1. Micron will invest more than 4.3 billion yuan in the Xi’an packaging and testing factory
Micron Technology announced on its official website today (16) that it plans to invest more than 4.3 billion yuan in its packaging and testing plant in Xi’an, China in the next few years. The company has decided to acquire the packaging equipment of Powercheng Semiconductor (Xi’an) Co., Ltd. (Licheng Xi’an), and plans to build a new plant in Micron’s Xi’an factory and introduce new and high-performance packaging and testing equipment in order to better satisfy Chinese customers demand.
The investment will enhance the company’s flexibility to manufacture a diverse product portfolio in Xi’an, allowing Micron to directly operate its packaging and testing business in the Xi’an factory. The new plant announced this time will introduce a new production line for the manufacture of mobile DRAM, NAND and SSD products to strengthen the existing packaging and testing capabilities of the Xi’an plant. At present, Micron has started the qualification certification for the production of mobile DRAM in Xi’an.
2. Texas Instruments plans to open two new assembly and testing plants in Southeast Asia
According to the Science and Technology Board Daily on the 14th, Texas Instruments announced an expansion plan to open two new assembly and testing plants in Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, with a potential investment of approximately RMB 22.6 billion. Texas Instruments pointed out that the construction site of one of the new facilities is located next to the existing assembly and test plant in Kuala Lumpur. The construction is expected to start later this year, and it will be put into production in 2025 at the earliest.
3. The domestic thousand-yuan mobile phone market grew by 22% year-on-year in the first quarter
According to IT House, according to the latest report from market research agency Counterpoint Research, the domestic smartphone market as a whole will show a downward trend in the first quarter of 2023, but the entry-level market, which refers to mobile phones priced below US$150, has increased by 22% year-on-year.
Due to the popularity of scanning code payment and work-related mobile phone demand in China, the entry-level market demand is more flexible. Smartphones have become a necessity to find work in fields such as food delivery and car driver, or to work for the gig economy. And due to the decline in manufacturing costs, manufacturers continue to decentralize functions such as 5G for this market segment. However, the report also pointed out that the replacement cycle of Chinese users has exceeded 40 months, and it is estimated that most users will not mainly use mobile phones that cost less than US$150 for a long time.
4. South Korea’s ICT product exports fell year-on-year for 11 consecutive months
Demand for consumer electronics products began to decline in the second half of last year. According to data released by the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology of South Korea on Wednesday, due to the weakening demand for semiconductors and the continued slowdown of the global economy, South Korea’s ICT products exported 14.5 billion U.S. dollars in May, less than last year. The same period of 20.2 billion US dollars, down 28.5% year-on-year. From July last year to May this year, South Korea’s exports of ICT products have declined year-on-year for 11 consecutive months.
Data from South Korea also showed that the export value of almost all categories of products in the ICT field fell year-on-year in May. Among them, the export of semiconductors was US$7.5 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 35.7%. Panels fell by 12% year-on-year to US$1.6 billion; mobile phone exports were US$920 million, a year-on-year decrease of 17.2%; computer exports were US$830 million, a year-on-year decrease of 53.1%.