Recently, according to the latest report of IC Insights, a well-known semiconductor analysis organization, affected by the sharp drop in memory prices, the IC market sales in June experienced an unprecedented decline. According to data from WEMA, SIA and WSTS since 1976, the IC market saw its first consecutive sales decline in June this year. Typically, IC sales show high single-digit or double-digit growth in June. Even in the weakest year before (1985), IC sales in June increased by 1%. IC sales did not decline until June of this year.
IC Insights believes that the biggest reason for the decline in IC sales in June this year is the sharp decline in memory chip sales, and Micron expects its fourth-quarter (ending in August) sales to fall 17%.
Simon’s comment: Usually the second and third quarters of each year are usually the two strongest quarters for IC sales, but this year it is rare for sales to decline. On the one hand, the rise in global inflation this year has led to a decrease in consumer income, which in turn has reduced spending on non-essential consumer goods. This is particularly evident in the consumer electronics market in the first half of this year, and the decline in IC chip sales is also the impact of weak downstream demand. has already started to pass upstream.
On the other hand, China is currently trying to catch up in the memory IC market. Recently, domestic manufacturers have begun to launch products that are not much different from world-class memory. At this time, the market began to rapidly reduce prices, possibly to counteract the impact of Chinese manufacturers.
AMD’s revenue in the second quarter increased by 60% year-on-year, and the PC business is expected to decline by 17% in the third quarter
On August 4, AMD, the world’s second largest CPU manufacturer, released its second-quarter financial report. AMD’s revenue in the second quarter was US$6.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 70%. The adjusted gross profit margin reached 54%, which was better than expected. Revenues rose 83% year over year to $1.5 billion, while gaming revenue rose 32% to $1.7 billion. However, AMD CEO Su Zifeng said that for the third quarter performance expectations, the year-on-year PC decline may reach more than 15%, which will shock the market.
Lily’s comment: On July 30, Intel’s market value was overtaken by AMD, and it was its second-quarter financial report that stimulated Intel’s market value to plummet. Intel’s non-GAAP revenue in the second quarter was only $15.3 billion, down 17% year-on-year. The company turned from profit to loss. Quarterly net loss of $500 million. AMD’s latest second-quarter financial report showed that revenue reached $6.6 billion, an increase of 70% year-on-year.
Following Intel’s earnings call, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger acknowledged Intel’s execution problems in areas such as product design, while blaming headwinds in macroeconomic activity and declining global PC sales. AMD CEO Su Zifeng said frankly that the decline in business in the PC field may be larger than originally estimated. She said: “The demand for data centers, embedded businesses, and game consoles is strong, but our view on the PC market outlook is relatively conservative.” AMD’s forecast for the PC market is also supported by data from research institutions.
The latest data from Canalys shows that in the second quarter of 2022, shipments in the global PC market, including tablets, fell 14% quarter-on-quarter to 105 million units. A combination of issues including rising inflation, China’s coronavirus lockdown policies and lower spending in the consumer and education sectors made for an exceptionally difficult quarter for the sector. Brian Lynch, research analyst at Canalys, said: “Shipments of Chromebooks have declined consecutively since the third quarter of 2021. This transition period of negative growth was to be expected after the two largest education markets, the U.S. and Japan, were saturated. Today, the global Chromebook market will enter a more stable period, with overall shipments remaining at lower levels than during the new crown epidemic, and showing traditional seasonal purchasing patterns. In recent months, Due to the slowdown in demand, the inventory of Chromebooks in the channel has increased significantly. In the next quarter, the channel will digest the inventory and the shipment of chip manufacturers will decrease. This is the current market situation of the decline in the demand for application consumer terminals. .
Ekatong Announces Partnership with AMD to Build In-Vehicle Computing Platform
Recently, Yigatong Technology announced a strategic cooperation with AMD. The two companies will build an in-vehicle computing platform for next-generation electric vehicles (EVs), which is expected to be mass-produced for the global market by the end of 2023. Ekatong said that this digital cockpit will be the first in-vehicle platform that uses AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 processors and AMD Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs, combined with Ekatong technology hardware and software.
Hobby’s comment: Regarding the business layout of Yikatong and Geely, Shen Ziyu, CEO of Yikatong, once expressed this analogy: Yikatong’s role is equivalent to Huawei’s car BU, and Xingji Times and Meizu Technology are equivalent to Huawei’s consumption As BG, Sintech is equivalent to HiSilicon. Recently, these companies under Geely have made frequent moves, including the acquisition of Meizu Technology by Xingji Times, and began to enter the field of mobile phones; core technology has just completed a round of financing of nearly one billion yuan, and the 7nm smart cockpit chip Longying No. 1 It will also be mass-produced in the second half of the year.
