Latest Semiconductor News Update on Jan 14 to 20, 2024

TuSimple announces intention to delist from Nasdaq

TuSimple Holdings said it has decided to voluntarily delist from the Nasdaq and terminate its registration with the U.S. securities regulator, sending the autonomous driving technology company's shares down 40% in premarket trading. The company said that a special committee established by the company's board of directors believed that this move was in the best interests of the company and shareholders. Since the company's IPO in 2021, the capital market has undergone major changes due to rising interest rates and quantitative tightening, which has affected investor sentiment towards future commercialized technology companies. This resulted in TuSimple's valuation and liquidity declining, and its stock price fluctuating wildly. In addition, the company believes that as a private company, it can transition better than as a public company.

Bosch to cut 1200 jobs in software unit on self-driving lag

Automotive supplier Bosch (ROBG.UL) wants to cut 1200 jobs in its software development division by the end of 2026, according to a company representative. A weakening economy and high inflation due to higher energy and raw material spending are forcing Bosch to step up savings efforts at its Cross-Domain Computing Solutions unit, which develops autonomous driving technology, the company said on Thursday. And Bosch has begun negotiations with employee representatives on layoffs to be achieved by the end of 2026, including up to 950 layoffs in Germany.

Bosch said it had not yet made a final decision on the final number of job cuts and ruled out the possibility of compulsory layoffs at Bosch mobility plants in Germany until the end of 2027. In addition, the company is formulating plans to cut at least 1,500 jobs at its mobility plant in Germany.

Synopsys to acquire Ansys for $35 billion

Synopsys and Ansys today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Synopsys will acquire Ansys for US$35 billion. After the acquisition is completed, Synopsys' world-leading chip electronic design automation (EDA) will join forces with Ansys' extensive simulation analysis product portfolio to create a global leader in chip-to-system design solutions. According to statistics, Synopsys accounts for 32.14% of the global EDA market, far exceeding the second (Cadence's 23.4%) and the third (Siemens EDA's 14%). With the support of the Matthew Effect, Synopsys' market dominance is difficult to overtake. And Ansys has a considerable market share of 42% in the field of simulation software, and it also holds the top spot in the field of CAE. Even in the field of EDA, Ansys has successfully ranked fourth in the industry.

Analog chip market size is expected to grow to US$32.93 billion by 2028

According to a report by analyst firm Technavio, the analog semiconductor market is expected to grow to US$32.93 billion by 2028. Among them, the growing demand for automotive is a key factor driving market growth, which is driven by the integration of operational amplifiers (Op-Amp), analog-to-digital converters (ADC), digital-to-analog converters (DAC), RF (radio frequency) components, and electromechanical components.

Additionally, factors such as globalization and trade, stringent environmental regulations, silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) technologies, Internet of Things (IoT) integration, and emerging markets and applications, especially in the telecommunications sector, further drive the market expansion. Further more, advances in wide bandgap semiconductors have greatly impacted the growth of the analog semiconductor market. This trend is significant for voltage regulators, power management ICs, signal conditioning, oscillators, sensors and transducers, linear ICs, switching regulators, and interface ICs.

Samsung Electronics to freeze chip biz executives' wages

Samsung Electronics has decided to freeze the salaries of executives in its Device Solutions (DS) division, which is responsible for the semiconductor business, for this year. This is the second freeze on executive salaries in nine years since 2015. Samsung said: "Management and executives have reached a consensus that it is urgent to take special measures and lead by example to deal with the deteriorating business performance. We have decided to freeze executive compensation this year. At the same time, we are determined to improve our competitiveness and return to normal operations.”

DS division’s cumulative losses in Q12023 exceeded 12 trillion won. Analysts said its losses in Q42023 may decrease, and the cumulative operating loss in 2023 is expected to be approximately 13 trillion won, which will become the largest loss in Samsung's history. The reason for the loss is mainly due to the reduction in IT demand caused by the global economic downturn and the decline in the prices of storage semiconductors such as Samsung' flagship products DRAM and NAND.

Taiwanese semiconductor company hit by ransomware attack

Hon Hai's semiconductor equipment company, Foxsemicon, was hacked and threatened to completely destroy the semiconductor equipment. The hacker group threatened Foxsemicon's customers and employees directly on its website. If the company ignored it, customer information would be disclosed and employees would lose their jobs. Incidents of hacker groups hacking into listed companies to steal information happen from time to time, but this is the first time in Taiwan that a hacker group has stolen information and directly hijacked the company's website, revealing that the company's internal information has been stolen and threatened.

Foxsemicon responded that it is currently conducting comprehensive and thorough scans and tests on all network domains (pages) and related files. After ensuring information security to high standards, it can restore operations with daily backup data. The initial assessment will not have a significant impact on the company's operations, and will continue to do so in the future. The company will continuously improve the security management and control of network and information infrastructure to ensure information security.

Intel is the top one chip company again

Gartner, an international research organization, has released the latest data on the global semiconductor market in 2023. According to its preliminary results, global semiconductor revenue will total US$533 billion in 2023, a decrease of 11.1% from 2022.

Gartner announced that the combined semiconductor revenue of the top 25 semiconductor manufacturers will drop by 14.1% in 2023, accounting for 74.4% of the market share, down from 77.2% in 2022. Due to the poor performance of the memory market in 2023, the ranking of the top ten semiconductor manufacturers in the world has changed.

Source: Garther (January 2024)

After ranking second for two years, Intel regained the first position from Samsung. Its revenue in 2023 will reach US$48.7 billion, and its global semiconductor market share will reach 9.1%, while Samsung's revenue will reach US$39.9 billion, ranking No.2, the market share reached 7.5%. Both semiconductor revenue fell by 16.7% and 37.5% compared with the same period in 2022. It needs to be specially pointed out here, NVIDIA’s semiconductor revenue increased by 56.4% in 2023, reaching US$23.98 billion, ranking among the top 5 for the first time. And this achievement comes from its leading position in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market.