UMS Holdings

[Boon]

Global Semiconductor Sales Continue to Climb in August

Sales increase 9.4 percent compared to last year and 1.3 percent over the previous month

Published Friday, October 3, 2014 4:00 pm

by Dan Rosso

WASHINGTON—Oct. 3, 2014—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $28.4 billion for the month of August 2014, an increase of 9.4 percent from the August 2013 total of $26 billion and an uptick of 1.3 percent over the July 2014 total of $28.1 billion. Year-to-date sales through August are 10.1 percent higher than they were at the same point in 2013. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“The global semiconductor market continued to demonstrate broad and sustained strength in August, and sales remain well ahead of last year’s pace,” said Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “Demand is strong across nearly all semiconductor product categories, and the industry has now posted sequential monthly growth for six consecutive months, thanks in part to continued strength in the Americas market.”

Toohey also noted that continued U.S. semiconductor industry strength bodes well for the overall U.S. economy. He cited an SIA whitepaper released this week that found that the U.S. semiconductor industry is one of the top contributors to U.S. economic growth of any domestic manufacturing industry. To learn more, read the SIA whitepaper here.

Regionally, year-to-year sales increased in Asia Pacific (12.3 percent), Europe (10.9 percent), and the Americas (7 percent), but decreased slightly in Japan (-1.7 percent). Sales were up compared to the previous month in the Americas (2.3 percent) and Asia Pacific (1.7 percent), held flat in Japan, and decreased slightly in Europe (-1.3 percent). Sales increased across all regions for the three-month period from June to August compared to the previous three-month period from March to May.

http://www.semiconductors.org/news/2014/...in_august/

August 2014 Chart and Graph
http://www.semiconductors.org/clientuplo...elease.pdf

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Samsung to invest $14.7 billion in new chip facility

6 Oct 2014

The South Korean tech-giant is making a rather big investment back home. The company is investing roughly USD 14.7 billion in the construction of a new semiconductor fabrication plant in Pyeongtaek, Korea.

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to construct the new semiconductor fabrication plant in the company’s Godeok Industrial Complex in Pyeongtaek. Samsung will invest approximately KRW 15.6 trillion or USD 14.7 billion in the construction of the new site.. “Our investment into the new fabrication plant will significantly influence the shaping of Samsung’s future semiconductor business,” said Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon, CEO and Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, in a statement Construction of the 790'000 square meter site will begin during the first half of 2015, and operations are scheduled to begin sometime during the second half of 2017.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/design/35318

(vested)

[Boon]

SEMI Announces Rising Annual Silicon Wafer Shipment Forecast

Wafer Shipments Forecast to Increase in 2014, 2015, and 2016

SAN JOSE, Calif. — October 6, 2014 — SEMI recently completed its annual silicon shipment forecast for the semiconductor industry. This forecast provides an outlook for the demand in silicon units for the period 2014–2016. The results show polished and epitaxial silicon shipments totaling 9,410 million square inches in 2014; 9,840 million square inches in 2015; and 10,163 million square inches in 2016 (refer to table below). Total wafer shipments this year are expected to finally exceed the market high set in 2010 and are forecast to continue shipping at record levels in 2015 and 2016.

"Silicon shipment levels are robust this year,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. “We expect silicon shipment volume to set a record high this year, followed by two consecutive years of growth."............................................................

http://www.semi.org/en/node/51626?id=highlights

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STAMFORD, Conn., October 8, 2014 View All Press Releases

Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments in the Third Quarter of 2014 Declined 0.5 Percent

PC Growth in Mature Markets Was Offset by a Decline in Emerging Markets

Worldwide PC shipments reached 79.4 million units in the third quarter of 2014, a 0.5 percent decline from the third quarter of last year, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.

“Growth in the mature markets was offset by a decline in shipments in emerging markets, similar to what was seen in the second quarter of 2014,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Positive results in Western Europe and North America can be a sign of gradual recovery for the PC industry.

“Consumers’ attention is slowly going back to PC purchases as tablet adoption peaked with mainstream consumers. The transition from PCs to tablets has faded as tablet penetration has reached the 40-50 percent range.” In contrast, weakness in the emerging market reflects the saturation in selected consumer segments where they can afford PCs. In the meantime, consumers who don’t have PCs will likely buy low priced tablet. This is a one of the major reasons for the slow growth in PC shipments in the emerging market.”

