Analog IC firm GMT cautious about 2Q22

Global Mixed-mode Technology (GMT), a fabless supplier of analog and power management ICs, has expressed caution about its operations in the second quarter of 2022 citing growing uncertainty in demand, but PMIC will remain in tight supply throughout the year as demand commercial notebook and server applications continue to grow.

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IC design houses under pressure to drop prices

IC design houses, particularly those specializing in chips for handsets and other mass-market device applications, are under pressure to lower their prices amid sluggish end-market demand. But price competition will be confined to only some chip segments in the short term as foundry costs remain high and overall chip shortages have yet to fully ease, according to industry sources.

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The memory industry (4): Technology diversion between DRAM and 3D NAND flash

In 2014, 3D NAND flash was introduced to the industry with 24 layers, and it co-existed with 2D NAND flash until 2017. 3D NAND flash gradually came to dominate the market with its high-density storage capacity and technologies, and its manufacturing process completely diverged from that of DRAM. The synergy of utilizing the same processes and equipment for the two memory types – DRAM and NAND – was completely gone, and the core of competitive strategies in the memory industry changed.

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