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Xtreme 200E SSD，Today’s topic is about Huawei’s new solid-state drive (SSD). We have obtained a prototype of Huawei’s SSD that has not yet been released (it will be officially launched at the end of November). However, there is essentially no difference between this engineering sample and the final version, except for the serial number. It’s a 1TB single-sided chip SSD. Let me tell you, getting this SSD was quite an effort. Let’s see what secrets are hidden under this label. It’s just a regular sticker and does not serve any cooling function.
For the 1TB capacity, there are two chips and one controller, which is a standard DRAM-less solution. It’s not easy to distinguish the manufacturer of the chips from the numbering. Without further ado, let’s compare it with the Zhitai Ti600, which is also a popular SSD sold online. Through comparison, we can confirm that Huawei’s new SSD definitely does not use the Lian Yun controller, and it is even less likely to use controllers from Samsung, Phison, or Silicon Motion. So, there should be only one answer in our minds.
Warranty
Nice, in terms of warranty, Huawei offers a 400TBW warranty for the new SSD, coincidentally, the Zhitai Ti600 also offers a 400TBW warranty. It is also unlikely that Huawei would use storage chips from Micron, Samsung, or Kioxia. So, the answer in front of us might be the one we all have in mind. In terms of price, I estimate that it should not be too expensive.
Testing
The SSDs tested together are: Kioxia RC20 1TB and Western Digital SN850 1TB. First, we clarify that this test will not do Huawei’s SSD any injustice. Both SSDs tested alongside are flagship SSDs with cache. Looking at the basic parameters, the PCIe-4.0 x 4 full-speed is flawless, with sequential read speeds of 7100 and sequential write speeds of 6300, which is a pretty good performance. Digital novices like to focus on this parameter, and the commonly used 4k91mb and 286mb performance is basically enough for daily use. This data is also basically consistent with Zhitai’s Ti 600, and we need to look at the 200GB+ mixed data write test.
SSD Cache
Why test 280GB? Because I initially thought it would have a 200GB cache, like the Zhitai Ti600. But after testing, the speed did not drop, and the cache was quite large. We directly increased it to 280GB to test the cache. Huawei’s SSD has a full-disk simulated cache of 250GB, and data exceeding 250GB will experience a decrease in transfer speed, and it will experience a speed drop. A 250GB simulated cache in an empty state is indeed very large, and it is completely sufficient for our daily home use. However, it is still a QLC chip after all.
After the Huawei SSD is half full, the mixed test shows that the 200E SSD only lasted 20GB before the cache was released, which is a common issue with QLC DRAM-less SSDs. That’s just how it is. Don’t understand? Let’s look at the actual performance. When we control the disk and copy 200GB of data, the read speed is relatively stable, basically around 3.6GB, and the entire copy time is around 55 seconds. The 200GB is copied, very fast, no problem at all.
Application Scenarios
If your SSD is already half full, and you copy files again, you will find that it is very easy to release the cache at this time, and the speed will be similar to your home mechanical hard drive when the cache is released. Therefore, the Huawei 200E SSD, because it is equipped with QLC chips, although its controller is strong, the storage chips are too ordinary. The most suitable group of people is ordinary home users who do not store too many things, and the 1TB capacity can be used for several years. So, this SSD is no problem at all, so it feels like the storage chips are holding back the controller.
Self-developed Chips
However, considering the current market environment and what tricks Trump might pull after he comes to power across the sea, no one knows what kind of environment it will be after Trump comes to power. We should encourage any brand or group in China that wants to do something from 0 to 1. Products need to be developed one by one, and the market needs to be developed bit by bit. We also hope that Huawei will release some PLC or higher-performance SSDs in the future, after all, the step from 0 to 1 is the most critical. This is what I mentioned at the beginning of the article, that the price of this SSD should not be too expensive. So, above is the prospective review of Huawei’s new 200E SSD. If you have any opinions on Huawei’s new SSD, you can also leave a comment. I am Teacher Alex, see you next time.
In 1995, Nvidia’s first chip, the NV1, faced numerous setbacks, leaving the company with only 30 days of working capital. By 2024, Nvidia’s Blackwell GPU was in such high demand that the company’s market value had surpassed $3.6 trillion. Also in 1995, Intel held over 75% of the global PC processor market, establishing its leadership in the personal computer market. Fast forward to 2024, Intel’s stock price has plummeted nearly 60% since the beginning of the year, with its market value dropping to over $80 billion, marking the first time in three decades that it has fallen below the $100 billion threshold. The changes in the market values of these two semiconductor giants are a microcosm of the current semiconductor landscape.There is a saying that goes, “People tend to overestimate the changes that happen in a year, but underestimate the changes that happen in five years.” Looking back, the changes in the semiconductor industry in 2024 have been greater than the sum of the changes over the previous five years. 2024 will be a turning point for the semiconductor industry. Why do we say that? Because, as an industry, the semiconductor sector is inseparable from the basic characteristics that define it: division of labor, products, and services. And products like computers and chips cannot be separated from the science behind them. The industry and science are interdependent, and even before the 1970s, the industry was clearly dependent on science. (The controversy over the Silliman affair was a watershed in the relationship between science and industry.) The significant changes in the semiconductor industry this year are the result of a three-way tug-of-war between technology (science), policy, and the market.
01 The Transformation of Semiconductor Companies
In 2024, there have been many news items that have stimulated the nerves of industry insiders. The most prominent is still the surging market value of Nvidia. Microsoft and Apple have been the two companies with the highest market value in the world since 2010. Although the two have been “entangled” in the ranking of “U.S. stock market leader” for more than 10 years, no one else has replaced them. On June 18, 2024, local time, Nvidia’s stock price rose by 3.51%, closing at $135.58, with a total market value of $3.335 trillion, surpassing both Microsoft and Apple to become the company with the highest market value in the world. This is a change that affects the whole world, such as in August 2011 when Apple first defeated ExxonMobil to win the title of the world’s most valuable company, which was also a symbolic moment for technology companies to defeat traditional oil companies. And Nvidia becoming the world’s most valuable company represents a shift in the focus of technology industry development. Traditional fields represented by Apple, such as consumer electronics and software, have led an era in the past, while Nvidia’s first place means that the focus of technology industry development is accelerating towards the AI field. In addition, on November 8th of this year, Nvidia replaced Intel as a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. S&P Global stated that the adjustment of components is to ensure that the index has a more representative semiconductor exposure. In fact, this is also proof: AI has truly entered the commercial track, and the impact of AI on the semiconductor industry is growing. In the semiconductor industry in 2024, in addition to the continuously increasing upper limits, there are also constantly refreshed lower limits. There are two giants in the semiconductor industry, which are well-known to everyone: Intel and Samsung. Since 1992, Intel has been the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer and has been leading for 25 years. Although Samsung’s chip business surpassed Intel for the first time in 2017, it is still a constant struggle for the leading position. This year’s two chip giants seem to be stuck in a “swamp,” constantly struggling. As mentioned earlier, Intel’s market value has fallen due to its continuously losing performance. In the second quarter of this year, Intel’s loss reached $1.6 billion, far higher than the loss of $437 million in the previous quarter. And the latest third-quarter financial report announced its largest quarterly loss in its 56-year history – $16.6 billion (about 118.2 billion yuan). Samsung is also in a difficult situation in 2024. In October, Samsung announced that its third-quarter operating profit was about 91 trillion won, lower than the market expectation of 115 trillion won. Jeon Young-hyun, head of Samsung’s electronic device solutions department, also issued an apology, stating that the company’s performance did not meet market expectations, causing people’s worries about the company’s basic technical competitiveness and the future. As the senior management leading the company’s operations, they will take responsibility. (It seems that South Korea has also learned the apology system from Japan.) Similarly, the stock market reflects the company’s situation. Samsung’s stock price fell to 51,700 won on November 14th, local time, a record low since June 24, 2020. If this trend continues, Samsung’s stock price for the whole year will be the worst performance in over 20 years.
02 Europe’s “Decadence”
The changes in 2024 are not only the obvious corporate rankings but also regional changes. Amid global government attention to the semiconductor industry, there is a region where semiconductors have been declining throughout the year – Europe. Many people may not have noticed, but the data from WSTS cannot be deceived.
We have calculated the chip sales announced by WSTS since January of this year, and so far, the chip sales in Europe for the whole year have been negative year-on-year. Of course, there is also Japan, but Japan’s year-on-year growth has slightly turned positive in August and September. The European semiconductor industry fell into a weak state in 2024. The “three giants” of the European semiconductor industry: Infineon, STMicroelectronics, and NXP, all have poor revenue. Infineon’s revenue in the third quarter reached 3.702 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 9%. Currently, Infineon has lowered its performance outlook for 2024, adjusting this year’s revenue expectation to 15.5 billion to 16.5 billion euros, lower than the previous expectation of 16.5 billion to 17.5 billion euros. STMicroelectronics’ net revenue in the third quarter was 3.25 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 26.6%. NXP’s revenue decreased by 5.4% to 3.25 billion US dollars, slightly lower than the analysts’ expected 3.26 billion US dollars. Nowadays, Europe’s automotive and industrial markets have already shown negative growth.
From a more specific level of observation, the performance of optoelectronics and discrete devices is not satisfactory, the MCU market shows a shrinking trend and has shown negative growth, and the analog market has also experienced a long period of decline.
03 Tracing Back to the Source
The only constant in the world is change itself. This year, there have been so many changes in the semiconductor industry. Let’s trace back to the root causes and examine policies, markets, and technology.
Revenue of the 2024 top 10 global semiconductor companies
2023 ranking
2024Q3 ranking
Company
Q3 revenue in 2024
Year-on-year revenue
5
1↑
NVIDIA
300.4(Q2)
122.40%
6
2↑
SKHynix
116.75(Q2)
124.79%
9
3↑
APPLE
857.77
4.87%
2
4↓
Samsung
560
7.35%
1
5↓
Intel
132.84
-6.17%
4
6↓
Broadcom
130.72
47.27%
3
7↓
Qualcomm
93.9
8.77%
7
8↓
AMD
68.19
17.57%
10
9↑
Texas Instruments
41.51
-8.41%
8
10↓
STMicroelectronics
32.51
-26.63%
Source: Financial Report Semiconductor Industry Vertical and Horizontal Tabulation
The impact of policies on the industry is self-evident. At the policy level, the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam have all released semiconductor-related policies in the past two years. However, looking at the current situation, the implementation of the semiconductor policies in the United States and Europe has not been significant.
So far, more than half of the $52 billion subsidy in the U.S. Chip Act has been allocated, with over $35 billion granted to about 26 projects. Yet, the funds seem to be slow in coming, with Intel constantly complaining, “It’s been two years, and we haven’t seen a penny.”
Policy
The U.S. Chip Act is even more precarious after Trump’s potential return to office next year, as he is known to be opposed to the act. In interviews, Trump has bluntly stated, “It’s terrible.” The European Chip Act has not made any waves either. Proposed in 2022, there are not many factories being built in Europe, and Intel’s project has not even started. However, it is important to note that the Chip Act has played a role in attracting investment without actual capital. Companies like Intel, TSMC, Samsung, Micron, GlobalFoundries, and Amkor have already begun constructing factories in various regions of the United States due to the subsidies from the Chip Act. Even if the timeline for financial assistance is extended or the subsidies are canceled, it is unlikely that the partially constructed fabs will become abandoned projects. It can be said that for semiconductor companies, building factories in the United States is already an inevitable action. Although the Chip Act has not been fully implemented and Trump denies its effectiveness, there is no doubt that he supports the repatriation of advanced manufacturing to the United States. This is why, when looking at Intel, we also believe that Intel will not be as bad as it seems. Despite Intel being constantly criticized, we cannot ignore its significant role on the geopolitical stage and as one of the U.S. government’s chips in the semiconductor industry and foreign policy strategies. When considering Intel’s prospects, we must not overlook the elements of U.S. strategy and geopolitics. The semiconductor industry now occupies an important strategic position, which is common knowledge. Regardless of whether it can reach the extreme 3nm process, globally, there are only three companies capable of manufacturing advanced process chips: TSMC, Intel, and Samsung. A significant part of the U.S. Chip Act’s plan is directed towards Intel’s construction of two large factories in Arizona and the building of two more factories in Ohio. Therefore, Intel’s future is still full of Highlights. It is not appropriate to directly assume that it will “decline to the end.”
Market
Why has the term “involution” started to be used domestically in recent years? It is because the pace of technological innovation has slowed down, and with the impact of the three-year pandemic, China’s economic development speed has also slowed down under various pressures, leading to “involution.” The “second curve” theory believes that industrial development has a life cycle, and any growth curve is a parabola that rises and then falls. The secret to sustained growth is to start a new growth curve before the inflection point appears, thus forming a continuous improvement and development trend with the new and old momentum in sequence. We are now in the depression period of the last round of technological and industrial revolutions. To make the economy prosperous again, a new round of technological and industrial revolutions must be ignited.This is the inflection point brought by the cycle. The new round of explosion is undoubtedly in AI, which is also a consensus among many industry insiders.
Tech
AI brings new growth points to the market, with many technologies hidden under AI. Above AI, we need to see the development of technology. The outbreak of AI this time is undoubtedly driven by technology. The emergence of GenAI has been brewing for a long time. And this outbreak of AI has driven other technologies that were brewing. The first representative is: TSMC’s advanced packaging process, CoWoS. The two most concerned products in the semiconductor industry: GPU, HBM, both of these products rely on advanced processes to be produced. And TSMC’s CoWoS packaging plays a very key role, so that some people have begun to jokingly call “TSMC will be the world’s first packaging and testing factory.” Here, the packaging and testing, which originally belonged to the back-end process, has shown a clear trend of front-end. And in the process of HBM suppliers continuously improving the stacking density, the interconnection between the fifth-generation HBM (i.e., HBM4) and the logic layer in the future will be jointly completed by storage giants and foundries. According to SK Hynix, HBM4 will greatly change the industry’s perception of DRAM as a “universal chip,” turning it into a customized storage special process chip. In this process, the related technical know-how will be jointly undertaken by foundries and storage factories, which is also the meaning of TSMC’s “Foundry 2.0” plan this year. The second representative is: the architecture competition, that is, the market competition between x86 and Arm, RISC-V. This year, it is obvious that the market share of Arm architecture chips is increasing. The x86 alliance has made it very clear not long ago: face to face. Although it seems to be a change in the market among the three architectures at first glance, it is actually a thirty-year-long competition between CISC (Complex Instruction Set) and RISC (Reduced Instruction Set), these two chip design philosophies. This competition is essentially an extension of the development of computer architecture as a “science and technology” in the “industry” field. The emergence of AI has given these two design philosophies more application scenarios. From the current point of view, the architecture under the RISC architecture (Arm, RISC-V) indeed has an innate advantage because it has the low power consumption and high energy efficiency that AI naturally needs. This also means that Arm may one day achieve a higher market share, which is driven by both technology and the market.
According to Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory), driven by the robust demand for data storage from artificial intelligence, NAND flash memory demand is expected to grow 2.7 times by 2028. for the future needs, Kioxia will introduce new process technologies and further expand production capacity in the coming years to meet the impending surge in NAND demand.
According to Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory), driven by the robust demand for data storage from artificial intelligence, NAND flash memory demand is expected to grow 2.7 times by 2028. for the future needs, Kioxia will introduce new process technologies and further expand production capacity in the coming years to meet the impending surge in NAND demand.
