TI lowers prices to compete for market share, Infineon seeks new acquisition

1. Strive for market share, Texas Instruments initiates price reduction for general analog chips

According to a report from Fast Technology, in order to seize the market and also suppress competitors, American chip giant Texas Instruments comprehensively lowered chip prices in the Chinese market in May this year, attempting to seize more market share through dimension reduction during the darkest moments before the industry recovery.

It is reported that the price reduction of Texas Instruments in the Chinese market this time mainly affects general analog chips, while the impact on various specialized analog chip markets that are relatively scattered is uneven. Among them, PMIC and signal chain chips are the hardest hit areas affected by this price reduction strategy.

A senior executive from a domestic simulation chip factory revealed that TI's price reduction this time has no fixed range or bottom line, and is completely based on the price of domestic chips, with the aim of hitting competitors. From this, it can be predicted that starting from PMIC, analog chips will start a new round of fierce competition.

2. Ansemy: The compound annual growth rate of revenue from 2022 to 2027 will reach 10% -12%

According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily on the 30th, Ansemy recently stated at an investor conference that the company is actively developing its intelligent power supply and sensing business for the automotive and industrial sectors. It is expected that the company's annual compound annual growth rate will reach 10% -12% from 2022 to 2027, which is three times the expected growth rate of the semiconductor market. Additionally, it will invest profits into SiC production through new product sales, with a target gross profit margin of 53% by 2027.

3. Infineon seeks small acquisitions of less than 3 billion euros

According to IT Home, Infineon CFO Sven Schneider told a German media outlet that Infineon is seeking small and medium-sized acquisitions worth no more than 3 billion euros, which would be very suitable for the company's business portfolio.

Infineon's acquisition scale may be between 1-3 billion euros, and liquidity is not a problem. Schneider stated that Infineon has nearly 3.5 billion euros in liquidity and will only make acquisitions if they align with the company's strategic, financial, and cultural portfolio.

4. MediaTek will develop an automotive SoC that integrates Nvidia GPU chips

MediaTek announced on May 29th its partnership with NVIDIA to provide a complete AI intelligent cockpit solution for software defined cars. Both parties will fully leverage the advantages of their respective automotive product portfolios to jointly provide excellent solutions for the new generation of intelligent vehicles.

Through this collaboration, MediaTek will develop an automotive SoC that integrates Nvidia GPU chips, equipped with Nvidia AI and graphics computing IP. This chip supports interconnect technology and can achieve smooth and high-speed interconnection between chips.

5. Liandian: The recovery is slower than expected, with 28nm production capacity utilization reaching over 90% in the second half of the year

According to a report by MoneyDJ cited by the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, Liu Qidong, the CFO of Liandian, stated that the progress of destocking in the semiconductor industry in the first half of the year was slower than expected, and there is currently no strong recovery visible. At present, the 28nm OLED DDI (driver chip) is still tight, and the utilization rate of 28nm production capacity can reach over 90% in the second half of the year.

In contrast, 8-inch wafers are less effective than 12 inch wafers due to their special processing, resulting in relatively lower capacity utilization. From the perspective of application categories, the demand for mobile phones and PCs is poor, while the demand for automobiles and industries was good in the first quarter. There are currently signs of a peak due to customer inventory reaching a certain level.

6. Prediction: Global AI server shipments will approach 1.2 million units this year

According to the Taiwan, China Industrial and Commercial Times, after IDC announced that the global AI server revenue would reach 25 billion dollars this year, TrendForce predicted that the global AI server shipments would be close to 1.2 million units this year, with an annual growth of 38.4%, and will grow at a compound annual rate of 22% until 2026. The shipment volume of AI chips will have an annual growth of 46%.

TrendForce also pointed out that in addition to AI servers equipped with FPGA and ASIC, Nvidia's GPU is currently the mainstream AI server chip, with an estimated market share of about 60-70%, followed by AISC independently developed by cloud service providers, with a market share of over 20%.

7. IDC: Global smartphone shipments have decreased by 3.2% this year and will rebound next year

According to a report from IT Home, according to IDC's latest forecast, a weak economic outlook and persistent inflation will lead to a 3.2% decrease in global smartphone shipments in 2023, to 1.17 billion units. This prediction is lower than the 1.1% decline forecast made by the institution in February.

来源：IDC

But IDC reports that the smartphone market will recover in 2024 and achieve a 6% growth. However, it is also pointed out that the recovery rate of consumer demand in various regions is still lower than expected. If 2022 is a year of excess inventory, then 2023 is a year of caution. Although manufacturers hope to prepare inventory to cope with the inevitable recovery, no one is willing to hold on for too long, after all, this means the risk of inventory backlog.