The first half of a year has been usually the slow season for graphics cards, but this year the coronavirus pandemic-triggeed stay-at-home needs has shored up demand. With AMD and Nvidia set to launch their next-generation GPUs in September, graphics cards vendors are expected to cut prices for older-generation products, stimulating demand further in third-quarter 2020. The pandemic-fueled demand for notebooks is also expected keep NAND flash memory prices stable in the third quarter. And the fresh US trade sanctions on Huawei is not deterring the Chinese tech giant from making building 5G networks around China. For semiconductor, Digitimes has an exclusive interview with TSMC's R&D senior VP Cliff Hou, who reveals the principles and issues concerning the foundry's recruitement and R&D.
Graphics card makers see shipments boom: Graphics card manufacturers including Asustek Computer, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology are expected to see their shipments continue ramping up and grow through the fourth quarter of 2020, according to industry sources.
NAND flash contract prices to stay flat in 3Q20: NAND flash memory contract prices are expected to stay flat in the third quarter, as demand for notebooks remains stable, according to Wallace Kou, president and CEO of Silicon Motion Technology.
Huawei expects to build 800,000 5G base stations in China by 2020: Huawei has built 200,000 5G base stations so far in China and the number is set to hit 800,000 by 2020 covering over 340 cities, according to company's wireless network vice president Gan Bin.
PhD shortage to challenge TSMC: Q&A with company senior VP of R&D Cliff Hou: Shortages of personnel with PhDs will be a challenge facing TSMC as well as Taiwan's chipmaking industry by 2030, according to Cliff Hou, company senior VP of technology development and corporate research under R&D.
