1.IHS: ranking of the world's top ten semiconductor manufacturers in 2017, Samsung's first summit;
According to the micro-network news, IHS Markit's research pointed out that in 2017, the global semiconductor market revenue reached USD 429.1 billion, which was 21.7% higher than 2016, and the annual growth rate hit a new high of nearly 14 years. Samsung also used 53.6% of the year. Growth rate, replacing Intel's 25 years as the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer in 2017.
Among the top 20 semiconductor manufacturers, SK Hynix has the largest revenue growth, which is 81.2% higher than 2016; Micron ranks second with revenue up 79.7% from 2016. Tevens, an IHS Markit semiconductor supply chain analyst, said that strong demand and rising prices are the main reasons for the company’s revenue growth.
Qualcomm is still the largest IC design company, and memory is the most robust category in the semiconductor industry. Compared with 2016 revenue, it has grown 60.8%, of which DRAM has the highest growth rate, with a growth rate of 76% in 2017; NAND Flash Among them, the growth rate reached 46.6%, setting the highest revenue growth rate of these two kinds of IC memory in the past 10 years. The main reason for the increase in revenue is from supply and demand tension and price increase.
Craig Stice, senior director of memory and storage at IHS Markit, said that NAND memory technology has evolved from 2D NAND to 3D NAND, which has created a market imbalance between supply and demand in 2017 and has also led to higher NAND memory prices. However, by 2018, 3D NAND has reached Nearly three-quarters of the total production ratio is expected to ease the tight supply and demand of SSDs and mobile devices. Although prices may drop sharply, it will be a record year for NADA revenue in 2018.
The semiconductor industry, which does not include memory, had a growth rate of 9.9% in 2017, driven mainly by physical sales growth and strong demand from various regions, technologies and applications. It is also worth noting that semiconductors used for data processing are as of 2017. At the end of the year, it grew by 33.4%. Intel is the leader in this kind of semiconductor market, and its sales are almost double that of Samsung.
2. TSMC's 7nm revenue for the fourth quarter can account for 70%;
According to the micro-network news, TSMC expects that in the fourth quarter of this year, 7nm revenue will account for 20% of revenue, and annual revenue will account for up to 10%. The revenue and customer scale will be the highest in the industry.
TSMC revealed that the company's 7nm performance and power consumption are better than those of its peers, and its customer demand exceeds expectations. These customers include mobile phone application processors, network processors, programmable logic components, graphics processor and game console special application ICs, and digging. Mine chips, artificial intelligence and other high-speed computing chips.
TSMC pointed out that its 7nm and 7nm enhanced versions follow the established schedule, of which 7nm process, 18 customers have already introduced product design and finalization; As for the introduction of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) 7nm enhanced version will be mass production next year, the full use 5 nm of extreme ultraviolet light will be produced in 2020.
TSMC's 7nm manufacturing process has entered volume production, and speed will accelerate in the second half of the year. It is estimated that by the fourth quarter of this year, 7nm revenue will increase to 20%, and 7nm will account for about 10% of annual revenue. As for 10nm Customers will switch to 7nm each time. TSMC’s 1nm 10mn revenue accounted for 19% of revenue in this quarter. It is estimated that the fourth quarter will be reduced to single-digit percentage.
Regarding the company’s product application portfolio, TSMC stated that in the future business structure, mobile communications will be reduced to 40%, high-speed computing computers will increase to 40%, and vehicle and internet of things will account for 20%.
3. Spread Taiwan Semiconductor's 7nm Danone Apple A12 order;
Gathering micro-messages, TSMC’s 7nm launch in the second half of the year is expected to take orders from Apple’s new iPhone A12 processor, and it will step into the MacBook processor space.
According to the micro-message news, Apple's new aircraft will be released ahead of schedule this year or in July and August. TSMC will display the relevant kinetic energy of Apple's new aircraft orders by the end of June, and there will be new orders for Mac processors. The full-year revenue is expected to reach. Successfully broke through the NT$1 trillion mark and reached a record high. It became the first semiconductor company in the semiconductor industry in Taiwan to reach NT$1,000 in annual revenue.
