IC Insights yesterday raised its annual semiconductor capital spending forecast to an all-time high of US$80.9 billion for this year, with foundries and NAND flash memory makers spending the most.
The latest projection is higher than IC Insights’ previous estimate of US$75.6 billion and marks a 20 percent growth from last year’s US$67.3 billion in spending.
Among six major segments, DRAM manufacturers are to step up spending at the fastest rate of 53 percent to US$13 billion this year, benefiting from the surge in DRAM prices since the third quarter of last year, the firm said in a report.
Although the majority of the spending is going toward technology upgrades, SK Hynix Inc said that it still cannot keep up with demand through technology advancements alone and it needs to add wafer capacity, the report said.
Foundries are to budget US$22.8 billion for new equipment this year, accounting for the biggest portion of overall spending, IC Insights said.
NAND flash memory chip manufacturers are to spend 33 percent more capital at US$19 billion this year than last, following a 23 percent increase a year ago, it said.
IC Insights said the spending for NAND flash memory this year would mostly be on 3D NAND process technology, including the production of 3D NAND at Samsung Electronics Co’s new fab in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
As all major NAND flash memory companies, including Samsung, Hynix and Micron Technology Inc, are planning to significantly ramp up their 3D NAND flash capacity over the next couple of years, IC Insights said there is to be a rising risk of oversupply.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the