1. Qualcomm server technology vice president resigns;
Qualcomm, which is in the mobile field, announced its intention to enter the server market at the end of 2014, and built a server chip based on ARM architecture. The Qualcomm Data Center Division (QDT) was established for this purpose, and the first 48 was demonstrated for the first time in two years. Core server chip, officially released the Centriq 2400 series at the end of 2017.
But after half a year passed, Qualcomm's server road was very rough. Almost no customers adopted its plan. QDT President Anand Chandrasekher left in May this year. Since then, the department has been streamlined and laid off 280 people.
Qualcomm server technology vice president resignation: bleak prospects
Now, Dileep Bhandarkar, QDT's vice president of technology, has also left. He is the soul of Qualcomm's Falkor ARM server architecture design.
Bhandarkar himself and Qualcomm did not make any public statements about the departure, and people only heard about him in the recent SemiCon West 2018 semiconductor exhibition.
Bhandarkar's resume is very prominent. He has been in charge of Intel's senior architecture design for 12 years. He left his post in 2007, and spent six years at Microsoft to promote data center innovation and standards. He then joined Qualcomm to lead the server, and it is also the IEEE Standards Association. Lifetime academician.
Qualcomm Centriq processor architecture diagram
As a result, Qualcomm's server path is less likely to see the future, but a Qualcomm spokesperson responded to the report saying that Qualcomm is still committed to the data center business, will not give up, but only reduced the investment, and will continue Promote joint investment with China.
In January 2016, Qualcomm and Guizhou Provincial People's Government jointly established 'Guizhou Huaxintong Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd.' (HXT), which designs and develops server-specific chips for the Chinese market. The two parties hold 45% and 55% respectively. An important step for Qualcomm's technology exchange for the market.
Huaxintong's first server chip, 'Huaxin No.1', has been successfully tested and produced at the end of 2017, and will be put into commercial use in the second half of this year.
2.Yole: The memory industry's growth momentum in 2018 is endless;
The semiconductor industry achieved record performance in 2017, and its industry scale exceeded $400 billion. The overall demand for semiconductor devices is strong throughout the year, thanks to the growing popularity of electronic components in all applications, especially mobile and data centers. Markets. Semiconductor growth in 2017 was driven by storage components, with revenues reaching $126 billion, a 60% increase over the same period in 2016. Industry research firm Yole Développement (Yole) predicts that the storage market will reach $177 billion in 2018. %.
The DRAM and NAND markets are in short supply throughout the year, leading to price increases and profitability for record revenue and storage providers. Driven by operations and data centers/SSDs, demand is strong and includes artificial intelligence. Emerging growth drivers such as the Internet of Things and automobiles. Due to the growth in capacity and backward growth in demand, DRAM and NAND are in short supply.
The trend of artificial intelligence and machine learning mobility and connectivity is beneficial to both the DRAM and NAND markets, and may lead to memory continue to increase its share of the entire semiconductor market. The DRAM market continues to evolve. Yole believes memory requirements for the next five years The compound annual growth rate is 22%.
Demand for NAND remains strong, enterprise-class SSDs in the data center are growing strongly, the use of SSDs in notebooks continues to grow, and the content of smartphones and other mobile devices continues to grow. These markets will continue to drive growth in NAND consumption. Some emerging applications are expected to accelerate future growth, including AI, VR, automotive and the Internet of Things.
3. Semiconductors stop the price of silicon wafers is still stable;
The semiconductor silicon wafer market is in short supply, and the price has continued to rise since the beginning of 2017. However, there have been some noises in the near future. Some products seem to be slowing down. The legal person believes that the price of silicon wafers has not declined. Higher players are less affected by changes in spot prices.
Recently, most of the stocks of semiconductor silicon wafer stocks have been revised back. The legal person pointed out that this roughly reflects the slight slowdown in market demand, which has affected the price increase of some items, and the price has risen a lot in the first half of this year. Therefore, the current trend of rising is facing challenges. It is also necessary to let the market digest the existing stocks, but the spot price of some products is only flat, and it will not reverse downward.
In addition to off-the-shelf supply, in order to ensure the stable supply of medium and long-term semiconductor silicon wafers, the long-term price of many downstream customers has already been negotiated, including quarterly, semi-annual or annual. The legal person pointed out that even if the spot price of some items rises The situation is somewhat loose, and the industry with a high proportion of long-term contracts is still affected.
Price fluctuations in the third quarter
At present, most of the silicon wafer industry regards the long-term proportion as confidential, and it is not easy to disclose it. Since most of the subsequent contract prices are still rising, the legal person estimates that the slight fluctuation of the semiconductor wafer market in the third quarter should be only a short-term phenomenon. The industry will also estimate that the price trend of silicon wafers will continue to rise next year, even for a longer period of time.
The rise of this wave of semiconductor silicon wafers was roughly started by 12 吋 products, and then continued to 8 吋 and other smaller products. As for shipments, according to the International Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI) data, this year In the first quarter, global silicon wafer shipments jumped to 3,084 million square miles, a single-season record high, not only a 3.6% increase in the quarter, but also an annual increase of 7.9%.
Terminal Emerging Applications Increase Capacity Utilization Continued
The semiconductor silicon wafer related industry has ushered in many years of glory, mainly because of the increase in both terminal and emerging applications, but the supply growth is limited. When products can be used in 12-inch factories, and the capacity of 8-inch plants can also be used. Some of the operators who failed to grab 12-inch capacity were squeezed into the 8-inch factory, which in turn affected manufacturers with 8 or 6 production capacity. Some of them had to put the products in the 6-inch factory. The situation has not only increased the capacity utilization rate of various foundries, but also the price of silicon wafers required to rise.
4.3GHz+! Samsung will build an IP based on ARM A76 architecture based on 5nm/7nm
Samsung's 7nm process, the direct introduction of advanced EUV (extreme ultraviolet lithography) technology, resulting in a slight loss in progress, especially behind their own 'estimate' TSMC.
When ARM announced the new Cortex A76 public version in early June, the sample was built by TSMC's 7nm, with a frequency up to 3.3GHz and a reference value of 3GHz.
In this situation, Samsung certainly does not sit and watch.
During the foundry forum held in South Korea, Samsung Electronics announced that it will cooperate with ARM's strategic OEM to advance to 7nm/5nm. Specifically, the A76 chip built by Samsung 7nm LPP and 5nm LPE can achieve more than 3GHz. frequency.
TSMC version of ARM A76 performance renderings
Samsung also revealed that 7LPP will begin production in the second half of 2018, and IP using EUV technology is expected to be completed in the first half of next year.
In addition to the CPU and GPU, Samsung also received ARM's Artisan physical IP license, including a full set of memory compilers, 1.8V/3.3V general-purpose input and output libraries, etc., to accelerate the development process and optimize development results.
In addition, Samsung also confirmed that its roadmap has advanced to the 3nm GAAE (Gate-All-Around Early) process.
So the problem, in addition to Exynos, Samsung's 7nm A76 chip will have Qualcomm, Huawei customers? Fast technology