Japanese media reports: reports indicate that Kioxia is expanding its production capabilities in Japan to support future growth. In particular, Kioxia is advancing the construction of its Kitakami plant in Iwate Prefecture, aiming to commence production in the fall of next year (2025). Originally, the plant was scheduled to begin production last year, but due to a decline in the industry’s demand for flash memory, its production schedule has been repeatedly altered. The new plant’s capacity, combined with Kioxia’s production capacity in Yokkaichi, will provide Kioxia with sufficient capacity to meet future market demands. In October, due to the negative sentiment of potential investors, Kioxia abandoned its IPO plans. Therefore, this forecast may be aimed at bolstering investor confidence in 3D NAND flash memory (especially Kioxia’s products) and re-emphasizing the plan to start production at the second Kitakami plant. Earlier this year, Kioxia resumed full production at its Yokkaichi and Kitakami plants. Due to weak demand for 3D NAND flash memory used in smartphones, Kioxia had previously reduced production by more than 30% starting from October 2022.
With the decline in flash memory inventory and the recovery of the smartphone and PC markets (Japan was the most evident regional market for global PC recovery in Q3), the demand for 3D NAND also began to recover in the second half of 2023. The demand for storage chips in the terminal equipment market began to stabilize, while the demand for data centers surged with the AI boom. As the global market’s demand for AI servers and data center-grade storage devices continues to grow, Kioxia not only has the production capacity for 3D NAND but also offers enterprise-level SSDs, including flash memory controllers and firmware, to meet the robustly growing SSD demand. Other factors that may drive 3D NAND demand include AI experiences on devices, which also require high-capacity, high-performance local storage.
The Japanese government has provided Kioxia and its partner WD (Western Digital) with subsidies of up to $1.64 billion to expand production capacity by expanding the Yokkaichi and Kitakami plants—since Kioxia is considered a key player in the global 3D NAND market by the Japanese government and aligns with Japan’s strategic goals to revitalize the semiconductor industry.
In October 2024, in the memory semiconductor market, DRAM prices remained stable, while NAND flash memory prices experienced a significant drop close to 30%.
Analysts believe that the decline, primarily in commodity products, is due to weak demand in the PC and mobile sectors.
Data shows that the average fixed transaction price for storage cards and USB commodity NAND flash memory products in October was $3.07, a decrease of 29.18% month-on-month.
NAND flash memory prices had been on an upward trend for five consecutive months since last October, followed by six months of stability, before turning downward in September.
The sluggish demand for TLC NAND Flash chips has led to price drops for SLC and MLC NAND, with the expected decline narrowing in November after significant price drops in September and October.
The average fixed transaction price for PC DRAM commodity products in October was $1.7, unchanged from the previous month.
DRAM prices have been on an upward trend since October of last year, with stability in May to July, a turn downward in August, and a sharp drop of 17.07% in September. Since then, prices in October have remained stable with no changes.
Due to reduced purchasing volumes by buyers and the confirmation of fourth-quarter contract prices, PC DRAM has shown a stable trend.
Retail Investors Trapped by Samsung Electronics
In October, the Korea Exchange reported significant differences in the behavior of retail and foreign investors in the South Korean stock market for the entire month of October.
Retail investors favored Samsung Electronics, purchasing stocks worth 4.2 trillion won (approximately $3.09 billion), while foreign capital showed a strong preference for SK Hynix, purchasing 745 billion won.
On October 2nd, Samsung Electronics’ stock price was 61,300 Korean won, and SK Hynix’s stock price was 169,100 Korean won.
However, by October 28th, Samsung Electronics’ stock price plummeted over 9% to a low of 55,700 Korean won during the trading day, while SK Hynix’s stock price soared, increasing by 15.9% to 196,000 Korean won.
The stark contrast in stock performance reflects different investor sentiments and market dynamics.
From the beginning of the year to today, Samsung Electronics’ stock price has fallen by about 26%, while SK Hynix’s stock price has risen by 30%.
In the first six trading days of October, retail buying was concentrated on Samsung Electronics, with a net purchase amount of 2.15 trillion won. This trend continued throughout the month, with the purchase amount reaching 4.27 trillion won by October 31st.
On the other hand, due to SK Hynix’s outstanding performance, foreign capital has shown a preference for the company.
The rise in SK Hynix’s stock price is attributed to strong third-quarter earnings and a positive future outlook.
Researchers point out that SK Hynix raised its profits for 2024 and 2025 by 2.2% and 4.5%, respectively, in the third quarter, while most other companies, including Samsung Electronics, saw no changes.
Samsung Electronics announced an operating profit of 3.86 trillion won for its semiconductor division in the third quarter, which was below the expected 4 trillion won.
Poor performance led to foreign capital continuously selling off Samsung Electronics’ stocks throughout October.
In contrast, SK Hynix’s strong performance and dominance in the HBM market have bolstered investor confidence.
It is predicted that SK Hynix will continue to solidify its dominant position in the HBM market during periods of slowing demand.
Samsung Electronics’ Storage Profit Margin at Approximately 22%
Comparing the third-quarter performance of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, it is evident that there is a significant gap in profit margins for memory business between the two companies.
SK Hynix’s operating profit is around 40%, while Samsung Electronics, although not disclosed, is estimated to be around 22%.
This means that SK Hynix’s leading position is very solid, and its management efficiency is much higher.
The competition between the two around HBM will become increasingly fierce.
Institutions estimate that Samsung Electronics’ storage division’s third-quarter profit was 5.3 trillion won, with a profit margin of around 22%, a decrease of 7% from the second quarter’s 29%.
Samsung Electronics was unable to supply NVIDIA and saw a significant decline in profitability as shipments in the Chinese market continued to increase.
SK Hynix benefited from the high demand for HBM, with third-quarter profits of 7 trillion won and a profit margin of 40%.
In the past, it was common for Samsung to have a profit margin of over 40%, while SK Hynix’s profit margin was around 20%; now, the opposite has occurred.
Samsung Electronics’ overall profit for the DS division in the third quarter was 3.86 trillion won, with a profit margin of 13%.
It is estimated that the profit for other divisions is approximately 5.3 trillion won, with non-storage losses of 1.5 trillion won.
Clearly, Samsung Electronics’ non-storage divisions are suffering significant losses, and the outlook is not optimistic.
Samsung plans to invest a cumulative total of 47.9 trillion won in its semiconductor business by the end of this year.
The storage division will focus on facility investments, shifting towards high-value-added products such as HBM and DDR5, as HBM prices are at least four times that of commodity DRAM products, enabling higher profits.
SK Hynix will have a cumulative investment of 10 trillion won by the end of this year and is expected to have 10 trillion won in equipment investment next year.
Next year’s investment direction will be to transform products, reduce the output of commodity products, and increase sales of DDR5 and LPDDR5.
Equipment investment will increase, but slightly decrease compared to this year.
Samsung Electronics Aggressively Chasing SK Hynix
In order to catch up with SK Hynix in HBM, Samsung Electronics is taking aggressive actions in hopes of regaining the industry’s top position.
It is expected that personnel and organizational adjustments will be implemented as early as this month, leading to significant changes within the company.
Samsung Electronics is focusing on high-profit storage products like HBM and has announced a competitive strategy for its current contract manufacturing.
As an integrated semiconductor company specializing in design, storage, and wafer foundry, there were previous concerns about technology leaks and customer competition, making it difficult to gain the trust of more customers.
Now, Samsung is preparing to abandon its previously held strategy by offering to cooperate with other wafer foundry companies to attract customers to use their HBM, thereby quickly improving storage performance.
On November 1st, at the 55th-anniversary ceremony of Samsung Electronics, the storage division leader stated that without change, there can be no innovation or growth.
The upcoming significant organizational adjustments and personnel changes are highly anticipated.
NAND flash memory chips Market and investment analysis
The plummeting prices of NAND flash memory chips are a complex phenomenon influenced by multiple factors. Here are some potential reasons and impacts:
1. Low Demand**: As you mentioned, low demand in the PC and mobile sectors is one of the main reasons for the decline in NAND flash memory prices. When there is a reduction in new product releases in these areas or a decrease in consumer purchasing power, the demand for storage chips also decreases.
2. Oversupply**: If the supply of NAND chips exceeds the demand in the market, it can lead to a price drop. This could be due to overestimation of market demand in the past or technological advancements that increase production efficiency, thus increasing supply.
3. Technological Advancements**: As technology evolves, producing higher-performance and larger-capacity NAND chips becomes more cost-effective. This can lead to a decrease in the prices of older technology chips as they are replaced by newer technologies.
4. Market Competition**: With more manufacturers entering the market, intensified competition can lead to price wars, which in turn can drive down prices.
5. Economic Environment**: Changes in the global economic environment, such as inflation and trade policies, can also affect the prices of NAND chips.
6. Inventory Adjustments**: Companies may adjust their inventories based on market conditions, which can lead to short-term supply and demand imbalances, affecting prices.
7. Product Lifecycle**: As new products are introduced, older products may be discounted to clear inventory, making way for new products.
The significant drop in the average fixed transaction price of storage cards and USB general NAND flash memory products in October, as you mentioned, could be the result of a combination of these factors.
A substantial decrease in prices can impact the profit margins of manufacturers and may also stimulate demand by offering lower purchase costs for consumers. However, prolonged low prices can affect the healthy development of the industry, causing some manufacturers to exit the market or seek new growth opportunities.
For investors and businesses, it is crucial to closely monitor market dynamics and adjust strategies to adapt to market changes. For consumers, this may be a good time to purchase storage devices, but it is also necessary to consider the risks associated with price fluctuations
According to industry sources, Samsung Electronics’ latest storage chip development roadmap indicates that the company plans to produce at least 400-layer cell vertical stacking vertical NAND by 2026 to maximize capacity and performance.
Samsung Electronics plans to adopt a new bonding technology, creating cells and peripheral devices on separate wafers, and then bonding them. This method will achieve “ultra-high” NAND stacks with large storage capacity and excellent heat dissipation performance, which are very suitable for ultra-high capacity SSDs in AI data centers. This chip is called Bonding Vertical NAND Flash, or BV NAND for short, and its bit density per unit area will be increased by 1.6 times.
Samsung Electronics plans to launch V11 NAND by 2027, further developing its stacking technology, with a 50% increase in data input and output speeds. The goal is to develop NAND chips with more than 1,000 layers by 2030 to achieve higher density and storage capacity.
