This weekly newsletter pulls together summaries of the top ten most-read Insights across Tech Hardware and Semiconductor on Smartkarma.
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1. Mediatek: Google Reportedly Dropping QCOM & Adopting Mediatek for Pixel 10 Modem; Structural Long
- Report — Google Drops QCOM, Shifts to MediaTek for Pixel 10’s 5G Modems
- Strong “Double” Indication for Mediatek’s Competitiveness — Combined with Recent Reports that Mediatek Won Apple to Provide Modems for the Apple Watch
- Mediatek’s Opportunity to Deliver a Big Win for Google; Maintain Our Structural Long Rating for Mediatek.
2. Taiwan Tech Weekly: Apple’s TSMC 2nm Power Move Beats Samsung; Himax Ascends with TSMC/Nvidia Halos
- Apple’s 2nm Power Move with TSMC — Beating Samsung Yet Again
- Why TSMC’s 2nm Will be Huge — Extending Tech Lead vs. Samsung & Major AI/Power Consumption Benefits for Customers
- The Memory Decoupling Trade is Working — Nanya Tech Underperforms SK Hynix
3. TSMC (2330.TT; TSM.US): 2025 Could Achieve 25% Yearly Growth.
- We anticipate Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) – ADR (TSM US) can achieve a 25% growth in 2025.
- It is unsurprising for TSMC to dominate in AI, including the assembly and testing segments.
- Chinese companies are also involved in AI, but there hasn’t been a recent spread as a result of U.S. sanctions.
4. General Motors Abruptly Pulls The Plug On Cruise
- GM announced it will no longer continue to fund its loss making Cruise subsidiary, effectively ending its RoboTaxi ambition. Market reaction? Nothing.
- Microsoft has already announced it will write off its $800 million investment made back in 2021 when Cruise was valued at $30 billion
- Root cause? The tsunami that was triggered by Cruise’s botched response to an accident in October 2023.
5. Taiwan Dual-Listings Monitor: TSMC Spread at Short Level; UMC and CHT Short Interest Spikes
- TSMC: 22.7% Premium; Good Level to Short the Spread Given Historical Trading Range
- UMC: +0.2% Premium; Middle of Historical Trading Range; Short Interest Rises to New High
- CHT: +0.5% Premium; Major Spike in Short Interest for the Local Taiwan Shares
6. MediaTek (2454.TT): Google Pixel 10 Will Use MediaTek’s Modem
- Alphabet (GOOGL US) Pixel 10 will use the Mediatek Inc (2454 TT) T9000 modem.
- The shipment quantity to the smartphone market is small, and we see this as a small triumph for Mediatek Inc (2454 TT).
- Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) is facing a 3nm process issue and lacks the capacity to support its own smartphone CPU Exynos 2400.
7. Scaling Laws Meet Economics, but Adoption is still Accelerating
- Technological model scaling is not dead, but we are clearly at a critical moment when the definitions will shift.
- Pre-training, the original scaling law, might hit its first diminishing return. The piece SemiAnalysis used the analogy that pre-training was like the end of Dennard’s law.
- However, multi-core scaling led to another decade of scaling transistors. Technology progresses, just not in the same way.
8. Intel (INTC.US): Exploring a Tough Journey.
- Regardless of the circumstances, Intel Corp (INTC US) must select a new CEO and hope that a new strategy will turn the situation around.
- A possible decision to spin off Altera could signal the possibility of Intel further breaking into several parts.
- For the near term, Intel must overcome financial and management challenges, and laying off 1/10 of its workforce is a short-term and necessary step.
