These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of October 7 - October 13.
Samsung's HBM3E reportedly clears Nvidia's on-site inspection; mass production still pending
Samsung Electronics and Nvidia have completed the on-site inspection of Samsung's fifth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM3E), marking a crucial milestone for Samsung in the competitive memory market. While mass production delays persist, Samsung has resolved previous issues with power consumption and heat dissipation, positioning the company to begin shipping its eight-layer HBM3E in late 2024, pending final quality certification. Nvidia remains the primary customer for SK Hynix's more advanced twelve-layer HBM3E, intensifying competition. With demand for HBM memory surging due to the rise of AI accelerators, the outcome of Samsung's collaboration with Nvidia will be critical to its future in the global semiconductor landscape.
Powerchip Semiconductor cancels Japan Fab Project, sparking criticism from SBI chairman
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) executives visited Miyagi Prefectural officials to explain their decision to cancel plans for a wafer fab in Japan's Taihoku Village, citing concerns over compliance with Taiwanese law tied to Japanese government subsidy conditions. The decision sparked public criticism from SBI Holdings Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao, who expressed his disbelief on social media over PSMC's unilateral withdrawal, despite prior agreements. The cancellation leaves Miyagi Prefecture's semiconductor ambitions in question, though SBI intends to seek new partners for future projects in the region.
Huawei dominates global 5G standard essential patent ranking while Xiaomi demonstrates fastest growth
The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) released its 2024 report on global 5G standard essential patents, revealing that global declarations have surpassed 114,000, with valid patent families exceeding 72,800. Huawei maintains its lead with a 12.42% share, ahead of Qualcomm and LG, while five Chinese companies, including Xiaomi, collectively hold 32.15% of 5G patents. Xiaomi notably rose in the rankings, reaching 4.62% due to strong R&D investments. The report underscores China's growing influence in 5G technology, with Chinese firms securing prominent positions in the global patent landscape.
Industry considers production cuts as NAND prices drop and IT demand fails to meet expectations
NAND Flash prices have started to decline due to weaker-than-expected IT demand, prompting major memory manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and Kioxia to consider reducing utilization rates and shifting investment focus toward DRAM. After a brief recovery in early 2024, NAND demand, especially for general-purpose products, remains low amid market saturation and delayed PC and mobile device replacement cycles. While demand for DRAM, particularly for AI data centers, remains strong, companies are exploring converting NAND production lines to DRAM. NAND prices, which saw gains in 2023, are expected to fall further as the recovery in IT demand is pushed to 2025.
SK Hynix highlights its HBM production efficiency; 8.8 times better than Samsung and Micron
At TSMC's open innovation platform (OIP) forum, SK Hynix highlighted its dominance in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production, claiming its turnaround time (TAT) is 8.8 times faster than competitors Samsung Electronics and Micron. This efficiency advantage is attributed to SK Hynix's MR-MUF process, which enables faster DRAM stacking compared to the TC-NCF process used by rivals. As SK Hynix strengthens its market position with the mass production of 12-layer HBM3E, Samsung and Micron struggle with yield and production challenges. Meanwhile, Samsung is investing in HBM4 development, aiming to leverage its integrated expertise in memory, wafer foundry, and packaging to compete by 2025.
ByteDance replaces Nvidia chips with Huawei due to government policy
ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has reportedly ordered 100,000 of Huawei's Ascend 910B chips in 2024 to train an AI model, with 30,000 already delivered. ByteDance has not commented, likely due to concerns over US regulations on China's high-performance computing (HPC) chips. Industry insiders suggest the switch to Huawei chips may be driven by government policy rather than technical necessity, as Nvidia chips remain the preferred choice for AI training due to their superior performance and supply stability. Despite Huawei's production challenges, China's domestic HPC market faces increasing pressure from sanctions and policy-driven demands for local chip adoption.
