1. NVIDIA GTX 16 series GPU has been completely discontinued
According to reports from Videocardz and Hong Kong Economic Daily on March 5, according to Nvidia’s GPU product roadmap, the GTX 16 series has been completely discontinued in the first quarter of 2024 and has officially become history. This marks the end of a long and legendary era for the GTX series, and there will be no alternative models after the series is discontinued.
NVIDIA has officially stopped producing GTX 16 series GPUs, which also means the end of GTX 1660S, 1660, 1650, 1630 and other graphics cards. It is worth mentioning that in the popular graphics cards announced by Steam in February 2024, GeForce GTX 1650 still ranks second, second only to GeForce RTX 3060.
In fact, there were rumors as early as December that Nvidia would completely discontinue its popular mid-range series that lacked ray tracing and DLSS acceleration support, as Nvidia has now fully shifted to the RTX brand. Currently, all of NVIDIA's remaining GTX 16 series GPU inventory has been allocated to AIC brand manufacturers, and it is expected that the remaining inventory on the market will be exhausted in the next 1-3 months.
2. TI’s gallium nitride process shifts to 8 inches, and the two major factories will transform
The Elec reported on March 5 that analog chip giant Texas Instruments (TI) Korea Director Shin Ju-yong said on the 5th that the company is converting its GaN production process from 6 inches to 8 inches. Shin said GaN chips were generally thought to cost more than SiC chips, but prices have reversed and GaN chips are now cheaper.
He emphasized, "TI previously produced GaN chips through a 6-inch process. We are converting the Dallas factory to an 8-inch process, with the goal of 2025. The existing silicon-based 8-inch production line at the Aizu fab in Japan is being converted to GaN chips production line, it’s difficult to say when the changeover will take place.”
Industry analysts say that TI's process transformation may lead to a decrease in the price of GaN chips. Previously, TI shifted its power management chip (PMIC) production from an 8-inch process to a 12-inch process, which also had an impact on industry-wide price cuts. An industry insider explained, “If the 6-inch production process is converted to 8-inch, it is possible to reduce production costs by more than 10%.”
3. It is reported that Kioxia will terminate production cuts, which may affect the NAND market
Taiwan Economic Daily reported on March 5 that sources pointed out that due to the recovery in market demand, Kioxia is internally planning to terminate production cuts and is expected to significantly increase the capacity utilization rate to 90% starting in March. Outsiders believe that Kioxia's decision to stop production cuts and increase capacity utilization may cause disruptions to the NAND market and cause the quotation rally to subside.
According to statistics, Kioxia is the world's second largest NAND chip supplier, with a market share of about 15% to 20%, second only to Samsung. Previously, when NAND quotations collapsed, Kioxia was a pioneer in the industry in reducing production by as much as 30%, which effectively led to a rebound in quotations and prices doubled from the bottom.
4. NVIDIA’s market capitalization surpassed Saudi Aramco’s and became the world’s third largest company by market capitalization
The Daily Economic News reported on March 5 that Nvidia’s share price rose 2.5% on Monday to reach 2.11 trillion U.S. dollars (approximately RMB 15.21 trillion), surpassing Saudi Aramco and becoming the world’s largest market capitalization company after Apple and Microsoft. three major listed companies. Since the beginning of this year, NVIDIA’s stock price has soared, rising by about 70%, and its market value has increased by approximately US$883 billion.
5. Japanese startup company develops new materials for power semiconductor production, reducing costs by 75%
Nikkei reported on March 5 that Gaianixx, a company established at the University of Tokyo, has developed a material called an "intermediate film" for the production of power semiconductors that regulate voltage and current. By layering materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) on cheap silicon substrates, this is expected to reduce the manufacturing cost of power semiconductors by about 75%. This could fuel the development of electric vehicles and other high-performance vehicles.
6. JCET: A subsidiary plans to acquire 80% equity of Sandisk Semiconductor for US$624 million
The Associated Press reported on March 5 that Changdian Technology, a leader in chip packaging and testing, announced that its subsidiary plans to acquire 80% of the equity of Sandisk Semiconductor in cash for an acquisition consideration of approximately US$624 million. It is worth noting that the default breakup fee for this acquisition is US$10 million, and there will be an agreed performance bet - "the target company should complete the lower limit of the performance indicators agreed by both parties to the transaction within five years after delivery."
