Chinese semiconductor industry

China Micro (AMEC): Etching, MOCVD, Thin Film Deposition, EPI go hand in hand

Event: On March 29, the company released its 2021 annual report, with revenue of 3.108 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.7%; net profit attributable to the parent of 1.011 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 105.5%; The profit was 324 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1291%; the new signing in 2021 was 4.13 billion yuan, an increase of about 1.96 billion yuan compared with 2020, an increase of about 90.5% year-on-year.
The revenue of etching equipment increased by more than 50%, and the gross profit margin of MOCVD increased significantly. Benefiting from the development of the equipment market and the competitive advantages of the company's products, the revenue of etching equipment in 2021 will be 2.004 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 55.4%, and the gross profit margin will reach 44.32%. MOCVD revenue was 503 million yuan, an increase of 1.5% year-on-year, mainly due to downstream market reasons and the newly signed Mini LED MOCVD orders this year have not contributed to revenue, but the gross profit margin reached 33.77%, compared with 18.65% in 2020. Greatly improved.
Etching orders have grown steadily, the market share of CCP equipment has continued to increase, and ICP process research and development has moved towards advanced processes. In 2021, the company will produce and ship 298 cavities of CCP etching equipment, with the output increasing by 40% year-on-year, and the market share of some customers has entered the top three. The equipment is widely used in 64-layer and 128-layer 3D NAND production lines. With the rapid increase in the production capacity of 3D NAND chip manufacturers, repeated orders for this product have grown steadily. In terms of ICP equipment, the company will produce a total of 134 cavities of delivery equipment in 2021, with a year-on-year increase of 235%. Among them, Primo Nanonova has completed more than 100 process verifications and has delivered more than 180 reaction chambers. In addition, Primo Twin-Star, Primo TSV200E, Primo TSV300E equipment continued to receive repeated orders and expanded the scope of market validation. The company promotes the technology research and development of next-generation ICP etching products in an orderly manner to meet the ICP etching requirements of products such as logic chips below 5nm, DRAMs of 1X nm, and 3D NAND above 128 layers , and conducts high-yield ICP Development of etching equipment.
Mini LED MOCVD has won orders for over 180 cavities, and actively deploys Micro LED and third-generation half-power markets. In June 2021, the company officially released the MOCVD equipment Prismo UniMax for high-performance Mini LED mass production, and has received batch orders for a total of more than 180 cavities. At the same time, the company is developing special MOCVD equipment for Micro LED applications, and is actively deploying the third-generation semiconductor equipment market for applications, and developing MOCVD equipment for mass production of GaN power devices, which has been delivered to leading domestic and foreign customers for production. verify.
The research and development of CVD and EPI is progressing steadily, and it is planned to develop and deploy ALD and ALE equipment. The company's CVD tungsten process equipment used in metal interconnection has been able to meet the needs of customers for process verification, and is in the process of docking with key customers for verification; the research and development of LPCVD and EPI equipment is progressing well, and the EPI equipment has entered the prototype design, manufacturing and debugging stages to meet the needs of The electrical and reliability requirements of the SiGe epitaxial growth process in the customer's advanced process. At the same time, based on CVD equipment, the company plans to develop ALD and ALE equipment to realize the filling and etching of higher aspect ratio and smaller critical dimension structures to meet the needs of high-end logic devices and advanced memory chips.

Supply chain blockage in the Yangtze River Delta hits the semiconductor peak season: delayed delivery, equipment transportation halted

The semiconductor supply chain in the Yangtze River Delta region is being disrupted due to the management of epidemic control.

A chip practitioner from Shanghai Zhangjiang High-tech Zone told reporters that since April 1, all employees have been working from home, and the company can communicate online when engaged in chip design, but cannot contact upstream companies. As usual, the company will take wafers from the Jiashan factory for testing. After the test is successful, they will be taken to Suzhou for packaging, and the final product will be delivered to consumer electronics customers. Smartphone-based consumer electronics manufacturers mostly release new products in the second half of the year, and April to May each year was originally the peak demand season.

