AI Gossip

Chips and Wafers’ Lover

Chips and Wafers’ Lover

AI Gossip

Four of Taiwan’s biggest makers of electric-grid equipment, like transformers, switchboards, and Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS), say business is booming and order visibility stretches out to 2029 to meet AI-related power needs, including for data centers and chip factories, media report, with the most optimistic, Fortune Electric, forecasting growth over the next 5 to 10 years due in part to strong orders from US utilities. The four are all operating at full capacity and have secured orders 3 to 5 years out. The other 3 are: Shihlin Electric, Chung-Hsin Electric (CHEM), Allis Electric. #semiconductors #transformers

Source: Dan Nystedt

Four of Taiwan’s biggest AI server makers all posted record May revenue as Nvidia Grace Blackwell-based servers ship in volume and Vera Rubin-server production ramps up, media report:

Quanta NT$311.5 billion, +94.4% year-on-year

Wistron NT$290.2 billion (US$9.2B), +39.2%

Wiwynn NT$84.1 billion, +18.2%

Inventec NT$82.8 billion, +35.3%

1/5 $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Amazon(AMZN.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

Taiwan Chips Act: Five companies applied for tax breaks under the act this year, its 3rd year in effect, media report, noting TSMC, UMC, Phison, Nanya Tech, Winbond, Delta Electronics, MediaTek, Realtek, Novatek, are all eligible as their R&D spending puts them within the threshold. Media call the act the largest tax incentive in Taiwan’s history. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $United Microelectronics(UMC.US) $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Exit Interview with Taiwan media on Friday (6/5) before he left:

He's stopping in South Korea to “prepare everybody for the 2nd half of next year. Next second half of next year is going to be so much bigger than this year and so everybody must be prepared.”

“Capacity is tight all over the supply chain and the reason for that is because the demand is so strong and we’re growing so fast.”

“When we create this new industry, it’s going to be trillions of dollars of computing that has to be produced in the next several years, and Taiwan is at the center of that, and so I’m so excited to see the success for Taiwan...”

Taiwan Power Grid

“Taiwan needs energy and the reason why Taiwan needs energy is because the industries are growing 14% in just the first quarter. In order for Taiwan to have prosperity, and economic growth and for all of the people here in Taiwan to continue to thrive and succeed and take the opportunity of the AI revolution, it needs to have energy.”

Taiwan Opportunity

I heard in the first quarter, Taiwan’s GDP was 14%, so I’m very, very happy to see all of the success and all the growth here in Taiwan and all of my partners doing so well. They’re working so hard and I’m very grateful.

$NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) #Foxconn #Quanta #Wistron #semiconductors #AIservers

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Source: Dan Nystedt

Marvell, the custom ASIC chip designer, has secured enough production capacity to meet its 50% growth target this year, and 55% in 2027, due to careful 5-year planning, and built trust with suppliers by meeting its targets, said COO Chris Koopmans, media report. He said Marvell is focused on data center-related chips now, particularly I/O, and has largely exited consumer electronics. Many AI firms want their own XPU (custom ASIC), but lack I/O IP, and Marvell is one of the few available providers. He said Marvell’s SerDes now at 200G on the 2nm process, and 400G on A14, and says expertise in package-level connectivity is the key to their ASIC business. $Marvell Tech(MRVL.US) $Broadcom(AVGO.US) $Qualcomm(QCOM.US) #MediaTek #Alchip #GUC

Source: Dan Nystedt

UMC’s deep trench capacitor (DTC) technology has won it a place in Qualcomm’s supply chain, as this critical component enhances advanced packaging by shortening the power delivery path via embedding high-density capacitors directly in the silicon interposer or advanced packaging substrate, media report, improving chip performance. $Qualcomm(QCOM.US) $United Microelectronics(UMC.US) #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

Foxconn, the AI server and iPhone assembly giant, said the 2nd quarter “is tracking well above previously anticipated significant growth” in a statement. It reported revenue in May rose 39.6% year-on-year to NT$859.4 billion (US$27.3 B), its 3rd best month ever, led by smart consumer products, which includes smartphones, while AI racks continued to grow. January – May revenue rose 31.79% to NT$3.82 trillion. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Apple(AAPL.US) #AIservers #servers