According to foreign media reports, TSMC's 7nm FinFET process design has two architectures, one dedicated to smart phone applications and the other developed for high-efficiency computing requirements. This shows that Apple's new iPhone A12 processor orders this year will be seized by TSMC, and Planning at least one of the MacBook's use of the security architecture processor, echoing the previous market, Apple may home to Intel, to develop its own MacBook processor chip, TSMC is considered the biggest beneficiaries of the rumors.
Foreign-funded circles are positively considering TSMC’s acceptance of a new iPhone A12 processor. Gokul Hariharan, head of research at JPMorgan’s securities and technology industry, said that Apple’s new iPhones are expected to use TSMC’s 7nm process in full this year. TSMC has strong demand for 7nm in the second half of the year.
In addition, Randy Abrams, head of research at Credit Suisse Taiwan, and Hou Mingxiao, an analyst at CLSA, are also optimistic about TSMC’s 100% share in the preliminary 7nm phase.
Foreign media quoted semiconductor supply chain pointed out that TSMC's 7nm FinFET process has a 1.6x logic density, 20% faster speed, and 40% lower power consumption compared to 10nm. It is expected that Apple A series processors will stay ahead of technology targets. It is likely to continue to adopt TSMC manufacturing process.
4.InFO packaging technology allows TSMC to take orders from three generations of Apple;
Yu Zhenhua pointed at the iPhone on the reporter’s side and said, “This has InFO. It started on the iPhone 7, and it will continue to be used now, iPhone 8, iPhone X. Other mobile phones will start using this technology.”
Win at 30% thickness, allowing TSMC to eat three generations of apples
In the early years, Apple’s iPhone processor was always Samsung’s imprisonment. However, TSMC has been able to start orders from A11 and have successively taken orders for two generations of iPhone processors, which has continued to increase its performance and share price.
One of the keys is Yu Zhenhua’s “Integrated Links and Packaging” department. The new packaging technology developed by InFO enables the direct link between the chip and the chip to reduce the thickness and free up valuable mobile phone space for the battery or other parts.
Yu Zhenhua explained that the thickness of the mobile phone processor package can be as much as 1.3, 1.4 mm in the past. “Our first generation InFO is less than 1 mm,” Yu Zhenhua said. It means a 30% reduction in thickness.
“He asked TSMC to take orders from three generations of Apple,” said Lu Chaoqun, former chairman of the Semiconductor Association and Yu Zhenhua, who is familiar with the company.
Time back to the third quarter of TSMC in 2011. At that time, Zhang Zhongmou had no hurry to throw a shocking bomb - TSMC wants to enter the packaging field.
The first product, called "CoWoS" (Chip on Wafer on Substrate), means that the logic chip and DRAM are placed on a silicon interposer and then packaged on a substrate.
He mentioned that "depending on this technology, our business model will be to provide a full range of services. We intend to make the whole chip!"
This news immediately spread the global semiconductor industry.
After combing his suit, Yu Zhenhua, whose appearance looks like a civil servant, has also been intensively appearing at major technical seminars at home and abroad since then. He has vigorously promoted his own invention and named the new technology.
At that time, the reporter of “The World” was also impressed with the director. Because he talked eloquently, even the appearance of tongues and wars was very different from the low-key style of the general TSMC.
The foundry leader announced its entry into the downstream market. The market immediately questioned the prospects of the sealing and testing professional factory.
At the Moonlight, silicon products had to be disinfected everywhere. It was said that CoWoS technology can only be used in a very small number of specific high-end products with limited impact.
Yu Zhenhua will happily go home. "All future high-end products will be used. The market is very big."
The dissatisfaction in the seal-measurement circles gradually accumulated. It finally broke out in a technical seminar.
A director of silicon product R&D started after Yu Zhenhua’s speech. “You mean that we haven’t eaten anymore. Don’t do anything?” Let the host of the show rush out and play round.
Soon afterwards, Yu Zhenhua suddenly disappeared in public. “We want to say how he vanished. Later, I heard that Zhang Zhongmou came out and wanted Yu Zhenhua to make a low-key point,” said a large-scale factory leader of a packaging and testing plant, who declined to be named.
At the time, the immediate supervisor of Yu Zhenhua, the chief operating officer of the front-end CCTV, Jiang Shangyi, accepted an interview with “The World” to explain the ins and outs of TSMC entering the field of packaging and testing.
