TrendForce reports an interesting shift in the electronics landscape: dwindling inventories for TV components, along with a surging mobile repair market that's been driving TDDI demand, have sparked a smattering of urgent orders in the Q2 supply chain. These last-minute orders have served as pivotal lifelines, propping up Q2 capacity utilization and revenue for semiconductor foundries. However, the adrenaline rush from these stop-gap orders may be a short-lived phenomenon and is unlikely to be carried over into the third quarter.

On the other hand, demand for staple consumer products like smartphones, PCs, and notebooks remains sluggish, perpetuating a slump in the use of expensive, cutting-edge manufacturing processes. At the same time, traditionally stable sectors—automotive, industrial control, and servers—are undergoing inventory correction. The confluence of these trends has resulted in a sustained contraction for the world's top ten semiconductor foundries. Their global revenue declined by approximately 1.1% for the quarter, amounting to a staggering US$26.2 billion.

The panic buying of chips persisted in 2Q21 owing to factors such as post-pandemic demand, industry-wide shift to 5G telecom technology, geopolitical tensions, and chronic chip shortages, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Chip demand from ODMs/OEMs remained high, as they were unable to meet shipment targets for various end-products due to the shortage of foundry capacities. In addition, wafers inputted in 1Q21 underwent a price hike and were subsequently outputted in 2Q21. Foundry revenue for the quarter reached US$24.407 billion, representing a 6.2% QoQ increase and yet another record high for the eighth consecutive quarter since 3Q19.

Global DRAM revenue reached US$17.65 billion, a 1.1% increase YoY, in 4Q20, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. For the most part, this growth took place because Chinese smartphone brands, including Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, expanded their procurement activities for components in order to seize the market shares made available after Huawei was added to the Entity List by the U.S. Department of Commerce. These procurement activities in turn provided upward momentum for DRAM suppliers' bit shipment. However, clients in the server segment were still in the middle of inventory adjustments during this period, thereby placing downward pressure on DRAM prices. As a result, revenues of most DRAM suppliers, except for Micron, remained somewhat unchanged in 4Q20 compared to 3Q20. Micron underwent a noticeable QoQ decline in 4Q20 (which Micron counts as its fiscal 1Q21), since Micron had fewer work weeks during this period compared to the previous quarter.

Driven by such factors as the continued development of autonomous driving technologies and the build-out of 5G infrastructure, the demand for automotive memories will undergo a rapid growth going forward, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Take Tesla, which is the automotive industry leader in the application of autonomous vehicle technologies, as an example. Tesla has adopted GDDR5 DRAM products from the Model S and X onward because it has also adopted Nvidia's solutions for CPU and GPU. The GDDR5 series had the highest bandwidth at the time to complement these processors. The DRAM content has therefore reached at least 8 GB for vehicles across all model series under Tesla. The Model 3 is further equipped with 14 GB of DRAM, and the next-generation of Tesla vehicles will have 20 GB. If content per box is used as a reference for comparison, then Tesla far surpasses manufacturers of PCs and smartphones in DRAM consumption. TrendForce forecasts that the average DRAM content of cars will continue to grow in the next three years, with a CAGR of more than 30% for the period.

Winbond Electronics Corporation, a leading global supplier of semiconductor memory solutions, today extended its record of leading the industry's innovation in specialty Flash memory with the introduction of a more flexible, high-speed read capability in its latest QspiNAND Flash products. Automotive and IoT device manufacturers are increasingly adopting high-performance Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND Flash as a low-cost alternative at densities of 512 Mbits and higher to the NOR Flash traditionally used for code storage. Previous Winbond innovations in high-performance NAND Flash include the Quad SPI-NAND interface, which shares the same 6-pin signals and QSPI command set as Quad SPI-NOR, and the Continuous Read function, which achieves up to a 52 MB/s continuous data transfer rate at a 104 MHz clock frequency.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced XTRMFlash memory, a faster NOR flash solution designed to revolutionize the way the electronics industry develops systems to meet the demand for "instant-on" performance and fast system responsiveness in automotive, industrial and consumer applications. Utilizing its new, low pin count interface that uses as little as 11 active signals, Micron's XTRMFlash memory outperforms other industry NOR Flash while also significantly reducing pin counts by as much as 75 percent from those found in Parallel NOR flash available in the market today. XTRMFlash memory provides system designers the ideal and fastest possible direct code execution NOR flash memory solution available to enable high-performance, yet small form-factor designs.

