2020 is officially a thing of the past, and the year that started with the epidemic is impressive. In 2020, an extraordinary year for the semiconductor industry, many classic quotes and sentences were born, and behind each sentence is an event that can be recorded in history. You must have heard all the ten sentences mentioned in this article, and you can even run through and summarize 2020 of the entire semiconductor.

1 "Save Arm"

"Save Arm" is the name of a web page created in September by Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Arm, which publishes an open letter to the British prime minister calling on people to oppose the "NVIDIA Corp acquisition of Arm" deal.

An open letter expressing his regret for the company he once jointly established, and there is more helplessness behind it. The letter was published at almost the same time as Invid announced the acquisition, which may have inspired the co-founder to write hard, or the previous rumors may have given him the idea as long as the official announced it.

NVIDIA Corp and Softbank Corp. Group announced a final agreement in which NVIDIA Corp will buy Arm Limited from SBG and SoftBank Vision Fund (collectively referred to as "SoftBank") for $40 billion, NVIDIA Corp announced on Sept. 14.

In NVIDIA Corp's eyes, the merger combines NVIDIA Corp's leading AI computing platform with Arm's vast ecosystem to create a top computing company in the artificial intelligence era. For Arm's ecosystem, the portfolio will enhance NVIDIA's R & D capabilities and expand its IP portfolio with NVIDIA's world-leading GPU and AI technologies.

In the eyes of Hermann Hauser, the deal is a complete disaster for Cambridge, the UK and even Europe. Arm, the apple of the British tech world, from Japan to the United States, clearly does not belong to the UK: "ARM's business model involves licensing chip design to about 500 other companies, including those that compete directly with NVIDIA Corp, which means that this acquisition agreement will create an industry monopoly. "

NVIDIA Corp has also repeatedly stressed that he will continue to operate Arm's open licensing model, maintain global neutrality and maintain the Arm brand. And proudly said at the GTC conference that there was not much breakthrough in the data center and PC where Arm used to be. It's because of ecological problems, and I (NVIDIA Corp) have.

IDC believes that NVIDIA Corp may tend to use Arm's IP and technology to carry out its core business, but at least because of its deep-rooted large and influential company, NVIDIA Corp will remain neutral at least in the field of mobile processors. But NVIDIA Corp's data center business may be another matter.

The $40 billion deal is not only scary in terms of amount, but also has a far-reaching impact on the semiconductor industry, at least the RISC-V camp is already waiting for the opportunity. Looking ahead, will there be such surprising acquisitions in the data center?

On the other hand, the update time of this "Save Arm" website stopped on October 12, 2020.

2 "the fastest CPU Core in the World"-Apple Inc M1

In the second half of this year, Apple Inc held three press conferences online, layer by layer. In the third, he released the Macbook series with self-developed M1 chips. And said the word "World's fastest CPU core".

When Apple Inc releases the chip every year, it can be said to be the fastest in the world, and what is special this time is that M1 is a chip for the Macbook series. All at once, there was a lot of flattery.

With M1, computers are three times faster than their predecessors on most tasks. "

"this moment has been brewing for years, and the new Apple Silicon is both shocking and highly anticipated. "

"for a chip, there is no perfect design, only perfect balance. It's like giving you a limited budget to buy ingredients for cooking, so it's hard to buy both fish and bear paws. But the most intuitive feeling of the release of Apple Inc M1 chip is that you can have both fish and bear's paw with the same budget. "

Intel Corp and AMD of the X86 camp suddenly became good buddies in people's ideology, fighting Apple Inc, a scumbag who is famous for developing his own chips. Although the Mac series does not have a high share of the entire PC market, the X86 brothers are afraid that M1 will open a new era, an era of notebook PC with good performance, slightly higher running scores, and extremely powerful power consumption.

Like a proud monarchy king, suddenly realized people's yearning for freedom, and Apple Inc is behind the initiator, the person who wrote X86 writing.

3 "the total market capitalization of the merged company exceeds US $68 billion"-- ADI acquires Maxim

After a few years of secret love for American Credit, ADI finally announced its acquisition in July: the two sides have reached a final agreement that ADI will acquire Maxim through an all-share transaction, with a "total market capitalization of more than $68 billion after the merger."

It is said that TI has been salivating over Meixin for a long time, this time let the analog chip man 2 directly hold the beauty home.

