The growth trend of the semiconductor market in 2023 is not obvious, since the end of last year, the "warming" signal frequency has strengthened, and since the beginning of the year, many people in the industry will usher in the situation of "spring in March, spring flowers blooming" in 2024.
Since the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, various well-known semiconductor companies have started work one after another, and they have made a good start with "varied" actions, and the state of resumption of work and production has been full.
This article takes stock of the latest annual plans of several well-known semiconductor companies at home and abroad, and details the "spring ploughing actions" such as new product releases, technology research and development, factory construction and expansion, talent introduction, and overseas planning, so as to capture the "core" situation of the semiconductor market in 2024.
There are a variety of new products, and players are actively "exhibiting" to show their muscles
Since the beginning of the year, the most passionate electronics show has been the world's largest consumer electronics show, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2024), known as the "Spring Festival Gala of Science and Technology". At CES 2024 in early January, industry giants such as NVIDIA, INTEL, AMD, Qualcomm, Bosch, Texas Instruments, Samsung, and NXP have focused on the theme of AI and made a cool appearance of new black technology products, bringing a grand feast of science and technology.
Among them, AI chip giants such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel gathered together, optimistic about the development prospects of the artificial intelligence industry under the integration of AI in PC, automotive and other fields.
For example, at CES 2024, AMD expanded its portfolio with two new automotive devices, the Versal Edge XA adaptive SoC and the Ryzen Embedded V2000A series processorsIntel unveils its first-generation SoC designed for software-defined vehicles, with plans to bring its "AI Everywhere" strategy to the automotive marketSK hynix showcased its HBM3E ......, an important memory chip product in the AI era
Focusing on domestic exhibitions, since the beginning of the year, many semiconductor and electronics companies such as STMicroelectronics, Silanwei, Kemin Sensing, Fenghua Hi-Tech, and Fibocom have actively participated in offline exhibitions to show their muscles, and announced their industry exhibition plans in 2024.
On February 18, Fenghua Hi-Tech, as a leading enterprise in the manufacture of high-end new components in China, was invited to participate in the Guangdong Provincial High-quality Development Conference, and brought a number of independent research and development process achievements such as chip multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), chip fixed resistors, inductors, and aluminum electrolytic capacitors to the provincial exhibition area.
According to official news, from February 26th to 29th, Fibocom will appear at the 2024 Mobile World Congress (MWC 2024), meet in Barcelona to show Fibocom 5G 5G-A module and the latest landing results.
From March 11th to 13th, Shenzhen Kemin Sensor plans to bring cutting-edge technology and new products, focusing on participating in the 14th China International Energy Storage Conference in CIES 2024. It is reported that Kemin Sensing specializes in the development and production of NTC semiconductor chips, thermistors, precision temperature sensors, pressure sensors, automotive-grade gas sensors, temperature and humidity sensing modules and wireless radio frequency modules and other Internet of Things intelligent sensing products and sensing modules.
From March 20th to 22nd, STMicroelectronics and Silan Micro will participate in the 2024 (Spring) Asia Charging Exhibition, focusing on the latest power products and cutting-edge technologies including PoE chips, injecting new vitality into the PoE chip market.
In 2024, HC Electronics Network also plans to appear at industry exhibitions such as the Munich Electronics Show, the Elexcon Shenzhen International Electronics Show, and the CITE China Electronic Information Expo, and work with partners to match the business transactions of the upstream and downstream chains of electronics.
On the whole, domestic and foreign semiconductor companies will pay more attention to the product research and development of AI, automobiles, energy storage, communications and other favorable tracks, from technology giants to entrepreneurial pioneers, and pay more attention to the opportunity to participate in industry exhibitions and strive to seize market share.
Giants are competing for advanced manufacturing processes, and the situation of AI and high-end storage is very good
The actions of major international semiconductor manufacturers are often the vane of the global semiconductor market, especially advanced processes, AI chips, and high-end memory chips have become the key competition directions of large manufacturers.
Taking advanced manufacturing processes as an example, the three giants of TSMC, Samsung, and Intel are currently competing for the 2 nm manufacturing process and striving to occupy market opportunities.
In terms of 2nm progress, TSMC previously said that almost all AI chip manufacturers are cooperating with TSMC, and the customer interest and engagement that 2nm has generated in HPC and smartphone-related applications is higher than when 3nm was in the same phase.
It is reported that TSMC plans to further increase R&D investment in 2024, especially in the research and development of 3nm and 2nm process technologies to meet the demand for advanced chips in areas such as high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.
At the same time, TSMC has tentatively planned to build factories in 2024 and 2029 in the near future, with 2nm in Baoshan and Kaohsiung, and Taichung in 2027 in 2027 with 2nm or A14 (14nm), A14 and the next generation A10 will be more advanced in 2029, mainly in Taichung and Kaohsiung.
