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The US President wants to impose a special tariff on imported semiconductor chips. The measure is likely to be aimed primarily at China.

US President Donald Trump wants to impose a special tariff of around 100 percent on imported semiconductor chips. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday (local time) that the new tariff would apply to all chips and semiconductors coming into the US. However, companies that produce in the United States or at least plan to do so will be exempt from the tariff, Trump added. If companies do not keep their promise to build factories, the tariff will be applied retroactively. However, there was no formal announcement of the tariffs and Trump did not provide any further details.

The measure is likely to be aimed primarily at China. The Taiwanese chip contract manufacturer TSMC would probably be exempt from the tariffs due to its factories in the USA. This would also mean no higher costs for its major customers such as the AI chip group Nvidia. According to a South Korean trade representative, the South Korean chip manufacturer SK Hynix could also not be affected by the special tariff, just like Samsung Electronics. SK Hynix also supplies Nvidia with chips that are used in chipsets for artificial intelligence. The EU, South Korea and Japan have concluded trade agreements with the USA, which could give them an advantage.

Subsidy program for US semiconductor manufacturing

In 2022, the US Congress launched a subsidy program for semiconductor manufacturing and research worth USD 52.7 billion. The aim is to strengthen domestic production. According to the Department of Commerce, the USA produced around twelve percent of the world's semiconductor chips last year. In 1990, the share was still 40 percent. It is not yet entirely clear how many chips from which country will be affected by the new levy. (Reuters)

https://www.diepresse.com/19974881/trump-usa-werden-zoelle-von-100-auf-mikrochip-importe-erheben

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Good morning, my dears,

After the good figures for Sk Hynix , it was almost obvious that Micron would follow suit.

I see a favorable valuation and a good outlook for both. There is therefore still potential.

And I remain invested in both.

Micron is exceeding expectations in terms of sales and earnings. The outlook is strong thanks to the AI boom. Nevertheless, the share gave back some of its gains after the close of trading. What's going on? US chip manufacturer Micron exceeded analysts' expectations in the third quarter in terms of both turnover and profit. The company also provided an optimistic outlook, which is supported by the ongoing boom in artificial intelligence (AI). Nevertheless, the share was unable to maintain its initial gains after the close of trading. Specifically, Micron achieved adjusted earnings per share of USD 1.91, while only USD 1.60 was expected.

Full article

https://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/19514993-chipriese-micron-ueberrascht-baerenstarken-zahlen-aktie-verhalten

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Hello my dears,

I remain invested.

SK hynix, the world's leading manufacturer of memory chips, is reviewing plans to build a new back-end production facility to strengthen its packaging capabilities in the face of rising demand for advanced chips.

According to industry sources, the memory chip maker announced on Tuesday via its internal bulletin board that it will build the new factory, named "P&T 7", on a site in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. The company has begun demolishing a former LG factory that it had previously acquired on the site for the new building. The work should be completed by September.

"The role of back-end processes in memory semiconductors is becoming increasingly important as they add significant value beyond traditional manufacturing," said an SK-Hynix official. "The company is committed to improving its packaging technology."

In Korea, SK hynix currently has six P&T buildings in Icheon and Cheongju, which are its back-end production facilities.

The construction schedule for the seventh building has not yet been finalized. However, it is planned that the site will serve not only as a packaging facility for end products, but also as a test factory.

The back-end process in chip manufacturing refers to the final stages of chip production where individual chips are cut from the wafer, tested and packaged into finished products.

As performance increases through semiconductor scaling reach their physical limits, advanced packaging technologies are gaining importance as a new way to improve performance and energy efficiency.

herim@heraldcorp.com

https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10516616

SK Hynix's market capitalization exceeds 200 trillion won for the first time due to optimistic chip demand

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20250624005000320

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As a Micron shareholder, you have experienced a sharp rise and fall over the past few months. Since April, however, the share price has shot up again, rewarding investors' patience. The management is causing a stir today with the announcement of massive US investments.

Micron goes one better! The already ambitious investment plans in the USA in the coming years are being increased once again, by USD 30 billion.

This brings the memory chip manufacturer's planned investments in the USA to a total of USD 200 billion. USD 150 billion is to flow into domestic memory production and USD 50 billion is to be spent on research and development. This is expected to create around 90,000 direct and indirect jobs in the USA. 🍊US President Donald Trump will be pleased to hear this.

Second plant planned in Idaho

The additional investment of USD 30 billion will include the construction of a second state-of-the-art storage plant in Boise, Idaho, the expansion and modernization of the existing plant in Manassas, Virginia and the development of advanced packaging technology for HBM solutions, which are essential for the AI market.