"Micron is committed to continued innovation in NOR flash memory," said Richard De Caro, director of NOR Flash for Micron's Embedded Business Unit. "We worked closely with our ecosystem partners and customers to understand their next-generation requirements for high-performance memory, and we have developed XTRMFlash memory as a result. XTRMFlash memory and the XTRMFlash interface have the potential to dramatically change the paradigm of the existing memory landscape by enabling a new category of high-performance and low pin count memory devices that can also extend beyond NOR Flash."

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the availability of ultra reliable, ultra high-speed and ultra high-temperature parallel NOR Flash and low-power DDR4 (LPDDR4) DRAM to meet the increasing memory requirements for the automotive market segment. Micron's G18 NOR family offers the industry's highest-performance parallel NOR, while Micron's automotive-grade LPDDR4 solutions are an industry-first.

These new products meet the needs of automotive applications that require ultra high speed. The G18 family's high performance (266 MB/s)enables faster boot and code execution for higher-density applications, while LPDDR4 enables 33 percent higher peak bandwidth than DDR4. Additionally, Micron's new solutions deliver long-lasting reliability and meet ISO/TS certification requirements-with the G18 family enabling three times faster throughput over quad SPI NOR, and the LPDDR4 products undergoing additional package-level burn-in testing. Furthermore, Micron's G18 NOR products have options that meet the industrial temperature (IT) range of -40 to 85°C and the automotive-grade automotive temperature (AAT) range of -40 to 105°C. The LPDDR4 products have options that meet the automotive-grade industrial temperature (AIT) range of -40 to 95°C, as well as some future options that will meet the automotive-grade ultra temperature (AUT) range of -40C to 125°C, which is the highest operating temperature range in the industry, expected to be available in 2016.

Spansion Inc., a global leader in embedded systems solutions, today announced Spansion HyperBus Interface, a breakthrough that dramatically improves read performance while reducing the number of pins. The Spansion HyperBus Interface is being implemented broadly by leading system-on-chip (SoC) manufacturers.

Spansion is also introducing today the first family of products based on this new interface, Spansion HyperFlash NOR Memory devices, with read throughput of up to 333 megabytes per second-more than five times faster than ordinary Quad SPI flash currently available with one-third the number of pins of parallel NOR flash.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:MU), today announced the availability of 45nm Serial NOR Flash memory samples in 512Mb, 1Gb, and 2Gb densities with a standard SPI interface. These new MT25Q SPI NOR devices offer a cost-effective solution with high performance, enhanced security and drop-in compatibility with legacy NOR devices, enabling high-density SPI NOR adoption in consumer, automotive, industrial and networking applications.

Micron's MT25Q devices satisfy embedded application requirements with best-in-class 2 MB/s programming speed. In addition, MT25Q devices offer improved erase performance and 66 MB/s read performance, enabling fast updates and boot performance for embedded systems. The MT25Q family also offers the industry's first serial NOR 2Gb device in a 6mm x 8mm BGA package, which is the smallest package available in the market today.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the availability of a replay-protected monotonic counter (RPMC) feature for their SPI NOR Flash memory devices, which are validated for future Intel Ultrabook platforms. The cost-effective 64Mb density is the sweet-spot solution currently available for immediate platform-enablement activities.

The RPMC feature in Micron's SPI NOR device is the first in a family of cryptographic primitives that will significantly enhance preboot security in cost-sensitive embedded, mobile, and personal computing architectures. The RPMC-enabled device facilitates critical nonvolatile data storage, while making systems resistant to rollback and replay attacks. It enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to further strengthen code/data storage in the boot memory and deliver more secure systems to customers.

