The latest escalation in the US-China trade war may have cast a shadow over the IT supply chain, but the world's top foundry house TSMC is seeing strong demand for its 7nm production capacity. One of its major clients for the 7nm node is China-based HiSilicon, the IC design arm of Huawei, who has seen growing demand at home despite setbacks in overseas expansions due to the US trade ban. The freshly announced US tariffs on Chinese imports actually have come as a short-term boost to Taiwan-based notebook ODMs' shipments, as their clients seek to build up extra inventory.
TSMC enjoys robust 7nm chip demand: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has enjoyed strong demand for 7nm chips and already utilized 100% of the process capacity since the third quarter of 2019, with orders placed by not only its major clients including Apple, Huawei and AMD but also crypto mining chipmaker Bitmain Technologies, according to industry sources.
HiSilicon enhancing in-house chip development capability: HiSilicon Technologies, a chipset solution arm of Huawei, has been ramping up its chipset orders for 7nm and other advanced node products at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), as the firm is gearing up efforts to build up its in-house IC development capability, according to industry sources.
Notebook ODMs to post higher-than-expected shipments in August: Notebook ODMs are expected to enjoy higher-than-expected shipments in August, as the 10% tariff on China-sourced notebooks staring September 1 has promoted brand vendors to stockpile inventories by asking production partners to deliver as many shipments as possible by the end of the month, according to industry sources.