"However, since April 1, the office has been unable to receive express delivery, and it has been stuck in the testing process for many days, which will delay the company's delivery to downstream end customers," the person said. Quality problems are prone to occur, and in serious cases, it may affect the customer's new product release.
The Yangtze River Delta region, dominated by Shanghai, is a major semiconductor town in the country. As a highly internationalized and vertically-divided industry, semiconductors have close supply chains and frequent overseas purchases. At present, local governments in many cities in the Yangtze River Delta have adopted strict control over highway circulation, hindering the transportation and foreign trade of semiconductor industrial products.

A person who does industrial product logistics in the Yangtze River Delta region told reporters that since March 15, the logistics in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai areas have shown signs of blockage. The company where the person works is responsible for transporting equipment to factories such as SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor. The source said that on April 1, after Shanghai entered a quasi-closed state, the transportation of equipment to the semiconductor manufacturing plant was almost stopped. At present, the offshore operations in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have not been closed and controlled, but due to limited road operations, the goods can only be temporarily stored at the wharf after disembarking.

Shanghai-based Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai are home to a large number of semiconductor manufacturing factories. These semiconductor factories introduce equipment, build production lines, and then send the produced wafers to all parts of the country. Unless there are special circumstances, the factory operates 7*24 hours. operation mode. On March 28, SMIC stated that at present, the company's production and operation are normal, and it will pay close attention to the epidemic situation and make every effort to do a good job in epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic work. SMIC has one factory in Shanghai and one in Shaoxing.

A person close to SMIC told reporters that because semiconductors, a relatively high-end manufacturing industry, have low personnel density and high cleanliness, epidemic prevention is relatively easy, and it is easy to meet the personnel standards for sealing and control. At present, all SMIC staff are actively maintaining production, including adjusting the rhythm of dispatching and utilizing machines in a compact manner. The sealing control has little impact on its production capacity.

On March 28, TSMC stated that everything is in accordance with the local government's epidemic prevention measures and currently does not affect the production of the Shanghai plant. TSMC has an 8-inch fab in Shanghai and a 12-inch fab in Nanjing. In addition, a number of enterprises such as Hua Hong Group, China Micro Company, and Shengmei Shanghai are located in Shanghai and surrounding areas.
Although the production of large factories has not been significantly affected at present, the above-mentioned industrial product logistics person said that the logistics shutdown will affect the trade in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, which poses a potential threat to semiconductor manufacturers.

"For example, individual equipment in the production line of the factory will fail and need to be replaced by suppliers or sent by engineers for maintenance. Most of the equipment comes from imported manufacturers, and the precision and complexity are very high. Most of the engineers in the factory will not be able to maintain it. Suspend the faulty equipment. If only a few equipment fails within a week, and there are also stock available, it will affect the operation efficiency for a long time."

This quarter is the expansion period of the semiconductor industry. Mature manufacturers such as SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor are actively expanding production. The transportation of semiconductor equipment was originally very frequent. At present, semiconductor fabs are being built all over the country, and some new factories have emerged in Wuxi and Suzhou industrial zones. A large number of semiconductor equipment is also imported from overseas. These equipments are mainly imported from Shanghai Port.

The above-mentioned industrial product logistics person said that the company's original rhythm was to deliver an average of 4 pieces of equipment every week, and each piece of equipment would run a car, declare customs from overseas, enter the port, and pull it from the port to Wuxi, Shanghai and other places through high-speed, especially In Wuxi's industrial park, a number of semiconductor manufacturing plants have sprung up in the past year. At present, Shanghai Port can also declare customs online, but the road is closed, and personnel cannot be present to pick up the goods. The old factories that cannot get the goods will delay the progress of production expansion, and the new factories that cannot get the goods will have to stop.

According to the statistics of the China Semiconductor Industry Association, in 2020, the sales volume of the integrated circuit industry in Shanghai alone will account for 23% of the national total. The Yangtze River Delta, headed by Shanghai, is the core area of the domestic integrated circuit industry. Industry professionals have become accustomed to going to Suzhou for packaging and testing, Wuxi for equipment and materials, and Shanghai for manufacturing and design.
A person in the semiconductor industry told reporters that in the past, semiconductors in the Yangtze River Delta region had a relatively complete industrial ecology, although the domestic equipment and materials here could not fully support all process nodes of manufacturing, and packaging, equipment, and materials also needed to be partially dependent on overseas. However, the conditions for building an independent supply chain cluster have been formed here, which is relatively mature compared to other regions in China.