"strength in the automotive and data center markets and ADI's strength across a wide range of industrial, communications and digital healthcare markets will certainly drive key long-term growth trends. In terms of power management, the product types that Maxim focuses on applications complement ADI's broad market-oriented product categories. "

Officials have made expectations for the future, and the acquisition is big news in the simulation field this year and another big move after ADI acquired Ling Li Technology three years ago. It is reported that ADI won the high-performance analog and power market through the acquisition of Linear, but there are still deficiencies in the consumer power market, and this acquisition of Maxim is a supplement to this market.

According to the global ranking of analog IC manufacturers released by IC insights, Texas Instruments Inc (TI) is firmly in the leading position of analog chip suppliers in 2019 with $10.2 billion in analog chip sales and 19% market share. The combined share of ADI and Maxim is only 14%. If the two can produce an effect of 1: 1 > 2, it will almost shake Texas Instruments Inc's position, and the distance from this point is another Maxim.

4 "(Intel Corp) the release of 7nm CPU has been postponed for six months"

One of the great unsolved mysteries in the semiconductor circle is when Intel Corp's next generation of technology will come. Even Intel Corp himself was a little confused and could not control the power of his own body.

Intel Corp announced today in his financial results for the second quarter of 2020 that the release of his 7nm CPU has now been delayed by six months compared to the previously planned release date, which has undoubtedly led to another delay in the company's roadmap. In other words, its 7nm process will not make its debut on the market until the second half of 2022 or early 2023.

Why add the word "again"? If you understand, you will understand.

In addition, Intel Corp also has a "contingency plan", that is, outsourcing. The three main criteria of Intel Corp outsourcing are: schedule predictability, product performance and supply chain economy.

For the top semiconductor company, every decision is extremely difficult, and competitors have long been as happy as a child with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd's 7nm process.

Intel Corp CEO Si Ruibo also said in an interview with foreign media that Intel Corp will continue to invest in 7nm process, 5nm process and 3nm process, these three things will not change.

5 "according to the preliminary assessment of the company (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation), this matter has no significant adverse impact on the company's short-term operation and financial position"

The remark was made in a statement issued by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation on Dec. 20 in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce's inclusion of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation on the "entity list" on Dec. 18. The reply is as follows:

This year is an extraordinary year for Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, who officially landed on the Kochuang board in July and set a 19-day lightning record before that. In September, foreign media reported that the Trump administration was considering adding Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation to the trade blacklist. At that time, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation also made a response, which was similar to that at the end of December, such as "operating legally and in accordance with regulations", "products and services are used for civilian and commercial use, and there has never been any business involving military applications."

The impact of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation's entity list on the industrial chain is different from that of Huawei. Perhaps for the United States, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and Huawei made the same mistake, that is, too famous. In the current international context, the development of China's semiconductor industry seems to have to consider some "other" factors.

6 "Don't feel sorry for Huawei, be Huawei's strongest competitor in the world"

The remark comes from Ren Zhengfei's speech at the honorable farewell party in November.

Obviously, the first half of the sentence is not only for glory, but also for all the people who love Huawei. "the Kirin 9000 chip on Mate 40 will be the last generation of Huawei Kirin chip," Yu Chengdong, Huawei's consumer business, said at the China Informatization Centennial Summit in August. "

Because by September 15, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd will no longer ship Huawei.

Yu Chengdong's remark is a microcosm of Huawei's sadness in the past two years. Huawei was blacklisted by the United States in May last year. In May this year, the US Department of Commerce issued a new ban on Huawei's entity list. In the new ban, in addition to extending the temporary license for American companies to sell Huawei, it also announced that it would comprehensively restrict Huawei's semiconductor components produced by American software and technology. These include banning companies from using production equipment listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce's control list to produce chips designed for Huawei Hayes before obtaining permission from the U.S. Government. By August 18, the United States had added 38 Huawei subsidiaries to the "entity list".

Not only Huawei, but also the entire Chinese semiconductor industry chain seems to have reached the key point. Ren Zhengfei clearly realized: "the chip problem is not a matter of design technical capability, but a problem of manufacturing equipment, chemical reagents, and so on. We need to pay more attention to the basic industry and chemical industry to produce more top talents and cross-innovation talents. "

In the history of Huawei's development, the page of 2020 will never be missing.

7 "AMD YES"

Did you say "AMD YES" this year? The AMD in 2020 is really worth saying "YES" from the bottom of our heart.

