These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of June 24 – June 28.
Beyond Bangalore: Indian chip companies look to smaller cities amid growth
Bangalore, often dubbed India's Silicon Valley, has long been the heart of the country's semiconductor industry. However, a significant shift is now unfolding as semiconductor businesses start to explore tier 2 cities beyond Bangalore, signaling a strategic industry evolution driven by the quest for diversified talent pools, cost-effective operations, and broader market reach. There's also a proposal to incentivize at least one chip start-up in each of India's 806 districts.
Fire at Micron Taiwan fab raises memory chip price concerns
A fire recently broke out at Micron Technology's DRAM fab in Taichung, central Taiwan. While the fire was promptly extinguished, the consequences of the incident remain uncertain. In the past, fires at memory production facilities frequently caused short-term changes in memory pricing, hence why the fire at Micron has prompted concerns among industry participants regarding the short-term pricing trend.
Malaysia fast becoming semiconductor hub
Malaysia is fast becoming a semiconductor hub in Southeast Asia, with efforts devoted particularly to expanding its advanced packaging, IC design, and AI sectors. Malaysia is among the Southeast Asian countries attracting substantial investments in line with tech companies' relocation of production bases out of China to diversify geopolitical risks. It has already seen major international players, such as Intel, Nvidia, Infineon, and Microsoft, step up investments in the country.
Intel Foundry's 3nm process is catching up fast, should Samsung worry about it?
While catching up to TSMC's top spot has proven to be tough, Intel is fast catching up to Samsung's No. 2 position in the foundry market. Despite suffering heavy losses and under immense pressure, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger still pushed the Intel 3 process and released the first server CPU Xeon 6. This significantly impacts the data center market and reflects Samsung's plight in the 3nm GAA process, as even Samsung's own Galaxy S25 may not use its self-developed 3nm processor.
Taiwan OSATs to see sales growth in 2H24
With TSMC's CoWoS capacity remaining tight amid strong AI chip demand, Taiwan-based backend houses have seen demand for advanced packaging and testing services grow. Sources pointed out that OSATs and test interface vendors have seen strong momentum from customers' adoption of Nvidia's data center solutions. AI chip production is expected to fuel sales growth in the second half of 2024.
General DRAM production rate remains modest at 80 percent
As the industry heavily invests in high bandwidth memory (HBM) DRAM, a supply shortage was predicted for general DRAM. However, Samsung and SK Hynix's general DRAM utilization rate is between 80-90%, a stark contrast to NAND Flash, which consistently operates at full production capacity. Analyses suggest that this situation may be due to the slow recovery of downstream markets like smartphones, PCs, and servers.
Chinese DRAM maker CXMT to build new fab in Shanghai
According to industry sources, Chinese DRAM manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has received government approval to build a new manufacturing site in Shanghai, offering almost 100 job openings. This will be the company's third production site in China, with the first two located in Hefei and Beijing. Construction of the new plant in the Pudong district will begin in June at the earliest.
