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Commentary / Analysis

• TSMC Boosts Capital Expenditure Budget on Strong Outlook (Monday Jan. 18, 2021)
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has nearly doubled its capital expenditure budget for 2021 to as much as $28 billion on expectations of strong growth during the next few years.
  
  
• Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Grew 7.3% in 2020 (Thursday Jan. 14, 2021)
  Following a decline of 12% in 2019, worldwide semiconductor revenue rebounded in 2020 to total $449.8 billion, an increase of 7.3% from 2019, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.
  
  
• TSMC to Kick off Mass Production of Intel CPUs in 2H21 as Intel Shifts its CPU Manufacturing Strategies, Says TrendForce (Thursday Jan. 14, 2021)
  Intel has outsourced the production of about 15-20% of its non-CPU chips, with most of the wafer starts for these products assigned to TSMC and UMC, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations.
  
  
• Value of Semiconductor Industry M&A Agreements Sets Record in 2020 (Wednesday Jan. 13, 2021)
  Five big acquisition announcements and more than a dozen smaller deals in 2020 pushed the total value of M&A agreements in the year to an all-time high of $118.0 billion, surpassing the previous record of $107.7 billion reached in 2015
  
  
• ESD Alliance Reports Strong Electronic Design Automation Industry Revenue Growth for Q3 2020 (Monday Jan. 11, 2021)
  Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry revenue increased 15% in Q3 2020 to $2,953.9 million, compared to $2,567.7 million in Q3 2019, with all categories logging significant gains, the Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance Market Statistics Service (MSS) announced today.
  
  
• China Forecast to Fall Far Short of its "Made in China 2025" Goals for ICs (Thursday Jan. 07, 2021)
  IC production in China represented 15.9% of its $143.4 billion IC market in 2020, up from 10.2% 10 years earlier in 2010.
  
  
• Global Smartphone Production Expected to Reach 1.36 Billion Units in 2021 as Huawei Drops Out of Top-Six Ranking, Says TrendForce (Tuesday Jan. 05, 2021)
  The top six smartphone brands ranked by production volume for 2020, in order, are Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo. The most glaring change from the previous year is Huawei’s market share.
  
  
• Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 7 Percent Year-to-Year in November (Monday Jan. 04, 2021)
  SIA today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $39.4 billion for the month of November 2020, an increase of 7.0 percent compared to the November 2019 total of $36.9 billion and 1.1 percent more than the October 2020 total of $39.0 billion.
  
  
• Foundry Revenue Expected to Reach New High in 2021 with Close to 6% YoY Growth as Capacities Remain Scarce Across Industry, Says TrendForce (Tuesday Dec. 29, 2020)
  Global foundry revenue is expected to reach US$84.6 billion in 2020 by undergoing a 23.7% YoY growth, which is the highest % growth in nearly 10 years
  
  
• Fabless Company Share of IC Sales to Set New Record in 2020 at 32.9% (Tuesday Dec. 29, 2020)
  Fabless/system IC company sales are forecast to more than double from 2010 to 2020 ($63.5 billion to $130.0 billion) whereas the total IDM IC sales are expected to be up only 30% over this same timeperiod, from $204.3 billion in 2010 to $265.7 billion in 2020.
  
  
• New iPhone Models Become Key to Qualcomm's Top Spot in 3Q20 Revenue Ranking of Global Top 10 IC Design (Fabless) Companies, Says TrendForce (Wednesday Dec. 23, 2020)
  Apple’s release of the iPhone 12 led to soaring demand for Qualcomm’s 5G modems and RF chips, in turn propelling Qualcomm’s revenues past that of its rival Broadcom once again to clinch the number one spot in the revenue ranking of global top 10 IC design (fabless) companies for 3Q20
  
  
• North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts November 2020 Billings (Wednesday Dec. 23, 2020)
  North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.61 billion in billings worldwide in November 2020 (three-month average basis)
  
  
• What To Expect From the IC Industry in 2021 (Friday Dec. 18, 2020)
  The year 2020 was a most unusual and challenging year for businesses and consumers.
  
  
• Mentor Finally Becomes Siemens EDA From January 2021 (Thursday Dec. 17, 2020)
  Siemens has announced that the Mentor division will finally become Siemens EDA. The organization will continue to operate as part of Siemens Digital Industries Software.
  
