In 2024, the semiconductor industry has gradually emerged from its downturn and entered a phase of gradual recovery.

Observing the market situation, as downstream demand increases, a number of domestic semiconductor industry projects are accelerating.

Recently, more than 30 semiconductor-related projects have entered the stages of signing contracts, construction, topping-out, and production etc.

These projects span areas such as EDA, AI, advanced packaging, materials, equipment, third-generation semiconductors, chip design, CMOS sensors, and memory, involving companies like Huahong, Semitronix, YASC, Skyverse, Hoshine, Smartsens, Sanan Semiconductor, and CFMEE etc.

Conclusion

The industry has revealed that from this year’s market situation, the revenue of companies in the middle and upper reaches of the integrated circuit industry has generally improved, AI has become an important driving force for revenue growth, and the demand for acceleration chips such as GPU/HBM has increased. Some sub-sectors such as advanced packaging and equipment/materials related to the industrial chain have also benefited.

At the same time, as new energy vehicles drive the popularity of third-generation semiconductor materials, power devices such as silicon carbide are in high demand.

According to TrendForce, SiC is still showing an accelerated penetration trend in application markets such as automobiles and renewable energy where power density and efficiency are extremelyimportant.

The overall market demand will maintain a growth trend in the next few years, and it is estimated that the global SiC Power Device market size is expected to reach US$9.17 billion in 2028.

(Photo credit: Huahong)

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, neither DRAM nor NAND spot prices show much momentum. Regarding DRAM, spot prices are still falling as Samsung is increasing the amount of reball DDR5 (D1Y) chips that come from decommissioned modules. As for NAND flash, the spot market persists in sluggishness this week, where spot traders are continuously lowering their quotations. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

In the spot market, prices are still falling as Samsung is increasing the amount of reball DDR5 (D1Y) chips that come from decommissioned modules. Since these reball chips are second-hand and low-cost products, Samsung can achieve profitability. However, this is leading to a continuous decline in spot prices, thereby affecting confidence across the entire DRAM market and buyers’ sentiment. Most buyers are now cautious and unwilling to actively stock up. The average spot price of the mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) decreased by 0.10% from US$1.972 last week to US$1.970 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

The spot market for NAND Flash persists in sluggishness this week, where spot traders are continuously lowering their quotations to alleviate their pressure from inventory, though overall transaction dynamics are maintained at a lackluster level without apparent signs of recovery under unimproved end demand. Spot price of 512Gb TLC wafers dropped by 3.45% this week, arriving at US$3.075.

With the advent of the AI era, customer demand for high-performance NAND solutions such as SSDs for data centers, as well as ultra-fast DRAM chips including high bandwidth memory (HBM), is growing. In line with this trend, SK hynix has introduced a new product, PEB110 E1.S (PEB110), with improved data processing speed and power efficiency by applying the fifth-generation (Gen5) PCIe1 specifications.

It is worth noting that the new product builds on the company’s best-in-class 238-high 4D NAND, boasting the most competitive standards in the industry in terms of cost, performance and quality, according to Ahn Hyun, Head of the N-S Committee at SK hynix.

According to its press release, SK hynix is currently in the qualification process with a global data center customer, aiming to start mass production of the product in the second quarter of next year.

In its roadmap, the memory giant expects to meet diverse customer needs with a more robust SSD portfolio. Following the successful mass production of PS10102, it now introduces PEB110 E1.S (PEB110), a high-performance solid-state drive (SSD) for data centers.

According to SK hynix, PCle Gen5, which is applied to the new product, provides twice the bandwidth of the fourth generation (Gen4), enabling PEB110 to achieve data transfer rates of up to 32 gigatransfers per second (GT/s). This enables PEB110 to double the performance of the previous generation and improve power efficiency by more than 30%.

SK hynix has also applied the security protocol and data model technology, or SPDM, to PEB110, for the first time for its data-center SSDs to significantly enhance information security features.

SK hynix notes that the product will be released in three capacity versions—2 terabyte (TB), 4 TB, and 8 TB—and supports the OCP3 version 2.5 specifications for greater compatibility across global data centers.

Read more

• [News] SK hynix to Begin 12-Stack HBM3e Mass Production, Marking Key Moment in HBM Battlefield
• [News] SK Hynix President to Join Semicon Taiwan, Bolstering HBM Partnership with TSMC and NVIDIA

(Photo credit: SK hynix)

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, regarding DRAM spot prices, since inventory levels are not excessively high, the selling pressure remains manageable. DDR4 products, though, have been suffering from the downward pressure more than DDR5. As for NAND flash, the spot market continues to sustain repercussions of sluggishness among consumer products. A number of brands are now pessimistic regarding how this wave of market enervation would persist until 1H25. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

Due to an underwhelming peak season, spot sellers are under pressure to offload inventory, leading to a slight sell-off. However, since inventory levels are not excessively high, the selling pressure remains manageable. Meanwhile, Samsung has recently begun releasing reball DDR5 chips stripped from decommissioned modules at low prices. For instance, 2Gx8 (16Gb) chips are being sold for around US$3, contributing to the overall decline in spot prices. For DDR4 products, the plentiful supply of reball chips is exerting even more downward pressure compared with DDR5 products. Consequently, there is no sign of stabilization in spot prices. The average spot price of the mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) slightly decreased by 0.05% from US$1.973 last week to US$1.972 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

The spot market continues to sustain repercussions of sluggishness among consumer products, where lackluster transactions are seen from client SSD, embedded products (eMMC & UFS), and memory cards. A number of brands are now pessimistic regarding how this wave of market enervation would persist until 1H25. Spot prices, compared to last week, have been continuously dropping at a small margin. Spot prices for 512Gb TLC wafers have dropped by 0.81% this week, arriving at US$3.185.

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, regarding DRAM spot prices, improvements are unlikely in the near term as reballed chip supply remains plentiful and DDR5 price pressure emerges. As for NAND flash, several suppliers have also lowered their official prices amidst ongoing sluggishness of demand. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

The spot market has shown no signs of improvement this week and prices continue to fall. In addition to weak channel demand, the supply of reballed chips also remains plentiful. Moreover, a South Korean supplier has recently slightly increased its supply of DDR5 products to the spot market, generating more downward price pressure. Hence, improvements in current spot price trends are unlikely in the near term. The average spot price of the mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) dropped by 0.25% from US$1.978 last week to US$1.973 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

Several suppliers have lowered their official prices amidst ongoing sluggishness of demand, and spot prices could continue to weaken if demand for consumer products remains lackluster. Spot prices for 512Gb TLC wafers have dropped by 0.71% this week, arriving at US$3.211.