It turned out that in 2009, Zhang Zhongmou returned to the post of chief executive and asked the retired Jiang Shangyi to regain control of R&D. One of the main tasks at that time was to develop the so-called "advanced packaging technology."
"Because Moore's Law has begun to slow down, there is still much room for improvement in terms of circuit board and packaging from the perspective of the entire electronic system," he said.
In the past decades, the dazzling light of Moore's Law has made the progress of the rest of the electronic system seem insignificant. The development focus of the packaging industry has therefore been shifted to reducing costs, and there have been no major technological breakthroughs for a long time. For example, the industry’s mainstream high-level Technology - flip chip, technology developed 50 years ago.
Zhang Zhongmou strongly supported and allocated 400 R&D engineers to Yu Zhenhua. He also lived up to expectations. Two years later, CoWoS technology was successfully developed.
However, until the start of mass production, there was only one major customer who actually placed orders - Xilinx, a programmable logic gate array (FPGA) manufacturer.
At this time, even Jiang Pei, who was extremely high in the ranks of TSMC, felt internal pressure. “(It seems to be) Someone boasts about the sea, has a lot of resources, and made a useless thing,” he recalls.
Chong Chong Chong, grabbed Apple's fertilizer from Samsung
It's especially critical whether you can take orders for iPhone processors.
This is the world's first fat list, which has been monopolized by Samsung for many years. For example, the A7 processor for the iPhone 5s, black resin, and the ultra-thin PoP (Package on Package) package are used for volume production. The capacity of the DRAM is stacked with the processor package.
Samsung is the only semiconductor manufacturer in the world that can mass produce memory and processors, and also has its own packaging and testing plant. By this system, the entire A7 processor can be completed under "one roof", which has a huge advantage in cost and integration.
Therefore, even though the threat posed by Samsung Galaxy smartphones to Apple is getting bigger and bigger, Apple still can't get rid of its dependence on rivals. Until iPhone 6s in 2016, despite the introduction of TSMC, it still had to build a Samsung processor with Samsung. Orders.
The introduction of CoWoS technology theoretically allows the processor to lose up to 70% of its thickness. However, customers are happier.
One day, Jiang Shangyi and a “big customer” burst out for dinner. The other party told him that this kind of technology was accepted and the price could not exceed 1 cent per square kilogram.
But the price of CoWoS is more than 5 times this figure.
TSMC immediately decided to develop an advanced packaging technology with 1 cents per square centimeter. The performance could be slightly worse than that of CoWoS.
"I'll rush hard," Yu Zhenhua said. He decided to switch to "subtraction" to make the CoWoS structure as simple as possible, and finally come up with a streamlined design.
Yu Zhenhua immediately reported to Jiang Shangyi and took a picture on the whiteboard to explain to him: “I haven’t finished the last few sentences. Jiang Dad has no concern, immediately ran to speak with the chairman and dig a big gold mine.” He recalled.
This is the first time InFO packaging technology has been used in iPhone 7 and 7Plus. This technology is the main key for TSMC's orders.
Moreover, not only a generation, including the iPhone X listed a few months ago, this year's next new models. A foreign analyst said that more and more signs show that even 2019, Apple's new products in 2020, TSMC's take-all The possibilities are getting higher and higher.
A senior director of packaging and testing plants who had also participated in Apple's orders believes that Samsung is "a loss of Jingzhou."
When TSMC came up with InFO and Samsung, whose packaging experience was more than TSMC's, misjudged, it was thought that by simply improving the existing PoP technology, Apple could achieve the required thickness level.
Therefore, after missing the first opportunity, Samsung would have to catch up with its own version of InFO technology.
Breaking the Impossibility, "Little Daughter" Makes Great Contributions
In November 2016, when the iPhone 7 with InFO technology was shipped for the first time, TSMC announced that he had made great contributions. He was promoted to Deputy General Manager of Integrated Connectivity and Packaging.
"No one looked good at the beginning," Yu Zhenhua said.
One of the predecessors of TSMC who was the head of the packaging plant told him in person.
First of all, it is difficult for the cost to compete with the packaging and testing plant. Because the packaging plant is also developing similar technologies, the human cost of TSMC is far higher than that of the packaging industry. Therefore, the product gross margin is required to reach 50%. However, only 20% of silicon products can be used at the time of the company. Done.
