On June 21, according to news from the Sichuan Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Huatai United Securities recently announced that the domestic semiconductor IP supplier Chengdu Ruichengxin Micro Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Ruichengxin Micro”) IPO and Progress report on the guidance of listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (Phase 1). On January 29, 2021, Huatai United Securities and Ruichengxin Micro signed the “Chengdu Ruichengxin Micro Technology Co., Ltd. and Huatai United Securities Co., Ltd. Initial Public Offering Counseling Agreement.” The Sichuan Supervision Bureau submitted the application documents of Ruichengxin Micro’s IPO counseling and filing. According to data, Ruichengxin Micro was established in 2011, dedicated to the design and authorization of integrated circuit intellectual property (IP) products, and provides one-stop services, with the goal of becoming a world-class integrated circuit IP provider with innovative capabilities and trustworthiness. Relying on independent semiconductor IP, we provide customers with platform-based semiconductor IP authorization services and one-stop chip design services. The products include ultra-low power analog IP, embedded non-volatile memory IP, and high-performance radio frequency IP. Semiconductor IP has applied for more than 200 patents at home and abroad, serving hundreds of integrated circuit design companies around the world. Products are widely used in 5G, Internet of Things, smart home, automotive electronics, smart power supplies, wearables, medical electronics, industrial control and other fields. As early as 2016, Ruichengxin Micro launched a complete set of ultra-low power analog IP design solutions based on 55nm process, and cooperated with partners to develop the world’s first MCU chip with the lowest power consumption of 7nA; in 2017, Ruichengxin Micro and China’s top 3 integrated circuit design companies jointly developed the world’s lowest power consumption, mass-produced NB-IoT chip; in 2018, based on the domestic Foundry 153nm, CMOS process, successfully verified LogicFlash that meets the requirements of automotive electronics Grade0, and tested more than 200,000 times Erasing, high temperature resistance 175℃, service life up to 11 years. This technology has also been adopted by international automotive electronics companies for many years, and has registered the LogicFlash trademark in the United States and Japan. On April 28, 2020, Ruichengxin Micro announced the completion of the acquisition of Chengdu Shengxin Micro Technology Co., Ltd. (SYDTEK), a wireless communication chip designer. According to the progress report of the sci-tech innovation board listing guidance work, the actual controller of Ruicheng Xinwei is Xiang Jianjun, with a shareholding ratio of 35.59%. The shareholders include Zhuhai Apex Microelectronics Co., Ltd., BYD Co., Ltd., Suzhou Juyuan Oriental Investment Fund Center, Datang Telecom Investment Co., Ltd. and other enterprises and investment institutions. It is worth noting that, recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of recommended and supported national-level specialized and new “little giant” enterprises and national (or provincial) public service demonstration platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises (the first batch of the first year), Ruichengxin Micro also successfully made the list. Editor: Xinzhixun-Rurouni Sword

Missing computer chips Short-time work at VW and Daimler

Status: 16.06.2021 10:23 a.m.

Time and again, the production lines in car plants stand still – the manufacturers refer to the industry-wide shortage of chips. Now it hits Volkswagen and Daimler again. When will the situation improve? From Angela Göpfert, tagesschau.de There will be stoppages in the coming week at the VW main plant. In the Tiguan, Touran and Tarraco production as well as in the Golf production in the late and night shifts, the Wolfsburg switch to short-time work. In the Daimler plants in Bremen and Rastatt, short-time work is already the order of the day. The reason is once again the industry-wide shortage of chips.

06/08/2021

Interruptions cost billions

It is nowhere near the first time that the shortage of semiconductors has slowed automakers’ production. It was not until the end of May that the VW luxury subsidiary Audi at the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm locations suffered production interruptions. BMW had been hit a few weeks earlier. The Ford plant in Cologne is also affected. The German auto industry is not alone with its problems: The US auto giant Ford calculates charges of around 2.5 billion dollars this year due to the lack of chips. The problems in the automotive industry have consequences for the entire economy. Just today, the researchers at the Munich Ifo Institute lowered their forecast for the growth of the German gross domestic product this year from 3.7 to 3.3 percent. To justify this, they also referred to bottlenecks in the delivery of intermediate products such as semiconductors.

Improvement in the third quarter?

It could take a few more weeks for a change for the better. According to experts, the automotive industry is heading for the lowest point. “We are facing the toughest six weeks,” said Murat Aksel, VW Board Member for Purchasing, recently in an interview with the “Handelsblatt”. The situation should improve again in the third quarter. Competitor Daimler also expects an improvement in the second half of the year. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) also estimates that the situation should ease from July.

Around four million cars less

Because of the lack of chips, automakers worldwide produced 1.4 million fewer cars in the first quarter and 1.6 million in the second quarter, the BCG experts calculate. For the entire year 2021, the failures are likely to amount to four to six million vehicles.

05/04/2021

The consulting firm Alix Partners in Munich estimates 3.9 million cars. This corresponds to a value of non-produced cars of around 91 billion euros.

Lessons from the shortage of chips

The car manufacturers have long since learned their lessons from the shortage of chips: They are carefully reviewing their supply chains and are not only expanding their warehousing for chips. After all, the supply chains have thinned out after a pandemic for more than a year, even for important intermediate products, for example in the chemical industry.

06/07/2021

Security of supply is suddenly a priority again after years of just-in-time delivery. Chip manufacturers are also taking strong countermeasures and are pushing ahead with expanding their capacities at full speed. In Germany, the new high-tech chip factory from Bosch ensure regional supplies.

Misjudgments as the cause

But how did it come to that? Where does this lack of chips come from, which is currently keeping the auto industry and its employees in suspense? With the outbreak of the corona pandemic, demand for cars collapsed and chip manufacturers cut their production plans.

05/31/2021

When the demand for new vehicles suddenly increased surprisingly in the summer of 2020, chip manufacturers such as Infineon or NXP were overwhelmed by the demand. The current chip shortage is therefore based on a whole series of misjudgments – on the part of car manufacturers and suppliers, but also on the part of chip manufacturers. The lack of chips also shows that the auto industry did not come through the Corona crisis as badly as feared.

Logo of LG International Corp. Photo: Reuters LG’s lead researcher, Lee Ki-dong, was elected as the President of the Applications working group of the Next G Alliance earlier this month. He will serve a two-year term to lead this group in addressing the requirements of 6G network adoption. Next G Alliance was established by the US Alliance for Telecommunications Solutions (ATIS) in October 2020 to promote the leadership of mobile technology in 6G networks. Next G Alliance has a total of 6 working groups with members from 48 companies in the fields of telecommunications, software and semiconductors. According to LG, 6G technology is expected to be commercialized in 2029, with talks on standardization slated to begin in 2025. The next-generation telecommunications network 6G will bring faster data transmission speeds, lower latency and higher reliability than 5G networks and can bring about the concept of the Internet of Things Ecosystem, to enhance the experience user experience. LG established a 6G network research center with the Korea Research Institute of Science and Technology Development in 2019 and signed an agreement with the Korea Science and Standards Research Institute in 2020 to research new technologies. 6G technology.

Competition with china US Senate passed Billion program

Status: 09.06.2021 09:01 a.m.

With a $ 250 billion program, the US wants to make up economic ground against China. The aim is semiconductor production and the research area Artificial Intelligence. The US Senate has passed a huge investment program in research and technology. Across all parties, the senators voted in favor of the package of measures designed to strengthen the US economy in competition with China. One of the goals is to advance the production of semiconductors in the USA and research in the field of artificial intelligence. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote: “If we don’t do anything, our days as the dominant superpower could be numbered.” US President Joe Biden was satisfied with the Senate decision: “We are competing for victory in the 21st century and the starting shot has been fired.” The US would have to maintain its position as “the most innovative and productive nation in the world”, according to Biden.

Production capacities decreased

According to the White House, the proportion of semiconductor production capacity in the US has fallen from 37 percent to around 12 percent of global production over the past 20 years. US companies are dependent on foreign countries, in particular on countries in Asia, which is a risk in the supply chain. Currently, many automakers and electronics manufacturers are struggling with not enough chips on the market. Among other things, the surge in demand for notebooks and other computer technology during the pandemic led to the shortage of semiconductors.

Discover the technologies of tomorrow

President Biden said the bill will enable the US to discover, manufacture and improve tomorrow’s key technologies – from artificial intelligence to computer chips to lithium batteries used in smart devices and electric vehicles – in the United States United States. The House of Representatives must also give its approval for the Investment Act to come into force. According to the US media, it could meet with resistance there.

Illustration (Source: Chinadaily) South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Information Technology and Communications said on June 1 that many cloud data center operators have cooperated with companies specializing in chips used in Korean servers to meet the respond to the increase in demand for semiconductor products and respond to uncertainties in the global supply chain. The ministry said five data center companies, Naver Cloud, Douzone Bizon, Kakao Enterprise, NHN and KT, along with the Artificial Intelligence Industry Cluster Agency, signed a memorandum of understanding with Korean server chip companies SK Telecom, Rebellions, FuriosaAI, and Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute to expand the use of products Semiconductor domestically produced artificial intelligence (AI) in data centers. Demand for AI semiconductor products from data center operators has been increasing in recent times. These companies need chips to process large volumes of data efficiently. Ministry of Science and Technology Information – Korean media predicts that the global server AI chip market will grow from $3.5 billion in 2020 to $34.7 billion in 2030. Under the aforementioned agreement, the companies will also cooperate on chip development, as well as pursue plans to establish a semiconductor test environment at an AI industry complex in Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul. The ministry said it would support the cooperation plan of the company and hope that this agreement will boost the semiconductor industry of Korea in the context of a recent global supply shortage.

The new digital currency Chia consumes a lot of hard drives. Photo: Guardian The Guardian (UK) reported that American businessman Bram Cohen created a digital currency called Chia. Accordingly, Chia aims to be more advanced than Bitcoin and Ethereum in reducing the energy consumed to mine. Cryptocurrency mining often depends on high power consuming computers to handle complex algorithms. However, Chia requires the user to spend a large amount of control to form and store any number of numbers. Given the fact that the price of cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed in recent times, the demand for hard drives specifically for Chia mining has also skyrocketed. A type of semiconductor drive (SSD) called NVMe, which is used to generate random numbers, is also highly sought after. Over the past week, the prices of hard drives and NVMe have been on an uphill trend. One point worth noting is that SSDs are inherently limited in number. Digital currency expert David Gerard told the Guardian: “Instead of consuming power, Chia gobbles up SSDs at a special rate.” According to CoinMarketCap on May 26, in the last 24 hours, there was 50 million USD worth of Chia traded, quite modest compared to 50 billion USD of Bitcoin. However, Chia’s potential keeps the demand for hard drives still on the rise. In the past, graphics cards, which have been an important element of video games and artificial intelligence research, have also fallen into sharp shortages due to demand from Ethereum miners. In another development, on May 26, Iran issued a ban on Bitcoin mining to prevent power shortages.

Huawei is starting to move into the car business after being hit by a US ban that made it lose access to chip design software for smartphones. The company recently launched the Seres SF5 crossover between Huawei and energy firm Cyrus. This model features smartphone connectivity and automatically transfers music and navigation information between the two sides, and is equipped with voice control technology and an audio system with 11 speakers. Visitors at Auto Shanghai exhibition in Shanghai (China). Photo: Reuters. Sources familiar with the matter said that, in addition to working with Changan to develop joint venture-branded smart cars, Huawei also plans to launch its own branded electric vehicles. and is in talks to buy a controlling stake in the electric vehicle division of a small domestic automaker. Huawei’s partnership with Chongqing Changan comes amid a global shortage of semiconductors and particularly affects carmakers. According to observers, switching to the automotive chip business is a more appropriate new direction, especially when the company is unable to produce chips for smartphones due to the bans from the US. Changan is currently unavailable for comment. Meanwhile, Huawei said it will let automakers make announcements about their cooperation relationships. Battery maker CATL, also part of the partnership, was also unavailable for comment.

Two battery manufacturers LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation also decided to proceed with an investment plan of 14 billion USD, including both private investment and joint venture with the US company. Hyundai Motor Company announced an investment of $7.4 billion to expand production and charging infrastructure for electric cars in the US. Photo: YONHAP News Semiconductor chip maker SK Hynix will spend $1 billion to establish a large-scale Research and Development (R&D) Center to innovate new growth areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), solutions NAND memory chips in Silicon Valley. At the conference, businesses emphasized the importance of the North American market in the key business segments of the future, such as the information and communication technology industry (including semiconductor chips), batteries, and batteries. electric bowl; announced to expand the market through cooperation with businesses with advanced American technology and needs, possessing new technologies. Also at this event, the leading US chemical company – DuPont announced a plan to build a Research and Development Center in Korea, to develop original technologies for semiconductor chip materials. Attending the Korea-US Business Roundtable, the Korean side included Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources Moon Seung-wook and leaders of major corporations SK, Samsung electronics, Hyundai automobiles, LG Energy Solution. , Samsung Biologics, SK Bioscience. The US side includes Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, along with leaders of Qualcomm, GM International, Novavax, DuPont, and Ampere Computing.

The global chip shortage could last until 2023. (Source: Nikkei) Came in by surprise The Covid-19 pandemic was the first to cause the global economy to fall into recession last year, disrupting supply chains and changing consumer shopping patterns. So, to cope with the pandemic, automakers are forced to cut chip orders in 2020, while chip manufacturing companies also reduce production activities. But the rapid recovery and mis-predictions of car buyer demand have caused automakers to rush to place orders in large quantities. Meanwhile, the supply of semiconductor chips is not enough. In addition, the US government’s sanctions on Chinese technology corporations, plus consumers who bought many laptops, game consoles and other electronic products during the pandemic led to Inventory is getting smaller and smaller. Although computer chips are not very complicated or expensive, they are an integral part of making electronic devices and household items. Shortages are getting worse, spreading from the car industry to the consumer electronics market. Estimates by the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association say about 75% of global manufacturing capacity is in East Asia, led by TSMC (Taiwan) and Samsung (Korea). U.S. semiconductor companies account for 47 percent of global chip sales, but only 12 percent of global output is produced here. The shortfall is due to Asian companies investing too little in 8-inch chip factories. These companies have struggled to ramp up production as demand for 5G phones and laptops grew faster than expected. Qualcomm Inc, Samsung’s smartphone chip maker, is one of the major chipmakers struggling to keep up with consumer demand. Apple’s main supplier Foxconn also warned about the lack of chips affecting the supply chain for customers. Widespread impact The chip crisis hit the car industry first, especially on the productivity and sales of big companies like General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen. According to market research firm IHS Markit, the shortage of electronic chips affected the production process of 1.3 million cars and trucks worldwide in the first quarter of 2021. The company’s report also shows that the Renesas chip plant fire in Japan in March, as well as disruption to chip factories due to severe winter weather in Texas, will cause shortages. becomes serious. Last month, the British mini-car maker said it had suspended production lines for three days because of chip shortages. Recently, Ford also warned that the number of products is at risk of falling to 1.1 million vehicles this year. At the end of last year, the impact of the chip shortage crisis spread to consumer electronics. Last month, Apple’s financials indicated that the company would suffer losses of between three and four billion dollars in the first two quarters of the year, with the biggest impact on Mac and iPad products. Recently, Chinese technology giant Xiaomi increased the prices of some TV models, citing the fact that the price of key components increased higher than before. Meanwhile, two electronics groups Samsung of Korea and Sony of Japan also simultaneously increased product prices. In addition, the crisis has begun to affect China’s home appliance manufacturing sector. The world’s largest maker of home appliances, Midea Group, said the price of chips used to make home appliances would soar if the global chip shortage persists. The biggest impact from the chip crisis is still consumers. While demand for consumer electronics and automotive items tends to be quite price-sensitive, a reduced supply can increase the price of affected items by 1-3%. This could temporarily boost inflation later this year. Chip pressure has pushed up car prices in the US. New prices averaged $37,200 in the first quarter, up 8.4% year-over-year. Meanwhile, production disruptions due to chip shortages will continue. CEO of chip maker Infineon (Germany) Reinhard Ploss estimated that it will take about two years for chip supply and demand to be balanced. THIUY VUY (according to SCMP/Reuters)

Major Korean corporations including: Sumsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG announced plans to invest nearly 40 billion USD in the US. (Source: Business Korea) Specifically, at the Korea-US Business Roundtable held at the headquarters of the US Department of Commerce with the attendance of South Korean President Moon Jae-in on May 21 (local time), Samsung Electronics announced announced that it will invest 17 billion USD to build a new semiconductor chip factory in the US. Two battery manufacturers LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation also decided to proceed with an investment plan of 14 billion USD, including both private investment and joint venture with the US company. Hyundai Motor Company announced an investment of $7.4 billion to expand production and charging infrastructure for electric cars in the US. Meanwhile, semiconductor chip maker SK Hynix will spend $1 billion to set up a large-scale Research and Development (R&D) Center to innovate new growth areas such as artificial intelligence (AI). ), the NAND memory chip solution in Silicon Valley. At the conference, businesses emphasized the importance of the North American market in the key business segments of the future, such as the information and communication technology industry (including semiconductor chips), batteries, and batteries. electric bowl. Korean companies claim to expand the market through cooperation with American businesses that have demand and have advanced technology. Also at this event, the leading US chemical company DuPont announced plans to build a Research and Development Center in Korea, to develop original technologies for semiconductor chip materials. Attending the Korea-US Business Roundtable, the Korean side included Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources Moon Seung-wook and leaders of major corporations SK, Samsung electronics, Hyundai automobiles, LG Energy Solution. , Samsung Biologics, SK Bioscience. The US side includes Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, along with leaders of Qualcomm, GM International, Novavax, DuPont, and Ampere Computing. (according to Business Korea)

TSMC will increase semiconductor chips for cars by 60% this year To do this, TSMC has to reallocate semiconductor chip production capacity to other industries that are also experiencing “stressfully high demand due to the acceleration of digital transformation”. The Taiwanese semiconductor chip maker said: “With fixed short-term capacity, TSMC has been trying to increase production in 2021 for microcontrollers (MCUs), one of the key components in the products sold in China. leading cars by 60% compared to the level in 2020”. This represents a 30% increase from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. TSMC will also continue to work with the automotive supply chain to address the current shortage. Modernizing supply chain management and increasing demand forecasting will be the way to avoid such shortages in the future, TSMC added. The global semiconductor chip shortage, which began last year, has forced some auto production lines to close and is also affecting consumer electronics. TSMC has repeatedly said it is doing its best to address shortages and ramp up production. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on May 20 that she had held meetings with 30 senior industry leaders about the semiconductor chip shortage and said the US could help. increase transparency in the market. This meeting was attended by major automakers such as General Motors, Ford Motor, Stellantis NV, semiconductor chip suppliers and other semiconductor companies. Phan Van Hoa (according to Reuters)

On each microprocessor there are billions of transistors and nm (nanometer) – the unit of measurement of transistor size. The smaller the size, the more transistors the processor can hold, making it faster and more efficient. TSMC’s most advanced chip today uses a 5 nm process with about 173 million transistors per square millimeter. Silicon chip wafers in TSMC’s production line. Photo: TSMC. This breakthrough was discovered by the MIT team, with components optimized by TSMC and improved by NTU. The core component uses semi-metallic bismuth as the electrode of a two-dimensional material to replace silicon, allowing for reduced resistance and increased amperage. Energy efficiency will thus rise to unprecedented heights in the semiconductor industry. Chipmakers have been trying to stuff more and more transistors into increasingly smaller chips, but are nearing the limits of silicon-based technology. That prompted scientists to look for two-dimensional materials to replace silicon to produce chips on the 1 nm process or smaller. More transistors on a chip gives manufacturers more options to deliver core innovations to improve performance for leading tasks like AI and cloud computing, and pave the way for better security. Encryption and encryption are performed by hardware. The need to increase performance and save energy in each processor has never cooled down, especially in the era of the cloud, AI, and IoT. Most of today’s chip-integrated devices use 10 nm or 7 nm process technology. The two largest chip manufacturers in the world, TSMC and Samsung, are launching chips with the 5 nm process, while Intel is still at the 7 nm stage. TSMC also only plans to start moving to the 4mm process later this year before mass production in 2022.

While today’s most advanced technologies can produce chips as small as 3 nm, the new technology will “break the limits of Moore’s law”, said Chih-I Wu, Professor from NTU and co-author of the paper. research said. Moore’s Law can be broken by TSMC’s sub-1 nm chip manufacturing technology. Photo: Reuters. One of the obstacles when it comes to improving the chip manufacturing process lies in the structure and choosing the right materials. According to the Tom’s Hardware , shrinking the chip size but denser transistors can increase the resistance at the electrodes, affecting the performance. Research shows that using bismuth as an electrode significantly reduces resistance, increasing transistor amperage. Currently, TSMC’s technology uses tungsten as the electrode, and Intel’s cobalt. TSMC’s sub-1nm chip manufacturing technology is still being tested before mass production in the next few years. Alternatively, further studies may consider using a different electrode material instead of bismuth. Discovered in 1965 by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, Moore’s law has become the rule for the advancement of semiconductor technology. According to this law, the number of transistors on a chip will double every 2 years, while the power consumption is halved. Over the years, chip companies around the world have continuously invested in semiconductors, a technology field that is considered a key future. In early May, the US company IBM introduced the world’s first 2 nm chip manufacturing technology. This process can quadruple smartphone battery life, cut data center carbon emissions, speed up laptops, and support high-performance artificial intelligence (AI). China is also looking to catch up with the US in semiconductors, amid technological advances that could cause Moore’s law to break. According to the SCMP , the Chinese government has proposed a five-year plan, referring to the potential semiconductor technology “post” Moore’s law. What if humans had chips in their brains Elon Musk creates an AI-powered device that interacts with the human brain. But is that really a good idea?

AMD recorded 8.9% growth in the first quarter of 2021, the highest in 15 years In 2020 and into the first quarter of 2021, AMD has focused on high-end desktop CPUs and EPYC chips for servers. The first quarter of the year recorded a record increase of 41% over the same period last year, which is the highest number for the CPU market in 25 years. AMD’s biggest growth most recently came in 2006, when the chipmaker saw its server CPU market share increase from about 5-7% to about 22% in just 18 months with the 64-bit Opteron processor. bits. Then, Intel overtook AMD to let Intel regain its leadership in technology and hold it for 10 years. AMD has launched EPYC Milan and it is used for data centers and supercomputers. Consistent growth in the first quarter will propel AMD further in its goal of becoming a leader in the server CPU segment. The choice of EPYC chip has proven that AMD’s direction is appropriate in recent times. One question is what the growth of ARM architecture means for ARM and Intel in the near future, while Nvidia, Microsoft and others are gradually moving to produce ARM-based CPUs. As for Intel, most recently launched Rocket Lake processors and they compete directly with AMD Ryzen 5000. However, Intel’s chips are more commonly found in retail stores at very affordable prices. competition while AMD’s chips are still rare on store shelves. AMD still has a strong portfolio of next-gen EPYC CPUs such as the 4th Gen EPYC Genoa chips that are expected to be announced next year and will feature the all-new Zen 4 core architecture and a host of other features to addresses Intel Sapphire Rapids & Granite Rapids Xeon CPUs.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) factory in Wuhan, China. (Source: Nikkei Asian) Rise of the chip manufacturing business Once a month, senior executives from Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) fly to Beijing for a series of meetings with China’s top economic regulators. They focused on the company’s efforts in developing some of the world’s most advanced computer memory chips. Headquartered in downtown Wuhan, YMTC is considered a pioneer in efforts to create the domestic semiconductor industry. YMTC has mass-produced state-of-the-art 64-layer and 128-layer NAND flash memory chips, which are used in almost every electronic device from smartphones to servers to cars. These things help YMTC compete with big players in the industry such as Micron Technology of the US or Samsung Electronics of Korea. Equipment used to make high-end computer chips is mostly imported in the US. Some chip design and manufacturing processes such as etching, ion implantation, electrochemical deposition, design software… are all in the hands of American companies. To manufacture without using American technology is a big challenge for a new company that has been operating since 2016 like YMTC and also represents China’s great ambition in the field of semiconductor industry development. especially after the economic sanctions that the US imposed on China. However, the dizzying rise of YMTC has shown China’s strength in the chip industry. The business started in 2016 and within four years has mass-produced some of the most advanced 3D NAND flash memory chips in the world. The Beijing government also recognizes the importance of developing the semiconductor industry and makes efforts to support these companies. “Competition for chips is increasing as all major economies, not just China, have realized the importance of chips,” said Roger Sheng, a chip analyst at consulting firm Gartner. Semiconductors”. Currently, YMTC, is still in the “target” of the US government. But under the guidance of the Beijing government, they have conducted a review of the supply chain, looking for local component suppliers, or non-US suppliers, to gradually eliminate the country’s dependence on technology. Based in the city of Wuhan, YMTC’s efforts did not stop even when the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc last spring. According to sources familiar with the matter, after Wuhan reopened in April 2021, YMTC mobilized hundreds of engineers stationed inside the production campus, working three shifts a day with the aim of overhauling all production processes and replace as many foreign imported components as possible. Efforts to localize production The effort to localize chip production is an opportunity for a new generation of Chinese chipmakers like YMTC. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in remarks published in January 2021: “We must strengthen self-innovation and make breakthroughs in some core technologies as soon as possible.” According to the Nikkei Asian , plans to end dependence on the US have long been carried out by China and massively invested by the state, but progress is still very slow. For example, the plan to self-produce semiconductors has a target of 70% by 2025. But of the total revenue in 2020, China’s semiconductor manufacturing enterprises account for only 5.9% of sales. domestic products, while foreign companies with headquarters in China account for the rest of sales in the country. According to the Magazine China Stocks , while the threat of sanctions from the US has always lingered, the source of state aid, with subsidies and investments from local governments and the private sector has amounted to at least 170 billion USD since Since 2014 has helped chip manufacturing enterprises to localize production efforts. In addition, orders from domestic technology giants such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo are also the reason their production is guaranteed. The US sanctions are a wake-up call for China’s semiconductor industry. (Source: Nikkei Asian) In fact, the trade war with the US and its sanctions against technology giant Huawei have given the Chinese government an opportunity to decouple from the world’s largest economy. – something they’ve always wanted. The US sanctions seem to have removed the main obstacle for domestic consumers, who always prefer to use chips from foreign suppliers. The manager of a chip maker in China told the site Nikkei Asian : “In the past, domestic chipmakers used only the manufacturing equipment that all the world’s leading chipmakers such as Samsung and Intel use in their production lines. Who wants to use and try new products without being sure of the quality of the production?” However, when sanctions from the US appeared, Chinese manufacturers considered alternatives, and domestically produced chip products were a reasonable choice. The manager emphasized: “It also means that domestic enterprises have really had the opportunity to test and upgrade their products – the goal that the whole country is aiming for.” Roger Sheng, a semiconductor analyst at Research Gartner, found that the US-China tensions confirmed the view that it was necessary to localize production. Now, the whole country agrees that building a semiconductor industry is possible and increasing self-reliance is a top priority. Unbreakable bond? Despite China’s considerable efforts, not many experts believe that the country’s chip sector will be completely separate from the US. The world’s two largest economies are still linked, dependent on each other and also two large semiconductor markets. According to a January report by the Brookings Institution, Chinese businesses account for at least 25% of the sales of most US chip businesses, and not everyone wants to break out of the market altogether. Chad Bown, an expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the US President Joe Biden’s approach to China was still unclear. On the one hand, the US expects China to buy more chips as promised in recent trade talks but also continues to restrict China’s use of US technologies. Since 2018 to date, a total of 162 Chinese entities have been sanctioned by the Trump Administration. In April 2021, the US Department of Commerce also added seven Chinese “supercomputer” entities to the economic blacklist, to restrict these businesses from using US technology. In reality, it is still difficult to completely decouple the supply of semiconductors, which involve thousands of suppliers from around the world and have been closely intertwined for decades. China may try to reduce its dependence on the United States, but without American sources of technology, it is unlikely to accelerate its technological progress. But Miin Wu, founder and president of Macronix International, a leading memory chip maker in Taiwan (China) that serves Apple, Sony and Nintendo, stressed: “In the short term, due to geopolitical uncertainties China’s technological development may be slowed down. However, in the long run, China will certainly hope to build a competitive semiconductor industry.” (according to Nikkei Asia)

The global chip shortage has hit automakers hard, especially Ford, as it said it would have to cut production in half in the second quarter. In the latest move, auto industry groups have pressed the Biden administration to secure chip supplies for manufacturing plants. The new alliance will include a number of large chip companies such as AT&T, Cisco Systems, General Electric, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Verizon Communications. The group announced that it will resist government actions to support the industry, which is struggling in production because of the chip shortage problem. Tech companies like Apple or Microsoft are also affected by the situation, but much less severely than automakers. Last month, the iPhone maker said it could lose $3 to $4 billion in sales in the current quarter because of chip shortages. According to Reuters

Product of the 4th generation V-NAND memory chip of Samsung Electronics. Photo: Yonhap/VNA Specifically, Samsung – the world’s largest memory chip manufacturer and Hyundai – South Korea’s leading automobile manufacturing group have signed a cooperation agreement with the Institute of Automotive Technology and the Institute of Electronic Technology under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Korea Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) to strengthen cooperation in the automotive chip manufacturing industry. Details of the contract between Samsung and Hyundai were not disclosed. However, an unnamed government official said: “We do not rule out the possibility that Hyundai will receive automotive chips from Samsung.” South Korea boasts a world leader in memory chip production, but is relatively weak in the logic chip business. According to data from the Korea International Trade Association, the country accounts for only 2.3% of the automotive chip manufacturing market. Leading in this field are the US (31.4%), Japan (22.4%), and Germany (17.7%) respectively. Major Korean chipmakers such as Samsung and SK hynix Inc. focuses on manufacturing high-performance memory semiconductors because automotive chips are seen as less profitable, while requiring complex testing processes and strict quality requirements. Korean automakers are being hit hard by a global shortage of automotive chips, especially electronic control chips in cars, leading to production halts. output many times. The move comes as the Korean government aims to establish an automotive chip supply chain to solve the global shortage of semiconductors. The government plans to roll out tax incentives and subsidies worth a total of 510 trillion won ($453 billion) to semiconductor companies between now and 2030. The Korean government hopes that the agreement between Samsung and Hyundai can strengthen the country’s autonomy in the field of automotive chip production and enhance Korea’s competitiveness in the production of world cars. next generation in the future. While chipmakers will be at the forefront of research and development of core semiconductor technology, auto manufacturers will focus on providing platforms for testing new automotive chips and components. related department.

Customers choose to buy Xiaomi products. (Photo: THX/VNA) On May 12, the US Department of Defense removed Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi from a “black list” that Washington had accused of being involved in the military operations . The decision comes after an announcement by a US court on May 12, which said Xiaomi and the US government had agreed to settle a legal dispute, which has been one of the causes of increasing tensions. Sino-US relations have not been smooth sailing for many years. Attorneys for the US government said they would not appeal the ruling. In early January 2021, the last days of his presidency, the administration of former US President Donald Trump listed Xiaomi and eight other Chinese companies on the above list, and asked all US investors to withdraw. capital from these companies before 11/11/2021. Soon after, Xiaomi filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Finance, arguing that this decision was illegal. Along with this case, in March 2021, a federal judge in Washington criticized the inclusion of Xiaomi on the above list, and expressed skepticism about the government’s arguments to protect national security. America. Huawei – Xiaomi’s rival company was also included” black list ” in 2019 and is prohibited from accessing critical US-origin technologies. Professor Doug Fuller, who tracks China’s semiconductor sector at the University of Hong Kong, said the incident Xiaomi being removed from the “black list” by the US could be a factor for President Joe Biden’s administration to adjust its policy towards China, which was seen as tough under the previous administration. Xiaomi was founded in 2010 and specializes in the production of smartphones, tablets and smart products for home use. Shares of Xiaomi rose 11.3% on the US stock market and gained more than 6% on the Hong Kong (China) stock exchange after being removed from the “black list.” The company’s share price has fallen about 20% since January 2021.

Today, chips are in everything from game consoles and toothbrushes to washing machines and alarm clocks. However, the world is facing a serious chip crisis, showing no signs of stopping. Glenn O’Donnell, vice president of research at consulting firm Forrester, believes the situation will last until 2023 due to high demand and continued supply stress. He forecast personal computer demand will decline slightly next year, while data centers will buy more chips. According to him, combined with the growth in cloud computing and mining, the demand for chips is going to explode. According to Patrick Armstrong, IT director of Plurimi Investment Managers, the chip crisis could last 18 months. There are too many products that require chips such as cars, phones, IoT… All connected to the Internet. The car industry is affected more than any other sector. Earlier this month, the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC said it could catch up with car demand in June. But Mr. Armstrong said that was too ambitious. Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen all stressed they had production bottlenecks and couldn’t buy enough chips needed to build cars. Research firm Gartner predicts the chip crisis will continue until 2021, not to mention chip prices also increase. Analyst Alan Priestley said the situation could improve for some sectors in the next six months, but there could also be a “chain effect” into 2022. The semiconductor industry is doing everything to increase productivity but need time. In fact, Intel announced to spend $ 20 billion for two new chip factories in Arizona, USA. According to Mr. Priestley, it will take two to three years for these plants to operate but it will meet future demand. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of German chip maker Infineon, said last week that it “clearly takes time” until supply and demand balance. According to Wenzhe Zhao, Credit Suisse’s director of global economics and strategy, the recent chip crisis has encouraged inventory stockpiling in the supply chain, leading to a widening supply-demand gap. Not much can be done to solve the current situation, he said, except to adjust orders, production schedules and prices. Du Lam (According to CNBC)

Industry “commanders” in the US have voiced the warning of serious consequences caused by the global shortage of chips. Photo: AFP Semiconductor chip supplies have been in short supply for months and the situation shows no sign of abating, prompting insiders to visualize it into the chipageddon crisis. It is a combination of ‘microchip’ (semiconductor chip) and ‘armageddon’ (which excessively means war of destruction). Mr. Glenn O’Donnell, deputy research director at consulting firm Forrester believes that the thirst for semiconductor chips could last until 2023. “As demand will continue to increase while supply will remain limited, We expect this shortfall to continue into 2022 and into 2023, “commented Glenn O’Donnell on his blog. According to the expert’s argument, demand for computers – products using the most advanced chips – will slightly decrease next year but not by much, but data centers, where the machines are located. will be the chip-eaters next year. Mr. Glenn O’Donnell explained: “The deviceization of things is an irresistible trend, coupled with the continued growth of cloud computing and cryptocurrency mining, we see nothing but a boom. short-term explosion on chip demand “. Meanwhile, Mr. Patrick Armstrong, Information Technology Director of Plurimi Investment Managers Fund commented on CNBC that the global shortage of chips will last 18 months. “Not just the auto industry. It’s the phone. It’s also the IoE [một khái niệm kết nối rộng hơn Internet vạn vật (IoT), xoay quanh 4 yếu tố chính: Con người (People), sự vật (Things), dữ liệu (Data) và quá trình (Process)]. There are a lot more products that use chips now than before. “” All of them are connected to the internet, “said Patrick Armstrong. The auto industry has been most adversely affected by the global thirst for chips. Earlier this month, the world’s largest chip maker TSMC (Taiwan) said it could meet the chip demand of the auto industry next June. However, Mr. Armstrong said that this statement by TSMC is too ambitious. “If you listen to Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen, they all claim that there are bottlenecks in capacity and they can’t get the chips needed to build new cars,” Armstrong argued. Meanwhile, Gartner Consulting and Information Technology Research is more optimistic that chip shortages will last throughout 2021, affecting all chip lines and pushing chip prices higher. Gartner analyst Alan Priestley said that chip shortages could improve in some sectors / areas over the next six months, but could continue into 2022. “It (chip shortage – Editor)) will not last any longer, “said Alan Priestley. “The semiconductor industry is increasing capacity, but it still takes time,” he said. In fact, in March Intel announced plans to spend $ 20 billion on two new chip factories in the state of Arizona. The group also said it could build a factory in Europe if it could raise funds for public investment. “Those things will take two or three years before we start realizing their effect,” said Alan Priestley, who said that the investment plans could actually meet demand for semiconductors in future. Mr. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of chip maker Infineon (Germany) last week said that the semiconductor industry is in the region without privileges; at the same time warned to rebalance the demand and supply of semiconductors “obviously will take time”. “I think two years is too long, but we are sure that the current situation will extend into 2022,” said Ploss. “I think the additional capacity will be realized… Hopefully the situation will be more balanced in the next calendar year,” added the German CEO. Wenzhe Zhao, director of the global strategy and economics division at Credit Suisse, said that the shortage in chip supply led to speculation on chip-making hoarding and widening the gap. amid increasing chip demand and supply remains stagnant. According to Wenzhe Zhao, the new semiconductor manufacturing capacity will not be effective until 2022 or later. Wenzhe Zhao noted that there is little action he can do to address the shortage of semiconductors, aside from adjusting orders, production schedules and prices.

The shortage of semiconductor chips globally has a heavy impact on many industries. Artwork: Reuters Some of the world’s top semiconductor buyers, including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company), are working with leading chip makers in the world, such as Intel Corp. , to set up a new lobbying group to promote the US Government to support semiconductor chip manufacturing. The Semiconductors in America Alliance, which includes Amazon Web Services’s Amazon Web Services division, said on May 11 that it urged US lawmakers to provide support for the CHIPS Act for the country. The United States (CHIPS for America Act), which President Joe Biden asked Congress to provide finances worth $ 50 billion. In a letter to congressional bicameral Democrats and Republicans, the coalition said funding for the CHIPS Act would help the United States build the necessary capacity for a more flexible supply chain. to ensure important technologies will be available in the US when needed. Global semiconductor chip shortages hit the auto industry heavily, with Ford Motor Co saying it may have to halve its car production in the second quarter. Automotive industry groups are pressing the Biden administration to secure chip supplies for car factories. However, government officials have been reluctant to use national security laws to divert the supply of computer chips to automakers because they fear it could harm other industries. The new alliance involves companies from other industries using semiconductors, including AT&T, Cisco Systems, General Electric, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Verizon Communications Inc. However, they warn that the government only supports one industry like the automobile industry. Tech giants, like Apple, are also hit hard by a shortage of semiconductors, but are less severe than automakers. Last month, the iPhone maker said it would lose about $ 3-4 billion in revenue in the second quarter (ending June 2021) due to a shortage of chips. According to Refinitiv estimates, Apple’s second quarter revenue is forecast to reach $ 72.9 billion./.

Previously, Japan’s top brands have, in turn, eliminated or reduced the scale of TV production, an area that is considered the spearhead of the electronics industry in this country. Now it is Panasonic’s turn to follow in the footsteps of its “seniors”. Accordingly, the company will continue to produce high-end TVs, but mainly to serve the Japanese market. In addition, the company will also consider consolidating or shrinking TV production locations at home and abroad. Previously, Panasonic used to be one of the major TV manufacturers with 10% of the global TV market share, but since low-cost competitors from China appeared, the company gradually lost its appeal. It is known that the TV business and production accounts for less than 10% of Panasonic’s total revenue. Besides TVs, Panasonic also sold its semiconductor business to Taiwan’s Nuvoton Technology as well as withdrew from manufacturing liquid crystal displays and solar cells. Currently, Panasonic owns 8 companies in Vietnam, including Panasonic System Networks Vietnam located in Thang Long Industrial Park, Dong Anh, Hanoi; factories producing refrigerators, washing machines, R&D centers, sales departments are all over the country, from Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho … synthetic

The US-China technology war The US and China are currently engaged in a full-blown technology war. The war began under the Trump administration and is continuing under President Joe Biden. In fact, Mr. Biden viewed US competition with China as an important front since he took office. The tech war began as a trade dispute, but quickly turned into a war for leadership in core technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and semiconductors. With a long history of development, the US remains the global technology leader for decades, but that position is currently being challenged by China. After Washington began blocking Chinese access to core US-controlled technologies such as semiconductors, Beijing doubled down on its efforts to “de-America” ​​in its supply chain. The global pandemic contributed to tensions between the two countries, prompting President Biden to issue an executive order to review the US supply chain for core products such as chips, batteries, rare earths and supplies. medical. Proposed bills to significantly increase US investment and R&D spending in core technology have also received bipartisan support in Washington. The US-China technology war – a conflict that does not seem to have ended so far. What caused the tech war? On May 19, 2015, the Chinese government announced the “Made in China 2025” plan to promote the country’s manufacturing industry within the next 10 years. Analysts point to the “Made in China 2025” strategy, Beijing’s 10-year plan to transform the country from a “manufacturing giant to a world manufacturing power” that sparked the technological war. . After taking power in the White House, Donald Trump focused his efforts to prevent China from becoming the global technology leader. A series of events from sanctions imposed on Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE for disguising its role in selling US technology to Iran, accusing China of stealing American intellectual property and Concerns about Huawei’s dominance in 5G have turned into an extensive tech war that has won bipartisan support in the US. What is the difference between trade war and technology war? The US-China trade war began on July 6, 2018, when US President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on $ 34 billion of Chinese imports, citing the need to “rebalance. equals “America’s growing trade deficit with China. Other taxes have been applied in 2018 and 2019. However, the trade war was soon overshadowed by the tech war that the U.S. fears that China is using unfair means, including state power and stealing intellectual property, to gain is targeted to become a global leader in core technologies such as AI, semiconductors and 5G. Did the US really separate factories from China? In the decades after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the US and Chinese economies became intertwined. China is a factory that manufactures low-cost American goods, from computers to stuffed toys. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy and the US-China trade war have sparked calls for the US to reduce its dependence on China-based supply chains. Initially, withdrawing from China was rejected as impractical because of the cheap labor force and the large Chinese market that American companies could not ignore. However, a form of seclusion has received the support of the US administration, even from technology leaders such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt saying that “splitting” will benefit the United States. . The concept of “split” existed in the internet space when Facebook and Google were not allowed to operate social networks and search engines in China, while the US also banned or restricted the presence of media. Chinese social media like TikTok and WeChat in the US. The global pandemic highlights the world’s reliance on China for important medical supplies such as masks and also spurs calls to bring supply chains back to the United States. In February, President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling for a review of product supply chains critical to chips, batteries, pharmaceutical ingredients and rare earth minerals. What is China doing to improve the influence of US actions? China attaches special importance to its own technology development, especially the chip. Although China initially imposed tariffs in retaliation, the top leaders’ call to action was technology self-sufficiency. In 2018, President Xi Jinping said “China must persist in the path of self-reliance in the context of increasing unilateralism and protectionism in the current world”. After Huawei was blocked from buying US chips and China’s largest semiconductor maker SMIC was restricted from buying U.S. technology for alleged association with the Chinese military, Beijing has intensified its focus on achieves semiconductor self-sufficiency. The Chinese government has supported the domestic chip industry with favorable policies, from tax breaks to state subsidies to promote the rapid development of the semiconductor industry. Technology is also a major focus for China in its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) announced in March, calling for the promotion of new digital industries, including AI, data. large, blockchain and cloud computing, along with expanding the use of 5G to many other industries such as smart transportation and logistics. Why is the US specifically targeting Huawei with trade sanctions? Washington’s interest in Huawei dates back to the early 2000s on suspicions that the Chinese company has close ties with the Beijing government. Years later, Huawei’s rise as the global leader in 5G technology rang alarm bells in Washington. One of the first public moves against the Chinese company came in January 2018 when US lawmakers pressured US telecom giant AT&T to withdraw from the phone distribution agreement. smart Huawei for US consumers. Seven months after AT&T’s decision, Washington barred government agencies from buying equipment and services from the Chinese company. When Huawei was placed on the US Commerce Department’s Blacklist in 2019, Google suspended some of its business with Huawei that involved transferring hardware or software products, except for protected products. by open source license. This is another “slap” on the Chinese technology corporation. For the Chinese government, Huawei is pride and a testament to the strength and potential of the Chinese people. Within three decades, since being founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, Huawei has made some “miraculous” developments. From a company focusing on manufacturing phone switches, Huawei has become one of the largest private companies in the world, a leader in areas such as telecommunications equipment, smartphones, and electricity. cloud computing. What impact do the sanctions have on Huawei? Initially, the sanctions didn’t seem to affect Huawei much, which reported record sales of 858.8 billion yuan in 2019, up 19.1 percent year-on-year. Huawei also quickly revealed a self-developed operating system called HarmonyOS to replace Google Android. However, after Washington expanded the scope of sanctions in May 2020, requiring foreign chipmakers to use US technology, including TSMC and Taiwan’s MediaTek, to apply for a license to sell chips. for Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant appears to be in a slump again. The biggest impact is on Huawei’s smartphone operations. Due to a lack of high-end semiconductors, Huawei had to sell its Honor smartphone business to a newly formed conglomerate comprising more than 30 dealers and carriers. In the first quarter of 2021, Huawei was “kicked” out of the top 5 largest smartphone companies in the world in terms of sales. As stockpiles of smartphone components are declining and Honor’s business is over, Huawei will face even more pressure in the smartphone business. Many Chinese tech companies have caught up with the US Popular Chinese applications run the risk of being banned in the US. Image: The Economic Times. In October 2019, the US Commerce Department added 28 other Chinese companies to the trade blacklist about Beijing’s alleged human rights violations of the Uighurs. In May 2020, more than 20 Chinese government organizations and companies, including software technology giant Qihoo 360, were sanctioned for “assisting with procurement of items for military purposes in China. China”. The most recent US sanctions involve seven Chinese supercomputing entities blacklisted for national security concerns. Francis Lau, professor of computer science at the University of Hong Kong, said China’s supercomputers mainly use Intel, AMD and IBM CPUs. “The sanctions will certainly have a significant effect on China’s ability to stay at the top of supercomputers, since most of the components in its supercomputers today are US-made. Although it will be.” There are alternatives from other countries like Japan and South Korea, but the American component is still the best, ”said Professor Lau. Will the tech war be any different under the Biden administration? US President Joe Biden holds a semiconductor chip when he speaks before signing the executive order to address the global shortage of semiconductor chips in the White House. Photo: REUTERS In short, no. After Donald Trump’s tenure, President Biden continued to put pressure on Chinese technology and especially on Huawei’s case. In March, the US Commerce Department further restricted the products US companies can sell to Huawei, with clearer bans on the export of components such as semiconductors, antennas, and batteries. can be used in Huawei 5G equipment. A day later, the US Federal Communications Commission designated five Chinese technology companies, including Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hikvision and Dahua, as “unacceptable risks” to security. America. As for Huawei, analysts believe that President Biden can offer a more effective policy than his predecessor in curbing Huawei’s global 5G ambitions by taking a more friendly approach to international partners in Europe and elsewhere. That could be more effective in isolating the Chinese company. In addition to sanctions on individual Chinese tech companies, President Biden has also pledged to more than double his investment in science and technology, focusing on areas like AI. and quantum computing. President Biden’s ambitious $ 2 trillion plan to improve US infrastructure includes an estimated $ 50 billion investment to help the country less reliant on chips manufactured abroad.

Semiconductor chips are an important component of modern electronics that can be found in thousands of products used every day, including cars, computers, smartphones and medical devices … These chips are the brains of all electronic devices, performing functions ranging from repetitive tasks like memory and microprocessors, to complex tasks like intelligence. artificial and high-end graphics. Semiconductor chips, which have a relatively low price, have suddenly become a scarce commodity. Jordan Wu, co-founder and CEO of Himax Technologies Co., told Bloomberg: “I’ve never seen anything like this in the past 20 years, since the company was founded. Every industry lacks chips ”. President Joe Biden with the chip model in a press conference at the White House, before signing an executive order to prevent a shortage of semiconductor supplies with the US economy, on 24/2. Photo: REUTERS The global chip crisis is believed to have been rooted in a miscalculation when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out last year. With the epidemic spreading from China to the globe, many companies predict that consumers will reduce the time spent using technology equipment. However, when “stuck” in the home, consumers begin to buy more technology devices: Add laptops so their children can learn from afar; buy a handheld game machine, an oil-free fryer, a blender … to make life less boring. There has been a comparison to call the Covid-19 epidemic “a prolonged Black Friday event”.
Meanwhile, car manufacturers were also affected by the pandemic. They were forced to shut down factories during a period of social isolation, when demand declined because customers were unable to visit stores. They ask suppliers to stop shipping components, including chips, which are increasingly essential to cars. By the end of last year, consumers started going out but restricted the use of public transport. Automakers reopened and turned to chipmakers like TSMC (Taiwan), Samsung (South Korea), and of course had to wait in line. Chip makers have been unable to accommodate soaring demand for their very loyal customers.
The shortages are aggravated this year, due to a series of disruptions. For example, the Japanese Renesas Electronics chip factory caught fire, the drought in the “country of the chip” Taiwan (China), and the cold spell in Texas (USA) caused the factories of Samsung, NXP Semiconductors and Infineon there to temporarily stopped working. “Everything right now is no different from hell,” said Frank McKay, CPO of Jabil – a company that buys billions of dollars of chips each year to assemble products for customers including Apple, Amazon, Cisco Systems and Tesla – to speak. Every day, Frank said, his company faced a shortage of about 100 components and had to negotiate as hard as possible to get it.
The difficulty of manufacturers
Limited supply of semiconductor chips is not a new issue, but what has happened is often related to specific chips. Consumers around the globe now compete fiercely for a cheaper chip made in old factories, when it is a fact that these factories are difficult to upgrade.
For example, the supply of integrated microchips for automotive systems is particularly in short supply as they are typically manufactured on 8-inch wide silicon (wafer) discs, instead of more high-end 12-inch panels. But no company builds more production lines because they are not profitable. Sumco Corp – one of the leading wafer manufacturers, has reported production capacity of an 8-inch equipment line to be around 5,000 panels a month by 2020 – less than in 2017. The purchase of new equipment and Starting with lower productivity means producers’ costs go up.
Meanwhile, the US, Japan and Germany – the world’s largest car makers – are making moves to put pressure on major chipmakers in Asia, forcing them to prioritize chip lines. In-car use up above the needs of other customers, which include smartphone and computer makers. The governments of these three countries fear that the car industry will slow down, or even cut production due to lack of chips, threatening domestic jobs and economic recovery after the pandemic. However, according to insiders, the political pressure to force chipmakers to prioritize demand from carmakers only exacerbates the realities of the supply chain.
“We have to renegotiate with a number of customers and at the same time have to respond to requests from the government to prioritize the production of chips used in the car manufacturing industry, which plays an important role. “This is in contrast to before, when chip manufacturing on a first come first served basis”, said Mark Liu – Chairman of TSMC.
Just a bubble?
The technology war between the US and China, which took place before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, is also believed to have had negative effects on the supply chain. As Washington imposed restrictions on China’s Huawei Group’s access to key US technologies, it increased stockpiling of components as much as possible. Many other Chinese companies, which fear they will fall into the same situation, do the same way Huawei has. The result has spiked demand for chips and components.
On April 12, Huawei directly blamed the United States for indirectly causing a global crisis, arguing that Washington’s sanctions on Chinese technology companies have caused love. “panic procurement” of components and chips, causing supply chain disruptions. “Apparently unreasonable US sanctions against Huawei and other Chinese companies have created a component shortage across the industry, and this could completely cause a crisis. global ”- said Eric Xu – Huawei’s rotating chairman.
However, companies are still uncertain about the current “thirst” for chips. For them, great demand comes from a series of hedge orders, stockpiling efforts or even the determination to take market share from competitors, thereby creating the “semiconductor chip bubble” on market. TSMC President Liu acknowledged that most customers want to order more than twice as much as they need to minimize the risk of supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions.
“The current strong demand won’t last forever, because buyers won’t buy five phones or five cars at a time. I worry that there will be adjustments when one of the big players in the industry takes action, and orders will start to decline, ”a leader in the chip supply chain told Nikkei Asia. “I’ve never seen anything like this in the last 20 years since the company was founded. Every industry lacks chips.” – Co-Founder and CEO of Himax Technologies J ordan Wu

Illustration. Bkav Technology Group Chairman, in the information just shared on his personal page, said that before the “chip crisis” taking place around the world, Bkav had to collect and only collect a batch of 8,000 parts for AI View camera. Mr. Quang said that the world is having a dual-chip semiconductor crisis – Bkav Chairman acknowledges that he is an electronics manufacturer and an insider. According to Mr. Nguyen Tu Quang, the reason for saying that the double crisis is for two reasons at the same time leading to the scarcity. First, due to the trade war between the US and China, Huawei was punished. To survive, they (Huawei – PV) had to buy enough chips to use for two years, sources from Bkav’s partners said such data. Also because of the trade war, other Chinese companies such as Xiaomi and Oppo reserve the possibility of being punished as with Huawei, so they also try to collect chips. Other Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, Oppo have been able to be punished like with Huawei, so they also try to collect chips. The second reason, according to Mr. Quang, the Covid-19 epidemic caused a social stagnation. Therefore, at the beginning of service manufacturers forecast low yields. They failed to anticipate the worldwide trends in work, study, distance conferencing, and home electronic entertainment. This led to a sudden increase in demand for computers and game consoles. The supply chain of the technology industry is very specialized in specialized assignment, emphasized Bkav Chairman. Accordingly, in terms of chips, almost all major chip design companies such as Qualcomm, MTK, and more recently Intel have hired TSMC or Samsung to mint chips for them. These two companies account for 81% of the world chip casting market and cannot increase production capacity immediately. Mr. Quang also said that Bkav is an original manufacturer, working directly with chip suppliers such as Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, SKHynix. The Bkav leader shared that, with the most recent quotation from chip manufacturers to Bkav, many components have Standard Lead time, also known as standard delivery time, up to an unreasonable level of 10 months. Therefore, in order to overcome this situation, technology product manufacturers such as Bkav have had to gather products, make efforts to find around the world for partners to change their business plans and thus they have redundant lots. Event link is not used anymore “This purchase and sale is very bustling and there is a phenomenon of buying and selling”, said Bkav Chairman Nguyen Tu Quang. Specifically, last week, according to Mr. Quang, Bkav’s international purchasing team collected a batch of 8,000 components for AI View cameras. Mr. Quang said that this will take place every day and for a long time, possibly until next year, with all manufacturers of technology products around the world.

China pushes up chip production for technology autonomy In addition to “Made in China 2025”, China also has a “dual circulation” strategy, with the ambition to introduce new technology standards different from the West. Fast but unstable With this new strategy, China moves towards a self-sufficiency policy, reducing dependence on foreign countries. Specifically, with semiconductor technology, China will mobilize its own human resources to develop a new-generation chip research, design and production network to disrupt the isolation created by the US. The trade war with Western countries is seen as a reminder to the Chinese leadership that the country cannot depend on imports but must develop domestic core technology and pursue leaps and bounds. technology, especially in essential industries like semiconductors. China has set out many goals to realize its ambition such as: fostering a contingent of domestic technology talent, building high-tech companies with global influence to expand the model of “sovereignty network “in order to strictly control the Internet. In addition, there is securing secure information infrastructure, enhancing state censorship and surveillance in the digital space, and building a managed and enhanced digital economy. network security capabilities. Beijing has also stepped up building a “digital China” towards fulfilling its future technological ambitions of the world in the fields of quantum computing, 5G, semiconductors, and blockchain technology. (blockchain), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and robotics. With the aim of accelerating the technology autonomy plan, China Development Bank prepared more than $ 60 billion in loans for more than 1,000 key businesses in its strategic innovation plan, and raised $ 30 billion for a new government-backed microchip fund. From March this year, news that Eastern Communications, a subsidiary of China Putian Information Industry Group (Potevio), will restructure and merge with China Electronic Technology Corporation (CETC) to make surplus. attention comment. The reason is that Potevio and CETC are both state-owned enterprises, run by the China State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). Potevio is an enterprise specializing in manufacturing telecommunications equipment, such as components for 5G infrastructure, server systems, memory, automatic teller machines. Potevio’s strengths relate to wireless communication and security. Meanwhile, CETC is the main supplier for the Beihou satellite system and is known to be a software and service provider for the Chinese military. The company also participates in the development of a Chinese version of the Windows operating system and develops many other areas such as the manufacture of semiconductors and antennas for 5G networks, and equipment for technology. self-propelled vehicle. The merger is intended to enhance the CETC’s resilience from US sanctions against the group’s companies, including Hikvision, the world’s top security camera maker. However, although China is actively promoting domestic technology development, it is difficult for observers to reach its goal of technological autonomy. In the past, Beijing had planned to spend 2.5% of its GDP on research and development, but actual spending has yet to reach that target. One area that has struggled with China is microchips, where most electronic products depend on it. In the past, Chinese companies were confused by the extremely complicated chip manufacturing process, so they decided instead of researching, they imported most of the necessary semiconductors. Over the years, although the government has supported the Chinese manufacturers to develop some chip manufacturing capabilities, the results have not been as expected. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, Chinese chipmakers have received government subsidies of up to $ 50 billion over the past 20 years. Domestic companies also benefit from tax exemptions, free land, concessional loans, and priority purchases. Despite progress in chip design, China’s problem lies in its ability to produce high-end chips. China is currently only able to make mid-range chips because making semiconductor chips requires high precision. Many doubts The gradual technological autonomy has led China to a bolder plan: to export technology abroad. The dominant Chinese products in the world market are drones, laser equipment, equipment used in space technology, 3D printing, telecommunications equipment … China has taken advantage of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to implement this plan. Through the BRI, in Africa, China provides loans, exports technology and builds infrastructure to countries such as Guinea and Kenya, while exploiting the natural resources of the leading country. private. China has organized a number of technology fairs, digital economy with many countries participating in BRI such as: Digital technology fair with 17 countries in Central and Eastern Europe belonging to Group 17 + 1; Digital technology forum with 5 countries in Central Asia including: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan. These fairs aim to launch 1,334 digital and information technology projects along the “Digital Silk Road” corridor with 3 continents of Asia – Europe – Africa, of which, the focus is on regions. : Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and East Africa. At the same time, to deploy new types of technology such as Internet connecting things, big data, digital infrastructure and project “Smart Africa” ​​with 26 countries in Africa. Major Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and ZTE expand their “Digital Silk Road” plan through Chinese-built fiber-optic networks, as well as equip local authorities with monitoring tools. Internet monitoring and censorship. There are no official technology export statistics for 2020, but the most recent report said that in 2019, China’s technology exports reached a trade value of 32.1 billion USD, equivalent to import value. This is a miraculous development, because 6 years ago, the proportion of export – import was 1 – 2. However, the technology “made in China” still caused many doubts. Observers say that Chinese companies are exporting “next generation surveillance systems” in several regions of the world, including Latin America. Venezuela alone, with the help of Chinese telecommunications conglomerate ZTE, has built up a database that can track citizens’ behavior through citizenship. The use of big data for security purposes is acceptable to the general public in South America, but after being widely used, those systems can be misused for espionage purposes. Moreover, according to observers, the Chinese technology industry, although developing rapidly, is not stable. This country has not mastered the technology of new generation chip production that the US, Japan, and South Korea are very proficient in. China’s domestic chip production will only meet 15.9% of the country’s demand in 2020, said IC Insights, a semiconductor research company in the US, compared with 15.1%. in 2014.

Illustration. Although this impressive growth rate is partly due to the already bleak first-quarter sales of 2020, there is no denying the positive signal of the technology market in recent months. With 82.7 million units delivered to consumers, this is the highest sales volume in the first quarter of the year since 2012. The main driver of growth in the personal computer market has been on the back of small businesses rebounding after a tough pandemic year, with the emphasis on laptops. According to records, sales of this model reached 67.8 million units in the first quarter of 2021, up to 79% over the same period last year. For its part, the desktop computer business also prospered after a bleak year, but has yet to come out of the decline. A total of 14.8 million desktops were sold in the first three months of 2021, down 5% from the same period in 2020. The strong market recovery in the first quarter of 2021 indirectly helped five manufacturers Export leader (accounting for 78% of total market volume) achieved double-digit growth. Specifically, Lenovo – the market leader with 25% market share – sold 20.4 million units in the last quarter, up 61% over the same period in 2020. For its part, HP – thanks to a boom in sales. Chromebook line (cheap computers using Google operating system) – “came in second” in the first quarter of the year with 19.2 million units sold (up 64% over the same period in 2020). In third place is Dell, with modest growth compared to the two competitors, only 23% (equivalent to 12.9 million units sold). This contributes to the US computer company’s market share continued to decline, currently only 15.7% – much lower than the 19.6% recorded after the first quarter of 2020. The other two names in the top five selling PC makers were Apple and Acer, with 6.6 million and 5.7 million units sold, respectively. However, these are the brands with the best growth in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, respectively 105.2% and 82.1%. Forecasts about the market outlook for the whole year 2021, the analysts are optimistic in the context that businesses and organizations start to regain investment in technology infrastructure. However, the supply shortage will still slow the growth of the computer market, leaving many opportunities wasted. In that context, experts urged governments to soon increase investment to support the production of semiconductor components, in order to soon remove these bottlenecks.

The severe shortage of chips globally has forced many car, smartphone, laptop and home appliance manufacturers to cut production (Image: Source Today)

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker, has just said the status chip supply shortage globally This could be extended until 2022. TSMC also said it is planning to invest an additional $ 100 billion over the next three years to increase the output of its existing 5mm chip and the 3mm is expected to be final test production this year to meet the increasing demand for chips around the world.

This TSMC plan is currently attracting the special attention of partners and customers such as Apple and Qualcomm. Mr. CC Wei, CEO of TSMC, said “We are hiring thousands of people and expanding our capabilities in multiple locations”.

Demand for chips, especially the next generation of chips, is booming as the trend of working from home becomes more common in the world under the effects of the pandemic, driving demand for electronics as smartphones and laptops soar.

The global shortage of chips has forced some automakers, smartphone makers, computer assemblers, and home appliance makers to cut production. . Auto maker General Motors and Ford announced plans last week to shut down plants in North America due to a shortage of chip supplies.

Meanwhile, TSMC’s profit in Q1 / 2021 reached $ 4.93 billion, up 19.4% year-on-year, much higher than observers’ forecast. TSMC forecasts 2/2021 revenue will range from $ 12.9 billion to $ 13.2 billion, compared with $ 10.38 billion in the same period last year. It also raised its 2021 revenue growth forecast to 20% from its previous forecast.

TSMC CEO CC Wei said that customers are increasingly looking to hoard more chips to ensure production stability due to geopolitical uncertainties and pandemics. Therefore, TSMC’s production activity is continuously in state “stress” during the past period. It is now increasing spending on research, development and manufacturing of new generation chips to about $ 30 billion this year, compared with $ 25 billion expected earlier this year.

Analysts now expect TSMC’s production expansion to soon meet demand for next-generation chips as 5G technology and artificial intelligence applications become more widely adopted.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger also shared concerns, saying that the shortage of chips in the world could last until after 2022 when demand is still outstripping production capacity. Semiconductor companies can implement some short-term solutions to ease the problem, but a full solution to the shortage problem will take longer, said Pat Gelsinger.

“I think it will take a few years until the problem is completely resolved. It takes a few years to build supply capacity.”, according to Mr. Pat Gelsinger.

US President Joe Biden holds an electronic chip during a discussion session on solving chip shortages of US businesses on February 24, 2021 (Image: Reuters)

Intel has been in discussions with auto parts manufacturers and suppliers about steps it can take to increase production of car chips in the coming months. The company also aims to start increasing the supply of additional chips within the next six to nine months. Last month, Intel announced that it would spend $ 20 billion to build two factories in the state of Arizona (USA).

Professor Willy Shih from Harvard Business School, which specializes in technology and manufacturing, says chip shortages are becoming more turbulent as manufacturers are ordering chips from multiple factories at the same time because of them. Not sure which order will be executed. Chaotic orders are leaving chipmakers uncertain where they will need to allocate supplies to meet actual demand in the short term.

In the United States, to secure more domestic chip supplies in the long term, President Joe Biden’s administration is proposing a $ 50 billion financing package to subsidize semiconductor manufacturing facilities. This proposal is currently receiving wide support from both Republicans and Democrats.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and Mr. Tom Caulfield, CEO of semiconductor company GlobalFoundries said that they are calling for the US Government to support expansion of chip production in the country. About 12% of the world’s semiconductors are currently made in the United States, and Mr. Caulfield says he is campaigning to raise that number above 30%.

The US semiconductor industry argues that the federal government needs to provide more support to compete with other manufacturers in Asia. American semiconductor manufacturers often accuse Asian countries of financial support for regional manufacturers to expand production capacity.