China Semiconductor Bond Bust!

China Semiconductor Bond Bust!
by Robert Maire on 11-25-2020 at 10:00 am

China Semiconductor Bond Bust

– Tsinghua $198M Bond Bust
– Good for memory: Samsung Micron LG Toshiba –
– Not good for chip equipment
– Could China Credit Crunch hit more than foundry embargo?
– Damage to China memory positive for other memory makers
– Not good for chip equip if customers can’t get money

China’s… Read More


2021 will be the year of DRAM!

2021 will be the year of DRAM!
by Robert Maire on 11-15-2020 at 6:00 am

Robert Maire Bloomberg

2020 has been a NAND growth year-2021 will be the year of DRAM. While foundry logic has gotten all the credit in 2020 the reality is that NAND has been up 2X in 2020 for semiconductor equipment provider Applied Materials (AMAT). It is expected that NAND will be flat in 2021 while DRAM will take over the growth slot with foundry/logic … Read More


Application-Specific Lithography: a 28 nm Pitch DRAM Active Area

Application-Specific Lithography: a 28 nm Pitch DRAM Active Area
by Fred Chen on 07-19-2020 at 2:00 pm

Application Specific Lithography 28 nm Pitch DRAM Active Area

In the recent DRAM jargon, “1X”, “1Y”, “1Z”, etc. have been used to express all the sub-20 nm process generations. It is almost possible now to match them to real numbers which are roughly the half-pitch of the DRAM active area, such as 1X=18, 1Y ~ 17, etc. At this rate, 14 nm is somewhere around

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AI Requires Tailored DRAM Solutions

AI Requires Tailored DRAM Solutions
by Admin on 05-27-2020 at 12:22 am

Join Rambus for a webinar exploring how Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) is a key enabler for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Featuring Frank Ferro, senior director of product management for memory interface IP at Rambus, and Shane Rau, research vice president, computing semiconductors at IDC, this

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Reliable Line Cutting for Spacer-based Patterning

Reliable Line Cutting for Spacer-based Patterning
by Fred Chen on 05-06-2020 at 6:00 am

Reliable Line Cutting for Spacer based Patterning

Spacer-defined patterning is an expected requirement for advanced semiconductor patterning nodes with feature sizes of 25 nm or less. As the required gaps between features go well below the lithography tool’s resolution limit, the use of cut exposures to separate features is used more often, especially in chips produced… Read More


LithoVision – Economics in the 3D Era

LithoVision – Economics in the 3D Era
by Scotten Jones on 03-04-2020 at 6:00 am

Slide3

Each year on the Sunday before the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference, Nikon holds their LithoVision event. This year I had the privilege of being invited to speak for the third consecutive year, unfortunately, the event had to be canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 virus but by the time the event was canceled I had already… Read More


Minimal Corona Impact on Chip Equipment Stocks

Minimal Corona Impact on Chip Equipment Stocks
by Robert Maire on 02-16-2020 at 6:00 am

Coronavirus Light SemiWiki

Very solid quarter driven by foundry/logic
AMAT reported a very solid quarter, beating the top end of guidance with foundry and logic being the primary drivers of spend. Revenues were $4.16B and EPS of $0.98 non-GAAP versus street of $4.11B and $0.93 EPS.

Guide not too wide… – $300M “Corona Cut”
More importantly,… Read More


Logic and Memory Make for a Recovery

Logic and Memory Make for a Recovery
by Robert Maire on 02-03-2020 at 6:00 am

Lam Research 2020
  • LAM- “Logic And Memory” make for a recovery-NAND (Samsung) & Logic (TSMC) + China
  • Great Q4 Results & Q1 guide as memory restarts
  • Logic strength continues-China is crucial to growth
  • 2019 better than expected- 2020 WFE up about 5-8%

Lam reports nice finish to 2019 and start of 2020
The company reported revenues… Read More


Could TSMC’s spend be part of the seasonal pattern?

Could TSMC’s spend be part of the seasonal pattern?
by Robert Maire on 11-25-2019 at 5:00 am

Is there more downside than upside in stocks?
Entering a seasonally weak period, then what?
Does China trade come back to haunt industry?
Cycle is past the bottom-But what kind of up cycle?

The most recent up cycle in the industry was a huge one, driven by a huge spend on NAND as SSD’s sucked up infinite number of devices. DRAM … Read More


The China trade issue is back with a vengeance!

The China trade issue is back with a vengeance!
by Robert Maire on 08-06-2019 at 10:00 am

Watching the boats go by in Shanghai-

As I write this note I happen to be looking out my hotel window over the Bund onto the brightly lit party boats cruising the Huangpu river that meanders through Shanghai.  All is well here in China and the parties on the boats with millions of LEDs go on……

The view from China is that the… Read More