For the first time, the sum of the top five vendors' share reached two-thirds of the worldwide PC shipments. All top 5 vendors showed stronger growth compared to the industry average. Scale is one important success criteria for vendors to survive in the PC market. Some vendors have already scaled back or have withdrawn from the PC business — namely, Sony and Samsung — and Toshiba joined them in 3Q14..................................................................

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2869019

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TSMC Overtakes Samsung in FinFET

Despite rivalry, both lag behind Intel

Alan Patterson, 10/6/2014

TAIPEI, Taiwan — TSMC, which has more than half the global foundry business, has overtaken Samsung in the FinFET race to commercial production that the South Korean company was leading this year, according to industry analysts. Both companies lag Intel, which is making FinFET chips internally.

"Recent developments suggest TSMC has taken the lead over Samsung at developing [16/14nm] FinFET manufacturing technology," Mehdi Hosseini, a San Francisco analyst who covers TSMC and Samsung for Susquehanna Financial analyst, said in an Oct. 1 report.

Checks with industry experts suggest Samsung's foundry has experienced a setback with its 14nm FinFET project, while TSMC's 16nm pilot line is gaining incremental confidence among prospective customers, Hosseini said in the report. TSMC and Samsung are in a tight race to provide FinFET products to their biggest customers, Apple and Qualcomm, each of which aims to offer improved performance and lower power consumption in smartphones with the higher-density chips. However, the development of 3D-structured FinFETs has been fraught with difficulty for the two companies..................................

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324211

(vested)

[Boon]

TSMC September revenues increase

MOPS, October 9; Rodney Chan, DIGITIMES [Thursday 9 October 2014]

TSMC has reported consolidated revenues of NT$74.846 billion (US$2.5 billion) for September 2014, representing a 8.04% increase on month and 35.14% increase on year.

The company has totaled NT$540.285 billion in year-to-date revenues, up 19.74% compared with the same time last year...........

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20141009PM201.html

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UMC Joins $6.2B China Foundry

Xiamen fab will make 55, 40 nm chips

Rick Merritt

10/9/2014

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp. will invest about US$1.35 billion over the next five years in a new foundry in Xiamen, China. The foundry will be a joint venture with a total investment of $6.2 billion, aimed at ramping to production of 50,000 12-inch wafers a month, using 55 nm and 40 nm process technologies.

The two other partners in the foundry are the Xiamen Municipal People’s Government and Fujian Electronics and Information Group. UMC expects its funding to progress in installments starting in 2015, pending approval of the Taiwan government.

To date, China has had limited success developing its chipmaking capabilities. For example, the country’s largest foundry, SMIC, is just starting to ramp a 28 nm process with help from a deal struck in July with Qualcomm.....................................................................

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324238

(vested)

[Tiggerbee]

Microchip Falls on China Demand; Chip Stocks Tumble


Freescale, Avago and Micron down 9-11%, Intel down 5%. AMAT down 4.8%, KLA Tencor down 7.6%, Lam Research down 9.1%. If indeed that the sector is going through an inventory correction from the peak, the effect will be at least several qtrs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-10...umble.html

Microchip Technology Inc. tumbled the most in almost 6 years and shares of rival chipmakers fell after the company said product orders missed its forecast, hurt by falling demand in China.
Microchip’s announcement triggered a sell-off in semiconductor stocks today, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index undergoing its worst one-day decline since 2009. Microchip fell 12 percent to $39.96 at the close in New York. Peers such as Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. (FSL ▼ -10.81% 16.01) also dropped more than 10 percent.
Microchip makes semiconductors used in products ranging from home appliances to computer network hardware to cars, so its earnings are a broad indicator of industry demand. China is the largest market for key products such as smartphones, with factories located there responsible for much of the world’s electronics production.
“The revenue miss was led by China where the September quarter is traditionally the strongest,” Microchip Chief Executive Officer Steve Sanghi said in a statement yesterday. “Microchip often sees the turn of the industry ahead of others in the semiconductor industry. We believe that another industry correction has begun and that this correction will be seen more broadly across the industry in the near future.”
The report raises concern that chipmakers may have built stockpiles of parts that they will now struggle to sell. Microchip recognizes sales only when distributors of its products sell them to device makers. If, like some of its peers, it booked revenue when chips are sold to distributors, its sales would have appeared larger, Sanghi said in the statement.
Preliminary revenue for the second quarter is about $546.2 million, including $16.9 million from the company’s recent ISSC Technology Inc. acquisition, Microchip said yesterday. In July, the company had forecast $560 million to $575.9 million in revenue. Analysts had projected $568.2 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Chandler, Arizona-based company has historically been an early semiconductor cycle indicator, investment research firm Hedgeye Risk Management, wrote in note to investors today.
“Semiconductor downcycles affect all chip firms. Nobody will be spared,” Hedgeye said.
Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN ▼ -7.13% 42.74), the largest maker of analog chips, fell 7.1 percent, while Micron Technology Inc. (MU ▼ -9.30% 27.79) dropped 9.3 percent.
U.S. technology companies will begin reporting their third-quarter performance next week. Intel Corp. (INTC ▼ -5.09% 31.91), the world’s largest chipmaker, will announce results on Oct. 14.

