1. Pass on Sharp's $290 million acquisition of Toshiba's PC business. Can Foxconn be bigger?
Netease Technology News June 5 news, According to foreign media reports, sources said that currently Sharp is about 5 billion yen (about 45.7 million US dollars / 290 million yuan) to buy Toshiba PC business to negotiate, It also marks that this Japanese electronics company affiliated with Foxconn is trying to re-enter the personal computer market.
Anonymous sources said that the two companies are fighting to reach a deal earlier this week.
"Nikkei business daily" first reported Sharpe's return to the personal computer market, which is rare among Japanese electronics manufacturers. In the face of fierce price competition from Asian competitors, many Japanese electronics products are manufactured. Businesses have withdrawn from smart phones, personal computers and televisions.
Sharp, who withdrew from the personal computer business in 2010, plans to use the huge Foxconn procurement network. Foxconn is the world’s largest OEM manufacturer and Apple’s major supplier. Foxconn also assembles personal computers for other global brands.
Toshiba’s personal computer business had sales of 167.3 billion yen in the fiscal year ending in March and a loss of 9.6 billion yen.
In order to make up for the multi-billion-dollar loss caused by its US nuclear power business, Westinghouse Electric, Toshiba, in financial difficulties, has sold its television business to Hisense Group and sold its white goods business to Midea Group.
Toshiba stated in a statement that the company is considering selling its PC business and is negotiating with potential buyers, but there is no specific decision yet. Sharp declined to comment on the news. (晗冰) Netease Technology
2. Micron: The next-generation 1Y nm process DRAM is being validated and EUV lithography is not needed;
This year, TSMC, Samsung and Globalfoundries will mass-produce 7nm process. The first 7nm process will use traditional DUV lithography process, and the second generation 7nm will be on EUV lithography process. Mass production is expected next year. So when will the memory chip industry Will use EUV technology? In Micron's view, EUV lithography process is not necessary for DRAM chips, and will not be used in the next few years. In the new generation of technology, they are handing over to customers to verify 1Y nm memory chips. There will be 1Z in the future. , 1α and 1β processes.
The memory industry does not need an EUV lithography machine in the next few years
Although the memory and CPU chips are all integrated circuits, the manufacturing process has similarities, but the process is not the same. The CPU logic technology has entered the 7nm node this year, but the memory mainstream is still 20nm, 18nm, of which 18nm belongs to 1X nm. Nodes (between 16-19nm), followed by 1Y nm are between 14-16nm, 1Z is about 12-14nm. After that, Micron put forward the 1α and 1β processes, and the corresponding xx nm is unknown.
Samsung is the first mass-produced 18nm process, that is, the first to enter the 1X nm node, far ahead of other companies. Micron is now also moving toward the 1X nm process, and the next-generation 1Y nm process has entered the customer verification stage. In the second half of this year, the 1Z nm process node is in the process optimization stage, while the 1α and 1β processes are in different stages of development.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra responded to related process issues at the annual strategic decision meeting of Bernstein. In the EUV lithography process, he believes that EUV lithography is not necessary for DRAM chip manufacturing until the 1α and 1β processes. It will not be used either.
