wafer | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 05 Jul 2022 09:05:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png wafer | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Apple, AMD and Nvidia to reduce TSMC orders as demand drops https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/joao-silva/apple-amd-and-nvidia-to-reduce-tsmc-orders-as-demand-drops/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/joao-silva/apple-amd-and-nvidia-to-reduce-tsmc-orders-as-demand-drops/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:00:05 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=566489 After the pandemic boom in the consumer electronics industry, things are dying out as inflation rises and countries lift restrictions. Whether we're talking about TVs, PCs, phones or any other consumer device, demand has dropped, forcing TSMC's biggest customers to revise their orders to the wafer manufacturer. The report comes from DigiTimes (via RetiredEngineer), which …

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After the pandemic boom in the consumer electronics industry, things are dying out as inflation rises and countries lift restrictions. Whether we're talking about TVs, PCs, phones or any other consumer device, demand has dropped, forcing TSMC's biggest customers to revise their orders to the wafer manufacturer.

The report comes from DigiTimes (via RetiredEngineer), which claims Apple, AMD and NVIDIA plan to adjust their orders to demand. In other words, the three companies plan to reduce the wafer capacity allocated to each of them. Starting with Apple, the Cupertino-based company plans to reduce target shipments by 10% to 90M iPhone 14 units (reportedly in mass production).

Moving to AMD and Nvidia, the companies are dealing with a GPU market full of used graphics cards and a decline in PC demand. Starting with AMD, the 7/6nm wafer capacity allocated should reduce by 20K units in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023. The 5nm capacity assigned to the red team will probably remain unchanged.

As for Nvidia, which is moving from Samsung to TSMC as its primary wafer supplier, the over-saturated market is also forcing them to reduce orders. However, TSMC is reportedly reluctant to alter the conditions. The semiconductor manufacturer seems willing to delay shipments by a quarter to Q1 2023, but Nvidia must find a customer to fill its spot on TSMC's capacity list.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: Are you planning to pick up a current-gen GPU at a cheaper price over a next-gen GPU at launch for your next upgrade? 

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Kioxia aims for “Wafer-Level SSD” https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/christopher-nohall/kioxia-aims-for-wafer-level-ssd/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/christopher-nohall/kioxia-aims-for-wafer-level-ssd/#respond Fri, 03 Jul 2020 10:30:54 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=475095 The Chief Engineer at Kioxia, Shigeo Oshima, recently gave a presentation at VLSI Symposium 2020 where he talked about the company's plans for a “Wafer-Level SSD”, a potentially game changing approach to storage production.  The process of creating an SSD device is usually a long and complicated one. It starts with a wafer being manufactured …

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The Chief Engineer at Kioxia, Shigeo Oshima, recently gave a presentation at VLSI Symposium 2020 where he talked about the company's plans for a “Wafer-Level SSD”, a potentially game changing approach to storage production. 

The process of creating an SSD device is usually a long and complicated one. It starts with a wafer being manufactured in a factory and later being cut into individual chips that are packaged into SSDs and finally installed in a computer. However, Kioxia wants to see a change to the long and usually expensive process of manufacturing SSDs – through the introduction of “Wafer-Level SSD”.

Wafer-Level SSD technology still has a long way to go before it can manifest itself in devices ready for the market. But, if Kioxia is able to develop the technology and make it a reality, it would mean big cost savings when manufacturing SSDs, since many steps of production could be cut out. The technology also has the potential to be used for “wafer stacking”, with the prospective benefits of immensely enhanced performance in SSDs.

The details we have at present are based on a Japanese report from ‘My Navi‘ but hopefully we'll hear more about the development of this later in the year.

Kitguru says: The concept of Wafer-Level SSDs is still in its infancy, but could mean better performance and lower costs for SSDs in the future. What are your thoughts on Wafer-Level SSDs?

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Tech is reportedly going to get much more expensive as silicon costs rise https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/tech-is-reportedly-going-to-get-much-more-expensive-as-silicon-costs-rise/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/tech-is-reportedly-going-to-get-much-more-expensive-as-silicon-costs-rise/#comments Tue, 14 Nov 2017 18:22:58 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=354394 Over the last year, we have seen plenty of price hikes in the tech world. A DRAM and NAND shortage has caused SSD and RAM prices to jump, but it looks like silicon prices are also set to rise over the next few years, which will have further reaching effects on chips across the board. …

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Over the last year, we have seen plenty of price hikes in the tech world. A DRAM and NAND shortage has caused SSD and RAM prices to jump, but it looks like silicon prices are also set to rise over the next few years, which will have further reaching effects on chips across the board.

According to a report from Korean-based news outlet, ETNews, SUMCO, a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturer responsible for over 60 percent of the world's supply, is planning on increasing prices by 20 percent in 2018. Then, another price increase is supposed to take place in 2019.

A quote from SUMCO CEO, Hashimoto Mayuki can be found in the report, in which he confirms the plans to raise prices. Silicon wafers are used widely in the tech world as the basis for DRAM, NAND flash, CPUs and GPUs. With demand increasing, prices are also going to increase.

SUMCO estimates that global wafer demands will rise to 6.6 million units a month by 2020. Given that the manufacturers can only deliver so much, demand will continue to outstrip supply, leading to price hikes.

KitGuru Says: This isn't great news for consumers, though we won't see the long-term effects this will have on pricing until 2018 and beyond. Silicon wafer pricing already rose by 20 percent in 2016, but if manufacturers jack up the prices even more, then being a tech enthusiast is going to get very difficult for most. 

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Can AMD get enough wafer slots at TSMC ? https://www.kitguru.net/components/harrison/can-amd-get-enough-wafer-slots-at-tsmc/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/harrison/can-amd-get-enough-wafer-slots-at-tsmc/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:45:45 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=72135 If you service cars and don't have enough of the right tyres, then it can affect production. Same for decorators and the right kind of paint brush. Sure, there could be ways around the supply issue, but it's not ideal. With graphics, it comes down to wafers. KitGuru pulls out a glass tumbler and tries …

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If you service cars and don't have enough of the right tyres, then it can affect production. Same for decorators and the right kind of paint brush. Sure, there could be ways around the supply issue, but it's not ideal. With graphics, it comes down to wafers. KitGuru pulls out a glass tumbler and tries to hear the rumours through the wall.

Interesting messaging in the market right now, centring on the production of top end graphic cards for Q1.

The rumour goes that AMD had been considering moving more and more production across to Global Foundries, but GloFo has been struggling to meet AMD's delivery schedules and output requirements.

At the same time, nVidia and Qualcomm have focused their new designs on TSMC and, in doing so, have bought up almost all the available wafer slots.

If GloFo is unable to deliver, them AMD would need to get into swift negotiation for slots or risk not having enough 7000 series cards to go around.

In regular economics, a restriction in supply (of any kind) almost always leads to an increase in price. Will be interesting to see if this rumour is true and – if so – what effect it will have on the price and availability of AMD graphic cards?

Will the nasty snapdragons and GeForce pixies munch all the delicious wafers?

KitGuru says: It's hard to overestimate just how hard it is for any foundry to compete with Intel. TSMC invests a huge amount of time, resource and – ultimately – money in making sure that it moved swiftly to each new process as it comes along. Having multiple customers, with multiple designs, means that TSMC is probably finding and resolving more problems than any single-customer production plant. Surely, that must lead to an advantage?

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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