[Boon]

Microchip Falls on China Demand; Chip Stocks Tumble


Freescale, Avago and Micron down 9-11%, Intel down 5%. AMAT down 4.8%, KLA Tencor down 7.6%, Lam Research down 9.1%. If indeed that the sector is going through an inventory correction from the peak, the effect will be at least several qtrs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-10...umble.html

Microchip Technology Inc. tumbled the most in almost 6 years and shares of rival chipmakers fell after the company said product orders missed its forecast, hurt by falling demand in China.
Microchip’s announcement triggered a sell-off in semiconductor stocks today, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index undergoing its worst one-day decline since 2009. Microchip fell 12 percent to $39.96 at the close in New York. Peers such as Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. (FSL ▼ -10.81% 16.01) also dropped more than 10 percent.
Microchip makes semiconductors used in products ranging from home appliances to computer network hardware to cars, so its earnings are a broad indicator of industry demand. China is the largest market for key products such as smartphones, with factories located there responsible for much of the world’s electronics production.
“The revenue miss was led by China where the September quarter is traditionally the strongest,” Microchip Chief Executive Officer Steve Sanghi said in a statement yesterday. “Microchip often sees the turn of the industry ahead of others in the semiconductor industry. We believe that another industry correction has begun and that this correction will be seen more broadly across the industry in the near future.”
The report raises concern that chipmakers may have built stockpiles of parts that they will now struggle to sell. Microchip recognizes sales only when distributors of its products sell them to device makers. If, like some of its peers, it booked revenue when chips are sold to distributors, its sales would have appeared larger, Sanghi said in the statement.
Preliminary revenue for the second quarter is about $546.2 million, including $16.9 million from the company’s recent ISSC Technology Inc. acquisition, Microchip said yesterday. In July, the company had forecast $560 million to $575.9 million in revenue. Analysts had projected $568.2 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Chandler, Arizona-based company has historically been an early semiconductor cycle indicator, investment research firm Hedgeye Risk Management, wrote in note to investors today.
“Semiconductor downcycles affect all chip firms. Nobody will be spared,” Hedgeye said.
Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN ▼ -7.13% 42.74), the largest maker of analog chips, fell 7.1 percent, while Micron Technology Inc. (MU ▼ -9.30% 27.79) dropped 9.3 percent.
U.S. technology companies will begin reporting their third-quarter performance next week. Intel Corp. (INTC ▼ -5.09% 31.91), the world’s largest chipmaker, will announce results on Oct. 14.

The pure-play foundries including TSMC seem to be doing good business.

Sales of some IC design houses are not doing so well - could it be their products are not competitive enough in the market ?

(vested)
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UMC sees Septembers revenues rise

MOPS, October 9; Rodney Chan, DIGITIMES [Thursday 9 October 2014]

UMC has reported consolidated revenues of NT$12.256 billion (US$408.5 million) for September 2014, representing a 7.37% increase on month and 12.96% increase on year.

The company has totaled NT$102.777 billion in year-to-date revenues, up 10.4% compared with the same time last year.

For the year of 2013, UMC totaled NT$123.812 billion in consolidated revenues, up 7.03% sequentially and up 6.46% on year.

The company's stock price changed 0.00% and finished at NT$12.90 in trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) on October 9, 2014....................................

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20141009PM202.html

[LLS]

down 6% today, any major news?

[Tiggerbee]

AMAT shares got sold down 4.61% last night. Another sea of red in the semicon sector.

(Trading vested)

[heifien91]

down 6% today, any major news?

The semi-conductor industry tracks the economy really closely. In the economy downturn, the semi-cons are practically at the frontline. Best indicator for this would probably be the PHLX Semiconductor ETF, currently trading ~16% from the historical high. Given current economic uncertainty - Eurozone and USA, quite natural to see share prices of UMS getting affected I guess.

(vested)

[Life is a game]

Only those swimming naked will be affected by price drop.

[BlueKelah]

Andy must be smiling a lot now

Will vest in UMS when he starts buying again..