In terms of memory technology, Micron believes that the EUV lithography process is still not required for 1α and 1β processes. However, the earlier ASML two years ago had to consider the EUV process when entering the 1Y nm node. In fact, it did not include Samsung's three major DRAM giants have no intention of entering the EUV node soon. 3. Facebook, Google reverse design special chip into the trend;
Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Facebook, revealed at the Viva Technology conference that Facebook is currently analyzing and filtering user demand for live video content, developing more efficient and energy-efficient dedicated chips. Since Facebook started with application services, today To enter the market with traditional Intel chipsets such as Intel, NVIDIA and AMD chipset makers for many years, this is tantamount to creating new challenges and market agitation for this market; on the other hand, Facebook Whether a chip-like chip may also impact the tradition of freedom of speech that Western countries have always defended has the potential to form a similar monitoring network on the mainland's network, and it is also worth watching. According to ExtremeTech, for social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, Faced with all kinds of film and television content uploaded by users all over the world every day, how to analyze and filter them in real time and efficiently so that the content of the films and televisions published can meet the requirements of policies and regulations. This has always been a major issue faced by these social media. After all, If video content that violates policy terms is put on the shelves, it is likely to attract public opinion. A high degree of inspection and criticism will in turn affect its reputation and operations. Therefore, all social media are looking for ways to analyze and use their content in a more efficient way. However, at this stage, human resources are used for content screening and classification. It is far better than computer filtering, but the shortcoming of manpower is that it cannot expand the scale of filtration. Today, when the amount of information uploading continues to expand, how can the expansion of the manpower establishment be limited? Therefore, in the area of analyzing and filtering video content, The demand for more efficient chip solutions to solve these problems has emerged. Today, Facebook is investing in the development of its own, and other chip hardware companies such as Intel, Samsung Electronics and NVIDIA can also invest in this field, but Social media players such as Facebook, who have stepped into the field of chip design and development by themselves, are invisible and pose new challenges to the world's existing chip computing. Over the past few decades, from the development of the Intel Central Processing Unit (CPU), to later NVIDIA and AMD has created graphics chips (GPUs) that continue to advance the overall computing performance of these chips. The technological evolution of the industry has gradually formed the driving force to promote the vigorous development of the overall application of the technology industry, and forms a solid semiconductor chip industry system. Application software providers such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft can rely on Intel, NVIDIA and Processors developed by AMD and other companies can maximize the value of their R&D expenditures. Without having to worry about chip computing technology, they can invest more in R&D progress in application software. However, in recent years, these application software end users have begun to Designing its own proprietary chips, such as Google's own design of TPU chips, has now grown to the third generation. Today, Facebook is also developing its own proprietary filtered video content chip, which is equivalent to the gradual intrusion into the exclusive field of traditional Intel and other chip makers. Under this circumstance, if Facebook, Google, and other major players continue to design their own proprietary chips, they may pose a collective challenge to the computing dominance effectively defined by major chip makers such as Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD in the past decades. These are currently visible. The traditional chip maker is developing in other fields to transform or expand the camp For example, IBM has moved from its hardware-centric business core in the past to continuous advancement in software and solution providers. Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, and other ticket companies also believe that it can turn to the data center as the center. In the era of business, it can be seen that even if it had a dominant position in a certain area in the past, it does not mean that it will be able to maintain this leading position forever. So if the trend of this self-designed chip continues to develop, it may be for Intel, NVIDIA and Ultra. Micro-chip makers have long-term revenue impact and will continue to watch for this trend change. DIGITIMES 4.MIC: This year's semiconductor output value in Taiwan is estimated to grow by 5.8%;
According to the Institute for Industry and Information Technology (MIC), as the economy of Europe and the United States gradually recovers, Taiwan’s semiconductor sub-industries have grown faster than new products (2017). It is estimated that the current semiconductor output value of Taiwan in 2018 will be NTD 2.4 trillion, growth rate 5.8%, but growth rate is still slightly lower than the global market size. Although the PC market is declining and smartphone demand growth is limited, the demand for memory DRAM and NAND Flash continues to increase. This year's global semiconductor market will grow by nearly 6.9% from last year to reach US$440.6 billion.
According to the MIC, the market for consumer products such as smart phones and LCD TVs has slowed down, and the Internet of Things has driven the demand for wireless communication chips. Taiwanese IC design companies have also increased their share of consumer electronics chip applications. It will grow season by quarter. It is estimated that the output value of Taiwan's IC design industry will increase by 4.4% from the previous year to NT$ 570.1 billion this year. Senior industry analyst Ye Zhenxiu pointed out that although the rise of IC design in mainland China has limited the market for smart phone application chips, However, with the increasing demand for automotive and industrial applications, Taiwanese manufacturers gradually cut into niche applications, such as ADAS, vehicle networking, and medical electronics, which will help the follow-up manufacturers to develop their layout.
With regard to foundry, the MIC's estimates of the foundry, this year, the foundry value of the foundry can reach 1.17 trillion, which is 4.1% higher than last year. It is expected to maintain steady growth throughout the year. Although smart phones have entered stagnant product life cycle However, thanks to the demand for high-speed computing chip (HPC) applications such as vehicle-assisted driving, high-level graphics chips and mining machines, it is still able to maintain the demand for advanced process capacity. The mature process has been continuously loaded since last year, and LCD driver ICs, Demand for vertical applications such as automotive electronics and industrial applications also continued to grow steadily. Ye Zhenxiu stated that the appreciation trend of the NT dollar will also bring exchange risks to the industry, which may affect Taiwan’s overall output value and growth rate in Taiwan’s denominated currencies; in addition, emerging applications The demand for mining machines has grown rapidly in the past two years. However, due to the limited development of virtual currencies, whether the boom continues will be the focus of observation in the second half of the year.