It is reported that Sundisk Semiconductor was established in 2006 and is a subsidiary of Western Digital. Western Digital has established a long-term cooperative relationship with Changdian Technology since 2003 and is one of its important customers. Changdian Technology believes that after the completion of this transaction, the target company will become a joint venture in which the company and Western Digital hold 80% and 20% shares respectively. The transaction will help the company and Western Digital establish a closer strategic cooperative relationship and strengthen Customer stickiness.
7. It is rumored that Samsung plans to use Nvidia’s ‘digital twin’ technology to improve chip yield and catch up with TSMC
The financial industry reported on March 5 that according to a report from EToday, Samsung will begin testing the "digital twin" technology of Nvidia's Omniverse platform to improve the yield rate of the chip manufacturing process and narrow the gap with TSMC. "Digital twin" technology can create a virtual copy of the real world and then use AI and big data analysis to predict potential problems. If this technology is applied to chip factories, product defects can be significantly reduced.
8. Global semiconductor sales increased by 15.2% in January, and China increased by 26.6%
SIA announced on March 4 that global semiconductor industry sales in January 2024 totaled US$47.6 billion, an increase of 15.2% from US$41.3 billion in January 2023, but higher than US$48.7 billion in December 2023. A month-on-month decrease of 2.1%.
From a regional perspective, sales in China increased by 26.6% year-on-year, the Americas increased by 20.3%, and other Asia-Pacific regions except China and Japan increased by 12.8%, but sales in Japan (-6.4%) and Europe (-1.4%) increased year-on-year decline. On a month-on-month basis, monthly sales fell in all markets: Rest of Asia Pacific excluding China and Japan (-1.4%), Americas (-1.5%), China (-2.5%), Europe (-2.8%) and Japan (-3.9%).
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9. Winbond: Formalize the next-generation DRAM process and jump directly to the 16nm process
Taiwan Electronics Times reported on March 5 that memory manufacturer Winbond will upgrade its 20nm process in the second quarter of 2024 and launch new 4Gb DDR4 products. Winbond is currently fully committed to AI’s customized ultra-high bandwidth components (CUBE) solution , integrate customized DRAM into 3D packaging, develop edge computing AI business opportunities, and start shipping as soon as the end of the year. Some customers may also choose to purchase an intermediary layer. Due to the demand for AI and advanced processes, Winbond is planning the next generation of DRAM processes and will directly jump to the 16nm process.
10. Nanya: It is not suitable to invest a lot of resources to compete for the HBM market at this stage.
Taiwan Electronic Times reported on March 5 that Li Peiying, general manager of Nanya, pointed out that HBM’s current product premiums are relatively high, and it is true that memory manufacturers will contribute to revenue. The revenue contribution is about 10%, but it accounts for only about 10% of the global DRAM bits. 2%. Considering that Nanya’s global DRAM market share is about 2%, it is not necessarily suitable for Nanya to invest a lot of resources to compete for it at this stage.
Nanya predicts that 8Gb DDR4 and 16Gb DDR5 products will be introduced into production in 2024. It is expected that the monthly production capacity of the 1B process will have the opportunity to expand to 16,000-20,000 pieces by the end of 2024. After the TSV machine is introduced at the end of 2024, high-density RDIMM will strive to Mass production will begin before the third or fourth quarter of 2025.
11. Samsung executives: 5G mobile phone shipments may exceed 4G mobile phones this year
The Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily reported on March 5 that Samsung executives said that as the penetration rate of 5G in the large-share budget market continues to increase, it is expected to trigger a replacement cycle, and the shipments of 5G smartphones are expected to exceed 4G this year. Aditya Babbar, vice president of Samsung's MX (mobile experience) business, said the company has an aggressive sales target of selling 2 million newly launched mobile phones in the next 12-15 months.
12. Agency: China’s Android mobile phone sales grow, and local high-end component orders remain flexible
JP Morgan's report on China's semiconductor supply chain after the Spring Festival shows that shipments of Android smartphones, wearables and servers showed moderate to positive growth, while shipments of iPhone, automobiles and telecom/industrial applications showed negative increase. Orders for local high-end components such as image sensors and power management chips are likely to remain resilient and further gain share from global peers.
13. Apple mobile phone was fined 1.8 billion euros by the EU
Reuters reported on March 5 that Apple was fined 1.8 billion euros by the European Union for abusing APP STORE rules. EU regulators said Apple illegally prevented app developers from providing users with information about alternative and cheaper music subscription services outside its App Store.
Apple said it would appeal the EU fine, saying EU regulators failed to provide any credible evidence of harm to consumer interests and ignored a booming competitive market. The biggest beneficiary of the EU decision is Spotify, as it does not need to pay Apple fees when selling subscription services on its website.
