Apple Propelled IC Growth to +60%/ +20%

My last blog (Semiconductor IC Sales +60% to +20% for 6 Companies) discusses large increase in semiconductor sales for some companies in first quarter of 2015.The driving force behind these large growth is Apple. Apple purchase more than $25B in 2014 (see table below). When Apple started diversifying its semiconductor sources it led to large impact on them. 

Table 1.Preliminary Ranking of Top 10 Companies by Semiconductor Design TAM, Worldwide, 2014 (Billions of Dollars)

2013 Ranking	2014 Ranking	Company	2013	2014	Growth (%) 2013-2014	Market Share (%) 2014
1	1	Samsung	30.6	32.1	5.1	9.4
2	2	Apple	23.5	25.8	9.8	7.6
3	3	HP	13.7	14.7	7.1	4.3
4	4	Lenovo	9.5	12.8	33.9	3.8
5	5	Dell	9.1	10.3	13.2	3.0
6	6	Sony	7.7	7.4	-2.8	2.2
9	7	Huawei	4.9	6.0	21.6	1.8
7	8	Cisco Systems	5.6	5.8	3.1	1.7
10	9	LG Electronics	4.7	5.5	15.9	1.6
8	10	Toshiba	5.5	5.3	-4.0	1.5
		Others	200.2	214.2	7.0	63.0
		Total	315.0	339.9	7.9	100.0

Note: Some columns do not add to totals shown because of rounding.

Source: Gartner (January 2015)

Apple demand is large part of TSMC 44% sales growth, GlobalFoundaries 21%, and Hynix 25% in first quarter of 2014.

Apple diversifying its semiconductor supplier started couple years ago (see November 2013 blog http://semiconductorexpert.blogspot.com/2013/11/who-will-fabricate-apple-microprocessors.html ).

When Apple shifted from using Samsung as the only vendor fabricating its microprocessor, it had large impact on Samsung sales. Apple was a major customer of Samsung several years ago. See March 2012 blog Foundry Rankings (Including Samsung’s  iPad, iPhone Breakdown) . 

More about Apple increases reliance on TSMC and adding GlobalFoundaries is in earlier blogs such as April 2015 Next iPhone Be Fabricated at TSMC .

Ron

Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

iPhone A8, A9 - Samsung or TSMC

It would make sense economically and to secure their supply for Apple to manufacture chips both in Samsung and TSMC. see iPhone A8, A9 and Second Sources.





Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com

Samsung and TSMC Reportedly Still Competing for Rights to Produce Apple's A9 Chip

Tuesday November 4, 2014 1:57 AM PST by Richard Padilla

Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are still competing for the rights to produce Apple's next-generation A9 chip as a primary supplier is expected to be named by the end of this year, reports Digitimes.


According to the report, Samsung has offered Apple lower pricing quotes in an attempt to secure the rights to produce the A9. The company is also willing to produce other chips like flash memory and perform optimization services in-house. Samsung was the longtime producer of Apple's A-series chips until Apple struck a deal with TSMC to produce its chips last year.

Last month, Samsung semiconductor head Kim Ki-nam announced that the company would begin work on 14-nanometer processors for Apple, indicating that the Korean company may have already won the bid to produce the next-generation A9 chip. However, it is also possible that both companies could share the production load as Apple looks to diversify its supply chain even further to better fit its production needs.

Last year, it was reported that Apple signed a contract with Samsung to handle 30% to 40% of total A9 chip production, as TSMC would be handling the rest of the production load. Apple's A9 chip would presumably be featured in next year's line of iPhones and iPads, as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus currently use the 20-nanometer A8 processor. The iPad Air 2 uses a more powerful triple-core A8X chip which is up to 55% faster than the A8 chip found in the iPhone 6.

Who Will Fabricate Apple Microprocessors

DigiTimes reports a rumor that Samsung and Globalfoundries will work together on Apple A9 microprocessor fabrication. Apple have a choice of  only very few fabs that have the  leading edge technology and the manufacturing capacity. Apple would like to have a second source for its chip manufacturing, maybe it is forcing Samsung to work with Globalfoundries. It is not likely that Samsung would only provide its patent protection.