The person believes that the current situation of home office isolation, transportation and logistics interruption caused by the epidemic in the Yangtze River Delta region in China will definitely have a great impact on the domestic semiconductor industry. However, the country has also experienced similar epidemic prevention work in 2020. It is not inexperienced. Many enterprises will make corresponding arrangements as the epidemic progresses. I believe the overall impact will be controllable.

It's been a while since I have commented on this thread. I see that there is a new guy called Thailand Guy that people believe is Tidalwave...

Semiconductor companies in Shanghai are managing to maintain operations running, with the pandemic lockdown continuing for over 12 days.

For foundry, packaging, and testing companies that maintain 24-hour operations, they manage to stay in running. On March 28, foundries such as SMIC, Huahong Group, TSMC Songjiang Plant, and Wafer Works Shanghai Plant stated that they would comply with the local government control measures and keep their production going.

Huahong Group said that more than 6,000 personnel in its five factories in Shanghai are sticking to their posts to maintain production.

Uninterrupted production needs a continuous supply of raw materials. Once the inventory is available for less than 40 hours, it is necessary to coordinate the procurement and transportation. As of March 24, the Shanghai IC Industry Association has cooperated with local authorities to apply for 101 passes, solving the transport of more than 500 tons of raw materials.

The Shanghai Lingang Management Committee said it would allocate resources for critical enterprises, like GTA Semiconductor(积塔半导体), to ensure regular production and maintain at least 80% of production capacity in the area.

For the packaging and testing giant, ASE(日月光) said the lockdown has not affected its production but expects that the cost of logistics and employee care will increase.

The head of a wafer testing factory told JW Insights that the raw materials are all in stock, and there is no problem in lockdown for a few days. The key is whether the goods such as wafers can be shipped into the factory regularly.

Semiconductor equipment is already in short supply, with the delivery time of some equipment being 12 months or more, affected by the pandemic, geopolitics, and global production expansion.

Advanced Micro(中微公司) said engineers involved in production have moved into the company before March 27th to ensure stable output while others worked at home. ACM(盛美半导体) said its Chuansha foundry keeps 24-hour closed production while other personnel works at home, so its production has not been significantly affected.

Although most of the staff can work at home, an insider from a Chinese semiconductor equipment listed company told JW Insights that some systems, such as the Product Data Management system, are with limited access and cannot be open to home users because of security risks.

Different EDA and other design software are used in semiconductor companies based on their needs. The PDM system transfers data files between various software and ensures the safe and effective sharing and use of data.

Russia's attack on Ukraine has consequences:

Huawei joined the boycott of Russia

Nokia to exit the Russian market, no impact to financial outlook

Ericsson suspends business in Russia indefinitely and records provision in Q1 2022

virsuvei said:

Russia's attack on Ukraine has consequences:

Huawei joined the boycott of Russia

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@virsuvei cause Huawei use Qualcomm Chip, next year will be different as the Russian awaits the Return of the King.

virsuvei said:

Russia's attack on Ukraine has consequences:

Huawei joined the boycott of Russia

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Nokia to exit the Russian market, no impact to financial outlook

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Ericsson suspends business in Russia indefinitely and records provision in Q1 2022

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I think this belong to the world news thread rather than the China semiconductor thread.

ansy1968 said:

@virsuvei cause Huawei use Qualcomm Chip, next year will be different as the Russian awaits the Return of the King.

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not necessarily, they could mean the whole company including cell phone towers, networking equipment etc.

China opens new research institute to develop RISC-V processor project​

On April 9, Bao Yungang, deputy director of the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed the launch of the Beijing Open Source Chip Research Institute, which was formed at the end of 2021. Known as Kaixin Institute in Chinese, it was formed by leading tech companies and research institutes in China, and is aimed at accelerating the development of RISC-V technology, in particular the high-performance open-source processor project, Xiangshan.

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