Roundup: The latest developments in chips and semiconductors

Article by Gadjo Sevilla | Oct 5, 2022

A snapshot of the semiconductor landscape: Chip delivery times shrank again in August, indicating that the yearslong global chip shortage could be easing.

The gap between when a chip is ordered and when it is delivered averaged 26.8 weeks in August, per the Susquehanna Financial Group’s data—a day shorter than the previous month. That’s still a little more than 14 weeks behind delivery times at the onset of the pandemic.

Intel goes after NVIDIA with GPU pivot: Intel, which has fallen behind in computer CPUs, is now entering the desktop GPU market with Arc A770 and A750 GPU, per Engadget.

Intel says its GPUs will outperform Nvidia’s midrange RTX 3060 models when they ship in mid-October.
It has launched a GPU business in time to support the growth in cloud gaming and streaming.
Nvidia has a 10% market share in the overall GPU market and 82% of all the GPU market share in the discrete graphics card market, per Entrepreneur.

Our take: Intel has an opportunity to disrupt the GPU space by competing on price and performance. If successful, Intel’s GPU could rattle market leaders like Nvidia and AMD while creating another profit center for Intel.

Samsung squares off with TSMC on 2 nanometer chips: Samsung is all-in on making the world’s most advanced microprocessors in five years, per CNBC. The company said it will begin making chips in the 2 nm process, smaller than the 4 nm chips made by TSMC and used in the iPhone 14.

Samsung, the world’s largest chipmaker by revenue, is already working on 3 nm chip technology.
The company is building a $17 billion chip fab in Texas, which will create 1,800 jobs when it opens in 2024.

Our take: Samsung has the momentum to challenge TSMC in high-end chips. As a producer of smartphones, tablets, and PCs, Samsung’s motivation to create the whole widget could help it succeed.

Micron pledges $100 billion for New York factory: The chipmaker, which develops memory and storage solutions used in EVs, consumer electronics, PCs, and smartphones, plans to spend $100 million on its Clay, New York, factory over the next 20 years.

Micron said the project will generate nearly 50,000 jobs — about 9,000 Micron employees and more than 40,000 jobs for suppliers and contractors, per The New York Times.
“There is no doubt that without the CHIPS Act, we would not be here today,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron.

Our take: It’s been two months since President Biden signed the CHIPS Act, and there is considerable momentum from chipmakers announcing plans for US-based factories, despite the added pressure of the tech cold war with China.