US, China Confirm DeepSec ‘Using Export-Banned Semiconductors for AI Development’
According to Reuters on the 30th (local time), the U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating whether DeepSeek, which has secured AI model performance comparable to OpenAI, Google, and Meta, used U.S. semiconductors that are not permitted to be exported to China.
DeepSeek recently launched a free AI inference service that is comparable to or superior to the performance of American big tech companies at a tenth of the investment cost. Within days, it became the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store, and concerns are growing in the United States about securing global AI leadership.
Reuters reported that advanced AI semiconductors made in the United States may have been systematically smuggled into China through Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates, where many of Nvidia’s customers are located.
Samsung Electronics: “Mass production of 2nm 1st generation process this year… 2nd generation next year”
Samsung Electronics announced on the 31st through its 2024 fourth quarter performance announcement that it would pursue mass production of 2 nanometer (nm) foundry process products this year.
The 2nm process is a cutting-edge foundry process that is expected to be commercialized in earnest this year. Samsung Electronics has been developing a 2nm process optimized for mobile and HPC (high-performance computing) applications.
The 2nm 1st generation process distributed PDK (Process Design Kit) version 1.0 in the first half of last year based on improvements in maturity. PDK is a software that contains all the information required for semiconductor design by fabless, a foundry customer.
ASML Orders Are Booming… “More Opportunities with AI”
Dutch semiconductor equipment company ASML reported an increase in orders in the fourth quarter of last year, driven by an increase in orders for advanced equipment for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor manufacturing.
ASML announced on the 29th that its total net sales for the fourth quarter of last year were 9.263 billion euros, up 24.1% from the previous quarter (7.467 billion euros). It slightly exceeded the company’s guidance of 8.8 to 9.2 billion euros for the third quarter.
According to ASML, starting with Intel in late 2023, the company shipped its third high-NA EUV equipment to customers in the fourth quarter of last year. The company also secured its first two customers last year and is in discussions with DRAM customers for introduction.
Intel: “Next-Generation AI Accelerator ‘Falcon Shore’ Not Launched”
Intel has effectively halted the launch of its server GPU, the FalconShore, which was originally scheduled to be released this year to target the AI acceleration and high-performance computing (HPC) markets. Instead, it plans to release its successor, the Jaguar Shore, but the timing has not been set.
Falcon Shore is a product that Intel first revealed its development plan for in May 2022. At the time, Intel’s concept was a product that could freely combine high-performance server CPUs, graphic chipsets, and high-performance memory in tile form. Later, Falcon Shore was changed to a product that only has a built-in GPU.
In the 2024 Q4 earnings announcement on the 30th (local time in the US), Michelle Johnston Holthaus, CEO of Intel Products Group, said, “Based on feedback from the relevant industry, Falcon Shore will be used for internal testing and will not be sold externally.”
TSMC Expects AI Sales to Surpass 43 Trillion Won This Year
Taiwanese media reported on the 27th that TSMC, the world’s largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, is expected to exceed 1 trillion Taiwan dollars (about 43.6 trillion won) in artificial intelligence (AI)-related sales this year. TSMC’s AI sales this year are expected to more than double compared to last year, reaching about 1 trillion Taiwan dollars, which is expected to account for more than 30% of total sales.
Last year, TSMC’s AI sales were estimated at about NT$434.1 billion (KRW 18.9 trillion). TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejiang recently mentioned the difficulties of building a plant in Phoenix, Arizona, USA at National Taiwan University, and said that the cost of manufacturing high-purity semiconductor sulfuric acid in the US is five times that of Taiwan. Semiconductor sulfuric acid is an essential material in the semiconductor manufacturing process, and maintaining high-purity quality is essential to increase yield.
SoftBank Discusses Investing 36 Trillion Won in OpenAI… Becomes Largest Investor
It has been reported that Japan’s Softbank is in negotiations to invest up to $25 billion (about 36.8 trillion won) in ChatGPT developer OpenAI. If this investment goes through as planned, Softbank will become the largest investor in OpenAI. Not only will it be a step closer to Softbank Group Chairman Son Jeong-ui’s vision of a “leading artificial intelligence (AI) company,” but it will also keep his promise to President Donald Trump to make a large-scale investment in the United States. There is also an interpretation that this is in line with OpenAI’s investment attraction demands as it pursues transformation into a for-profit corporation.
On the 29th (local time), the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the negotiations, that SoftBank is in negotiations to directly invest 1.5 to 25 billion dollars in OpenAI in addition to its investment in Stargate, a large-scale AI data center project in the United States.
US Commerce Secretary Nominee: “Unable to Promise Semiconductor Act Subsidies”
Howard Rutnick, the nominee for Secretary of Commerce in the second Trump administration, said on the 29th regarding the semiconductor law subsidies decided by the former Biden administration, “I can’t promise subsidies until I review the contract.”
Domestic companies such as Samsung and SK have finalized contracts with the former Biden administration to receive subsidies worth trillions of won to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain in the United States, but there are concerns that the contracts may be uncertain in the second administration as President Donald Trump has expressed a negative stance on subsidies.
Following Tesla, BMW also files suit against EU over Chinese electric vehicle tariffs
Following the American automaker Tesla, Germany’s BMW has filed a lawsuit against the European Union’s (EU) high tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, the European Commission announced on the 27th (local time).
A BMW spokesperson said the company opposed the EU’s tariffs, saying they did not make the European car group more competitive.
“Countervailing tariffs harm the business models of companies operating globally and could limit the supply of electric vehicles to European customers, slowing down the decarbonization of the transport sector,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Korean car export price drops for the first time in 8 years… aftereffects of electric car ‘chasm’
As the number of finished vehicle exports plummeted due to the electric vehicle chasm (temporary stagnation in demand), the unit export price fell for the first time since 2016.