Some process technology would be shared also. Could be that Samsung 3D NAND technology is a key ingredient of such a deal (see TSMC and GlobalFoundries 3-D Transistors (FinFETs) ).

The cost of leading edge process technology ties Apple hands and is the reason that Apple cannot Kick Its Samsung Habit

Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

Globalfoundries, Samsung said to team up to vie for Apple chip orders

Josephine Lien, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 13 November 2013]

Rumors have been circulated in the IC industry claiming that Globalfoundries and Samsung Electronics will team up to vie for A9-series chip orders from Apple. Under the reported tie-up, Samsung will provide related patents and Globalfoundries will handle wafer production.

TSMC is believed to have secured contract manufacturing orders for Apple's 20nm A8 processor chip slated for 2014, and stands a good chance of also securing orders for the A9 series that will be built using a 3D transistor (FinFET) design. Nonetheless, rumors have it that Samsung plans to assist Globalfoundries in producing chips for Apple. Samsung will grant related patents for the manufacture of the A-series processors to the US foundry, which has a commitment to bring manufacturing jobs back to the country.

Globalfoundries will have its Fab 8 complex in Malta manufacture the reported A9 processor chips for Apple, while Samsung will collect royalties for licensing its patents, according to the rumors.

Samsung has long been the sole supplier of Apple's A-series chips, but gradually lost orders for some components such as memory chips due to its competition with the customer in the mobile space.

SanDisk and 3D NAND

SanDisk is strongly pursuing 3D NAND  with Toshiba. 3D NAND is a very strong contender for future advances in NAND shrinking. See more below



Some background about 3D NAND and at
3D NAND flash is coming

 Ron

Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

SanDisk starts beating path to 3D NAND flash

Reckons product ready for market by 2015

By Chris Mellor, 23rd July 2013 

 

SanDisk is taking its own technology route to 3D NAND - the stacking of recording layers within a flash chip atop one another to provide more capacity in the same footprint.

SanDisk is currently working on its new BiCS (Bit-Cost Scalable NAND) product and it could be deliverable in the fourth quarter of 2015, or sometime during 2016.

We asked Objective Analysis consultant and analyst Jim Handy how this was being done, and he said: "BiCS is not stacked chips, which is expensive. It's stacking bits on the same chip. The NAND is made into vertical strings of bits rather than today's horizontal strings."

That's demanding at a foundry level, as it fundamentally changes how NAND is made. A change from, say, 34nm NAND to 28nm NAND shrinks an existing process but the steps in the process generally stay the same. Not so with BiCS: "What's most problematic about this is that it changes the entire process. Semi makers are OK with tweaking their fabs to move from one process to the next by replacing 10-25 per cent of the tooling, but this will be more like 75 per cent."

Handy said it "involves more etch/deposition and not as much lithography as [existing] 2D NAND."

He made this point about NAND production costs:

The whole point of shrinks is to reduce costs by shrinking the area of a chip. Stacking chips still consumes the same area so it does nothing to reduce costs, but creating vertical structures (3D NAND or FinFETs) crams more transistors/bits into a given area so the chip can be made smaller and cheaper.

If the area of a NAND chip is reduced you can cut more of them from a standard cost wafer; therefore the cost per chip goes down.

Toshiba BiCS technology slide

SandDisk's BiCS schedule does not depend on it being first to market, according to Handy. "SanDisk, during its investor conference in May, made a very big point of saying that they would not be bringing out BiCS until it proved to provide a better ROI than 1Z. “

“Despite this,” continued Handy, “a few of the investment analysts in the room questioned why the company would fall behind Samsung, who is rumoured to be introducing its 3D NAND this year. It seemed that they didn't understand the difference between being first to market and being first to profit."

SanDisk's 1Z term refers to a cell size that is closer to 10nm than the 16nm which is generally understood by the 1Z term.

Altera 14nm FPGA Using Intel Foundry

A good move by Intel and Altera. 

Altera said at Morgan Stanley Tech conference: "Intel has die size advantage because it seems very difficult to scale the backend/ interconnect."
Also FPGA are early adopters of bleeding edge Intel has die size advantage because it seems very difficult to scale the backend/ interconnect.
It improves Altera competitive position relative to Xilinx since Intel has ahead in 14nm process manufacturing. Altera would have to tread carefully between Intel and other ARM processor vendors. Altera is guaranteed access for 12 years, I wonder how would they handle capacity and wafer yield crashes.







