Asia and Global Semiconductor and Tech Research

Andrew Lu

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Driven by stronger PC/networking DRAM sales, Micron reports 5% stronger 4Q23 sales, 10-13ppts q/q margin improvement and 34% y/y decline in MOI to 5.2 months;</li>
<li>Micron guides 1Q24 sales growth 8-16% q/q and 38-49% y/y and gross margin of 12%, beating Bloomberg consensus estimates by 6ppts;</li>
<li>Rooms to raise: 1. 1Q24 sales of 18% q/q likely; 2. Turning profits sooner than expected; 3. +Free cash flow in 2024; 4. HBM3E for GH200/H200 to improve mix, margin. </li>
</ul>


Driven by stronger PC/networking DRAM sales, Micron reports 5% stronger 4Q23 sales, 10-13ppts q/q margin improvement and 34% y/y decline in MOI to 5.2 months;
Micron guides 1Q24 sales growth 8-16% q/q and 38-49% y/y and gross margin of 12%, beating Bloomberg consensus estimates by 6ppts;
Rooms to raise: 1. 1Q24 sales of 18% q/q likely; 2. Turning profits sooner than expected; 3. +Free cash flow in 2024; 4. HBM3E for GH200/H200 to improve mix, margin. 


The First Semi Micron to Guide 1Q24; Conservative Now but Likely Raise Later

Semiconductors, Memory and SSDs Specialist, Objective Analysis

Jim Handy

Semiconductors, Memory and SSDs Specialist

Objective Analysis

Objective Analysis offers third-party independent market research and data for the semiconductor industry and investors in the semiconductor industry.

Semiconductors, Memory and SSDs

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Objective Analysis has released its 2024 semiconductor forecast, calling for growth of below 5%</li>
<li>Other forecasters currently call for 11% to 17% growth, which would require another super cycle to accomplish</li>
<li>We do not see any event that will drive a 2024 super cycle, even with the current rapid adoption of AI in the data center</li>
</ul>


Objective Analysis has released its 2024 semiconductor forecast, calling for growth of below 5%
Other forecasters currently call for 11% to 17% growth, which would require another super cycle to accomplish
We do not see any event that will drive a 2024 super cycle, even with the current rapid adoption of AI in the data center


2024 High Conviction: Low Semiconductor Growth

Managing Director, Zero One, Zero One

Vincent Fernando, CFA

Managing Director, Zero One

Zero One

Founded in 2015, Zero One produces independent investment research and provides corporate finance advisory services with a focus on both listed and private technology companies. Founder Vincent Fernando has over 20 years of experience in US and Asia capital markets.

Independent Investment Research

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) - ADR / Equity Bottom-Up

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) - ADR

<ul>
<li>Overall, it was a strong week for Taiwan Tech. TSMC and Mediatek showed strong performances, as well as key names we like such as Yageo and Himax.</li>
<li>AI-Related Taiwan plays showed relative weakness. This weakness interestingly happened during a week when <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nvidia-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5891:1" rel="noopener">NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US) </a>performed well.</li>
<li>According to insight provider Patrick Liao, MediaTek WiFi 7 chip competition is likely to become fierce in 2024.</li>
</ul>


Overall, it was a strong week for Taiwan Tech. TSMC and Mediatek showed strong performances, as well as key names we like such as Yageo and Himax.
AI-Related Taiwan plays showed relative weakness. This weakness interestingly happened during a week when NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US) performed well.
According to insight provider Patrick Liao, MediaTek WiFi 7 chip competition is likely to become fierce in 2024.


Taiwan Tech Weekly: AI Plays Weak Despite Strong Taiwan Tech Market Performance

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Periscope Analytics

Periscope Analytics focuses on event-driven trades across Asia Pacific and provides comprehensive, timely and systematic coverage of index changes to major Asia Pacific indices in a structured manner.

The analysis includes forecasted inclusions and exclusions to all major Asian indices that have significant amount of tracking assets, including estimates of passive buy/sell flow on the stocks. The service also provides commentary and impact of market consultations, ground rule changes, and other events (IPOs, spin-offs, M&A) that could lead to index changes and passive flow.

Periscope Analytics works with multi-strategy hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, stat arb trading groups and long-only investors that invest and trade in the Asia Pacific region with the data being used to trade index rebalances, avoid pre-positioning and passive flow, and to time entry into and exit from stocks.

Event-Driven Trades Across Asia Pacific

Index Rebalance

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) - ADR / Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>There are no constituent changes for the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/vaneck-vectors-semiconductor" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32807:1" rel="noopener">VanEck Vectors Semiconductor (SMH US)</a> in December but there are a lot of float and capping changes.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/taiwan-semiconductor-sp-adr" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8587:1" rel="noopener">Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) - ADR (TSM US)</a> is the biggest sell while <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nvidia-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5891:1" rel="noopener">NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US)</a> is the biggest buy.</li>
<li>Estimated one-way turnover is 6.6% resulting in a one-way trade of US$682m. Couple of stocks have greater than 0.2x ADV to trade.</li>
</ul>


There are no constituent changes for the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor (SMH US) in December but there are a lot of float and capping changes.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) - ADR (TSM US) is the biggest sell while NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US) is the biggest buy.
Estimated one-way turnover is 6.6% resulting in a one-way trade of US$682m. Couple of stocks have greater than 0.2x ADV to trade.


MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index Rebalance: TSMC Is the Big Sell

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist, Ingenuity

William Keating

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist

Ingenuity

Our focus is exclusively on in-depth research & consulting in the broader semiconductor industry. We focus on the key players, namely Intel, Micron, Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, NVIDIA, AMD, TSMC & Global Foundries - as well as some of the lesser known, but nonetheless critical, companies such as ASML (for EUV), Mellanox, Cavium, Xilinx etc. We specialise in their products, roadmaps, process technologies, competitive advantages & threats etc. We also help our clients understand the implications of new and emerging technologies, e.g. 3D X-Point, 3D NAND, Carbon Nanotubes, Autonomous Driving, Graphene, Silicon Photonics, Wafer-Level Optics, Artificial Intelligence, FPGA, GPU, ASIC etc. 

Semiconductor Analysis & Research

<ul>
<li>9.4% semi revenue decline in 2023 seems about right to us</li>
<li>Forecast of13.1% semi revenue increase in 2024, seems on the high side</li>
<li>Forecast assumes a ~45% YoY increase in memory revenue. Sanjay will be delighted to hear the good news!</li>
</ul>


9.4% semi revenue decline in 2023 seems about right to us
Forecast of13.1% semi revenue increase in 2024, seems on the high side
Forecast assumes a ~45% YoY increase in memory revenue. Sanjay will be delighted to hear the good news!


WSTS Forecasts Semi Revenue Increase of 13.1% In 2024. Seriously?

United States

Micron Technology, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets dynamic random access memory chips (DRAMs), very fast static random access memory chips (SRAMs), Flash Memory, other semiconductor components, and memory modules.

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Micron Technology (MU US)

The First Semi Micron to Guide 1Q24; Conservative Now but Likely Raise Later

The First Semi Micron to Guide 1Q24; Conservative Now but Likely Raise Later; Rooms to raise: 1. 1Q24 sales of 18% q/q likely; 2. See profits...

Andrew Lu

2024 High Conviction: Low Semiconductor Growth

2024 semiconductor revenue growth will be muted despite forecasts predicting strong growth. This post explains why the year will not see another...

Jim Handy

Taiwan Tech Weekly: AI Plays Weak Despite Strong Taiwan Tech Market Performance

AI-Related Taiwan plays showed relative weakness. This weakness interestingly happened during a week when NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US) performed well.

Vincent Fernando, CFA

MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index Rebalance: TSMC Is the Big Sell

There are no constituent changes. Estimated one-way turnover is 6.6% resulting in a one-way trade of US$682m. Couple of stocks have greater than...

Brian Freitas

WSTS Forecasts Semi Revenue Increase of 13.1% In 2024. Seriously?

WSTS forecast for 13.1% semi growth in 2024 assumes a ~45% YoY increase in memory revenue. This is an unlikely scenario and not at all the vibe we...

William Keating

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