Foreign analysts also saw the decline. For example, Mark Li, an American analyst at Bernstein Securities, wrote at the time: “InFo will make TSMC more competitive with Intel and Samsung? No, we do not think so. "
He believes that the experience and technology that Samsung and Intel have accumulated in the packaging field are far better than those of TSMC. For example, Intel and Samsung have the second largest number of patents in the "fan-out wafer-level packaging", respectively. Ji Lian’s top ten are in line.
All these negative opinions are justified. Why did Yu Zhenhua reversal of the universe and complete this "impossible mission"?
He gave an unexpected answer, "I want to lose. I have nothing to lose."
He leaned back on the sofa in the interview location and smiled badly.
It turned out that during that time, it was the bottom of his life.
Yu Zhenhua was the first batch of returnees of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and the time of joining was even earlier than that of Jiang Shangyi.
After studying at the Tsinghua University, Tsinghua University studied in the United States. After receiving a Ph.D. in materials from the Georgia Institute of Technology, he worked at the famous Bell Labs as a semiconductor researcher. He joined TSMC in the early 1990s and was the director of Advanced Microsystem Technology and the Director of Advanced Module Technology.
One of the former semiconductor owners known to him pointed out that Yu Zhenhua was "at the forefront of technology," and TSMC's CMP (chemical mechanical planarization) process was established by him.
TSMC's previous milestone was a successful mass production in 2003. Since then, it has drastically opened the 0.13 micron gap with UMC.
At that time, six executives of the 0.13 micron technical team commended by the Executive Yuan, Yu Zhenhua's business was converted to copper conductors and low-dielectric substances, which were classified as "post-stage" processes.
The advanced module technology that he was responsible for at the time was headed by Liang Mengsong, who later defected to Samsung.
He invested the most resources from the semiconductor plant, and the first-stage process development that had the greatest impact on product performance was moved to the latter stage for several years. He finally settled on the "semiconductor industry's production transfer" - packaging.
In this ultra-high-pressure industry that pursued Moore's Law with the continuous "miniaturization" as its main mission, this is equivalent to being exiled to the frontier from the most highly anticipated first-class theater.
After giving a deep breath, Yu Zhenhua said, “There were not many people in the beginning. I did it in the first and last paragraphs. After that, I got more talents later. I always retire, retreat, and retreat to the package.”
Burned several thousand wafers in 5 years to create the era of CoWoS packaging
Yu Zhenhua disclosed that during that time not only did the work change greatly, but even the family and family members also appeared in a situation where life was at a low ebb, leaving him with the determination to burn down.
TSMC's InFo and CoWoS are both "wafer-level packaging" technologies, that is, they are packaged directly on silicon wafers. Therefore, they can be significantly reduced in size and improved in performance.
As the world's first semiconductor manufacturer to mass-produce wafer-level packages, TSMC is at the forefront and there are endless technical challenges to resolve. For example, the thorny issue of Warpage.
A senior executive of the packaging industry who also participated in Apple's order revealed that TSMC paid a high tuition fee and that the production line burned thousands of expensive wafers in five years.
"I've heard that the yield rate has not been increased until it reached 80% last year." A TSMC chief account executive also said.
From the beginning of 2016, Yu Zhenhua's long-standing persistence has finally begun to see the dawn.
CoWoS's new customers have appeared in large numbers. His predictions for the year have come true: The latest, highest-end chips, really need to use CoWoS.
Because CoWoS can increase the performance of such products by 3 to 6 times.
This year, Nvidia launched the company's first drawing chip GP100 in CoWoS package, which kicked off the recent wave of artificial intelligence. Including, the following year AlphaGo defeated the Google artificial intelligence chip TPU 2.0 behind the world chess king Ke Jie. , These world-leading performance, highest-cost artificial intelligence chips, are CoWoS packages, manufactured by TSMC.
Even at the end of 2017, Intel launched a partnership with Facebook to challenge Huida's monopoly of Nervana-like neural network processors.
"Without CoWoS, recently such a big wave of AI will not come out so quickly," Yu Zhenhua said proudly. He also said that CoWoS's production capacity is now in short supply.
He also disclosed that there are still several secret weapons in his hand and they will appear one after another in the future.