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nine US trade associations sent a memory chip supply warning letter to the US Treasury and Commerce Secretaries, warning that AI data center demand is disrupting the memory chip supply for everyday consumer goods, resulting in higher prices and reduced memory capacity in consumer products, in addition to widespread supply chain disruption. They urged the administration to do everything possible to boost the memory chip supply in the US and allied nations. $Micron Tech(MU.US) $HXSCL $SSNLF #Samsung #SKhynix #semiconductors #semiconductor

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC’s visibility extends to 2030, the reason for its optimism over the AI trend and confidence in its goal of mid-30% year-on-year revenue growth this year, media report, adding TSMC’s chairman said the explosion of AI-related demand caught industry by surprise, and shortages remain “everywhere across the supply chain.” $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Amazon(AMZN.US) $AMD(AMD.US) #semiconductors #semiconductor

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC talked AI demand, TeraFab, ASML tools, Memory woes, more at its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday (June 4), via media reports: Thread 1/9

AI demand and TSMC outlook

TSMC Chairman & CEO C.C. Wei: The speed AI has grown caught everyone off guard. Even Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang “didn’t know” it would happen this fast

Rapid growth has made capacity planning difficult. TSMC is expanding as fast as it can to ease supply shortages, and feels the pressure of falling short.

AI adoption is spreading across consumer, enterprise and sovereign AI

“We have strong confidence in the next few years,” he said, and TSMC will continue to grow.

He continues to see “strong demand for advanced semiconductors” and reiterated full year guidance for revenue growth over 30%.

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nanya Technology, Taiwan’s biggest memory chip maker, said May revenue rose 730% year-on-year to NT$27.7 billion, its 7th straight record high for a single month, amid continued strong demand, media report. January-May revenue rose 650% to NT$102.3 billion. $Micron Tech(MU.US) $HXSCL $SSNLF #SKhynix #Samsung

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to visit South Korea on Friday June 5, to meet with supply chain partners, including SK Group Chair Tae-won Chey (memory chips), LG Group Chair Kwang-mo Koo (CLOiD humanoid robot), Naver Chair Hae-jin Lee (data centers), and executives from the Doosan Group (power infrastructure), media report. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $HXSCL #SKhynix #LG #Naver #Doosan

Source: Dan Nystedt

Taiwan accounted for 90.3% of global AI server shipments in 2025, with the figure forecast at 90.1% this year, led by the ‘Big 6’, Foxconn, Wistron, Quanta, Wiwynn, Inventec and Gigabyte, media report, citing DigiTimes Research. The report notes that the traditional May dip and June slump in the electronics industry has been displaced by soaring AI server shipments. $Amazon(AMZN.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Microsoft(MSFT.US) $Meta Platforms(META.US) $Oracle(ORCL.US) #Foxconn #Wistron #Quanta #Wiwynn #Inventec #Gigabyte #Pegatron #Compal

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to reveal fresh details about the upcoming Feynman GPU, and new Arm-based N1X chip for Windows PCs today during his GTC Taipei keynote speech, media report, noting Nvidia, Arm and Microsoft all posted “New Era of PC” messages on their social media platforms. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Arm(ARM.US) $Microsoft(MSFT.US)

Source: Dan Nystedt

Nvidia’s Vera Rubin and other new products will see it surge past 20% of TSMC revenue this year, maintaining its lead as TSMC’s top customer worldwide and drive TSMC’s revenue to record highs, media report, noting CEO Jensen Huang confirmed Nvidia’s No. 1 status at TSMC in a podcast earlier this year with Jodi Shelton, CEO of the Global Semiconductor Alliance. TSMC names clients that account for more than 10% of revenue as Customer A, Customer B, etc., leading analysts (me included) to figure Nvidia had tipped into 1st place over Apple in 2025. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Apple(AAPL.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) #semiconductors #semiconductor