Previously, the news that Intel's new generation processor Nova Lake may use TSMC's 2nm process has sparked heated discussions. For Intel, choosing TSMC's 2nm process is undoubtedly conducive to the upgrade of its chip architecture. NovaLake processors are expected to be used in Intel's next-generation silicon products and achieve qualitative breakthroughs in performance, power consumption and stability. This will support Intel to regain its leading position in the semiconductor market.
However, Intel's decision to opt for TSMC's 2nm process has also raised concerns about the progress of its foundry services. Because Intel's 18a process is scheduled to be put into production in the second half of 2024, the choice of an external foundry may have a certain impact on its competitive relationship with TSMC.
In addition, according to South Korean news, Samsung is preparing to launch the 2 nm process in South Korea in 2025 and invest 500 trillion won in South Korea to build a large-scale 2 nm process factory by 2047.
Overall, the competition in chip manufacturing technology is becoming more and more intense, and the 2 nm process has been considered an important breakthrough in the new generation of process technology, and it is the general trend for manufacturers to compete for orders and develop advanced processes in 2024.
Regarding the AI track, with the advent of Openal's new large model Sora, generative AI has once again rushed to the hot list of the technology circle, and NVIDIA's "snickering" is almost impossible to hide.
According to Reuters, Nvidia is recently forming a new chip customization department, focusing on designing custom chips, including AI chips, for cloud computing companies such as Microsoft, Meta, and Google, as well as other companies such as Ericsson and Nintendo. In addition, news such as Nvidia's first unveiling of the EOS supercomputer, the release of the AI chatbot Chat with RTX, and the formation of an AI industry alliance with Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank have also been frequently reported.
In addition to Nvidia benefiting from AI, SK hynix continued to expand its R&D investment in HBM and DDR5 last year, and also accurately stepped on the AI demand outlet, achieving a turnaround. SK hynix is preparing a new memory manufacturing base covering an area of more than 4.15 million square meters, with an investment of more than 120 trillion won ($92.7 billion) to cope with the growth in demand for AI memory.
Although the recovery of storage products such as DRAM and NAND Flash is not yet clear, there is no doubt that HBM is an opportunity for all memory manufacturers. As long as the AI boom has not faded and NVIDIA's GPUs are still selling well, everyone can continue to sell profitable HBMs and earn dividends.
However, it is a pity that in these years, those who can really make money with AI are not only Li Yizhou, who sells live classes, but also memory manufacturers such as Nvidia and SK hynix, otherwise the pace of recovery of the semiconductor market will be faster.
Expand the scale of the industry and optimize the business direction
At the beginning of the new year, Kemin Sensing, Jinyu Semiconductor, Zhejiang Huilong Chip Technology and other enterprises have recently issued recruitment trends for talent introduction and staff expansion, ensuring the delivery of orders with personnel base and technical advantages, and continuing to expand the scale of the industry.
The acceleration of recruitment by domestic semiconductor companies is not only an important measure to inject new vitality into the industry, but also a major signal of the recovery of downstream market demand.
Last year, China's component chain "going overseas" was very popular, and local distributors actively poured into the overseas track PK. This year, many domestic semiconductor distributors are also very concerned about the "semiconductor industry chain migration to Southeast Asia", and plan to launch overseas actions in 2024 and 2025 to continue to enrich and optimize the business structure.
At the beginning of February, Wu Jun, co-founder of Lianchuangjie Technology, said that there is a great demand for electronic components in overseas markets, and we believe that it is necessary to follow the wave to go overseas. At present, Lianchuangjie Technology mainly focuses on the new energy vehicle sector, 5G, robotics and other fields in overseas markets, continuously increases the development of terminal and OEM customers, and continues to deepen the value-added services of semiconductor components.
Globalization is bound to be a new round of survival of the fittest for chip distributors.
When local distributors go global and local distributors in various countries, they not only need to create differentiated services and provide unique value, but also need to pay attention to the organizational form that matches the overseas model, including strategies, such as capital, technical reserves, marketing, and operation processes.
In 2024, HC Electronics Network will also launch a fully managed overseas service to help domestic local component distributors capture better opportunities from the dimensions of marketing, business matching, and matching transactions.
From the perspective of the overall external environment, the markets of industrial control, automotive electronics, communications, AI, 5G, and energy storage are slowly climbing up, and will become the starting point for local distributors to go overseas in 2024.
Write at the end
Playing the opening battle of the Year of the Dragon, starting with "momentum like a rainbow", the spring ploughing actions of various semiconductors should not be underestimated.
In order to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the business, semiconductor players are actively pursuing an orderly New Year's planning path, which shows that the trajectory of recovery is expected to be clear and clear.
Spring ploughing is not stopped, and the fruits can be expected.
In 2024, HC will fully launch high-quality services such as "HC Fully Managed Overseas Plan" and "HC Buying Group Hand-in-Hand", explore the latest model of channel sinking in domestic and foreign markets, help customers seize domestic and overseas markets, and open up "core" business opportunities in the Year of the Dragon from "spring ploughing".