Apple Inc’s move to seek a second source for its advanced chips apart from Samsung Electronics Co — possibly Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) or GlobalFoundries Inc — is likely to take a few years rather than a few quarters, a semiconductor industry insider said.
However, Samsung’s increased ambitions in the foundry business will push it to challenge GlobalFoundries for the world’s No. 2 position as soon as this year, IC Insights Inc president Bill McClean said in his latest industry report, issued on Tuesday.
Last year, Samsung nearly doubled its foundry sales to US$4.33 billion, from US$2.19 billion in 2011, surpassing Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) to become the third-largest semiconductor foundry in the world.
TSMC remained the world’s top foundry, with sales increasing 18 percent year-on-year to US$17.17 billion last year, which was almost four times that of second-ranked GlobalFoundries, whose sales grew 31 percent annually to US$4.56 billion, according to the US-based semiconductor market research firm.
UMC was the fourth-largest foundry last year, with sales decreasing 1 percent year-on-year to US$3.73 billion, followed by China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), which saw its sales rise 27 percent to US$1.68 billion, IC Insights said.
“Samsung has the ability (ie, leading-edge capacity and a huge capital spending budget) and desire to become a major force in the IC foundry business,” McClean wrote, adding that he believes the company has set its sights on the No. 2 spot this year after expanding its foundry sales by 98 percent last year and 82 percent in 2011.
McClean said Apple last year accounted for 89 percent of Samsung’s total foundry sales and therefore the South Korean company would have to seek ways to make up for the potential sales loss if Apple shifts to other foundries to produce its custom processors, such as TSMC, GlobalFoundries and possibly Intel Corp.
Last month, Credit Suisse’s regional research head, Manish Nigam, said in a report that he expected TSMC would likely secure orders from Apple to produce next-generation processors as early as the second quarter of this year, faster than his original prediction of either late this year or early next year.
However, McClean disagreed, saying for the time being Apple must still rely on Samsung for advanced processors used in iPads, iPhones and high-end iPods. Moreover, it would be difficult for TSMC to allocate much of its production capacity to Apple because the Taiwanese firm was working at over 100 percent utilization throughout the first three quarters of last year, he added.
“One important factor that is oftentimes overlooked with regards to the Samsung/Apple IC supply relationship is the large amount of memory, both DRAM and flash, that Apple buys from Samsung,” McClean wrote in the report.
“Since Apple is such a big memory customer, Samsung is able to ‘bundle’ its IC offerings to Apple and deliver a cost-effective high-volume supply of leading-edge flash memory, DRAM and application processors to the company,” he said.
While the two companies will still engage in patent lawsuits and in market competition in the foreseeable future, Apple will continue its “marriage of convenience” with Samsung at the chip level, McClean said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS