AI Gossip

Rumor: OpenAI’s new Jalapeno AI inference chip will be made by TSMC on 3nm, while the Jalapeno2 will use A16 and CoWoS advanced packaging, media report. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Broadcom(AVGO.US) #OpenAI #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC Technology Symposium (Shanghai) Takeaways, media report:

Source: Dan Nystedt

Qualcomm’s Dragonfly AI data center platform will benefit Taiwan’s 2nd biggest chip foundry, UMC, more than TSMC, media report, due to its expertise in power integration, including power management (PMIC) chips, on-wafer inductors, Deep Trench Capacitors (DTC), and interposers, while TSMC is absent from Qualcomm’s 35 partner ecosystem list. Taiwan AI server giants are all included, Foxconn, Quanta, Wistron, Pegatron, Compal, Inventec, and other parts suppliers, Delta, more. $Qualcomm(QCOM.US) $United Microelectronics(UMC.US) $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) #AIserver #semiconductor

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC is expected to manufacture Qualcomm’s Dragonfly C100 data center CPUs and AI300 AI accelerator chips on 3nm/2nm and use CoWoS or SoIC advanced packaging, media report. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Qualcomm(QCOM.US) #semiconductor

Source: Dan Nystedt

Sigurd Microelectronics, the Taiwan chip packaging firm, raised its 2026 capex to NT$8.8 billion (US$275M) from NT$5.93B previously and estimated capex for its business group at NT$18.6B during its 1st quarter earnings call. Winstek, part of the Sigurd group, will also likely raise capex spending from NT$5.65 billion now. “I can only say our current capex isn’t enough, but we haven’t made a new forecast yet,” an exec said. #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

ASE’s advanced semiconductor packaging & testing revenue will double this year amid severe capacity shortages due to AI-related orders, and its US$8.5 billion capex forecast for 2026 “will likely need to be revised up again,” said COO Tien Wu, media report, adding ASE is evaluating price hikes. ASE now has 15 plants under construction, and plans to build 2 more in the US, adding to the 2 already there. 1/2 $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) $Amkor Tech(AMKR.US) #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

来源: Dan Nystedt

TSMC is raising prices 5% - 10% on all leading-edge 7nm and below chip manufacturing processes (N7/5/4/3/2 etc.), which account for ~75% of TSMC’s total revenue, reports @tculpan on Culpium, adding: “Since early this year, business development and sales teams at TSMC have been told by senior leadership that they need to find ways to charge more, according to multiple sources…” $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Intel(INTC.US) $SSNLF #Samsung #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

$Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) confirming orders of ~$63M from $Camtek(CAMT.US) & ~$39M from $ASMPT.

Source: Chips & Wafers

STMicro has notified clients it will begin a new round of price hikes on microcontrollers (MCU) from June 28, media report, citing unnamed industry sources. The report sent shares of Taiwan MCU makers higher Monday, including Holtek, Weltrend, and Sonix. $STMicroelectronics NV(STM.US) $Infineon Technologies(IFNNY.US) $NXP Semiconductors(NXPI.US) $Microchip Tech(MCHP.US) $RNECY

Source: Dan Nystedt

MediaTek won primary orders for Google’s TPU v9 chips by delivering a custom 336G SerDes solution after Broadcom’s more ambitious 448G SerDes missed the production timeline, media report, citing unnamed industry sources. Google had originally planned to adopt 448G but switched to a 336G transitional spec due to signal integrity, power, and thermal challenges. The sources note the DSP required for 448G optical modules may need a 2nm process, delaying volume production until 2028–2029. $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Broadcom(AVGO.US) #Mediatek #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

Rumor: TSMC executives have inspected a plant owned by AUO in the Central Taiwan Science Park and may buy and retrofit it for advanced chip packaging, media report. AUO is one of Taiwan’s top flat panel makers. Older electronics plants can be converted for use much faster than building anew. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) #AUO #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC plans to invest tens of billions of Taiwan dollars in a new advanced chip packaging plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park near Erlin Township, media report, adding that equipment move-in at the expansion of TSMC’s AP5B plant nearby is expected to be done by end-2026. It will do CoWoS-L. TSMC has not submitted paperwork for the land yet, but is expected to do so soon. 1/2 $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) #SPIL $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

Amazon AWS servers with the latest Trainium3 AI chips inside will enter mass production in July and ship in volume in the 3rd and 4th quarters this year, and 1st quarter next, media report (L6 in May, L11 in July), citing unnamed sources.