SK Hynix has also begun the development of 400-layer NAND Flash and is currently developing process technologies and equipment, with the goal of achieving mass production by the end of next year and full-scale mass production by the first half of 2026.
Kioxia has indicated in its technology roadmap that the number of 3D NAND layers will grow at an annual rate of 1.33 times, reaching a level of 1,000 layers by 2027, with NAND chip density reaching 100 Gbit/mm²
This year, as the NAND processes of storage manufacturers have been iterated, the supply of NAND with more than 200 layers has increased, and high-density NAND has gradually made progress in market applications:
Samsung’s 236-layer V8 TLC NAND production has increased significantly, and 290-layer V9 TLC/QLC NAND has begun mass production;
SK Hynix has expanded the application of 238-layer NAND in enterprise-level SSDs and launched 321-layer NAND Flash;
Kioxia and Western Digital have promoted the acceleration of 218-layer BiCS8 NAND in OEM manufacturers, and 2Tb QLC NAND produced using BiCS8 and CMOS bonding technology has begun sampling;
Micron has mass-produced 276-layer G9 TLC NAND and has adopted it in SSDs for client-side OEMs.
Samsung Electronics undergoes four rounds of massive layoffs
Samsung Electronics to Implement Four Rounds of Voluntary Retirement, Contract Manufacturing Team to be Reduced by Over 30%.
According to a high-ranking official at Samsung Electronics on November 2nd, the first round of voluntary retirement will be offered to CL3 (Associate Manager level) employees who have worked for more than 15 years but have not received a rank in the last 5 years. The second round will be for employees who have worked continuously for over 10 years; if the target is not met, the third round will be expanded to all employees. It is reported that the final fourth round will be conducted as part of normal operations. The conditions for voluntary retirement are expected to include a compensation package totaling approximately 400 million won (currently about 2.064 million yuan), which includes a severance payment based on CL3 and four months’ salary of 380 million won.
Especially, the 8-inch contract manufacturing and technology team will see a reduction of over 30%. It is understood that Samsung is considering a proposal for voluntary retirement for unpaid employees. This comes after Samsung Electronics recorded a profit shock in the third quarter of this year due to a decline in competitiveness in its flagship semiconductor business, triggering a crisis theory within the group.
This is interpreted as part of a reform plan to overcome aging business environments and poor performance.
Samsung recently announced third-quarter revenue of 79.1 trillion won, slightly exceeding the expected 79 trillion won, and operating profit of 9.18 trillion won, which exceeded the expected 9.1 trillion won, but was significantly lower than the estimated 11.456 trillion won in operating profit by the London Stock Exchange. Samsung’s Vice Chairman and newly appointed head of the Device Solutions (DS) division, Jeon Yong-hyun, apologized rarely after releasing the performance guidance.
Among them, Samsung’s semiconductor division announced an operating profit of 3.86 trillion won (about 2.8 billion USD) for the third quarter, a 40% decrease from the previous quarter.
Although its memory chip division benefited from strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and traditional server products, Samsung stated that “inventory adjustments had a negative impact on mobile demand.” The company said it is also dealing with the issue of “increased supply of mature process products from China.”
Additionally, according to insiders on November 1st, Samsung Electronics has shut down over 30% of the 4nm, 5nm, and 7nm wafer contract manufacturing production lines at its Pyeongtaek 2 (P2) and 3 (P3) factories, and plans to expand the suspension of production to about 50% by the end of the year. The company intends to gradually halt production while monitoring customer orders.
According to reports, Samsung Electronics is preparing to Import its first High NA EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography equipment in early 2025, marking a significant advancement for the South Korean tech giant in the field of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. This cutting-edge technology, exclusively provided by Netherlands ASML, is crucial for processes below 2nm. South Korean industry observers anticipate that Samsung will accelerate the development of its 1nm chip commercialization.
Each High NA EUV lithography machine is priced at approximately $350 million (about 2.5 billion yuan), significantly higher than ASML’s standard EUV series, which ranges from $180 million to $200 million. The High NA system boasts a resolution of 8nm and a transistor density triple times that of the Low NA system, thus offering immense value.
According to relevant reports， Indicate that Samsung’s first High NA EUV equipment—the ASML EXE:5000 model—is expected to hit the market in early 2025. Given the complexity of semiconductor equipment installation, which often involves lengthy testing phases, the EXE:5000 is projected to become operational in the second quarter of 2025.
High NA EUV technology surpasses existing EUV systems by enabling the creation of finer circuit designs, making it suitable for chips operating below 5nm, such as CPUs and GPUs, which are system semiconductors. While standard EUV is effective for 5nm and below processes, High NA EUV can further achieve circuit dimensions below 2nm, thereby enhancing performance and reducing the number of exposures, which in turn lowers production costs. The latest research conducted by Belgium’s Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) in collaboration with ASML shows that a single High NA EUV exposure can produce complete logic and memory circuits.
This development signifies Samsung’s first foray into High NA EUV technology. Previously, the company had collaborated with IMEC on circuit processing research. Samsung plans to use its own equipment to accelerate the development of advanced nodes and has set a goal to commercialize a 1.4nm process by 2027, potentially paving the way for 1nm production.
Globally, competition among semiconductor giants such as TSMC, Intel, and Samsung is Competition heats up as they vie to secure High NA EUV equipment for processes below 2nm. Intel was the first to obtain the equipment in December 2023, followed by TSMC in the third quarter of 2024. Although Samsung’s order came later, achieving stable production could be the key to determining industry leadership.