Micron Technology, Inc., (Nasdaq:MU) today announced the availability of a replay-protected monotonic counter (RPMC) feature for their SPI NOR Flash memory devices, which are validated for future Intel Ultrabook platforms. The cost-effective 64Mb density is the sweet-spot solution currently available for immediate platform-enablement activities.

The RPMC feature in Micron's SPI NOR device is the first in a family of cryptographic primitives that will significantly enhance preboot security in cost-sensitive embedded, mobile, and personal computing architectures. The RPMC-enabled device facilitates critical nonvolatile data storage, while making systems resistant to rollback and replay attacks. It enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to further strengthen code/data storage in the boot memory and deliver more secure systems to customers.
Micron's 64Mb RPMC-enabled SPI NOR device supports nonvolatile storage and authentication needs that are critical to the chipset security implementation for future Intel Ultrabook platforms and is compliant with Intel's Serial Flash Hardening Product External Architecture Specification. The device, which is available in SO8W and W-DFN 0.8mm packages, also includes improved erase performance to increase throughput and lower the initial cost of manufacturing programming.

Micron Technology, Inc., (NASDAQ: MU) today announced results of operations for its first quarter of fiscal 2013, which ended November 29, 2012. For the first quarter, the company had a net loss attributable to Micron shareholders of $275 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.8 billion. The results for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 compare to a net loss of $243 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.0 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, and a net loss of $187 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.1 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

Revenues from sales of NAND Flash products were 4 percent lower in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, due to a 9 percent decrease in sales volume, partially offset by a 5 percent increase in average selling prices. Trade NAND Flash sales volume in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 decreased compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 primarily as a result of lower production of NAND Flash products. Revenues from sales of DRAM products in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 were 9 percent lower compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 primarily due to an 11 percent decrease in average selling prices. Sales of NOR Flash products were relatively unchanged for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.

Spansion Inc., the leading innovator in Flash memory solutions, today announced the industry's first single-die 8 (Gigabit) Gb NOR Flash memory product at 45 nanometer (nm). The 8 Gb Spansion GL-T delivers high-quality, fast random access read performance to enable a better user experience with interactive graphics, animation and video in games and industrial applications.

Based on Spansion's proprietary, highly reliable MirrorBit technology, the 8 Gb Spansion GL-T will begin sampling next month. The Spansion GL-T family at 45 nm is the newest addition to the Spansion GL parallel NOR product line and complements the 65 nm Spansion GL-S product family, which ranges from 128 Megabit (Mb) through 4 Gb densities. With the fastest read and program speeds for NOR Flash memory in the industry, Spansion continues to expand its customer engagements and design wins for the Spansion GL product family, which is targeted at enriching the user experience in consumer, automotive, gaming, telecom and industrial applications.

Spansion Inc., a leading provider of parallel and serial NOR Flash memory, today announced it has entered volume production of its 512 Mb Spansion FL-S Serial (SPI) NOR Flash memory featuring the highest-density single-die serial Flash.

The Spansion FL-S family spans from 128 Mb to 1 Gb and features an industry-leading programming speed that is three times faster than competing solutions and has 20% faster double data rate (DDR) read performance. The speed improvements are key to enriching the user experience for a growing range of embedded applications, such as automotive instrument clusters and infotainment systems, industrial and medical graphic displays as well as home networking gateways and set-top boxes.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced results of operations for its first quarter of fiscal 2012, which ended December 1, 2011. For the first quarter, the company had a net loss attributable to Micron shareholders of $187 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.1 billion. The results for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 compare to a net loss of $135 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.1 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, and net income of $155 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.3 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

The company's consolidated gross margin remained at 15 percent for the first quarter of fiscal 2012. Improvements in NAND Flash margins were offset by declines in DRAM. Revenue from sales of NAND Flash products was 6 percent higher in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 due to an 18 percent increase in sales volume partially offset by a 10 percent decrease in average selling prices. Revenue from sales of DRAM products was essentially unchanged in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 compared to the previous quarter, as a 14 percent increase sales volume was offset by a 12 percent decrease in average selling prices. Sales of NOR Flash products were approximately 14 percent of total net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced the availability of JESD216: Serial Flash Discoverable Parameters (SFDP) for Serial NOR Flash. Widely anticipated by software engineers, the SFDP will allow Serial Flash manufacturers to embed a standard description of important device characteristics inside the Flash chip.

