Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 1-12-23.
DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: China passenger car production and sales hit 26.1M and 26.0M in 2023, increasing 8%/6% respectively, and surpassing the previous record of 24.2M/24.7M units in 2017, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
NEV production in sales topped 9.5M for the year, increasing 36%, and accounting for 37% of share. China exported 4.16M passenger cars in 2023, a 65% increase Y/Y driven by strong demand for cars from Russia. Passenger NEVs exports increased 74% to 1.13M. Excluding exports China passenger car consumption increased 4.2% to 21.9M which compares to the peak of 2017 of 23.8M.
Commercial vehicle production and sales were also strong in 2023 at 4M recovering from the 3.2M trough in 2022, but still below the peak of 5.2M reached in 2020. According to CAAM passenger and commercial car sales are forecasted to increase 3%/4% in 2024 while NEV sales are forecast to increase 21% Y/Y to 11.5M while export units are forecasted to increase by 12%.
Headlines:
Auto
- BorgWarner hastens layoffs at Morgan Street plant
- BorgWarner plans to build joint venture with China’s Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group
- BMW sales grew 6.5% in 2023; EVs up to 15% of sales
- BYD’s first chartered cargo ship for EVs sets sail for Europe
- China NEV ownership surpassed 20 million mark
- EV sales in the US increased 50% to 1.2M; Cox forecast 2024 growth of +30%
- Geely plans to double EV shipments in 2024 to 230K, including shipments in Europe
- Honda announced plans to launch new EV series in a bid to catch up to rivals
- Hertz selling 20k EVs, including Teslas, for gas cars
- Tesla launches restyled Model 3 in North America
- Tesla resumes price cuts in China, slashing Model 3 and Y prices by 3-6%
- Tesla and Volvo to suspend production in Europe due to delays tied to Red Sea attacks
- VW cutting prices of EVs in Europe despite CEO promising not to get into price war
- Valeo is giving inductive wireless charging for EVs another shot
Datacenter
- HPE plans to acquire Juniper Network for $14B in cash
Semiconductors
- ASE sees its capacity utilization rising to 70-80% in 2024 from 60-65% in 2023
- China plans to set national standards for automotive chips
- Chinese foundry expansion raises concerns of oversupply and price pressure for Taiwanese mature-process wafer fabs says DigiTimes
- Nvidia to mass produce China AI chips starting in 2Q24
- Chinese companies resort to repurposing Nvidia gaming chips for AI
- Infineon signs LTA with SiC wafer supplier SK Siltron
- onsemi announced nine new SiC power modules
- onsemi announced renewal of its LTSA with Li Auto for SiC and CMOS.
- Intel to acquire Silicon Mobility; aiming to launch auto AI-enabled SoC
- Microchips warned 4Q sales to be weaker than projected
- Qualcomm’s push Into Auto chips is on track to beat sales targets, CEO Amon says
- Renesas to buy automotive GaN supplier Transphorm
- Samsung preliminary 4Q profit results weaker than expected
- Global semi sales returned to Y/Y growth in November says SIA
- Congressman concerned China could flood the US and global markets with mature ICs; propose import duties on ICs
- Vanguard notes inventory destocking continued in 4Q with wafer shipments declining 8-10% and pricing dropping 0-2% Q/Q
- TSMC reported drop in December revenue but beat for 4Q sales
- UMC new 22nm Singapore factory to start mass production in early 2025
Other
- Apple Vision Pro sales to start from Feb 2 in the US
- Credit card delinquency rates climb to decade high in Fed study
- Quanto sees flat PC shipments in 2024; mass model AI PCs not expected until 2025