Price jump that typically coincides with the introduction of new smartphone models in 3Q and 4Q is not expected due to disrupted buying patterns and cautious discretionary spending.

IC Insights’ October Update to The McClean Report showed the monthly average selling price (ASP) of DRAM started on a steep downward trend in the second half of 2018 that eventually bottomed out at $3.04 in December 2019. DRAM prices rebounded in the first half of 2020 as memory demand grew for personal and enterprise computing systems after the Covid-19 virus forced a rapid and dramatic shift to online-based education, shopping, and business activity.  DRAM demand also came from new data center server computers that were needed to handle the surge of online activity.  Figure 1 shows that the DRAM ASP climbed to $3.70 in June 2020, before tapering off to $3.51 in July and August this year.

Figure 1

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However, market uncertainty looms as TSMC’s shipments to HiSilicon ceased in mid-September.

IC Insights recently released its September Update to the 2020 McClean Report that presented the second of a two-part analysis on the global IC foundry industry and included a look at the pure-play foundry market by region.

China was responsible for essentially all of the total pure-play foundry market increase in 2018. In 2019, the U.S./China trade war slowed China’s economic growth but its foundry marketshare still increased by two percentage points to 21%. Moreover, despite the Covid-19 shutdown of China’s economy earlier this year, China’s share of the pure-play foundry market is forecast to be 22% in 2020, 17 percentage points greater than it registered in 2010 (Figure 1).

Figure 1

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After a slow start, Analog Devices’ agreement to buy Maxim and Nvidia’s deal to acquire ARM raise the total value of M&A deals this year to more than $63.0 billion.

Two huge purchase agreements in July and September have guaranteed that 2020 will become at least the second-largest year in history for semiconductor merger and acquisition announcements, according to data released in the September Update to IC Insights’ 2020 McClean Report, (Figure 1).  In the first nine months of 2020, the combined value of semiconductor M&A agreements climbed to $63.1 billion, thanks to Nvidia’s $40 billion deal in September to acquire processor-design technology supplier ARM in the U.K. from SoftBank and Analog Devices’ $21 billion announcement in July to buy analog/mixed-signal IC maker Maxim Integrated Products in Silicon Valley.  These two megadeals account for about 97% of the M&A dollar value in 2020.

Figure 1

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Top-10 semiconductor suppliers logged strong 17% jump in 1H20/1H19 sales.

IC Insights will release its August Update to the 2020 McClean Report later this month. This Update includes a discussion of the IC foundry market trends and a look at the top-25 1H20 semiconductor suppliers. The top-10 1H20 semiconductor suppliers are covered in this research bulletin.

The top-10 worldwide semiconductor (IC and O-S-D—optoelectronic, sensor, and discrete) sales ranking for 1H20 is shown in Figure 1. It includes six suppliers headquartered in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one each in Taiwan and China. The ranking includes four fabless companies (Broadcom, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and HiSilicon) and one pure-play foundry (TSMC).

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The two memory categories expected to account for one-third of total IC sales this year.

IC Insights recently released its Mid-Year Update to The McClean Report 2020, which ranked the 33 largest IC product categories based on their expected sales and unit shipment volumes. The 33 IC product categories are those defined by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization.  The five largest of these IC product segments in terms of sales volume and shipments are shown in Figure 1.

DRAM and NAND flash are expected to repeat as the two largest IC segments again in 2020 after holding the same positions in 2019. With expected sales growth of 3.2% this year, the DRAM market is forecast to reach nearly $64.6 billion, 15% greater than the NAND flash market, which is expected to be the second-largest IC segment in 2020.

Figure 1

IC Insights forecasts DRAM will account for 17.5% of the total $368.3 billion IC market in 2020.  The DRAM market achieved its highest-ever sales volume in 2018 when it reached $99.4 billion. That year, DRAM sales accounted for 23.6% of the total IC market.

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The total power transistor market is expected to fall 7% in 2020 because of the Covid-19 virus crisis, but sales are forecast to rebound 7% next year and reach a new record high in 2022, says O-S-D Report.

After three straight years of record-high sales, the power transistor market is forecast to drop 7% in 2020 because of the economic fallout from the global Covid-19 virus health crisis that has driven down demand across a broad range of systems.  A recovery in power transistors is now expected to occur in 2021 with worldwide sales growing 7% to $16.9 billion and unit shipments rising 9% to 59.0 billion, according to IC Insights’ 2020 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes. The 2020 edition of the O-S-D Report shows the power transistor market returning to record-high territory in 2022, when sales are forecast to grow 5% to $17.7 billion, which would top the current annual peak of $17.1 billion set in 2019.

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