TSMC兩大FPGA客戶報佳績。

Xilinx上季$586.8 million營收遜于預期，然 $0.61 EPS優於預期；本季展望2%~6%溫和成長，令市場略有失望。

Xilinx cited $100 million in sales of the company’s chips using 28-nanometer technology, driven by design wins in wireless communications, industrial, aerospace, and defense products. The company also touted its having shipped the first programmable chips in the industry using 20-nanometer technology in November.

Altera上季$454.4 million營收與$0.31 EPS均優於預期；然本季展望2%~6%下滑，令市場略有失望。

Altera cited growth from “a diverse blend of end markets.”


先出了再說？ASML已於去年底出貨三台各首付6000萬歐元的EUV光刻機，尾款1000萬歐元於該設備升級至量產水平時付清。今年上半與下半年各再出2台跟6台。

ASML actually shipped three systems in the closing quarter of 2013. The first of those is said to be already exposing wafers being designed in readiness for the forthcoming 10 nm production “node”.

ASML目前出貨的EUV已能每小時處理50片晶圓。

ASML had demonstrated in its own factory the capability to produce as many as 50 wafers per hour on EUV systems and that the company remains on target to deliver systems with a throughput of 70 wafers per hour this year, upgradeable to 125 wafers in 2015.

The current EUV systems are at a level that is good enough for initial production for our customers who don’t emphasize speed. But our customers also need stability, so they can meet economic targets. It is expected to reach required stability levels in the second half of 2016 or in 2017. Some customers with a higher appetite for risk are currently ordering EUV systems, and these customers may upgrade for higher productivity once the new machines are ready.
- Peter Wennink, CEO of ASML

The progress on EUV is good. The question is, however, how long the machines can keep up operating without any interruptions. If the machines operate for two hours and are then out of use for six hours, it would still be an expensive machine.
- Robin van den Broek at ING Bank


三巨頭暫停CapEx競賽，今年半導體業看來是審慎而無驚喜。

Given the slow down, Samsung has decided to get cautious and is keeping its capex flat for 2014 over 2013 for its initial planning. It should be noted that this is the first time since the financial crisis that in 2009 that they haven’t increased their capex. It would seem that even though they have retained a lot of Apple chip business that TSMC couldn’t handle, even that wasn’t enough of a reason to keep spending [...] We have now heard that Intel will be flat to down in capex (though most all of it will be on equipment as they clearly aren’t building any more buildings). TSMC also announced flat capex and now Samsung is getting conservative and going to flat capex as well. Maybe my calculator is broken but I still have a hard time getting to the 15% capex increase many are calling for or even the 10% capex KLAC mentioned on their call tonight. Am I missing something?
- Robert Maire of Semiconductor Advisors


It would appear based on the ongoing shift of Apple application processor production to TSMC, plus a slight smartphone cooldown, that System LSI fab utilization for application processor production was weaker.

Samsung pulled-in shipments in 4Q13 from equipment vendor KLA-Tencor for its 3D NAND fab in Xian China (high volume production level). Samsung’s competitors such as Micron, SK Hynix and Toshiba/Sandisk orders are mainly spending at R&D levels. Foundry orders mainly help up by TSM 20nm/16nm orders. Global Foundries and UMC pushed out some orders. Recall that ASML suggested a digestion delay in 20nm spending.
- Srini Sundararajan of Summit Research Partners

除了先前曝光的六核Exynos 5260，再傳Samsung GS5具體規格中，出現了兩顆Exynos SoC，一是20nm的八核Exynos 5430，另一是28nm的Exynos 5422。另外還有Samsung新版基頻CMC300！