Source: Dan Nystedt

Tesla Optimus 3 humanoid robots are gearing up for mass production in the 2nd half of the year and Taiwan supply chain partners Mirle and Asia Optical have been asked to build capacity outside of China, a “non-Red supply chain”, media report, adding Mirle, which supplies harmonic reducers and joint modules for Optimus, has already established a JV in Thailand for more capacity. Asia Optical is expected to provide eyes for Optimus 3. Production of Optimus 3 is expected to kick off in late July or August. $Tesla(TSLA.US) $SpaceX(SPCX.US) #Optimus3 #Mirle #Asia Optical

Source: Dan Nystedt

China’s approval of limited Indium Phosphide (InP) substrate exports at end-May disappointed as China keeps most of it for domestic use and remains committed to its “limited release” policy, while the global backlog of orders continues to pile up, media report. $AXT(AXTI.US) $Coherent Corp.(COHR.US) $Lumentum(LITE.US)

Source: Dan Nystedt

MediaTek and Realtek, top chip designers, have notified clients of price hikes due to falling inventory levels, tighter supplies, and the price increases they’ve faced from foundry and packaging/testing partners, media report. Realtek is hiking prices over 10% for certain chips from July, while MediaTek plans to hike the price of its flagship smartphone chips to be launched later this year. Realtek specializes in networking chips, WiFi, Ethernet, switches, more. $Qualcomm(QCOM.US) $Broadcom(AVGO.US) $Maxlinear(MXL.US) $NXP Semiconductors(NXPI.US) #Mediatek #Realtek

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC Fab 15 new wafer starts for 28nm have dropped 25% since the beginning of the year to 150,000 starts, from 200,000 previously, prompting speculation the plan to phase out older technologies is moving faster than expected, media report, adding TSMC is using some of that 28nm capacity for interposer production. TSMC’s three 8-inch and one 6-inch fab are to be retired by early 2027. Fab 15, a 12-inch fab devoted to 28nm production, is being used to support advanced products. UMC and Vanguard (VIS) are viewed as likely to take on orders via TSMC, mainly display drivers (DDIC), power (PMICs), MCUs, automotive chips, etc. 1/2 $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $United Microelectronics(UMC.US) #Vanguard #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC’s first CoPoS pilot line equipment is already being installed at subsidiary VisEra’s plant in Longtan, north Taiwan, with much equipment from CoWoS advanced packaging lines, but a few key differences, media report, citing unnamed supply chain sources, who say earliest time mass production likely 2029:

Source: Dan Nystedt

Brutal reminder of what happens when China decides to enter a commoditizing market.

Source: Chips & Wafers

ASE, the chip packaging & testing giant, has spent NT$62.08 billion (US$1.96B) on production line equipment so far in June alone to meet booming demand, media report, with the biggest spend by subsidiary SPIL, NT$59.42 billion. Nvidia is a key client of SPIL's.

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nan Ya Plastics has raised E-glass fabric prices multiple times this year as the shortage worsens, and will continue price discussions with clients going forward, media report, citing Nan Ya’s president, who added that rival Kingboard raised prices 15% again this week.

Source: Dan Nystedt

Taiwan forecasts its annual electricity demand will grow 2.5% per year from 2026 to 2035 to meet the needs of AI data centers and its booming semiconductor industry, media report, up from 1.2% average growth over the past decade. Media note the 2.5% projection is lower than the 2024 forecast of 2.8% for 2026-2035, and highlights Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying more than once during his recent visit: “Taiwan needs more power.”

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nvidia Vera Rubin-based AI data centers cost US$47 billion per 1GW (gigawatt) data center holding 3,557 server racks – $9.1M each – with an annual $1.3B electric bill and hardware depreciation 6x higher than power costs, said Young Liu, chairman of Foxconn, the world’s biggest AI server maker, in a speech. 1/3 $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) #Foxconn $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) $Dell Tech(DELL.US) $Hewlett Packard Enterprise(HPE.US) $Super Micro Computer(SMCI.US)

Source: Dan Nystedt

Apple and Marvell both plan to tap TSMC’s next-gen A14 node, which ramps up to mass production in 2028, giving TSMC anchor clients in AI data center and high end smartphone chips, media report, adding Marvell is already in talks with TSMC to use A14, and has made prepayments. Apple will design the A22 Pro chip for A14, the report says, citing unnamed supply chain sources, adding A20 and A20 Pro will be on N2, and A21 will be on N2P. A14 will be TSMC’s 2nd generation nanosheet (GAA) chip process, and compared to N2, boosts performance 10%-15% at same power consumption, is 25%-30% more power efficient at the same performance level, and logic density increases by over 20%. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Apple(AAPL.US) $Marvell Tech(MRVL.US)

Source: Dan Nystedt