2023 Latest Semiconductor News from April 2nd to 8th

According to THE ELEC, Apple has halted M2 chip production for MacBook from January to February, 2023. While chip production resumed in March after a complete shutdown, output was down by half compared to a year ago. This is the first time the iPhone maker has stopped the self-developed chip.

According to related reports, from January to February, TSMC didn’t send any of its finished 5nm M2 wafers to packaging and testing companies for cutting and assembly into finished chips. This is the first time this happened, and most likely due to lower demand for MacBooks.

Recently, Samsung reported its lowest profit since 2009, and said on Friday it was cutting memory chip production.

"NAND flash memory remains oversupplied as demand for products such as servers, smartphones and laptops remains too weak," TrendForce said in a report last week. "The key to returning supply and demand to market balance is whether NAND suppliers can further reduce production."

Samsung said its profit for the three months to the end of March was likely to reach 600 billion won ($455 million), compared with 14.1 trillion won last year, which fall 19 percent to 63 trillion won over the same period.

The forecast was lower than that of FnGuide, a research firm that collected data from 22 stockbrokers, then forecast Samsung's quarterly sales profit of 1 trillion won and revenue of 64.2 trillion won. While Samsung acknowledged that its memory business is deteriorating, it did not release figures by division. Analysts estimate that its semiconductor business could post an operating loss of more than 4 trillion won in the current quarter.

According to Bloomberg News, Japan and Netherlands join the United States allies in restricting exports of chip-making equipment to China, which is a powerful new weapon that can hinder the development of China chips.

The Japanese government announced on March 31 that it intends to impose export controls on 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and solicited public opinions on relevant measures. It is expected that more than a dozen Japanese companies, including Tokyo Electronics and SCREEN, will be affected to export their cutting-edge film-forming and cleaning process equipment.

The report pointed out that although this news is not as eye-catching as the actions of the United States or the Netherlands, but Japanese companies control key links in the semiconductor supply chain, and these actions may be used to block China chip technology. For example, SCREEN is a leading manufacturer of wafer cleaning equipment, and Lasertec Corp. is the only testing machine manufacturer in the world, which holds 100% share of the global market.

According to Reuters, amid buzz over ChatGPT, U.S President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that artificial intelligence (AI) could be risky and tech companies need to make sure their products are safe before making them public. He said AI can help deal with some very difficult challenges like disease and climate change, "but we also have to address the potential risks to our society, to our economy, to our national security".

Biden told tech advisers that AI can help tackle some very difficult challenges, like disease and climate change, but we also have to deal with underlying risks to society, national security and the economy that bring by AI ChatGPT.

Biden responded that whether artificial intelligence is a threat remains to be seen, and Congress needs to pass privacy legislation with bipartisan support.

After the explosion of AI ChatGPT, it has become a hot topic in the US policy circle. On the one hand, American technology giants have launched a development competition around AI; on the other hand, this trend has aroused discussions and concerns in terms of safety, ethics, and social responsibility.

According to DigiTimes, Samsung Electronics said they leaked confidential data, such as semiconductor equipment measurement data, product yield, etc., which stored in the ChatGPT learning database.

Based on Economist, SBS and other Korean media news, Samsung's ChatGPT AI chatbot has reportedly caused three leaks of sensitive semiconductor info. Internal employees accidentally shared confidential information while using ChatGPT for help to optimize operations and create presentations, and sensitive information about the company's semiconductor equipment measurement data is among the content that has now become part of ChatGPT's learning database. However, the AI model doesn't know what information can or cannot be shared, so there is a risk of leakage of company confidential information.