Latest Semiconductor News Released on October 8 to 14, 2023

Japan chipmaker Kioxia, Western Digital close to merger NAND business

Western Digital is set to merge its NAND memory business with Kioxia to create the world's largest NAND company. It involves spinning off Western Digital's flash memory business unit, but details are still being reviewed. If all goes as expected, the merger will receive significant financial support from major Japanese banks.

This strategic move is aimed at strengthening Western Digital and Kioxia's competitive position in the NAND memory market. Kioxia is expected to hold an initial majority stake in the proposed organizational structure of the combined entity, which will be headquartered in Japan.

Fujitsu details Monaka: 150-core Armv9 CPU for AI and data center

The Fujitsu Monaka processor is set to pack approximately 150 cores based on the Armv9-A instruction set architecture with scalable vector and expects it to be available in 2027. They explained that this processor called "FUJITSU-MONAKA" is based on technology cultivated by K Computer and Fugaku supercomputers. The company aims to use Arm architecture and Taiwan TSMC's 2nm process to achieve twice the energy efficiency and high-speed performance of competitors.

Qualcomm to cut roughly 1,258 jobs in California

Chip designer Qualcomm is significantly cutting its workforce. A filing with the California Employment Development Department reveals that the company is cutting 1,258 jobs in San Diego and Santa Clara, California, in order to reduce costs. While the company will lay off approximately 1,064 San Diego employees and 194 Santa Clara employees.

The layoffs will take effect at both locations around December 13. According to the previous year's financial report, the company had about 51,000 employees as of September 2022, so this layoff will account for about 2.5% of the total number of employees.

Japanese semiconductor equipment sales fell 17.5%

Statistics released by the Japan Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (JMTBA) on the 11th pointed out that the overall order amount of Japanese machine tools (initial valuation, domestic demand + external demand) in September 2023 dropped 11.2% from the same month last year to 133.913 billion yen, the ninth consecutive month. The monthly contraction was the eighth consecutive month of double-digit (more than 10%) decline. However, the monthly order volume exceeded the 130 billion yen mark for the first time in five months (since April 2023, 132.6 billion yen) and continued to decline.

Among them, the domestic demand for machine tools in September dropped 14.1% from the same month last year to 45.017 billion yen, the 13th consecutive month of decline; the external demand (export sales) orders shrank 9.7% to 88.896 billion yen, the 9th consecutive month of decline.

AMD to acquire AI software startup Nod.ai 

AMD said on Tuesday it plans to buy an artificial intelligence startup called Nod.ai as part of an effort to enhance its AI software development. The company plans to invest heavily in key software needed for advanced AI chips as part of its strategy to catch up with rival chipmaker Nvidia.

Russia to develop its own photolithography machines

According to Russia's cnews, a domestic lithography complex has been created in St. Petersburg, which includes a device for maskless image acquisition and silicon plasma chemical etching on substrates. Developers claim that the first machine for maskless nanolithography costs about 5 million rubles, while foreign similar products are worth billions of rubles.

Experts from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) said that two sets of equipment for the production of microelectronic nanostructures have been developed, which will make it possible to "solve the problem of Russia's technological sovereignty in the field of microelectronics."

Samsung expected to report 80% Q3 profit plunge

Samsung Electronics' Q3 profit is expected to fall 80% year-on-year, as the lingering impact of a global chip glut leads to huge losses in the South Korean tech giant's cash cow business.

According to the Q2 financial report of 2023 released by Samsung, the semiconductor department once again suffered a loss of 4 trillion won (approximately US$3.12 billion), and decided to reduce DRAM and NAND Flash memory production in the second half of the year.

Korean media reported that Samsung announced Q2 consolidated revenue and operating profit of 60.01 trillion won and 670 billion won respectively, a decrease of 22% and 95% compared with the same period in 2022; compared with the previous quarter, operating profit was slightly increased.

OpenAI is exploring self-developed AI chips

Reuters reports that OpenAI is considering developing its own chips. According to reports, since last year, OpenAI has begun to consider countermeasures for the shortage of AI model training chips (that is, Nvidia GPU supply is tight), and is currently actively preparing to develop self-developed chips to meet future demand for artificial intelligence chips.

Starting this year, OpenAI began to recruit hardware-related talents. There are several software and hardware co-design positions recruiting on the official website. In September, OpenAI also recruited Andrew Tulloch, a well-known expert in the field of AI compilers, to join. Everything is showing OpenAI’s investment in self-developed chips.

Emerson has completed its acquisition of NI (National Instruments)

Emerson has closed its acquisition of NI, a leading provider of software-connected automated test and measurement systems. This move announced on April 12, 2023 that the two parties had reached a final agreement, while Emerson will acquire NI for US$60 per share in cash, with an equity value of US$8.2 billion. On October 11, Emerson announced that NI will become its new internal test and measurement department.

The acquisition of NI enhances Emerson's position as a global automation leader and expands its opportunities to capitalize on key long-term trends such as nearshoring, digital transformation, sustainability and decarbonization.

South Korean firms get indefinite waiver on US chip

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will be allowed to supply U.S. chip equipment to their China factories indefinitely without separate U.S. approval, Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korea's presidential office.

The U.S. Commerce Department is updating its "verified end-user" list to indicate which entities can receive exports exemption with which technologies. Once listed, there is no need to obtain a separate export license.