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC Arizona turned a profit in the first quarter of NT$16.9 billion (US$520 million), putting losses firmly in the rear-view mirror as production and new fab construction continue to ramp up, media report, noting the strong turnaround from its full-year 2024 loss of NT$14.2 billion. Last year, TSMC USA (includes 5 subsidiaries) reported an NT$15.79 billion profit. In Q1, TSMC USA’s profit totaled NT$17.02 billion. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $Apple(AAPL.US) $AMD(AMD.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Amkor Tech(AMKR.US) #Arizona #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

TSMC will host its annual shareholder’s meeting on Thursday, June 4, where it is expected to update 2nd-half 2026 outlook, global construction projects, capex, potential price hikes, 3nm chip production, more, media report. One key item up for vote is raising the number of TSMC board seats to 9-12 from 7-10 now, deemed vital to enabling TSMC to bring in new talent to the board across its growing overseas operations. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Apple(AAPL.US) $AMD(AMD.US) #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

Ambarella sees no issue with Samsung Foundry's 2nm/5nm capacity. AMBA has been a loyal foundry customer to Samsung for 18 years. Its 2nm SoC taped out and will be in production in less than a year.

Source: Sravan Kundojjala

The US has no timetable for levying Section 232 tariffs on Taiwan semiconductors, media report, citing Vice Premier Li-chiun Cheng. She said Taiwan hopes any related tariffs “will not come soon.” Taiwan continues to seek the terms from the January US-Taiwan MOU that included heavy investments from Taiwan and won it US Most-Favored-Nation status, as well as a framework for “preferential treatment” if global semiconductor tariffs under Section 232 are officially implemented. $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) $United Microelectronics(UMC.US) $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US) $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Broadcom(AVGO.US) $Qualcomm(QCOM.US) $Amazon(AMZN.US) $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) $Apple(AAPL.US)

Source: Dan Nystedt

Samsung Electronics has started shipping next-gen HBM4e memory chip samples to clients, media report, 12-layer high-bandwidth memory 4e. The new chip offers more than a 20% speed increase over HBM4, was made using Samsung’s 1c DRAM manufacturing technology, and holds a logic base-die made with Samsung Foundry 4nm. $HXSCL $SSNLF $Micron Tech(MU.US) #Samsung #SKhynix #semiconductors #HBM

Source: Dan Nystedt

Aspeed Technology, the Taiwan chip designer, is working with Lattice Semiconductor (US) on its first-ever Server Management Companion (SMC) chip in a bid for more silicon wins in AI servers, media report, noting AI data centers are becoming so complex that the server management chips Aspeed specializes in now are no longer enough. They will provide engineering samples of the new chip, the AST1840, in the 3rd quarter. $Lattice Semicon(LSCC.US) #Aspeed #semiconductors

Source: Dan Nystedt

Pegatron, a Taiwan electronics assembly giant, said its AI server business will grow 10-fold in 2026, in a strong 2nd half 2026, media report, citing its Co-CEOs, and adding its new US factory has finished preparations and will ramp up production. More factory space will open and fresh workers hired – as much as a 3-4x increase – to enable Pegatron to hit the 10x target. The execs said the CPU shortage is more severe than memory, but Pegatron isn’t concerned about any parts/materials shortages because it started prepping at end-2025. (Note: Pegatron was late to AI servers compared rivals) $AMD(AMD.US) $Super Micro Computer(SMCI.US) #Pegatron #Foxconn #Wistron #Quanta

Source: Dan Nystedt

US chip design giant Marvell raising its outlook on strong AI demand will benefit supplier TSMC, media report, noting Marvell forecast current quarter revenue at US$2.7 billion +/- 5%, above consensus, and full year revenue up 40% to near $11.5 billion, versus prior view $11B. And raised FY2028 revenue target to $16.5B. $Marvell Tech(MRVL.US) $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) #semiconductors $Advanced Semiconductor Engineering(ASX.US)

Source: Dan Nystedt

Rumor: Nvidia plans to invest NT$20 billion (US$620 million) for a stake in Taiwan ABF substrate supplier Kinsus Interconnect, media report. $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) #Kinsus

Source: Dan Nystedt