01

Company Trend（July.8）

Onsemi to Sell Two Fabs in the Philippines and the U.S., Continuing “Fab Right” Strategy to Optimize Cost Structure

On July 8, onsemi announced that it has entered into definitive agreements with counterparties to sell two chip manufacturing facilities located in the Philippines and Pennsylvania, United States. The move is part of the company’s “Fab Right” strategy, aimed at improving its overall manufacturing cost structure and driving continued gross margin expansion. The two transactions are expected to generate approximately USD 35mn in annual cost savings for onsemi. Initial savings are expected to begin in 2027, with the full savings to be realized in 2028. Under the agreements, onsemi will sell its facility in Tarlac, Philippines to Greatek Electronics, a Taiwan-based OSAT provider under Powertech Technology Group. The transaction is expected to close within the next three to six months. The two parties have also entered into a long-term supply agreement to ensure that onsemi can continue meeting customer commitments after the transaction closes. In addition, Sweden-based Silex Microsystems will take over onsemi’s facility in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. The transaction is expected to close in January 2028. The extended transition period is designed to allow onsemi to transfer products currently manufactured at the facility to other fabs within its network in an orderly manner, ensuring business continuity for customers.

Commentary: onsemi’s divestment of two fabs represents a continuation of its “Fab Right” asset-light strategy. The core rationale is to divest non-core or aging production capacity and concentrate capital on high-value areas such as 12-inch advanced power semiconductors, SiC, and intelligent sensing. The transfer of the Tarlac facility in the Philippines to an OSAT provider while maintaining a long-term supply agreement not only ensures customer supply stability but also optimizes the company’s balance sheet. Meanwhile, the sale of the Mountain Top facility in Pennsylvania, U.S., to Swedish MEMS foundry Silex reflects the broader trend of capacity consolidation in specific segments across the European and U.S. semiconductor industries.

From an industry perspective, global analog and power semiconductor IDM companies are accelerating their transition toward “virtual IDM” or “Fab-Lite” models. These companies are retaining core R&D capabilities and critical manufacturing expertise while outsourcing standardized or mature-node production capacity. For domestic wafer foundries and OSAT companies, asset divestments by companies like onsemi could create opportunities to acquire overseas mature production lines or transferred equipment. At the same time, attention should be paid to how international IDM companies adjust their competitive strategies in areas such as power semiconductors and sensors.

02

Company Trend(July.9)

Apple and Broadcom Sign Chip Procurement Agreement Worth Over USD 30bn, Deepening Cooperation on U.S.-Manufactured Custom Chips

On July 9, Apple announced that it had reached a new multi-year agreement with Broadcom, under which Apple plans to procure more than USD 30bn worth of U.S.-manufactured chips from Broadcom over the next five years. The agreement is expected to enable the mass production of more than 15 billion chips manufactured in the United States and support hundreds of U.S. jobs. The agreement also includes Broadcom’s investment of USD 1.5bn to expand and upgrade its manufacturing facilities in Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S., where it will produce advanced radio-frequency components, including FBAR filters and various wireless connectivity technologies. On July 6 local time, a filing submitted by Broadcom to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that Broadcom and Apple had reached an agreement to extend their long-term technology partnership through 2031. The two companies have signed multiple new multi-year agreements, under which Broadcom will develop and supply a range of customized ASIC chip products for multiple generations of Apple devices. Broadcom has long supplied connectivity components to Apple. This new collaboration will further deepen the partnership between the two companies in the development and manufacturing of custom chips in the United States.

Commentary: Apple and Broadcom’s signing of a multi-year chip procurement agreement worth more than USD 30bn represents a typical example of leading technology companies adapting to the trend of global supply chain diversification and optimizing their component supply systems. As Apple’s long-term supplier of radio-frequency and wireless connectivity components, Broadcom will extend its technology collaboration with Apple through 2031 under this agreement, while explicitly making U.S.-based manufacturing the core focus of the partnership. Broadcom’s planned investment of USD 1.5bn to upgrade its Colorado manufacturing facilities and expand capacity for FBAR filters and wireless communication chips also represents the industrial implementation of local semiconductor support policies. For Broadcom, Apple’s long-term, large-scale orders secure stable downstream demand and provide sufficient financial support for manufacturing expansion and customized ASIC development. For Apple, the long-term agreement allows it to secure key RF chip capacity in advance, ensuring stable component supply for its terminal products while further improving its global, multi-tiered supply chain structure. From the perspective of global industry development, leading technology companies have accelerated regional diversification of their supply chains in recent years. Apple’s collaboration with TSMC’s U.S. fabs and its commitment to Broadcom’s domestic production capacity reflect a broader industry trend toward enhancing supply chain resilience. This trend also provides valuable lessons for China’s semiconductor industry. As global supply chains evolve toward a multi-regional collaborative model, Chinese companies can leverage the country’s vast domestic market for end devices and AI computing applications, focus on mature process technologies, specialized packaging and testing, and supporting components, and build differentiated competitive advantages tailored to domestic demand. By doing so, they can participate more deeply in the global multi-layer semiconductor ecosystem.

03

Company Trend（July.10）

Micron Raises Total U.S. