Chinese Chipmakers' Penetration into Global Market Picking up Speed
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at hwdoh@nhqv.com. -- Ed.
In 1Q20, HiSilicon became the first Chinese firm to rank among the top-10 semicon players in terms of sales. Since February, 1xnm DRAM produced by CXMT has been sold in China. It seems that Chinese semicon companies’ penetration into the global market has been picking up speed.
HiSilicon becomes first Chinese firm to rank among top-10 semicon players
According to an announcement by the semicon market research institute IC Insights, Huawei’s subsidiary HiSilicon ranked 10th among global semicon firms in terms of sales in 1Q20, making it the first Chinese company to penetrate the top 10. HiSilicon mainly designs APs and modem chips for Huawei smartphones. The company’s 1Q20 sales amounted to US$2.7bn (+54% y-y). Due to the US government’s restrictions on Huawei, the tech giant increased its semicon orders with HiSilicon. In addition to smartphone chips, HiSilicon is expanding its product range to include both machine learning computing semiconductors installed in data centers and semiconductors mounted in 5G network equipment. In addition to HiSilicon, UNISOC, a subsidiary of Tsinghua Uni, is seeing its presence rapidly grow.
DRAM produced by CXMT being sold in China
Taiwanese NAND controller vendor Python announced support for Chinese YMTC 3D NAND memory. Specifically, the company disclosed that it will support controllers for 64-layer and 128-layer products. It is the first time that a major player has announced solutions related to YMTC products.
From late-February, modules equipped with DRAM produced by CXMT began to be sold on online stores in China. When we accessed online malls, we were unable to buy the product due to low supply. According to the company’s description, the chip features a 19nm process, DDR4, and 2,666Mhz frequency. The firm’s production is expected to reach 40K wpm by end-2020, and the company also plans to start a 17nm process. CXMT’s technology is based a Polaris license purchased from Infineon, the parent company of Qimonda.
Chinese semicon makers, which have had little presence in the global market thus far, have recently begun to expand their market share. The Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in reduced checks on Chinese semicon players by the US, Europe, and Korea. In particular, struggling semicon materials and equipment makers are trying to initiate relations with Chinese companies in the face of weak national checks. The Chinese government is also taking advantage of this opportunity to ramp up investment in the semicon industry.