According to the Korea Automobile Mobility Industry Association (KAMA) on the 26th, the number of Korean automobile exports last year was 2,782,612 units, with export value of 64,132,350,000 dollars. The unit export price was 23,048 dollars, a decrease of 221 dollars from the previous year.
It has been eight years since the last time the automobile export price fell since 2016 ($14,264). The automobile export price showed an upward trend: ▷$15,147 in 2017, ▷$15,397 in 2018, ▷$16,146 in 2019, and ▷$17,901 in 2020. Since 2021, when exports of eco-friendly vehicles, including electric vehicles, began, it has continued to rise, breaking through the $20,000 barrier.
SM Precision Technology Receives First Order for Genesis GV90 Bumper Mold Production
SM Precision Technology, a manufacturing subsidiary of SM Group, announced on the 31st that it had received an order from Hyundai Motor Company to produce bumper molds for the GV90, a large electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) model of Hyundai Motor Company’s luxury brand Genesis.
The GV90 is Hyundai Motor Company’s next-generation flagship electric SUV, the first to be mass-produced at its new electric vehicle-only plant being built in Ulsan. It is expected to be released in the first half of next year.
This is the first time that SM Precision Technology has received an order for injection molds and parts for Hyundai and Kia automobiles since being incorporated into the SM Group in 2018.
BYD to mass produce 150,000 electric vehicles in Indonesia by the end of the year
According to the Jakarta branch of the Korea International Trade Association on the 25th, BYD announced that it will complete its electric vehicle production plant in Subang, West Java, Indonesia by the end of this year and focus on exports. The plant is expected to produce 150,000 electric vehicles per year.
The Indonesian government is temporarily allowing import tariff-free distribution of cars to boost domestic demand for electric vehicles and attract automakers. Indonesia plans to produce 600,000 electric vehicles domestically by 2030.
The company that responds most actively to this is BYD.
SOS Lab-Dongwoon Anatech Sign LiDAR Agreement… Targeting the ‘8-Trillion Port Automation Equipment Market’
SOS Lab, a leading LiDAR company, announced on the 31st that it had received an order for LiDAR for port cranes from Dongwoon Anatech.
SOS Lab plans to supply its fixed lidar product ‘ML-X’ to Dongwoon Anatech, and Dongwoon Anatech plans to target the port market by mounting an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) on the supplied lidar.
SOS Lab and Dongwoon Anatech have been continuing their collaboration since signing a strategic business agreement (MOU) for joint development of autonomous driving and industrial lidar technology in 2021. SOS Lab has been in charge of lidar sensor development, and Dongwoon Anatech has been in charge of ASIC design.
Musk: “Autonomous taxis to be launched in June”
Musk, the CEO, announced in a conference call after Tesla’s fourth quarter earnings announcement on the 29th (local time), “We will launch a fully autonomous driving (FSD) software without driver supervision as a paid service in Austin, Texas in June.” Musk said, “We are confident that we will launch a fully autonomous Tesla service in several other cities in the U.S. by the end of this year, and probably across the U.S. next year.”
Regarding the vehicle types that will be used in the robo-taxi service, he explained that “until this year, we will be operating our own internal vehicles,” and that it is a concept of paid autonomous ride-hailing. He continued, “Next year, people will be able to add or remove their own vehicles (from the call service),” adding, “It will be similar to adding or removing your own home to the Airbnb list.” Tesla is developing a new vehicle, the CyberCap, exclusively for robo-taxi use, and aims to mass produce it in 2026.
Lidar Market, the ‘Eye of Autonomous Driving’, Expected to Grow at an Average Annual Rate of 35%
According to the ‘2025 Infrared Sensor Application Market and Branding Strategy’ report published by market research firm TrendForce on the 29th, the global LiDAR market is expected to grow from USD 1.181 billion last year to USD 5.352 billion (approximately KRW 7.6 trillion) in 2029.
The market is expected to achieve a solid average annual growth rate of 35%, driven by advancements in autonomous driving and logistics systems.
Lidar is a sensor that measures distances or detects obstacles using lasers. It emits lasers and analyzes the signals reflected from surrounding objects to determine location, direction, speed, etc.
Omdia: “OLED Display Market Share to 43% in 2031, Chasing LCD”
It is predicted that the market share of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, the mainstay of Korean display companies, will easily surpass 40% by 2031. While demand for high value-added panels is increasing, the market share of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, which are dominated by China, is falling, raising expectations that this will provide opportunities for Korean companies with technological prowess.
According to market research firm Omdia on the 30th, the share of OLED and LCD panels in the display market is expected to be 34% and 65% in 2022, respectively, and 43% and 51% in 2031. The gap in market share is expected to shrink significantly from 31 percentage points to 8 percentage points in about 10 years.
LG OLED TV, cumulative shipments exceed 20 million units
According to market research firm Omdia on the 26th, LG Electronics achieved cumulative shipments of 15 million units in 2022, 10 years after launching the world’s first OLED TV in 2013, and exceeded 20 million units in the third quarter of last year.
An LG Electronics official explained, “The growth rate of LG OLED TV shipments is steepening, with shipments increasing by 5 million units over the past 21 months.”
LG Electronics shipped approximately 2,076,000 OLED TVs from the first quarter to the third quarter of last year, recording a share of approximately 52% in terms of shipments in the global OLED TV market. This is the result of its strength in the market for ultra-large TVs over 75 inches and its growth in the premium TV market.
Source: kipost.net