Users can read the description and obtain critical information about the functional characteristics and capabilities of SFDP compliant Flash memory devices, which will enable user applications such as mobile phones, set-top boxes, HDTVs, PC/NB motherboards, or any system that needs to support multiple Serial NOR Flash device types, to configure themselves to handle various Serial Flash implementations.

Micron Technology, Inc., today introduced the highest-density Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) NOR memory available, launching 1 gigabit (Gb), 512 megabit (Mb) and 256Mb products in both 1.8V and 3V power supply voltages. Employing state-of-the-art 65nm process technology, the N25Q product family offers the highest-speed quad I/O in the industry and a full set of advanced features and small packages that improve overall system performance and time-to-market in networking, set-top boxes, automotive and a wide range of industrial, computing and consumer applications.

Extending the company's legacy of memory leadership, Micron's new SPI NOR product line balances customers' needs for cost-effective solutions at higher densities while ensuring compatibility among future chipsets. Micron's long-term commitment to customers in the embedded markets is reinforced by Micron's Product Longevity Program (PLP) - a 10-year commitment to provide stable memory architectures for customer designs. The new N25Q products will be offered as part of this program to provide design assurance for its PLP customers.

Spansion Inc., today announced the industry's first single-die 4Gb (gigabit) NOR Flash memory product at 65nm. The 4Gb Spansion GL-S delivers high-quality and fast read performance to enable a better user experience with interactive graphics, animation and video in games and automotive applications.

The newest addition to the flagship Spansion GL-S product line is sampling this month. Based on Spansion's proprietary, highly reliable MirrorBit charge-trapping technology, the Spansion GL-S delivers the fastest read performance in the industry, up to 45 % faster read than competing NOR Flash products. The Spansion GL-S family is currently offered at 128Mb through 2Gb densities and the company is gaining design win momentum for the product family with consumer, automotive, gaming, telecom and industrial applications.

Micron Technology, Inc., (Nasdaq:MU) today announced results of operations for its first quarter of fiscal 2011, which ended December 2, 2010. For the first quarter, the company had net income attributable to Micron shareholders of $155 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.3 billion. The results for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 compare to net income of $342 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, on net sales of $2.5 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, and net income of $204 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.7 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2010.

In the company's Memory segment (which excludes Numonyx and other non-reportable segments), revenue from sales of DRAM products was 19 percent lower in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 due to a 23 percent decrease in average selling prices partially offset by a 5 percent increase in unit sales volume. Revenue from sales of NAND Flash products was up slightly in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 due to a 20 percent increase in unit sales volume partially offset by a 15 percent decrease in average selling prices. The company's gross margin for its Memory segment was 26 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 compared to 37 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, primarily due to the decreases in average selling prices, partially offset by decreases in manufacturing costs.

Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited today announced the development of new flash memory macro that enables NOR flash memory circuits to achieve high-speed read operations while operating at low power currents. The new flash memory macro is guaranteed to retain program data storage for 20 years, or 100,000 write/erase cycles for data storage, while improving access speeds by 2.5 times to 10 nanoseconds (10 ns), and reducing the required operating current per cell by two-thirds to 9 microamperes (9 µA), compared to Fujitsu's past technologies. This technology will be implemented in microcontrollers featuring embedded flash memory in automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics applications for which high speed, low current, and high reliability are all priorities, thus contributing to a reduction in the burden on the environment.