1. The demand for car cores is cooling down, and the inventory adjustment of 12-inch silicon wafers is started

According to Kechuang Daily citing China Taiwan Electronics Times, under the condition that the demand for almost all consumer-grade chip applications has declined, the demand for automotive chips is considered to be a relatively stable key application with growth momentum in the future. However, it is reported that automotive chips Chip demand is gradually cooling.

In addition, 12-inch silicon wafers, which were originally expected to be in high demand, are currently reporting inventory adjustments. It is reported that the Japanese factory has adjusted the production capacity of 12-inch silicon wafers due to lower demand for logic ICs.

2. IDC: China’s smartphone shipments will drop by 1.1% this year to 283 million units

According to IT Home, IDC released a report stating that the global smartphone market shipments in 2023 will be less than 1.2 billion units, a decrease of 1.1%; the Chinese market is expected to be only 283 million units, a decrease of 1.1%. %.

The report pointed out that the whole industry is currently pinning its hopes on the second half of this year, and the rebound trend is expected to continue into next year. IDC predicts that the global smartphone market will ship 1.263 billion units in 2024, an increase of 5.9%; the Chinese smartphone market will return to 300 million units, an increase of 6.2%.

3. South Korea’s semiconductor inventory surged 28% in January, the highest in 27 years

According to a Korean media report quoted by Fast Technology, although Korean manufacturers such as Samsung and SK Hynix are actively reducing their inventory through price cuts, insiders in Korean brokerages predict that DRAM prices will hardly rebound this year. South Korea’s semiconductor inventories surged 28% month-on-month in January, the largest increase in nearly 27 years, according to Statistics Korea, highlighting the drag on the country’s economic growth from a prolonged slump in the technology sector.

South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho warned on Thursday that unless chip sales rebounded, South Korea’s export slump, especially memory chips, will continue. Previously, the supply chain said that Samsung and SK Hynix may control inventory by reducing their positions, and may increase prices at that time, but it is not clear whether it will be passed on smoothly.

4. NationalChip Technology: Completed the R&D and tape-out of the automotive domain controller CCFC2016BC

According to the research summary released by NationalChip Technology, the company has completed the research and development and tape-out of the automotive domain controller chip CCFC2016BC.

The company is developing a new generation of high-performance new energy battery management control chip CCFC3008PT, which is progressing smoothly. The company’s CCM3310S-T/CCM3310S-H has been supplied in batches, and CCM3320S has completed customer verification and realized small batch applications. The company’s first-generation mass-produced Raid chip has been officially put into production.

5. iPhone sales in January this year fell year-on-year and month-on-month

According to IT House, according to the Counterpoint report, the overall sales of Apple’s iPhones continued to decline in January this year, down 11% year-on-year and 8% month-on-month, an improvement over December.

The report also pointed out that iPhone sales in China fell by 22% year-on-year in December last year, but increased by 6% year-on-year in January this year. Changes in sales rates were more modest in the US, which fell 4% in January, an improvement from an 8% year-over-year decline in December.

6. Musk: Tesla will reduce silicon carbide consumption by 75%

According to the fast technology report, on the Tesla investor meeting day in the early morning of the 2nd, Musk and a group of executives intensively introduced the progress of Tesla and energy.

Regarding the future electric vehicle platform, Musk said that the next generation of permanent magnet motors that do not use rare earth elements will be developed in the future. At the same time, the next generation platform will also reduce silicon carbide by 75%. The stock prices of many companies in the semiconductor sector dived.

7. Industry: AI chatbots are expected to drive the DRAM market to recover as soon as possible

According to TechWeb citing foreign media reports, industry chain sources said that chatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence technologies are expected to drive the DRAM market to recover earlier than expected.

The ChatGPT fire has brought new opportunities for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Since the beginning of this year, its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) orders have increased significantly. Compared with other DRAMs, HBM significantly improves the data processing speed by vertically connecting multiple DRAMs, but the price is at least 3 times that of DRAM, and the increase in demand is also pushing up the price.

8. Broadcom’s revenue in the first fiscal quarter was US$8.915 billion, and its net profit increased by 53% year-on-year

According to Sina Technology, Broadcom’s financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 was released, with revenue of US$8.915 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%; net profit was US$3.774 billion, a year-on-year increase of 53%.

Among the various businesses, the revenue of the semiconductor solutions department was US$7.107 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21%, accounting for 80% of the revenue. The infrastructure software segment’s revenue was US$1.808 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1%, accounting for 20% of revenue.

9. Rapidus will build Japan’s first 2nm fab in Chitose, Hokkaido

According to TechWeb citing foreign media reports, Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Rapidus announced that it has decided to build a new advanced semiconductor factory in Chitose, Hokkaido. Rapidus has entered into a joint development partnership with IBM to further develop IBM’s 2nm technology and introduce it into this new facility.

The new factory will be Japan’s first 2-nanometer wafer factory and will produce advanced chips for 5G communications, quantum computing, data centers, self-driving cars and digital smart cities, among other fields. Rapidus, founded last year by Toyota, Sony and six other major Japanese companies, plans to build a pilot production line around 2025.