Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 2-9-24.
DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK:
January auto retail sales in China experienced a seasonal slowdown in January but remained on a strong uptrend, increasing 57% Y/Y to 2.04M.
According to China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) NEV retail sales in January totaled 668K units, below CPCA’s 670K preliminary figure and below 680K estimate at the end of Dec. CPCA attributed the slowdown in NEV demand to seasonal factors such as year-end pull forward of demand but also due to reduction local consumption incentives.
NEV accounted for 33% of total retail sales in January, down from 40% in Dec and Nov but up vs the 26% in Jan-2023. PHEV increased by a robust 148% Y/Y, while BEV sales increased by 76% Y/Y.
Headlines:
Auto
- Audi cuts output at Brussels plant due to parts shortage
- Bosch pushes back margin target, warns of further job cuts
- China to help NEV industry respond to foreign trade restrictions
- Ford January sales rose 4.3% with 43% jump in hybrids offsetting 11% decline in BEV
- SAP to stop buying company cars from Tesla due to collapse in resale value and fluctuating prices
- Hertz pauses plans to buy EVs from Polestar due to collapse in resale value
- Jaguar Land Rover slows EV rollout as electric car demand cools
- Volkswagen sticking with North American EV plans to launch 25 new models by 2030
- Opel cuts output of Grandland crossover at German plant due to slower demand
- US considering curbs to keep Chinese ‘smart cars’ out of the country
- Stellantis to slow operations at Turin plant on weak demand
Industrial
- Germany outlines $17B plan to subsidize gas to hydrogen shift
IP&E
- Murata announces construction of new MLCC production facility
Semiconductors
- Nvidia building a new Business Unit for designing bespoke AI chips
- SMIC reportedly building 5nm capacities in Shanghai to produce Huawei’s smartphone and AI chips says DigiTimes
- Silicon wafer shipments decreased 14% in 2023 says SEMI
- Vishay’s purchase of Newport Fab still waiting for UK government ruling 3 months after the announcement
- Global semi sales declined 8% in 2023 though growth resumed in 4Q says SIA
- SK Hynix is teaming up with TSCM to jointly develop HBM4 according to Korean media
- TSMC announced plans to build a second fab in Kumamoto Japan focusing on 6/7nm process technology
Other
- OECD estimates Red Sea tensión risk significantly higher inflation
