Core News Summary

1. Taiwanese industry responds to Intel’s huge investment in building factories

2. Japan fights for 2nm, looking for TSMC to help out

3. Xinchi Technology chips received millions of orders

4. Baidu Kunlun chip business completed independent financing

5. The EU will inject about 150 million euros into the Austrian microelectronics project. 6. Honda will extend the shutdown of the North American factory by a week due to lack of cores

7. AUO will build an automotive panel factory in North America

core news headlines

1. Taiwanese industry responds to Intel’s huge investment in building factories

On March 23, Intel announced a number of plans. The company will outsource more of its own chip manufacturing business to foundries in the future, and plans to invest $20 billion in the construction of two new chip factories in Arizona, USA. Create a new division, Intel Foundry Services, to manufacture chips for outside semiconductor companies. For the semiconductor design and manufacturing business, Intel has also specially formulated a strategy called “IDM2.0”.

Foreign media interpret Intel’s move as a battle against TSMC and Samsung. TSMC opened sharply lower today, and fell as much as 4% after the market.

People in the Taiwanese industry have responded positively to Intel’s construction of a factory in Arizona.

Huang Chongren said, “I don’t even care! You must be professional in being a foundry. Intel has its own products. How can it compete with TSMC? It is impossible to compete with TSMC.”

China Taiwan Economic Minister Wang Meihua responded, “It will not be a challenge.” Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem is very good, and technology has been improving. In the post-epidemic era, the development of various industries requires chips, and the demand is also high. Taiwan factories have also been working on chips. invest.

Lu Xingzhi, a well-known semiconductor analyst, pointed out that Intel’s foundry can only serve system customers, so how can AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Nvidia find competitors for foundry. He said Intel would have the guts to split up its semiconductor manufacturing.

However, some scholars said that Intel’s move will not have an impact in the short term, and will affect the local production situation in Taiwan, China in the long run.

Fabless/IDM

2. Japan fights for 2nm, looking for TSMC to help out

According to a report by the Nikkei on March 23, the Japanese government will provide financial assistance to assist Japanese companies to develop the manufacturing technology of next-generation semiconductors after 2nm, and will engage in a wide range of research and development with semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC.

Canon and other three Japanese companies will cooperate with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (referred to as the Institute of Industrial Technology) to jointly develop next-generation semiconductors, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan will provide about 42 billion yen (about 390 million US dollars) in financial assistance, and It will build a cooperation system with overseas manufacturers such as TSMC, hoping to revive the research and development of the most advanced semiconductors in Japan, which is lagging behind.

Japanese enterprise registration information shows that most of TSMC’s offices in Japan are in Yokohama. In addition to having a subsidiary in Yokohama, Nishi District, Kanagawa Prefecture, TSMC Japan Design Technology Co., Ltd. is also located in the same location in Yokohama. In addition, TSMC has completed the registration of the establishment of the TSMC Japan 3D IC R&D Center on March 17, which is located in the same building as TSMC Japan Design Technology Company.

After the news reported by the Nikkei News came out, the market paid attention to the layout of TSMC in Japan and whether it would extend from material research to advanced process research and development. In response, TSMC responded, “The Japanese project is currently in progress as planned.”

3. Jiangsu Huacun completed 170 million yuan in Series A financing, and the fifth-generation PCIe main control chip technology breakthrough mass production is imminent. According to the official news of Jiangsu Huacun Electronic Technology on March 23, in order to accelerate the layout of the storage industry, deeply integrate the supply chain, To promote the mass production of the next-generation PCIe Gen5 solid-state drive SSD main control chip, Jiangsu Huacun electronic Technology has completed 170 million yuan in Series A financing at the end of 2020.

Investors in this round of financing are Nantong New Generation Information Technology Industry Fund, Hengxin Huaye, and Tiankai Huijin. In addition, Huacun has started the next round of financing in 2021, with the goal of expanding market share and further creating barriers to product technology competition.

4. Chips from Chips received orders of one million chips and officially started mass shipment. On March 23, Chips officially announced that it had received orders of one million chips per year, and its customers covered joint ventures, self-owned brand car companies and Tier 1s. At the same time, the 9-series chips of Coretronics have passed the strict functional test, performance test and reliability test, passed the verification, and officially completed the shipment recently. Soon this batch of chips will be gradually delivered to customers and put into use, which means that Coretronics will officially enter a new era of mass production to empower customers.

Not long ago, the X9 and G9 chips of Xinchi Technology successfully passed the production appraisal of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, and their excellent performance, reliability and functional safety were highly praised by the expert group. The mass production and shipment of the 9-series chips can not only alleviate the urgent need of the current “core shortage” in the automotive industry, but also support customers with the strength to realize the implementation of intelligent models and projects more smoothly.

5. Wingtech Technology: It is estimated that the Q1 revenue of Nexperia Group will exceed 500 million US dollars, and the gross profit will reach the highest value in the past 8 quarters. On the evening of March 23, Wingtech Technology released a response report to the feedback on the application documents for the public issuance of convertible corporate bonds. , Anshi Group’s performance in 2020 was lower than expected, mainly due to the negative impact of the new crown epidemic on terminal demand and the global supply chain.

However, according to the forecast of the management of Nexperia Group, it is expected that in the first quarter of 2021, the operating income of Nexperia Group will exceed 500 million US dollars. An increase of 50.38%, operating income and gross profit reached the highest value in the past 8 quarters, and the performance continued to grow rapidly.