Some people may feel that Geely Group is a bit chaotic inside. Because Geely’s electric vehicle brand Geometry recently announced that it will be equipped with Hongmeng cockpit, and the previous Geely’s cockpit, including the car, was provided by Yigatong. At the same time, core engine technology is also making cockpit chips, but Yigatong has cooperated with AMD. In fact, many group-type companies will hand over a certain part of their business to their independent companies. Yikatong even confirmed that it is preparing to go public in the United States in May this year. Therefore, some people will think that this is because the Geely Group is too chaotic, and the infighting of major business departments has led to some parts not choosing suppliers under the group.
But in fact, this approach does not explain anything. It is precisely because the company’s independence is high enough that it will not cause strong binding due to association. Just like Samsung mobile phones and Samsung Display, Samsung mobile phones will even turn to suppliers such as BOE because Samsung Display’s offer is too high.
On the other hand, AMD’s smart cockpit platform is obviously aimed at high-end positioning, so in the future, Yikatong may use hardware platforms to distinguish terminal products with different positioning. The mass production node at the end of 2023 is still relatively far away. In the future, Geely’s layout on the smart cockpit, including smartphones, different chip platforms, operating systems, etc., is worth looking forward to.
China Mobile launches 5G+AI anti-drowning warning system
Recently, China Mobile launched a 5G+ anti-drowning warning system, and it has been iterated to version 3.0. The system integrates AI intelligent analysis, human shape tracking, sound and light alarm and shouting capabilities. By entering the face information of students, combined with AI face recognition of smart cameras, area sensing of electronic school cards, etc., it is accompanied by a special person on duty. The form of the center, as well as the 24-hour 360-degree dynamic capture and tracking ability of dangerous areas, uses the dual means of air defense + technical defense to build a firm and effective anti-drowning defense line.
Monika Comments: According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, by the end of June 2022, the number of 5G base stations will reach 1.854 million. With the construction of 5G base stations, the landing speed of 5G technology has increased significantly. Previously, there have been application cases of adding AI analysis functions to intersection cameras. For example, if the danger of pedestrians colliding with vehicles is detected, roadside equipment or sensors inside vehicles can notify pedestrians or vehicles to pay attention to safety. In the campus application scenario, if the camera finds that students have abnormal behavior, it will transmit the data to the background. When the background staff finds danger, they will remind students to pay attention to safety through the camera’s voice call function.
The application of 5G technology accelerates data computing capabilities. In the AI anti-drowning warning system, the importance of 5G technology is more prominent. It can share information faster, and notify pedestrians and children more quickly through mobile APPs to pay attention to safety and prevent accidents. It is not difficult to predict that when 5G technology is truly implemented, the convenience it brings will play a further key role.
The mobile robot track attracts billions of dollars in half a year, and mobile robot manufacturers accelerate the differentiation
According to the public information of various manufacturers in the robot industry, in the first half of 2022, there were more than 30 investments and financings in China’s industrial robot industry, including 14 in the mobile robot track, and 5 companies with a financing amount exceeding 100 million. In the first half of 2022, the mobile robot track attracts billions of dollars.
Sisyphus commented: Although the capital market has begun to converge not only in commercial robots, but also in the entire mobile robot industry, the ability of leading companies to attract money has maintained the momentum of a few years ago. For example, the C round of Stander Robot took hundreds of millions of RMB, Xiangong Intelligence took hundreds of millions of RMB in the B round, Hairou Innovation took hundreds of millions of dollars in the D round, and the future C+ round of robot financing also has 80 million US dollars.
It can be clearly seen that the current mobile robot has stepped from the market cultivation stage to the stage of rapid increment, and the investment trend of capital has also accelerated the differentiation among mobile robot players. It is difficult to do domestic business of mobile robots. The principle of domestic users is that the products are good, the price is good, the service is good, and the billing period is long. The equipment of the same brand who has the lowest price will get it. The most important thing is that when the price is low, everyone is rushing to do it. It’s hard not to lose money in this situation. If there is no capital blessing in the domestic robot industry, I don’t know how much it has sunk.
From the businesses of these top-ranked manufacturers, we can see one thing in common, that is, they have all entered the lithium battery and photovoltaic industries. Lithium batteries, photovoltaics and other fields have experienced explosive growth. The huge market demand has accelerated the influx of mobile robots into the industry. These industries just need mobile robots to fill the labor vacancies. Driven by the lithium battery and photovoltaic markets, mobile robot manufacturers are also expected to grow significantly and truly achieve business profitability.