Bomb found at TSMC construction site; Chairman of chip giant resigns; Wireless chip maker lays off 8% of employees

Latest update time：2024-11-18

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Chip Circle

Chip giant, chairman resigns

Last week, China Resources took control of Changdian Technology, and the news that the chairman resigned attracted attention. According to the announcement of Changdian Technology, the company's shareholders, the Big Fund and Xinde Semiconductor, transferred the company's shares to Panshi Runqi on November 12, 2024. Panshi Runqi became a shareholder of the company, holding 22.53% of the company's total share capital. After all parties complete the reorganization of the company's board of directors in accordance with the "Share Transfer Agreement", Panshi Runqi will become the controlling shareholder of Changdian Technology, and China Resources will become the actual controller of Changdian Technology. As a result, China Resources will own two chip leaders, namely China Resources Micro and Changdian Technology.

After the relevant share transfer was completed, Gao Yonggang, chairman of the chip packaging and testing leader Changdian Technology, and three other company directors announced their resignation from all positions in the company on November 13. Changdian Technology will hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on November 29 to review the re-election of some directors of the company and complete the reorganization of the board of directors. China Resources will officially become its actual controller. On July 17, 2023, Gao Yonggang also resigned from the positions of chairman, executive director and chairman of the board of directors' nomination committee of SMIC (688981.SH).

Wireless chip maker cuts 8% of its workforce

Nordic Semiconductor, a Norwegian wireless communication chip supplier, announced that it will lay off about 8% of its employees, or about 120 people. As of December 31, 2023, Nordic employed 1,426 people, a steady increase compared to previous years. The company has also reportedly decided to cancel its plan to acquire Norwegian UWB professional chip company Novelda.

Bomb found at TSMC construction site

According to PCMag, on November 11, TSMC found an unexploded bomb at a wafer fab construction site in Kaohsiung, causing the industrial park to temporarily suspend work for proper handling. The bomb weighed about 500 pounds, similar to the weight of a bomb on a World War II fighter bomber.

This is not the first time that old-fashioned bombs have been found in the plant area. A 1,000-pound bomb was found in late August this year. The Nanzi Science and Technology Industrial Park is located on the site of a former oil plant that produced fuel for the Japanese Navy during World War II. These areas were once military strongholds, which may be the reason for the frequent discovery of bombs.

It is worth mentioning that TSMC was attacked by a bomb in 2022. An employee was dissatisfied with his colleague and placed explosives on his colleague's motorcycle and detonated it. The attacker was sentenced to 9 years in prison. There are also media reports that TSMC placed bombs on its own equipment, but TSMC's former chairman Liu Deyin said that its EUV machine has a remote self-destruct function.

The world's second largest GPU manufacturer evades US sanctions

Facing the US GPU export ban, market sources said that Hong Kong graphics card manufacturer PC Partner has relocated to Singapore and established PC Partner Singapore PTE Ltd. It was listed on the Singapore SGX mainboard on the 15th with the stock code "PCT". Its graphics card production line will be moved from China to Indonesia, so that sub-brands such as Zotac, Inno3D, and Manri can launch GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card products and meet the high-tech export control requirements of the US Department of Commerce.

Domestic GPU company launches IPO

On November 12, the China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed the registration report on the initial public offering and listing guidance of Moore Thread Intelligent Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Moore Thread), and the guidance institution was CITIC Securities.

New Products

Renesas launches a large number of new products

Renesas launches the R-Car X5 series, a new generation of automotive multi-domain converged system-on-chip (SoC). A single chip can simultaneously support multiple automotive functional domains, including advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVI) and multiple in-vehicle applications such as gateway applications.
Renesas launches new AnalogPAK™ IC series, including low power SLG47001/3 and automotive grade SLG47004-A, and the industry's most advanced programmable 14-bit SAR ADC (successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter) SLG47011;
Renesas is the first in the world to launch an 8-in-1 proof of concept (PoC) solution for the electric vehicle (EV) drive motor system (E-Axle) - controlling eight functions with a single microcontroller (MCU);

Melexis launches ultra-low power automotive contactless micro-power switch chip;
Pickering launches new future-oriented PXIe single-slot controller;
Nidec Intelligent Motion is the first to launch an electric clutch ECU for two-wheelers;
Southchip launched two new in-vehicle charging products - the high-power buck-boost converter SC87550Q/SC87580Q with a fully integrated USB PD solution, and the Type-C/PD fast charging controller SC2166Q that supports private charging protocols;
Microchip launches broad portfolio of IGBT 7 power devices;
Rambus announces industry’s first HBM4 controller IP to accelerate next-generation AI workloads
Murata launches high-precision 6-axis inertial sensor for automobiles;
GigaDevice officially launched the GD32G5 series of high-performance microcontrollers based on the Arm ^® Cortex ^{®
-M33 core;}
Toshiba has developed a 1200 V silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET "X5M007E120" for automotive traction inverters;
ON Semiconductor launches Treo, the industry-leading analog and mixed-signal platform;
Taishi Micro launched the ultra-high integration automotive touch chip TCAE10;
Vishay introduces the new TS7 series of single-turn surface-mount ceramic trimmer resistors.

Primary Market

Two Micro-LED companies raised funds

Two Micro-LED manufacturers completed financing last week. The first is Qiushui Semiconductor, whose main products are Micro-LED micro-display chips and modules, covering application areas including digital car lights, micro-projections and AR displays. The second is Dianxin Technology, whose core competitiveness lies in semiconductor AI measurement equipment.

Micro-LED is the ultimate semiconductor display technology, with smaller pixels and smaller chip size, which can achieve higher resolution and better color saturation, while also optimizing brightness and energy consumption.

4D millimeter wave radar enterprise financing

StarRay, the world's leading 4D millimeter-wave radar supplier, has completed its Pre-A round of financing. With the implementation of the mandatory regulations "Technical Requirements and Test Methods for Automatic Emergency Braking Systems for Light Vehicles", the industry penetration rate of millimeter-wave radars will become higher and higher, and the trend of new cars being equipped with millimeter-wave radars is irreversible.

It is reported that Starleading's single-chip 4D corner radar and front radar have begun to be delivered to customers in batches, and the cascaded 4D radar will be delivered to automotive-grade customers in batches in the first half of 2025. At the same time, Starleading has developed a millimeter-wave radar dedicated to two-wheelers based on the special requirements of two-wheelers, and has begun mass installation.