According to the MIC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation has gradually increased its 20-nanometer investment volume during the painful process transition period. Driven by the growth in the use of memory and prices for servers, the Internet of Things, and automotive electronics, Taiwan’s DRAM is expected this year. The output value will increase by 27.2% year-on-year and the output value will reach 117.7 billion. Ye Zhenxiu pointed out that in recent years, Taiwan's memory manufacturers have mostly focused on the production of niche-type products, gradually escaping the vicious circle of global memory product prices fluctuating vigorously, and making profits relatively stable.
In the industry of packaging and testing, the MIC of the CCIDC stated that this year it is expected to maintain stable growth driven by the demand for high-speed computing chips. The overall IC packaging and testing industry output value for the year is estimated to be RMB 462.7 billion, an increase of 5.5% year-on-year. Revenue relied on mobile phone replacement, but the smart portable device market is now saturated, with limited growth. Ye Zhenxiu said that future growth momentum will be concentrated on high-speed computing chips, including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, voice assistants and big data analytics applications, and High-speed computing chips need to be updated with advanced packaging technologies, such as 2.5D ICs or 3D ICs, to meet performance requirements, and will also boost related high-end packaging capacity utilization and industry scale.
According to the MIC Research of the Institute, the global information system market experienced a slight decline this year due to the weakening demand for commercial replacements. It is estimated that the shipment volume of global information system products this year will be 422 million units, and the annual decline will be 2.9%; among them, desktop computers, notes The market for computer products such as PCs and tablets declined slightly. Global server products continued to expand with the expansion of new data centers. The market scale maintained a slight growth.
The SMC also estimated that the global market for desktop PCs has shrunk from 5.3% to 1.1% this year. Overall, Intel and AMD all launched new processors in April this year, including Intel’s new products that include Core i5. , Core i3, Pentium, Celeron series processors, and Q370, H370, B360, H310 chipset, completed the product layout for high, medium and low-end desktop computers; AMD also launched high-end processor Ryzen 7 2700X and Ryzen 7 2700, mid-range processors Ryzen 5 2600X and Ryzen 5 2600 are at war, desktop brand owners have also launched new desktop and AIO products to stimulate replacement requirements.
For notebook computers, Xu Guifen, senior industry analyst at SMC, pointed out that its market size has continued to decline slightly since 2012. However, thanks to the improvement of the U.S. economy and commercial replacement, U.S. computer makers have apparently shipped their shipments. With regard to the consumer market, manufacturers are actively deploying thin and light laptops and e-sports models. Therefore, the global notebook computer market this year is expected to be close to 156 million units, with an annual decline of 0.6%.
As for the server, MIC pointed out that due to the rise of cloud computing, the global market has grown slightly. Although the overall market has not changed much, the rise of Chinese brands and the increase in the proportion of large-scale Internet service providers in purchasing whiteboard servers have increased. The change in the competitive situation remains to be seen; and as the big companies continue to deploy cloud services and AI applications, the global server market will continue to grow. 5. Apple tightens procurement of parts and components of Macs and hits the supply chain again.
Recently, Apple once again squeezed profits to the Mac supply chain. The industry has reported that Apple has strengthened control over some non-critical components. It not only specifies suppliers, but also reviews prices. Apple directly negotiates prices, and Apple extends its control to third parties. With concerted efforts, and covering very small components such as screws, irons, plastics, etc., supply chain component procurement and profit margins will be subject to significant contraction. Manufacturers describe the taste of apples as no longer sweet. However, this message has not been obtained. Apple officials confirmed that Apple's procurement unit used to be a key component only, such as processors, panels, battery cells, housings, thermal modules, etc. As for other non-critical components, Apple did not intervene and was purchased by supply chain vendors themselves. Although there have been many reports of Apple's intention to intervene, they have only heard the stairs. Recently, the industry reported that Apple convened some component factories in May to announce that it will start new measures. Apple once again squeezed profits from the Mac supply chain, which is Apple's overall purchase. As a part of the strategy, not Apple's Mac sales are poor. In fact, compared with the overall PC market decline, Apple's Mac series shipments are still growing. The Mac out of 2017 Shipments of 18.89 million units, an increase of 2.38%, and revenue growth of 9.31%. The industry pointed out that Apple CEO Tim Cook has always been familiar with the operation of the supply chain and has more control over the supply chain. The industry has described the good days no longer. Because Apple not only introduced new suppliers, it also reduced Apple's manufacturing costs through the pressure of