What are the topics covered this week? There’s the size of semi sales growth in 2022, the year’s top ten IC buyers, a SO-DIMM-sized system-on-module carrying Texas Instruments’ AM62x, the US government preparing to dispense the $250 billion of Chips Act money, and the US-Japan-Netherlands pact not to send chip-making equipment to China.
5. 2022 semi sales grew 3.2%
Semiconductor sales increased 3.2% from 2021’s $555.9 billion to reach a record $573.5 billion in 2022, says the SIA. Q4’s sales of $130.2 billion came in 14.7% less than Q4 2021 and 7.7% less than Q3 2022. December 2022 sales of $43.4 billion were down 4.4% on November 2022.
4. Top Ten IC Buyers 2022
Only Samsung and and Sony out of the top ten buyers of chips spent more last year than in 2021 while, overall, the Top Ten reduced their spending by 7.6% y-o-y, reports Gartner. All of the 2021 Top Ten were in the 2022 top ten. They bought, collectively, 37.2% of the total IC output.
3. Texas Instruments AM62x on a module from Variscite
Variscite has launched a SO-DIMM-sized system-on-module carrying Texas Instruments’ AM62x, which has a 1.4GHz quad-core Arm Cortex-A53, and a 400MHz Cortex-M4F, plus a 333MHz PRU real-time co-processors. Called VAR-SOM-AM62, it also offers a MIPI-CSI2 camera interface, a 3D GPU and dual LVDS display interfaces. Connectivity included dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (and LE) 5.2, 3x CAN bus, dual USB and dual Gbit Ethernet. Operation is over -40 to 85°C, and the company claims a longevity of 15 years.
2. USA prepares to spend Chips Act money
This is the year the US government is expected to start dispensing the $250 billion of Chips Act money. More than a dozen states are working on incentive packages with tax credits, zoning changes and cuts to red tape, says the SIA, with $187 billion announced projects for new or expanded semiconductor facilities in 16 states that would create over 30,000 jobs.
1. Denying China IC Manufacturing Tools
The significance of the US-Japan-Netherlands pact not to send chip-making equipment to China is unknowable while the details of the restricted equipment remain unknown, but it could bring China’s chip-making to a halt at 28nm. If the pact also includes a ban on Western technicians going over to China to keep installed machines running, then existing China semiconductor operations will be severely affected. The pact is a smart move by the Americans who, no doubt, have zero wish to fulfil Lenin’s prophecy that “the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we hang them.”