Materials/Equipment

6. Zhiyun Co., Ltd. plans to invest 420 million yuan to build a pan-semiconductor automation equipment R&D and production base. Zhiyun Co., Ltd. announced on the evening of March 23 that the company plans to invest 420 million yuan to invest in the construction of pan-semiconductor automation of Zhiyun Co., Ltd. in Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone Equipment research and development production base project.

It is reported that the project will mainly develop and produce new-type Display liquid crystal Modules, OLED module production lines, and integrated circuit-related bonding machines, dispensing machines, laminating machines and other precision assembly core automation equipment, further promoting the company’s fixed increase investment projects The implementation of the construction project of the Central Wuhan R&D Center better meets the needs of the company to improve R&D level and expand production capacity.

7. Wansheng shares: net profit in the first quarter increased by 430%-480%

On March 23, Wansheng Co., Ltd. announced that the net profit in the first quarter of 2021 is expected to be 183 million yuan to 201 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 430% to 480%. In the first quarter of 2021, the company’s main products are affected by market supply and demand, product sales and prices have risen sharply, and the company’s operating income and product gross profit margin have increased significantly.

Wansheng shares disclosed its annual report on the same day. In 2020, the company achieved operating income of 2.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.75%, and realized a net profit attributable to the parent of 393 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 137.21%; basic earnings per share were 1.14 yuan. According to the data, Wansheng Co., Ltd. focuses on the production, research and development and sales of functional fine chemicals, and is the world’s most important producer and supplier of phosphorus-based flame retardants.

Industry trends

8. The European Union will inject about 150 million euros into Austrian microelectronics R&D projects. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency on March 24, the European Commission and the local government announced on March 23 that according to EU state aid regulations, three microelectronics R&D projects in Austria were approved. Provide public funding support of around 150 million euros.

Three Austrian companies in the microelectronics sector will receive funding from the European Union, while some 530 million euros from the private sector are expected to invest in these projects.

9. Honda extends North American plant shutdown by a week due to lack of cores

Sina Finance News, Honda Motor said on March 23 that it will extend the shutdown of some plants in North America by one week due to multiple supply chain problems. The company had previously announced that those factories would be shut down for a week this week because of “the impact of the new crown epidemic, port congestion, chip shortages and severe cold weather in the past few weeks.”

Chip shortages are affecting global auto production, and last week Toyota announced cuts at four North American plants. Stellantis warned on Saturday that the company’s lucrative pickup models were affected by the problem, and Ford Motor Co. also announced it would further cut U.S. production.

10. LG Electronics shareholders meeting approves the spin-off of the electric vehicle driveline business Yonhap News Agency, Seoul, March 24. LG Electronics said on the 24th that the 19th shareholder meeting held on the same day approved the spin-off of the electric vehicle parts solution business unit from its auto parts solutions business unit. Automotive drivetrain business.

LG Electronics announced late last year a joint venture with Magna International, the world’s third-largest auto parts maker, to produce electric vehicle drivetrains. LG Electronics will own all the shares of the spin-off new company “LG Magna Electric Powertrain Company”, and Magna will acquire 49% of the shares of the new company. The joint venture will be formally established in July.

11. AUO will build an automotive panel factory in North America

According to the United News, Peng Shuanglang, chairman of AUO, revealed on March 23 that it is currently planning to set up a rear-end production line for automotive panels in North America. The table has not yet been determined, and the United States and Mexico are all possible locations. In addition, AUO is also continuously evaluating its overseas layout, and Europe, Southeast Asia and other places are under consideration.

Peng Shuanglang emphasized that the concept of automotive parts is changing. In the past, it was purely selling panels. In the future, it will form large-scale automotive system products after fitting, so it must be very close to the market. It is reported that AUO is currently experiencing booming orders for TV and IT panels, and quotations are rising. Good news has also been reported in the automotive field. It has entered European, American, Japanese, and Chinese automakers through Tier 1 customers. With a market share of 20% of the central console (CID), it is the world’s top two suppliers.

12. The iPhone 12 panel order does not reach the minimum purchase quantity, and Apple may compensate Samsung Netease Technology News, industry insiders said on March 23 that due to the poor sales of the iPhone 12 mini, Apple may again pay Samsung Display (Samsung Display) huge amount Compensation to make up for the loss caused by the OLED panel order not reaching the agreed quantity.

SDC’s shipments of small-size OLEDs fell 9 percent to 45 million units in January, according to market researcher Omdia. Omdia pointed to the decrease in the number due to weak sales of Apple’s iPhone 12 mini.

5G/IOT/AI

13. Baidu’s Kunlun chip business completed independent financing, with a post-investment valuation of about 13 billion yuan On March 24, Baidu announced that its Kunlun chip business had completed the signing of an independent financing agreement, with a post-investment valuation of about 13 billion yuan. This round of financing was led by CPE Yuanfeng, followed by IDG Capital, Legend Capital, and Yuanhe Puhua.

Baidu Kunlun chip is a cloud AI general chip independently developed by Baidu. At the Baidu AI Developers Conference held in July 2018, Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu, officially announced that Baidu’s self-developed AI chip was named Kunlun, and related business departments were established. Baidu Kunlun 1 was successfully taped out in 2019 and mass-produced in 2020. At present, Baidu Kunlun 1 has mass-produced more than 20,000 tablets. Baidu Kunlun 2, which is under development, will be mass-produced in the second half of 2021.