singling between single companies, and further expanded the scope of centralized procurement to the raw materials of copper and cobalt. Now, Apple has also announced that it has reached out to the component suppliers. Apple recently invited part of the component factories to the U.S. headquarters for a meeting to finalize the new procurement strategy. Apple decided to expand the scope of unified procurement and extend it to more components. Compared with the past, Apple will only review component suppliers and confirm qualified suppliers. The list will not be involved in the procurement of parts and components. Today, Apple has directly finalized the price and order quantity. Supply chain industry experts believe that in the past, Apple only audited the supply quality and delivery date of the upstream components of the components. Each component factory passed its own The amount of orders can be negotiated with the upstream suppliers, excluding the procurement bonuses in addition to the OEM costs, and now Apple extends the purchasing power to more upstream manufacturers. It is for the component factories to earn only the OEM cost. The industry estimates that in the past, the profit generated by the component factories could reach 10~15%, and they will be turned over to Apple in the future. The fear is that the gross profit margin of the component factories will shrink rapidly. In the short term, it will not happen, because Apple’s new procurement strategy will be implemented from the new model. The existing production models have already reached a good price, and will wait until the new and old models are handed over before starting new measures. Apple's components in the past The supply chain is profitable, and the gross profit margin is at least double digits. Nowadays, Apple's new procurement strategy may cause the originally profitable component manufacturer to start falling into a bad profit. Currently, besides Apple, Most PC brand factories will not be extended to screws, plastic parts or iron parts and other upstream components, mainly due to the lack of a procurement system, the ability to control the quality of the upstream supply chain, and the need for long-term and experienced procurement staff. In the past, most of the procurement rights have been controlled. Today, the price is still in control. Apple has always been known to control the supply chain. The scope of control is both extensive and detailed. Since Apple is the world's largest consumer electronics brand, Product quality requirements are exceptionally careful, and as small as stamping parts will be repeatedly confirmed quality. Faced with Apple's expansion of procurement control, the industry believes that response measures include shifting to other more promising business areas, such as the recent hot cloud, AI and automotive electronics. , Or increase the self-control rate of parts to ensure profitability, but these will take time. Apple's new measures have caused some parts factories to be as difficult as hot pot ants. DIGITIMES 6. Three arrows target the 5G mobile computing market. Arm releases new IP products;
Taking the lead in the deployment of 5G mobile computing business opportunities, Armstrong released three IP products before Computex 2018, including the Cortex-A76 CPU, Mali-G76 GPU and Mali-V76 VPU to enhance the game and AR/VR experience. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities. Through these three new products, Arm will continue to strengthen the company’s competitive advantage in the mobile space, and will once again enhance the mobile terminal devices of smart phones, tablet computers, and PCs. Operational efficiency.
Nandan Nayampally, vice president and general manager of Arm Division, said that 5G will promote innovation in the entire mobile industry. The upcoming 5G networked applications, including VR, AI or mobile games, will lead to more computational growth. There will be more in the future. More different computing needs arise.
Nayampally further pointed out that, in addition, the game industry has also become one of the world’s largest revenue-generating markets, and is expected to reach a value of US$137.9 billion by 2018, which also drives consumer demand for computing power. The company introduced three new Cortex-A76, Mali-G76 and Mali-V76 processors, which can be widely used in mobile computing, immersive experience such as AR/VR, as well as AI and deep learning.
It is reported that the Cortex-A76 is based on Arm's DynamIQ technology. Compared with the Cortex-A75 released last year, it has improved efficiency by 35% and efficiency by 40%. It can provide 4 times the AI/ML on the terminal device. Operational performance for fast and secure experience on PCs and smart phones.
The Mali-G76 is designed to respond to high-performance games and cross-platform experiences. The product is 30% more efficient than the previous-generation Mali-G72 GPU, and it has a 30% increase in performance density, which not only meets the needs of consumers at any time. The need to play high-end games also provides developers with more space for performance, enabling them to write more new applications, bring more high-end games to mobile applications, or integrate AR/VR into their lives.
Finally, as UHD 8K demand gradually increases, to ensure that IP can support smart phones and other device encoding and decoding operations, Arm introduced the Mali-V76, which supports up to 60fps 8K resolution or four 60fps 4K streaming video, consumers Can simultaneously stream four 4K resolution movies, record videos in video conferences, or watch 4 games in 4K; or in full HD at low resolutions, and Can support up to 16 stream videos to form a 4×4 video wall. New Electronics