1. Ansomey plans to establish a vertically integrated silicon carbide device factory in Czech Republic

Recently, onsemi announced plans to establish a state-of-the-art vertically integrated silicon carbide (SiC) manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic. The factory will produce the company's intelligent power semiconductors, which are crucial for improving energy efficiency in electric vehicles, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence data center applications.
Ansemy plans to expand its silicon carbide manufacturing industry through a multi-year Brownfield investment of up to $2 billion, which is part of the company's previously disclosed long-term capital expenditure target. This investment will be based on Ansemy's current business in the Czech Republic, including silicon crystal growth, silicon and silicon carbide wafer manufacturing, and silicon wafer manufacturing plants.

2. Micron plans to expand HBM production capacity in the United States and consider production in Malaysia

According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily citing Nikkei Asia, informed sources have revealed that American storage chip manufacturer Micron Technology is building a testing production line for advanced high bandwidth storage (HBM) chips in the United States, and is considering producing HBM in Malaysia for the first time to meet more demand brought about by the artificial intelligence boom. Micron stated that its goal is to more than triple HBM's market share to around 20% by 2025.

3. The revenue of the top five wafer equipment manufacturers in the first quarter of this year decreased by 9% year-on-year

According to the latest report released by research firm Counterpoint, the revenue of the top five global wafer fab equipment manufacturers decreased by 9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. Among them, the revenue of ASML and Tokyo Electronics decreased by 21% and 14% year-on-year, respectively. Compared to 2023, revenue from Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA has decreased by single digits.
In the first quarter, the revenue of the top five equipment manufacturers from China increased by 116% year-on-year, mainly due to an increase in DRAM's shipments to China. The strong demand for key and mature nodes in applications including the Internet of Things, automobiles, and 5G may continue for the remainder of this year.
Due to increased spending on NAND flash memory and strong DRAM demand from AI, the storage revenue of the top five device manufacturers increased by 33% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. However, due to delayed investment in advanced semiconductors by customers, the revenue of the OEM department decreased by 29% year-on-year.

4. Four years and five process nodes, Intel 3 process mass production

According to Fast Technology, Intel 3 has been mass-produced as scheduled, with the first release of the Xeon 6 energy efficiency core version for the Sierra Forest codename. The Xeon 6 performance core version, codenamed Granite Rapids, launched in the third quarter will also use it. According to Intel's latest official data, Intel 3 has reduced its logic miniaturization by about 10% compared to Intel 4, and improved performance per watt by 17%.
One of the main changes of Intel 3 compared to Intel 4 is the use of EUV in more production processes, the introduction of higher density design libraries to increase transistor driving current, and the optimization of the interconnect technology stack by reducing through-hole resistance. In addition, thanks to the experience of Intel 4, the production of Intel 3 has increased faster. Intel will also launch multiple evolutionary versions of Intel 3 to meet the diverse needs of customers.
Intel emphasizes that Intel 3 is an important node, and large-scale production marks the "four year and five process nodes" plan entering the "sprint stage", and is also the first node for Intel to open up contract manufacturing to the outside world. Next, Intel will usher in the "Emmy era" of semiconductors.