Industry Insider

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Last Updated 9/16/2024

The Industry Insider is a bi-weekly collection of direct input from Fusion suppliers and customers on what they see and hear related to changes in the supply/demand balance across the electronics industry.

See the latest updates below in bold.

For more market intelligence, check out our quarterly analysis of manufacturer earnings reports here. The latest update features Infineon, Intel, Microchip, and Samsung - plus many more!

Manufacturers	Affected Product	Market Trend
Advanced Micro Devices		AMD has strengthened its data center AI system capabilities by acquiring ZT Systems, a top provider of AI infrastructure for large-scale computing, in a $4.9 billion deal. This move is a key part of AMD’s long-term AI strategy, helping the company better compete in the fast-growing data center AI market. Read more here.
Advanced Micro Devices	Server CPU	From August on, AMD will more strictly control the pricing of its 3rd Gen Milan and 4th Gen Genoa Server CPUs. Open market prices are generally trending down, and this is what triggered AMD to strictly monitor and manage its Server CPU pricing. In particular, AMD is closely watching prices given to their authorized distributors. AMD's Genoa series, particularly models like the EPYC 9684X and 9384X, has seen an increase in bookings, with standard lead times around 8 weeks. Overall, supply for the non-"X" series (e.g., 9754, 9654, 9554, 9354) remains healthy, with customers primarily seeking cost-saving opportunities. However, the Milan Series is becoming more limited, particularly for items like the EPYC 7713. In addition, production is heavily constrained due to CoWoS packaging technology limitations, which are affecting both Genoa and Milan "X" series chips. TSMC is struggling to meet the demand for this packaging, impacting AI and HPC chip production. Additionally, recent distributor audits have slowed product movement, with some suppliers cautious about potential repercussions from trading. Read more about AMD’s production struggles here.
Intel	Desktop CPU	Desktop customers may shift their interest back to the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs due to instability issues with the 13th and 14th Gen models. Intel has stopped offering special pricing on Alder Lake, and open market prices reflect vendors' willingness to sell at a loss to meet revenue goals.
Intel	Networking	Intel is seeing increased demand for its Ethernet Adaptors, particularly the I350, E810, X710, and XXV710 models. As Mellanox shifts its production to focus on high specs model - 200Gbps or above, Intel products on 100Gbps and below models, which could help them capture the market Mellanox is leaving behind. Currently, Intel's pricing is more competitive, and Mellanox's models are getting harder to find. If Mellanox product lead times expand further, Intel and other competitors in the 100Gbps market will see more activity.
Memory Manufacturers SK Hynix Micron	DDR3 DDR4 DDR5	Prices for DDR3 and DDR4 memory are expected to stay stable, but DDR4 supply will gradually decrease as manufacturers focus more on DDR5 and HBM. Currently, demand for DDR3 is strongest in the industrial market, as consumer market demand is generally week. Alternatively DDR4 demand is steady. DDR5 prices are rising, with increased demand expected in late 2024 or early next year. There's growing demand for DDR5 among major customers, and SK Hynix plans to raise LPDDR5 prices by 15-20% next month, with Micron likely to do the same by 15%.
Micron	Storage	Micron's SSD pricing is set for another adjustment, with expected changes between 5-10% for capacities ranging from 480GB to 7.6TB. Demand for 3.8TB and 7.6TB SSDs has remained steady, with SATA and NVMe formats seeing the most activity.
Molex	Connector	Demand for FFC/FPC board connectors is growing, although Molex suppliers haven't seen significant changes in lead times or pricing for these components. Most Molex products have lead times of about two to three months, depending on the country of origin. However, signal type relays are facing longer lead times, now up to 36 weeks. Despite this, distributors usually have enough inventory, and any shortages will be handled individually.
Monolithic Power Systems		MPS lead times are extending as supply is consistently allocated to AI-related applications. Additionally, the manufacturer is strictly requiring project end-user information to review pricing and allocation requests.
Nvidia	GPU	Nvidia has issued an EOL notice for several of their GPU series. Last time buy for the A6000, A5500, A5000, and A4500 is September 24th with last shipment on January 25th, 2025. The last time buy for the A2000 (12GB) and A4000 is December 24 with last shipment on April 25th, 2025. Last buy for the T1000 8GB, T1000, and T4000 (4GB) is December 25th, with last shipments on June 25, 2025. Demand for the RTX 4090 remains strong as availability continues to move quickly. Prices are trending upwards in response to strong demand.
Nvidia		As Nvidia shifts focus to higher data transmission speeds with the ConnectX-7 series, supply for the ConnectX-6 and 100GbE models is becoming more limited, leading to increased shortage demand for these older models. Prices for these highly sought-after models are unlikely to change in the near future.
Panasonic	Integrated Circuit	Panasonic is experiencing a significant rise in demand for components used in AI, servers, PCs, industrial PCs (IPC), and VGA. Demand for AI and server-related parts has surged by around 50%, while PC demand has grown by 30%, and IPC and VGA components have seen a 20% increase.
Samsung SK Hynix	Memory	The DRAM market is shifting its focus towards high-bandwidth memory (HBM), with projections estimating over $50 billion in revenue by 2025 and HBM capturing 40% of the DRAM market. SK Hynix is currently leading in HBM supply, particularly for Nvidia, although their prices are consistently 5-25% higher than Samsung's. As HBM2E becomes obsolete, the trend is moving towards HBM3E, where Hynix is positioned as a front-runner. All major HBM manufacturers are competing for Nvidia’s approval, and each HBM chip requires at least three DDR5 components, which is expected to drive up DDR5 demand and exacerbate supply shortages. In response to this shifting market, Samsung plans to implement a double-digit price increase for DRAM in Q4. However, due to customer pushback, they expect the increase to be moderated to 5-8%.
Xilinx	Integrated Circuit	Xilinx suppliers are experiencing delays with Last Time Buy (LTB) series parts as some deliveries are pushed to next year. There is no full guarantee on these orders, as they are still subject to manufacturer and distributor review and allocation. Prices are rising due to limited availability, though overall demand has only increased slightly.

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