In total, the following items are planned as part of the USD 200 billion investment package:

Two modern high-volume plants in Idaho

Up to four such plants in New York

Modernization of the Virginia plant

Development of advanced HBM packaging capabilities

Strong R&D activities to promote American innovation

In the future, Micron would localize 40% of its DRAM production in the US.

The goal of strengthening production at home or bringing it back to the country is precisely what 🍊US President Donald Trump had set out.

The voices of politicians and key representatives of the AI and chip industry are therefore coming thick and fast:

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, Micron: "This USD 200 billion will strengthen America's technological leadership and create tens of thousands of jobs."

Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce: "Full memory chip production is returning to the US."

Satya Nadella, Microsoft: "An important step for innovation and competitiveness."

Jensen Huang, Nvidia: "Essential for next AI breakthroughs."

Tim Cook, Apple: "A great example of American manufacturing."

Michael Dell, Dell: "Ensures scalable storage solutions for progress."

Matt Garman, AWS: "A significant milestone for the industry."

Dr. Lisa Su, AMD: "Strengthens the supply chain at a critical time."

Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm: "Ensures innovation and resilience."

@BamBamInvest : "This is the way"

Micron share in rocket mode

Interesting for investors: With Micron, investors are also playing the AI trend, as Micron is one of three suppliers that provide HBM. This stands for High Bandwidth Memory, a new type of memory specially developed for GPUs. Competitors are SK Hynix and Samsung. However, Samsung in particular has major problems with HBM, which is why SK Hynix and Micron are currently ahead in the race.

Analysts expect that Micron will be able to increase its turnover to USD 45 billion and earnings per share by almost 60% to USD 11 in the 2025/26 financial year, which starts soon, despite massive investments. The current P/E ratios for the stock are 16 and 10.

From a technical point of view, buyers will not be able to continue at the resistance level of USD 114.80; the chip stock is also massively overbought. Consolidations towards the USD 100 mark could offer entry opportunities.

Conclusion: The Micron share has more than run hot and is in need of consolidation. In the course of the current cycle, however, my speculation is that the stock will reach new all-time highs. Stronger setbacks offer entry opportunities.

https://stock3.com/news/micron-mega-investitionen-in-den-usa-aktie-erreicht-zentrale-charthuerde-16439983

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According to market researchers, SK Hynix has replaced Samsung as the largest DRAM manufacturer for the first time. This marks the end of Samsung's 33-year market leadership. The overtaking maneuver was made possible by the sales advantage in the coveted High Bandwidth Memory (HBM).

Since 1992, Samsung had led the global DRAM manufacturers, according to unanimous reports in the Asian media. And now it is the big competitor from the same country that is overtaking the manufacturer from South Korea. At least according to a study by market researchers at Counterpoint, which gives SK Hynix a market share of 36% of sales in the first quarter of 2025 and Samsung a market share of just 34%. Micron ranks third in this statistic with 25 percent, while the remaining 5 percent is distributed among smaller manufacturers that are not named separately.

The fact that SK Hynix was able to take the lead is attributed to a DRAM product that has enjoyed extremely high demand in recent years due to the AI boom: High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), which consists of stacked DRAM dies and is used as fast working memory on GPU-based AI accelerator cards such as Nvidia's GB200 or AMD's MI325X.

According to Business Korea, SK Hynix currently holds around 70 percent of the HBM market, which is also served by Micron (since recently) and Samsung.

Huge loss of share at Samsung

If we take the market shares calculated by TrendForce for the fourth quarter of 2024 as a benchmark, however, it is not a major gain for SK Hynix, but rather a huge drop in share from the market leader that gives SK Hynix the throne. According to TrendForce, Samsung was still at 39.3 percent at the end of last year, meaning it would now have lost a good 5 percentage points. SK Hynix was already at 36.6 percent in those statistics, so would now have lost even slightly. Micron, on the other hand, would have increased significantly from 22.4 percent to 25 percent.

The sleeping giant from China awakens

However, the biggest growth would have been among the remaining manufacturers: TrendForce cited just a total of 1.6 percent market share for the small manufacturers after Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron for the fourth quarter of 2024. However, Counterpoint now speaks of 5 percent for the "others", which would have significantly increased their share.

The extent to which the studies are comparable will become clear when TrendForce presents new figures, which may or may not confirm SK Hynix as the market leader.

However, it is also clear that there is a secret winner that is responsible for the significant growth among the small manufacturers: Chinese newcomer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has massively increased its production capacities. There has been talk in some quarters of an increase from 70,000 wafers per month in 2022 to 200,000 wafers per month in 2024.