Ron

Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.

Semiconductor information and news at -www.maltiel-consulting.com

  

Intel to make 14-nm FPGAs for Altera

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4407732/Intel-to-make-14nm-FPGAs-for-Altera

Rick Merritt, 2/26/2013 1:01 AM EST

Intel will let Altera make FPGAs in its 14nm FinFET process in a deal that turns up the heat on TSMC in foundry and Xilinx in high-end FPGAs. SAN JOSE, Calif. – Intel Corp. will build FPGAs for Altera Corp. using its 14-nm FinFET process technology in a deal that turns up the heat on TSMC in foundry and Xilinx in high-end FPGAs. The deal marks the largest of a string of publicly disclosed foundry deals for Intel to date--and its first at 14 nm--but is not expected to result in products until 2014.

Altera (San Jose, Calif.) declined to disclose details of the deal, including what products it will make when. However, Altera CEO John Daane did say he believes Intel is two to four years ahead of other foundries with its 14-nm FinFET process, which Altera will use initially to give its highest-end FPGAs advantages in density, performance and power.

High-end parts make up about half the FPGA market, with Altera claiming a lead with 40- and 28-nm parts that it aims to extend with the new Intel process. Besides winning more business away from rival Xilinx, the 14-nm parts could help Altera grab more sockets away from ASICs and application-specific standard devices, Daane said.

Intel promised Altera access to the 14-nm process for 12 years to satisfy long-term availability requirements of defense and other customers, Daane said. The multi-year deal allows Altera to use other existing and future nodes, but the FPGA maker initially will focus on high-end parts at 14 nm, he said.

Using multi-die chip stacks, Altera currently ships an FPGA that packs 1.2 million logic elements, lagging a similar chip from Xilinx with 2 million logic elements. However, such parts have relatively high costs and power and take a performance hit due to additional on-chip communications. They are used "for prototyping predominantly—it's a niche," Daane said.

Altera surveyed foundries for a year before striking the deal with Intel. It will continue to make chips at TSMC and conduct ongoing evaluations of other processes as they develop.

Daane cited reports that other foundries are grafting a first-generation of FinFETs on to existing 20-nm design rules to create what they are calling a 14-nm node. "Intel's 14-nm is a second generation FinFET process, while others are just starting to implement their first," he said.

The deal marks "a significant departure for Altera," said Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Seymore, who doesn't expect Altera to see revenue from it until 2015. It is also "a validation of Intel's manufacturing leadership" that "should help Intel make gains in foundry services," he added.

"It is not Intel's objective to become a general foundry service provider," said Len Jelinek, a chief analyst at IHS iSuppli.  Rather it aims "to select a few high volume [foundry] clients [that] provide Intel with an additional revenue stream to help defer the cost of its advanced manufacturing capability," he said. 
Intel says 14-nm node ready this year
To date, Intel has announced it is making chips in its 22-nm FinFET process for two FPGA startups, Achronix and Tablua, and network processor maker Netronome.  Achronix officially started sampling its FPGAs based on Intel's 22-nm technology last week, claiming it is two years ahead of competitors using TSMC.

Unconfirmed reports have said Intel could be making 22-nm ASICs for Cisco. Others said the PC chip giant may be working on a deal to make mobile processors for Apple, which is trying to reduce its foundry dependence on archrival Samsung.

Daane expressed confidence Intel will be able to meet Altera's volume requirements

"Clearly this is a step up for us," said an Intel spokesman. "We were proceeding slowly and cautiously [into the foundry business] and now we are increasing the pace," he said.

Intel will have its 14-nm process in production later this year, the spokesman added. Globalfoundries announced last fall it plans to accelerate its road map, making a 14-nm process available some time in 2014.

The Altera deal "puts Intel out there as a contender in the foundry market," said Joanne  Itow, manufacturing analyst at Semico Research Corp.

Itow noted that TSMC founder Morris Chang listed Intel as a competitor in a recent conference call. Altera will get at least a one or two year advantage using Intel's 14-nm process, Itow said, but she doubted the FPGA maker will be able to ship the parts until sometime in 2014.