OpenAI GPT-4 released and its price announced
Recently, OpenAI released a powerful new image and text understanding AI model GPT-4, which the company called "the latest milestone in expanding deep learning efforts."
The API is priced at $0.03 per 1,000 "prompt" tokens (about 750 words) and $0.06 per 1,000 "completion" tokens (about 750 words). Here “tokens” represent raw text. For example, the word "fantastic" will be split into tokens such as "fan", "tas", and "tic". Prompt tokens are the parts of words that are fed into GPT-4, while completion tokens are the content generated by GPT-4.
GPT-4 is available today through ChatGPT Plus (capped usage) to be paid by OpenAI users. And developers can sign up on the waiting list to gain access to the API. Microsoft has announced that Bing Chat, its chatbot technology co-developed with OpenAI, is running on GPT-4.
South Korea's chip exports to China fell 35.3 percent
Exports in the first 10 days of March fell 16.2 percent year-on-year to $15.8 billion as chip exports remained weak, according to data released by the Korea Customs Service on Monday. Chip exports plummeted 41.2 percent to just $2.26 billion during the period amid sluggish global demand.
According to the data recorded, by category, semiconductor exports fell by 41.2% year-on-year. As of last month, the monthly export value of semiconductors has declined year-on-year for seven consecutive months. The export of wireless communication equipment dropped by 31.9%, and the export of precision equipment dropped by 23.9%, but the export of vehicles increased by 133.7% year-on-year.
In terms of export destinations, exports to China fell by 35.3% in the first 10 days of March. As of last month, it has shown a downward trend for 9 consecutive months. In addition, in the first 10 days of March, South Korea's exports to the EU fell by 6.2%, Vietnam by 16.4%, and Japan by 7.3%. In contrast, exports to the US and India increased by 5.6% and 5.5%, respectively.
In January, South Korea's exports of semiconductor products plunged 44.5% year-on-year. The country's semiconductor exports have continued to decline, mainly due to the backlog of storage semiconductors and the shrinking demand for PCs. It is reported that the recession may continue in the next few months.
GaN has become a stepping stone for terminal manufacturers to enter the high-end market?
A new report by the international market research organization Yole shows that consumer applications in the power GaN market will be approximately US$79.6 million in 2021, and will reach US$964.7 million in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 52% in this decade. Especially the proportion of consumer electronics will reach 48%. So Yole believes that the consumer market will be the main growth market for GaN in the future.
Under the huge market, many semiconductor companies in the industry are deploying GaN products, such as Infineon, PI, Navitas, Sanan Optoelectronics, and Silicon Nitride Technology. At present, the technical route of the power GaN industry is mainly divided into two categories, one is D-mode GaN HEMT, and the other is E-mode GaN HEMT.
TSMC still struggles to build a factory in the U.S
A few days ago, TSMC founder Morris Chang's speech at the Semiconductor Century Forum has attracted widespread attention. For the first time, he publicly expressed his support for "the United States' chip blockade against the China mainland". He also believes that the future development of the global semiconductor industry will present a polarized development between the US camp and the Chinese camp, at least in the next five years.
At same time, he once again reiterated his view that the manufacturing cost in the United States is at least 50% higher than that in Taiwan, China, and this is a conservative estimate, and the actual situation may be worse. However, just two days before the Semiconductor Century Forum, Samsung was also exposed that the U.S. factory was seriously over budget, and the cost of building the factory is expected to rise by 50%. Although TSMC and Samsung are still investing in U.S. factories, almost all of the two major manufacturers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the U.S chip bill subsidies.
The latest progress of China's third-generation semiconductors?
According to research firm Trend Force, the growth rate of the electric vehicle market will reach 36.2% in 2023, and the proportion of SiC in the power semiconductor component market will rise from 4.1% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2025, while GaN's proportion will increase from 0.5% in 2021 to 4.8% in 2025.
As Moore's Law dominated by semiconductors is gradually approaching the physical limit, and silicon cannot meet the needs of rapid development of new requirements such as microwave radio frequency, high-efficiency power electronics, and optoelectronics, the emerging needs represented by compound semiconductor materials, especially the third-generation semiconductors, are rapidly increasing.
The new STM32H5 series of new products introduces
The new STM32H5 series is based on the Arm® Cortex®-M33 32-bit core. It is the ideal combination of high performance, safety and cost saving. Its operating frequency is as high as 250 MHz, and it is embedded with 128Kb to 2Mb of Flash memory and 640Kb of RAM. It is available in a wide range of product variants in 12 packages (25 to 176 pins) and also supports an operating ambient temperature up to 125°C. The STM32H5 improves the security - from basic security services to fully certified building blocks, which are maintained by STMicroelectronics throughout the life of the product, providing most of the important security services required by IoT devices.
Japan has lifted export restrictions on key semiconductor materials to South Korea
South Korea decided on Thursday (16th, Mar) to withdraw its complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO), as Japan has agreed to lift restrictions on Photoresist, Fluorine Polyimide and Hydrogen Fluoride ahead of a key summit between the two heads of state in Tokyo.
Fluorine polyimide, photoresist and etching gas hydrogen fluoride are all key materials for semiconductors and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, and Japan is the main exporter of these three materials. Among them, Japan has a global market share of about 90% in fluorine polyimide and hydrogen fluoride, and a market share of more than 90% in photoresists used in semiconductor exposure processes. These materials are important ingredients in the production of displays and semiconductors used in electronics such as iPhones and televisions.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol arrived in Japan earlier on Thursday and will hold a summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. This trip is of great symbolic significance, and both sides showed goodwill. The two countries also plan to continue negotiations to restore each other to the "white list" of trusted trading partners.
CIS falls for first time in a decade
The new data suggests that 2022 will be a tough year for the global CMOS image sensor (CIS) market. Its revenue fell year-over-year for the first time in a decade, to $19 billion, down 7%, according to Counterpoint Research. Sluggish demand in the mobile phone, surveillance, and PC and tablet segments led to weaker-than-expected market performance. Growth is expected to resume in the low speed in 2023 amid an improving smartphone market and continued automotive growth.
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