Samsung plans to use the High NA EUV equipment it will receive in early 2025 for research purposes and intends to Import dedicated mass production equipment shortly thereafter. In a meeting with ASML in the third quarter of 2024, Samsung indicated that it would reconsider the number of High NA EUV equipment units it plans to purchase, which could reduce its initial order by two units. The company initially planned to Import the EXE:5000 in the fourth quarter of 2024, with follow-up models EXE:5200, EXE:5400, and EXE:5600 to be Imported over the next decade.
Mobile solid-state hard drives and USB flash drive have their advantages and disadvantages. Mobile solid-state hard drives perform better in many tests, but USB drives are more convenient.
Last week, the American storage manufacturer Micron Technology suddenly announced the mass production of 24GB 8H HBM3E, which will be used in Nvidia’s H200 GPU and will be shipped in the second quarter.
SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, which have been leading in HBM products, were shocked. After a week of investigation, the Korean government began to take action, after all, HBM chip technology has been listed as a strategic core technology in Korea.
Statistics show that in the past five years, the Korean government has dealt with as many as 96 cases of core technology leakage. By industry, semiconductors are the most common, with as many as 38 cases, followed by displays with 16 cases, and electronic products and automobiles with 9 cases each.
The estimated economic losses exceed 26 trillion won, and the number of cases per year is increasing, from 14 cases in 2019 to 23 cases in 2023.
Court orders prohibit working for Micron
Amidst the intensifying competition in the memory chip industry, a few days ago, the Seoul court made a ruling to prohibit former HBM researchers from SK Hynix from working for Micron Technology before July 26th, including employment, work, or providing consulting and labor services for Micron’s subsidiaries, offices, and affiliates.
If the injunction is violated, the individual will be fined 10 million won (about $7,511) per day.
This employee has been signing non-compete agreements with SK Hynix every year since 2015, including clauses prohibiting employment in rival companies, and also pledging not to disclose any trade secrets before leaving the company.
In July 2022, the employee chose to resign and signed a non-compete agreement with SK Hynix, prohibiting them from switching to the same industry within the next two years.
Subsequently, the employee joined Micron Technology, and upon receiving the news, SK Hynix immediately filed a lawsuit in August 2023.
The court believed that the technology leakage would benefit Micron Technology, as it could significantly shorten the time to acquire technology capabilities comparable to SK Hynix in the same field, while causing significant damage to SK Hynix’s core competitiveness.
It is widely believed in the industry that Micron Technology’s successful strategy, skipping the production of the fourth-generation HBM3 and directly transitioning to the fifth-generation HBM3E, has strengthened its position in the HBM market, largely due to because Talent poaching.
Micron Technology announced the mass production of HBM3E, but whether it passed Nvidia’s quality tests is still unknown. Meanwhile, in terms of yield and stability, there is a significant gap between Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
Hundreds of employees jumped to Micron Technology
It is reported that hundreds of employees from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have already gone to work for Micron Technology.
For Korean companies, the departure of a large number of key employees in the advanced semiconductor technology field to their competitors, such as Micron, poses a significant threat to Korea’s storage industry’s technological secrets and competitiveness.
According to data statistics, publicly available information indicates that at least 110 SK Hynix employees have joined Micron, and the actual number may be even higher.
Meanwhile, hundreds of researchers from Samsung Electronics have also joined Micron. With local recruitment included, it is expected that the number of resignations from these two Korean companies will be even higher.
Not only is Micron Technology poaching talent, but even Intel is also eyeing employees from these two companies, posing a high risk of talent loss for Korean technical personnel.
In July of last year, a Samsung Electronics engineer who was preparing to work for Intel was sentenced to 18 months in prison because this person attempted to leak 33 files containing core technology of Samsung Electronics’ foundry, which were eventually discovered.
Samsung Electronics set up a company in the United States to focus on HBM research.
However, an employee of Samsung Electronics working in the United States, who had been involved in HBM project development, subsequently joined Micron, continuing to research HBM products.
SK Hynix has an even more exaggerated case. A former employee once received awards from the Korean government for contributing to the development of HBM2E and played a decisive role in ensuring the source technology for 3D stacked HBM and participated in the development of double data rate DDR5 prototypes. However, this employee is now about to join Micron Technology.
Currently, SK Hynix is on high alert against Micron Technology, as the latter is rapidly catching up with Korea’s advanced storage industry technology.
Micron’s HBM3E will be manufactured using 1β technology, equivalent to 12nm, which SK Hynix also adopts. Samsung relies on 14nm node 1α manufacturing.
Reports show that last year, SK Hynix hold a 53% market share in the HBM market, Samsung Electronics hold 38%, and Micron hold 9%.
This year, SK Hynix has invested 1.3 trillion won in advanced packaging to increase production capacity, using MR-MUF (massive reflow underfill) packaging technology. This technology injects liquefied protective material between stacked chips to protect the equipment and prevent heat dissipation, which is SK Hynix core competitiveness in HBM.
Micron is also trying to use this technology, but it appears that it will take some time for Micron to catch up with SK Hynix.