  
• Probing the Apple M1's Hidden Depths (Thursday Dec. 17, 2020)
  Apple’s announcement of the M1 certainly generated some rumblings, but they were insufficient warning of the shockwaves to come.
  
  
• SMIC Management Team Undergoes Shakeup - Yet Again (Thursday Dec. 17, 2020)
  Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) announced two changes within the top management during this week.
  
  
• Foundry Capex to Account for 34% of Total Semi Capex in 2020 (Thursday Dec. 10, 2020)
  Following spending of $106.1 billion in 2018 and $102.5 billion in 2019, worldwide semiconductor capital spending is expected to grow 6% to $108.1 billion in 2020.
  
  
• Total Revenue of Top 10 Foundries Expected to Increase by 18% YoY in 4Q20 While UMC Overtakes GlobalFoundries for Third Place, Says TrendForce (Monday Dec. 07, 2020)
  
  
  
• China's Semiconductor Progress to Be Impacted Once Again as SMIC Becomes Sanctioned by U.S. Department of Defense, Says TrendForce (Monday Dec. 07, 2020)
  On December 3, the U.S. Department of Defense announced its latest sanctions against four Chinese companies, including SMIC, which is the leading foundry in China.
  
  
• DRAM Leads in Revenue, NAND With Top Percentage Growth in 2020 (Monday Dec. 07, 2020)
  21 of 33 IC product categories to see positive growth in 2020 demonstrating remarkable resilience of IC market during pandemic-induced global economic downturn.
  
  
• Can IBM Ecosystem Advance AI Chip Performance 1000x? (Thursday Dec. 03, 2020)
  Can any single company, even one as large as Intel or Google, achieve the kind of phenomenal performance gains required by cutting-edge, rapidly developing AI algorithms?
  
  
• Third-Quarter 2020 Global Semiconductor Equipment Billings Surge 30% Year-Over-Year, SEMI Reports (Thursday Dec. 03, 2020)
  Global semiconductor equipment billings surged 30% year-over-year and rose 16% to US$19.4 billion from the prior quarter, SEMI announced today.
  
  
• Intel to Keep Its Number One Semiconductor Supplier Ranking in 2020 (Tuesday Nov. 24, 2020)
  Seven top-15 semiconductor suppliers forecast to show ≥22% growth this year with Nvidia expected to post a huge 50% increase.
  
  
• China TSMC Rival HSMC Runs Out of Cash, Ex-CEO Says (Monday Nov. 23, 2020)
  Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (HSMC) is the latest casualty in the technology war between China and the United States. The debt-ridden company is insolvent, according to the company’s ex-CEO.
  
  
• North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts October 2020 Billings (Monday Nov. 23, 2020)
  North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.64 billion in billings worldwide in October 2020 (three-month average basis), according to the October Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI.
  
  
• Foundry Revenue Expected to Increase by 23.8% YoY in 2020, with Advanced Nodes and 8-Inch Capacities Being Key to Industry Competitiveness in 2021, Says TrendForce (Wednesday Nov. 18, 2020)
  Global foundry revenue is projected to undergo a 23.8% increase YoY in 2020, the highest percentage in 10 years.
  
  
• Wafer Capacity by Feature Size Shows Strongest Growth at <10nm (Wednesday Nov. 18, 2020)
  IC capacity for leading-edge (<10nm) processes is expected to grow and become the largest portion of monthly installed capacity across the industry beginning in 2024
  
  
• Apple M1 Processor, Passing on the Chiplets (Monday Nov. 16, 2020)
  Recent angry comments to EE Times‘ interview with Intel’s Ramune Nagisetty disparaged the current heterogenous integration and chiplet discussions as more of a rehash than an innovation and furthermore simply a way for American manufacturers to obfuscate their inability to stay at the leading edge of wafer fabrication.
  
  
• 300mm Fab Spending to Boom Through 2023 With Two Record Highs, SEMI Reports (Wednesday Nov. 04, 2020)
  300mm fab investments in 2020 will grow by 13% year-over-year (YoY) to eclipse the previous record high set in 2018 and log another banner year for the semiconductor industry in 2023
  
  
• Silicon Wafer Shipments Slip in Third Quarter 2020 but Strong for Year (Monday Nov. 02, 2020)
  Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments contracted 0.5% to 3,135 million square inches in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter of the year but registered a 6.9% increase from the 2,932 million square inches shipped one year ago during the same quarter.