Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 09-29-23
Weekly auto sales in China continued to improve towards the end of Sep according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). From Sep 1 to Sept 24 retail sales of all light vehicles increase 13% Y/Y and 6% compared to the same period last month, while xEV sales increased 33% Y/Y and 11% compared to last month.
Headlines:
Auto
- China government seeking to build self-sufficient EV supply chain; asking auto OEMs to source chips locally
- EU car group calls for urgent action on post-Brexit trade to avoid tariffs on EVs traded between the block and UK
- EU ministers agree to watered-down Euro 7 emissions rules
- Ford pauses work on $3.5 bln battery plant in Michigan; setbacks UAW negotiations
- Canadian union Unifor sets Oct 9 deadline for GM negotiations
- Hyundai, Kia recall nearly 3.4 million cars due to fire risk
- Lucid opens first international EV factory in Saudi Arabia
- Mitsubishi Automotive to exit China production
- Stellantis planning new automotive architecture to reduce number of semis in a car
- Tesla China exports to be part of EU anti-subsidy probe
- Tesla deliveries expected to fall on plant shutdowns Q/Q; risk of further price cuts seen in 4Q
- Toyota global production increased 4% Y/Y in Aug; domestic up 22%
- VW cutting EV production in Germany due to falling demand
- VW, Audi and Porsche production halted for two days due to IT outage
- UAW expands strike to two Ford and GM assembly plans; spares Stellantis; lowers demand to 30% wage increase
- US new auto sales expected to increase 13% Y/Y in September says Cox; 3Q SAAR down from 2Q with further decline expected in 4Q
Datacenter
- Accenture’s mixed quarterly results indicate continued softness in traditional IT demand
Semiconductors
- China’s chip equipment firms see revenue surge as Beijing seeks semiconductor self-reliance
- Japanese government to increase subsidies for TSMC and Kioxia/WDC JV
- US to indefinitely extend China waiver for South Korean chipmakers
- Intel 4 node using EUV enters production in Ireland
- Microchip announced new FPGA and SoC technology and products
- GlobalFoundries starting production of Microchips 28nm NVM flash controller
- Micron to invest $3.3B in 1-gamma process tech including EUV; production targeted for 2025 in Japan
- Nvidia has placed 3nm orders with TSMC for its upcoming Blackwell architecture
- NXP targeting 5nm chips for automotive ramping up in 2025
- Raspberry Pi launched gen 5 of its SBC
- Samsung Foundry 8-inch utilization dropping below 50%; Samsung seen cutting prices
- SIA sees shortage of 67,000 workers in semis industry by 2030
- The UK to probe Qualcomm’s plan to buy Autotalks
- TSMC boosts orders for CoWoS equipment by 30% to meet growing AI demand
- TSMC may delay 2nm production to 2026, creating a widow for Intel to catch up
Consumer
- Apple planning to increase iPhone production in India 5x over the next few years
- Apple iPhone 15 Pro users complain about overheating
- Fire accident at Pegatron India temporarily halts iPhone production
- Global table shipments decreased 5% Q/Q in 2Q says DigiTimes; 2H demand to remain muted
- Huawei launches new smart glasses, headphones, tablet and a smartwatch
- PC shipments in the US expected to rebound Y/Y for first time in 4Q says Canalyst