execution proposal of USD 39.8 million. The first phase of the new fab, with a total investment of USD 5 billion, is expected to deliver a monthly capacity of 30,000 wafers, providing 22/28nm processes.

UMC has been operating the 12-inch fab in Singapore for over 20 years. In February 2022, UMC’s board of directors approved the plan to expand a new advanced fab in the Fab12i area in Singapore. At that time, UMC expected the new fab to start mass production in late 2024, but the latest news indicates that the date of mass production will be in early 2025.

• Several Guangdong-Based 12-Inch Fabs Set to Start Production in 2024

According to a local official report from Zengcheng, Guangdong, ZenSemi held a lithography machine introduction ceremony for the project of 12-inch advanced intelligent sensors and characteristic process wafers mass production lines, marking that the project has smoothly entered the debugging and production preparation phase.

It is reported that the first phase of the project covers an area of 370 acres, with a planned investment of CNY 37 billion. It is expected to start production in June 2024, with the first batch of high-yield products scheduled to be completed in late December and delivered to customers.

According to official information from CanSemi, the third phase of CanSemi’s project will establish a 12-inch integrated circuit analog characteristic process production line with a capacity of 40,000 wafers per month. Currently, the first and second phases have been put into production successively, and the company are accelerating the construction of the third phase project, striving to achieve a fixed asset investment of over CNY 4 billion in 2024 and ensure the third phase to complete construction and start production in 2024.

According to the Wechat Account “Binhai Baoan”, Huahong’ 12-inch characteristic process integrated circuit production line project is also expected to start production this year.

It is reported that the first phase of Huahong’ 12-inch power chip production line project has a total investment of CNY  22 billion, with a total construction area of 238,000㎡, and an annual production capacity of 480,000 wafers after completion. The products will mainly be used in automotive electronics, new energy, industrial control, consumer electronics, and other fields.

As per stats from Wechat Account “Global Semiconductor Observation”, there are currently 31 operating 12-inch fabs in China (Inclusive of under-construction 12-inch fixed-capacity fabs), with a total monthly capacity of approximately 1.189 million wafers.

Compared with the planned monthly capacity of 2.17 million wafers, the capacity utilization rate of these fabs is close to 54.48%, indicating significant expansion potential. Considering construction and future planning, it is estimated that China will add 24 new 12-inch fabs in the next five years, with a planned monthly capacity of 2.223 million wafers.

Assuming all planned 12-inch foundries achieve full production, the total monthly capacity of 12-inch wafers in China will exceed 4.14 million wafers in late 2026, representing a 248.19% increase in capacity utilization compared to the present.

Read more

• [News] SK Hynix Rumored to Propose Collaboration with Kioxia for HBM Production in Japan
• NAND Flash Industry Revenue Grows 24.5% in Q4 2023, Expected to Increase Another 20% in Q1, Says TrendForce

(Photo credit: TSMC)