SK Hynix has announced today (Oct. 20) that it will acquire Intel’s NAND Flash business and Dalian-based Fab 68, which is dedicated to 3D NAND Flash production, for US$9 billion. In accordance with regulatory laws and policies, SK Hynix will apply for permission from governments in China, the U.S., and South Korea, with the acquisition expected to conclude in March 2025. TrendForce indicates that the merger between Intel’s NAND Flash business and SK Hynix will allow the latter to benefit from the complementary technologies, especially in the enterprise SSD market. Broadly speaking, this marks the next chapter of reorganization for the NAND Flash industry.
TrendForce today (Oct. 16) held its Annual Forecast 2021 event at the NTUH International Convention Center. Key summaries of the event can be found here.
Chinese manufacturers are expected to raise their market share from 39% this year to 52% next year in the monitor panel market, and 36% to 39% in the notebook panel market, according to TrendForce’s preliminary shipment forecast of panel makers for 2021. As such, these manufacturers are expected to maintain their plans of transitioning some production capacities from TV panel manufacturing to IT panel manufacturing in spite of the TV panel shortage in 2H20 caused by various factors such as the closedown of SDC’s LCD panel manufacturing operations, the rise of the stay-at-home economy, and the stimulus policies instituted by governments worldwide.
Owing to a 20% increase in TV demand in North America, as well as the fact that TV brands had deferred their shipment schedules in 1H20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of the third-quarter cyclical upturn were further compounded in 3Q20, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. Quarterly TV shipment reached a historical high of 62.05 million units in 3Q20, which was a 38.8% increase QoQ and 12.9% increase YoY.
The memory market (including DRAM and NAND Flash) is still in a state of oversupply in 4Q20, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. In light of recent U.S. sanctions against Huawei, other smartphone brands have been actively stocking up on memory products in an effort to capture Huawei’s lost market shares, but this procurement momentum is insufficient to improve the lethargic state of the memory market. In addition, as memory demand from the server industry has yet to make a noticeable recovery, overall memory ASP is expected to remain weak in 4Q20 and decrease by about 10% QoQ.