In the past few years, outsiders watched the competition between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics, and Intel’s Sanxiong. Their visions were set at 7nm, the progress of dream technologies such as EUV. As a result, the previously unimpressive packaging and testing department now seems to have become TSMC’s rejection of Samsung’s Intel. The main differences.
After all, it was due to Yu Zhenhua’s "persistence."
"I think he is a model," said a TSMC executive. "If people are so smart and capable, but the company moves around in personnel, he doesn't complain. If you send me to do anything, you do it, but I do it." Do the best. "World magazine
5.Silicon Labs acquires Sigma Designs' Z-Wave business unit for US$240 million;
Silicon Microsystems, Silicon Labs ("Coretech") and Sigma Designs Inc. announced that Silicon Labs has completed the acquisition of Sigma Designs' Z-Wave business unit for about $240 million in cash transactions, including about 100 employees. The team of employees.
Z-Wave is the leading technology for smart homes in mesh networking. The thriving Z-Wave Alliance has more than 700 manufacturers and service providers worldwide, providing over 2,400 certified, interoperable Z-Wave infrastructures. equipment.
Combining Z-Wave mesh networking technology and interoperable product features, coupled with Silicon Labs' multi-protocol expertise, smart home R&D personnel can access large, diverse ecosystem networks, as well as a full range of end-nodes. ) Technology options, which provide potential opportunities for potential customers of millions of smart homes. Silicon Labs’ acquisition strategy has reached the goal of providing a full range of wireless hardware and software product portfolios for the smart home market, including Wi-Fi®, Zigbee®, Thread, Bluetooth® and proprietary protocols.
Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs, said: 'In combination with Z-Wave, Silicon Labs' extensive portfolio of IoT connectivity products allows us to achieve a vision of wireless technology integration in the smart home market. A secure, interoperable customer experience is The core of smart home product design, deployment and management. Our smart home vision is that multiple technologies can work together safely. Any device that uses all of our connectivity options can easily connect to the home network and automate security updates and feature upgrades. . '
Raoul Wijgergangs, vice president and general manager of Z-Wave, said: 'After the merger, Silicon Labs and the Z-Wave Alliance and its ecosystem will continue to advance Z-Wave's technology roadmap, providing innovation for millions of smart home product users. Technology. Z-Wave is a proven, widely deployed technology. Device sales have reached a market milestone of 100 million in quantity. This acquisition will promote the cooperation of multiple ecosystem network partners to expand on Amazon, Alarm.com, ADT. Link to Samsung SmartThings, Yale, Vivint, Google Home and Comcast, etc. '
Elias Nader, Sigma Designs' acting president and chief executive officer, and chief financial officer, said: 'We are pleased that the vast majority of shareholders of Sigma Designs can approve the sale of our Z-Wave business unit to Silicon Labs. This process is available for sale. An important milestone for returning funds to shareholders as soon as possible. '
Silicon Labs expects the acquisition will increase non-GAAP earnings in 2018, and will provide additional financial details on the first quarter profit and loss conference call for the 2018 fiscal year at 7:30 am CST on April 25, 2018. Guidelines.
6. Toshiba considers that it will no longer sell its semiconductor business: It will continue to be the main business
Sina Technology News Beijing time on April 22 morning news, according to Japanese media reports, Toshiba is considering not to sell semiconductor business, the business as a pillar of performance continue to retain.
Currently, Toshiba’s plan to sell the semiconductor business to Bain Capital’s lead consortium is being submitted to the Chinese regulatory authorities for review. If there is no Chinese regulatory approval before the end of May, the sale will be temporarily suspended. Meanwhile, Toshiba’s internal presence Whether or not 'sale has lost meaning' was questioned.
The semiconductor business accounts for about 90% of Toshiba’s operating profit. To solve the debt problem, under the pressure of the bank, Toshiba decided to sell the semiconductor business in September last year. However, Toshiba’s memory chips rank second in the global market, second only to Samsung. So for Toshiba, selling the business is a tough decision.
However, continuing to retain the semiconductor business will also bring risks. If you want the business to continue to remain competitive, then Toshiba will need to invest 300 billion yen in equipment investment each year. But if the demand for the smart phone market declines, then doing so may result in Toshiba’s The financial situation deteriorated rapidly.