1. Institutions: The average price of NAND flash memory is expected to rise in the fourth quarter
According to China Taiwan Business Times, Samsung announced that it will expand production cuts to 50% from September, and the production cuts are still concentrated in processes below 128 layers. According to TrendForce’s survey, other original manufacturers are expected to follow up and expand production cuts in the fourth quarter to speed up inventory destocking. As a result, the average price of NAND flash memory in the fourth quarter is expected to remain flat or rise slightly, with the increase estimated to be about 0%-5%. .
NAND flash memory wafer contract prices have rebounded in August, and as production cuts expand, customers’ stocking efforts are expected to pick up, further supporting continued increases in September contract prices. However, the growth of NAND flash memory will continue until 2024, which still depends on continued production cuts and whether enterprise-level SSD purchase orders will be significantly replenished.
2. Samsung is rumored to have cut NAND flash memory production by 40%
According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily citing Taiwan Electronics Times, industry insiders revealed that Samsung Electronics has stepped up its efforts to reduce NAND flash memory production and is expected to reduce production by 50% by the end of 2023. Samsung has cut NAND flash memory production by 20% in the first half of 2023.
Since the second half of this year, Samsung’s pace of production reduction has accelerated, and Samsung has reduced NAND flash memory production by about 40%. The purpose of Samsung’s production reduction is to accelerate the transformation of its process technology to improve its product structure. Samsung will use 128-layer stacked sixth-generation V-NAND as its main technology in 2023, but aims to increase the supply ratio of 176-layer and 236-layer NAND.
3. iPhone 15 was released, but the agency lowered its shipment expectations.
According to Kuai Technology news, the capital market has given its first feedback on how the iPhone 15 has arrived. After the new product was released, Apple’s stock price fell, with a drop of more than 2%, evaporating 340 billion yuan. However, the capital market is not optimistic about Apple, which has already been shown.
UBS Securities pointed out in the latest report that due to risks such as Huawei’s new phones, it will lower the shipments of new iPhone 15 series phones from 80-90 million units to 78 million units. Martin Yang, an analyst at investment firm Oppenheimer, said Apple’s iPhone shipments in 2024 may be reduced by 10 million units due to the launch of Huawei’s new phone.
4. Qualcomm: Has signed a 5G baseband supply agreement with Apple for the next three years
Qualcomm announced on the 11th local time that it had signed an agreement with Apple to provide Snapdragon 5G modem radio frequency systems for the latter’s smartphones released in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The agreement solidifies Qualcomm’s record of continued leadership in 5G technology and products.
5. TSMC plans to subscribe for up to US$100 million in ARM shares
According to TechWeb citing foreign media reports, yesterday evening, TSMC announced that the company’s board of directors has approved an investment of up to US$100 million in ARM, which was listed on the Nasdaq exchange in New York this week. As an important chip architecture licensee, 95% of the world’s smartphones use ARM architecture.
ARM will be listed on Nasdaq on Thursday local time, with a valuation of US$52 billion. It is reported that TSMC and ARM have been partners for many years and signed a cooperation agreement as early as 2000. TSMC is one of several technology companies that have expressed interest in investing in ARM, along with AMD, Apple, Google, Intel, Nvidia and Samsung, all planning to buy shares in the IPO.
6. Power Semiconductor: AI and automotive are important development directions
According to China Taiwan Business Times, mature process wafer foundries continue to be under pressure from mainland factories to compete for orders, and the capacity utilization rate of Taiwanese factories has fallen to a low level in the past six months. Huang Chongren, chairman of Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., said that mature process products are facing gradual pressure from mainland factories. Expanding influence is a trend. In the future, Taiwanese manufacturers will gradually move closer to mid-to-high-end fields. It is expected that AI-related and automotive fields will be important development directions.
Huang Chongren further emphasized that the main needs of mature processes are panel driver ICs and sensor ICs. After foreseeing this situation, Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has already planned a transformation. It is expected that in 2025, it will use AI, new material memory or higher-end displays, etc. , a market dominated by higher-end or emerging applications.