According to a recent report, AMD's CPU market share is the highest since 2007, while the share of desktop processors is the highest since 2013. AMD has the highest share of the client x86 market since the second quarter of 2011. In the latest third-quarter results, quarterly revenue rose 56% from a year earlier, up 45% from a month earlier. What is even more commendable is the acquisition of Cyrus. On the morning of October 27th local time in the United States, the global semiconductor giant AMD officially announced that it had reached a final agreement with FPGA chip leader Cyrins to acquire Cyrins by issuing shares with a total value of $35 billion by AMD. The deal, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2021, will have 13000 engineers and invest more than $2.7 billion in research and development each year.

In a conference call with analysts, Su Zifeng pointed out that the two companies are highly complementary and that AMD will provide a portfolio of high-performance processor technologies, combined with CPU, GPU, FPGA, adaptive SOC and deep software expertise to provide a leading computing platform for cloud, edge and terminal devices. Cyrus "has deep strategic partnerships with a range of growing markets-5G communications, data centers, automotive, industry, aerospace and defense", and the combined company will take full advantage of Selings. seize opportunities in these most important areas of growth. If you haven't said AMD YES in the last year, make up for it.

8 "production of 5nm, capital expenditure of $12 billion"

In May this year, foreign media quoted insiders as saying that the Trump administration was in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd to build a factory in the United States.

According to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd's announcement, the plant will produce 5nm chips with a planned capacity of 20, 000 chips per month. This will result in more than 1600 direct jobs in high-tech professions and thousands of indirect jobs in semiconductors. According to the plan, construction of the plant will begin in 2021, with the goal of starting production in 2024 and capital expenditure of as much as $12 billion between 2021 and 2029.

The fact that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd went to the United States to build a factory has aroused people's thinking about the regional changes in the manufacturing industry. Some people think, "the United States does not have a semiconductor downstream packaging, testing and PCB, module, assembly industry chain, so do we have to deal with the wafers and then spend huge freight to send them to various countries for assembly? The most powerful thing in the United States is design and research and development, so don't dream of becoming the kingdom of manufacturing technology products, okay? "

Others believe that "reshaping the foundry pattern is not easy for the United States." Semiconductors are a global industrial chain, and anti-globalization behavior must pay a high price, because we must respect the economics behind it. "

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, who is called "the most important company in the world" by the US financial research company InvestorPlace, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd's market capitalization ranking is close to the top 10 in the world, and his every move is affecting the hearts of people in the industry.

9 "become the world's largest silicon wafer manufacturer after merger"-- Global Wafer acquires Siltronic

In early December, Taiwan Global Wafer, the world's third largest silicon wafer company, announced that it had reached a formal agreement to acquire Siltronic, the fourth largest German silicon wafer manufacturer in the same industry. The purchase amount is about 3.75 billion euros. It is planned to implement TOB (Open offer) within this month and complete the acquisition in the second half of 2021.

The merged enterprise will become the second largest producer in the global 12-inch silicon wafer market and the world's largest silicon wafer manufacturer in terms of revenue. At present, Global Crystal's main strongholds include major semiconductor production centers such as Taiwan, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and the European layout, only the acquisition of Denmark's Topsil in 2016 has achieved less than 8-inch silicon wafer production capacity. As a result of the merger, Global Crystal will have access to Siltronic's 12-inch wafer plants in Freiberg and Burghausen in Germany, 12-inch and 8-inch wafer plants in Singapore, and 8-inch wafer plants in Portland in the United States, and establish bases in Germany and Singapore, which are also major semiconductor production centers.

10 "catch up with 2nm, increase 10% of existing share, and total investment will reach 145 billion euros in two or three years"

This sentence is not a slogan and vision of the self-media, but an expectation of the European Union for semiconductors.

On December 7, at the telecom ministers' videoconference held by the European Commission, 17 countries, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Portugal, jointly issued a Joint statement on European processor and Semiconductor Science and Technology plans.

The statement said it would catch up with the 2nm chip process, increase the global share of the semiconductor market, which currently has only 10 per cent, and spend 20 per cent of the European recovery plan on digitization, with a total investment of 145 billion euros (about 1.15 trillion yuan) in two or three years. Obviously, the semiconductor industry in Europe is beginning to realize the importance of "autonomous control" and clearly proposes to "reduce critical external dependence".

A statement without details is more like a declaration of freedom. what will the global semiconductor industry look like in the future? Will the voice of the European semiconductor industry increase? Everything depends on how it is implemented. Europe's determination for the semiconductor industry jumped again in 2020.

Which sentence impressed you the most?