The Week In Review: Oct. 15
By Mark LaPedus
In total, silicon foundry capital spending is expected to reach about $21 billion in 2012, flat from 2011, according to Barclays Capital. In 2013, foundry CapEx is expected to fall 1% to 20.9 billion, according to the firm. TSMC will see its CapEx jump from $8 billion in 2012 to $9 billion in 2013, but Samsung LSI’s CapEx will fall from 8 trillion won in 2012 to 6 trillion won in 2013, according to the firm. “We model GlobalFoundries CapEx inching up slightly to $3.7 billion in 2013 from $3.4 billion in 2012, and UMC CapEx moving slightly higher to $2 billion in 2013 from $1.8 billion in 2012,” said C.J. Muse, an analyst with Barclays. Muse also predicts total CapEx will fall about 5% in 2012, compared to flat in the previous forecast. He lowered his overall CapEx outlook for 2013 to minus 10%, compared to flat to minus 5% in the previous forecast.
TSMC has taped out the foundry segment’s first 3D chip test vehicle using JEDEC’s Wide I/O mobile DRAM interface. TSMC’s partners in the effort include Wide I/O DRAM from SK Hynix, DRAM IP from Cadence, and EDA tools from Cadence and Mentor Graphics.
GlobalFoundries announced a partnership with Masdar Institute to help spur the continued development of Abu Dhabi as a center for semiconductor R&D and manufacturing.
Soitec and Shin-Etsu Handotai have agreed on an SOI licensing extension.
Chinese SOI supplier Shenyang Silicon Technology (SST) has emerged. SST has installed EV Group’s 300-mm, low-temperature automated production bonding system for SOI materials. The China-U.S. joint-venture SOI wafer provider has selected the 300mm bonder as a follow-on to its prior purchase of a 200mm tool from EV Group. The system already has shipped to SST’s facility, marking the first installation in China of a 300mm SOI wafer production tool.
Ericsson and STMicroelectronics currently are working with an external adviser to ensure the best possible future for ST-Ericsson. ST-Ericsson, a 50-50 joint venture between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics, is developing cell-phone chips based on SOI.
According to Strategy Analytics, Qualcomm led the smartphone applications processor market in the first half of 2012. Samsung, MediaTek, Broadcom and TI took the rest of the top-five spots. ST-Ericsson continued its recovery and showed 28% sequential growth in Q2.
SEMI released its annual silicon shipment forecast for the semiconductor industry
The LED industry has added roughly 100 new fabs in the last five years, for a total of 169 fabs worldwide, according to SEMI.
China will spend 250 billion yuan, or about $40 billion, and expects a half million people will be employed in the solar industry by 2015. Additionally, the plan sets a target of 50GW installed capacity by 2020, according to SEMI.
Soitec has completed delivery on a total of 5 megawatts (MW) of its concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems to seven solar power plants throughout Italy.
NPD Solarbuzz forecasts that polysilicon production will be greater than solar industry requires in 2012.
ARM has tipped its strategy to crack the server market.
Calxeda, which is developing ARM-based chips for servers, announced $55 million in additional funding.
Following the adoption of a new networking standard, suppliers of embedded computer systems based on AdvancedTCA technology are looking to expand their efforts into new and traditional markets.
Here’s the latest from the Cowan LRA Model: “According to the WSTS’ August actual global semi sales of $23.013 billion, the updated monthly forecast expectation for full year 2012’s total global semi sales is expected to be $294.6 billion. This latest update to the 2012 sales forecast estimate corresponds to a year-over-year sales growth expectation of minus 1.7%, which dropped from the previous month’s year-over-year sales growth forecast estimate of minus 0.5%. 2013′s full year forecasted sales growth expectations is (plus) 7.4%.”
Tags: ARM, ATCA, Barclays, Broadcom, Cadence, Calxeda, Cowen, Ericsson, EV Group, GlobalFoundries, LEDs, Masdar Institute, MediaTek, Mentor Graphics, NPD SolarBuzz, PV, Qualcomm, Samsung, SEMI, Shenyang Silicon Technology, SK Hynix, solar, ST-Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Strategy Analytics, texas instruments, Ti, TSMC, Wide I/O