Chinese media even predicted a market share of up to 15% for CXMT in 2025 if the company conquers the market with the latest DDR5 and LPDDR5. TrendForce assumes a share of at least 10 percent. CXMT is therefore already likely to be the new number four among DRAM manufacturers, overtaking competitors such as Nanya and Winbond.

https://www.computerbase.de/news/arbeitsspeicher/groesster-dram-hersteller-sk-hynix-stoesst-samsung-nach-33-jahren-erstmals-vom-thron.92155/

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The Korean memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix achieved a new profit record in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the share price is falling because an uncertain outlook for 2025 is causing uncertainty. The details.

Sales in the fourth quarter rose by 75 percent year-on-year to 19.77 trillion won (13.3 billion euros). Operating profit rose by 2,236 percent to 8.08 trillion won (5.4 billion euros). SK Hynix thus exceeded the expectations of analysts, who had expected an operating profit of 8.02 trillion won.

The strong performance is due to the rising demand for AI servers and the increasing use of generative AI models. As a key supplier to US chip designer Nvidia, SK Hynix was able to benefit from this boom. "Thanks to our world-leading HBM [High Bandwidth Memory] technology and a strategy focused on profitability, we have reached an all-time high," the company explained.

Uncertainty for 2025 weighs heavily

Despite the record results, CFO Kim Woohyun warned of potential challenges. An adjustment of inventories at PC and smartphone manufacturers, geopolitical tensions and protectionist trade policies could affect demand in 2025. This has caused concern among investors about a possible market downturn.

At the same time, SK Hynix remains optimistic about the long-term growth potential. According to forecasts, DRAM demand will grow in the mid to high double-digit percentage range in 2025, while NAND chips could achieve a single-digit growth rate.

The share lost almost six percent at times on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Thursday morning and is currently trading at 148 euros (as at 23.01, 10:00 a.m.).

New market for memory chips

"The memory chip industry is changing from a volume- and price-driven mass market to a quality-oriented specialty market," explained a company spokesperson. This shift towards high-performance, customized products could secure stable margins in the long term.

SK Hynix's share price has risen by 29 percent since the beginning of the year. Analysts such as SK Kim from Daiwa Capital Markets emphasize that the company will maintain its leading role in the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) segment despite possible market corrections.

https://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/18922101-nvidia-zulieferer-ki-boom-sk-hynix-erzielt-rekordgewinne-aktie-sinkt

Today, my overweighting of the semiconductor sector is once again falling flat on its face.

Which stocks would you sell and why? Or would you stick with it everywhere?

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SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) - SK hynix Inc. announced Friday that it will showcase its cutting-edge artificial intelligence-based memory technologies and present its vision as a comprehensive AI memory provider at the upcoming CES 2025.

The chipmaker, which is currently a leader in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), will set up a joint exhibition booth with SK Group subsidiaries including SK Telecom Co. under the theme of "Innovative AI, Sustainable Future" at this year's CES, which kicks off on Tuesday (US time) in Las Vegas, according to SK hynix.

Top executives from SK hynix, including CEO Kwak Noh-jung and Kim Joo-seon, president of AI Infrastructure, will be present to highlight the company's technological advancements and strategic direction.

SK hynix aims to strengthen its position as a "full-stack AI storage provider" with the annual event, offering a wide range of AI-oriented storage products and technologies.

At CES 2025, SK hynix plans to showcase its innovations in on-device AI solutions, next-generation AI memory and its flagship HBM chips.

A highlight of the exhibition will be samples of the 16-layer HBM3E chips, the most advanced HBM technology to date, which will be officially launched in November 2024.

SK hynix is currently supplying customers with the 12-layer HBM3E chips while working on the development of HBM4, the sixth-generation HBM, in the second half of this year.

The company is also showcasing high-capacity, high-performance enterprise solid-state drive (eSSD) products, including the 122TB D5-P5336 model developed by its US subsidiary Solidigm in November last year.

"We will continue to do our best to demonstrate new possibilities in the AI era through technological innovation and provide irreplaceable value to our customers," CEO Kwak said in a press release.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2025/01/129_389660.html

Crazy times on the stock market!

Although the Nvidia supplier announced its highest operating profit since 2018, this was not enough for investors.

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https://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/18307068-trotz-umsatzverdoppelung-nvidia-zulieferer-stuerzt-zahlen-ab

Before the thing runs away from me any further, I have decided to open a first small position.

Do you have$HY9H (-2.49%) on the screen - or even in your portfolio?