UMS Holdings

[Boon]

Back in 2012, TSMC used to control close to 100% of the 28 nm chips process market - a near monopoly.

(vested)
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Chipset solution vendors seek 28nm capacity at UMC, Globalfoundries and SMIC

Cage Chao and Josephine Lien, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 2 July 2014]

Chipset solution vendors including Qualcomm and MediaTek have continued to seek additional 28nm capacity at United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), Globalfoundries and, particularly, at Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) due to tight production at TSMC, according to industry sources.

Qualcomm and MediaTek have been placing 28nm wafer orders at UMC and Globalfoundries since the second half of 2013, indicated the sources. Additionally, UMC has landed more follow-up orders from the two chipset vendors recently and will ramp up its shipments starting July.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm reportedly has booked over 50% of SMIC's 28nm capacity, while MediaTek has just begun cooperating with the China-based foundry house, expecting to fabricate its dual- and quad-core solutions using 28nm process at SMIC.

Judging from Qualcomm's quarterly revenues of around US$4 billion, the US-based chipset maker needs about 150,000 28nm wafers a month, said the sources, adding that SMIC's 28m production capacity will be fully booked if Qualcomm outsources 10% of its 28nm production to the China-based foundry house.

Additional orders from MediaTek will further ramp up SMIC's total production capacity, said the sources, noting that MediaTek requires about 70,000-80,000 28nm wafers a month.

TSMC currently holds over 80% of the global 28nm process market, powered by its entry-level PolySiON process and high-end HKMG process, the sources noted.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20140702PD203.html

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JULY 1, 2014
BY IC INSIGHTS

IC Suppliers Shift Strategies to Counter Decline in Digital Still Cameras
Embedded camera apps for automotive, tablets & PCs, phones, security & surveillance keep chip sales alive.

Almost as quickly as they took over, stand-alone digital cameras are now being displaced by camera-equipped cellphones, which have improved significantly in picture-taking quality and, more importantly, can immediately send copies of electronic photos by e-mail or post them on the Internet.

The decline in compact digital still camera shipments ......................

Semiconductor suppliers stand to benefit from the migration of camera technology into a greater range of applications. The total IC market for all digital camera systems (embedded and stand-alone systems) is expected to reach $29.2 billion in 2017 compared to $23.0 billion in 2012, which represents a CAGR of 4.9%. When stand-alone cameras are excluded from these totals, IC sales for embedded cameras and imaging systems are forecast to grow by a CAGR of 11.9%, reaching $23.9 billion in 2017 compared to $13.6 billion in 2012.

http://www.icinsights.com/data/articles/...ts/691.pdf