Samsung Electronics faces a double setback
To demonstrate its technical capabilities, Samsung Electronics will continue to strive to become a partner of Nvidia.
At Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference on March 18th, Samsung Electronics will showcase HBM3E chips and introduce CXL technology, hoping to become an open industry standard for improving product performance and efficiency.
For Samsung Electronics, this is a challenging task. It will be difficult to become a new supplier for Nvidia without significant technological breakthroughs. Of course, Samsung Electronics has just begun to make efforts, and there is no apparent progress for the time being.
Samsung Electronics has decided to make the HBM division a permanent division under the chip department. This department includes product design, solutions, and other exclusive development teams for HBM, which will also strengthen the early stable yield of the product.
Samsung 3nm advanced technology
One Samsung engineer was responsible for 3nm advanced technology and worked until July 2021, then switched to work for Intel in August of the same year.
Another engineer worked for Samsung Electronics until the end of 2023, and now works at Intel’s wafer foundry, previously responsible for mass production using the 14nm process at Samsung.
A certain employee of Samsung Electronics, working in the NAND department, went directly to Micron Technology’s NAND department in 2018.
In addition, Samsung Electronics also faces threats of employee strikes. It was revealed that negotiations between Samsung’s union and the company were not going well, and both sides were angry.
The union demanded an 8.1% wage increase, while Samsung only proposed a 2.5% increase. Later, Samsung increased the base salary increase to 2.8%, extended long-term service holidays and remaining holidays, provided comprehensive medical examinations for employees’ families, and the second round of negotiations began on March 8th, ending without agreement.
Union members stated that during negotiations for the 2024 wage increase, a senior Samsung representative
In the past, I used to prefer using images of beautiful ladies on the cover because most of our readers were male. Today, let’s change the style and cater for our female readers.
Over the weekend, I spent some time on the latest market data for external storage in third 2023 quarter, which is released by Gartner. Now I’m sharing my analysis with everyone.Firstly, let’s take a closer look at the global External Controller-Based (ECB) storage market in 3Q23.
We observed that global ECB storage in Q3 had declined by 12.8%, it was a challenging situation. Refer to the data, leader Dell had declined by 27.6%, with a market share of 23.1% only. On the one hand, it should be a lowest record for Dell year-on-year. On the other hand, Huawei had grown by 7%, achieving a market share exceeding 20% for the first time. It was possibly the best performance so far. Upon closer inspection, the Q3 sales of Huawei in China market experienced a slight decline. However, its overseas markets were generally growing, maintaining a positive growing trend. Huawei has firmly secured the second place, and left NetApp far behind. Moreover, it is starting to threaten Dell’s dominant position.
According to the data from Solid State Arrays (SSA) or an all-flash array, the global market has declined by 3.5% in 3Q23. However, Huawei had been increasing by one-third, while Dell declined by 26%. This marks history that Huawei surpasses Dell by the first time, and hits the first place of all-flash Array by 3Q23.
Of course, the most valuable reference is to check the overall situation from Q1 to Q3 in 2023
Comparing to the first three quarters of the 2023, i.e., 3Q23YTD, global ECB storage declined by 9%. Dell maintained the top spot but declined by 14%. Meanwhile, Huawei caught its second place, growing by 11%, with a market share exceeding 15%.
If we only focused on SSA all-flash, there was a global decline of 2.5%. Despite Dell was declining, its first position remains relatively stable. NetApp, Huawei, and Pure Storage all had shares around 15%, statistically we considered thaty they tied for second. Therefore, the ultimate winner for the year will depend on the fourth quarter.
Now let’s explore into the performance of storage based on different purposes.
In terms of primary storage, there was an overall decline of 10.7%. Dell, Huawei, and NetApp are the top three.
For secondary storage, there was a slight decline of 0.3%. Dell and Huawei are taking main share, both of them exceed 20%.
In the backup and recovery market, there was a decline of 11.8%. Dell maintains an absolute monopoly with a market share of 68.8%. Huawei is growing rapidly, but its share is close to 9%.
Finally, let’s compare the situations in China with United States.
In the first three quarters of 2023, the ECB storage in US had declined by 14.4%, indicating a terrible situation. Dell’s market share was 38%. Pure Storage surpassed NetApp and took the second place.
In China, there was also facing a decline of 5.4%. However, Huawei maintained growth, its market share had increased to 48.7%.
Suddenly China’s SSA market also declined by 3.6%. Nevertheless, Huawei continued to rise in a downward trend, the market share was reaching 56.4%.
Conclusion
Based on the Q3 data, Huawei is maintaining steady growth while Dell is experiencing a significant decline. If this trend continues, it’s highly possible for Huawei to take the first place of global storage one day. However, my preliminary judgment is that it might not happen in the short term. The U.S. stock market is currently going well, and economic indicators are favorable. The storage market might rebound next year. Nevertheless, Huawei’s achievement of acquiring the top spot for all-flash in Q3 has brought pressure to Dell. Even though Huawei cannot enter the largest storage market in US, its share in storage market continues to grow steadily. Regardless of the changes in the external economic environment, it is not surprised that Huawei may far beyond Dell one day.
Industry sources predicted on August 1 that the third quarter of 2022 will see a 5% dip in memory chip prices, the biggest drop since 2019. A single chip now costs less than $3, and companies that make semiconductors, including Samsung and Hynix, will be
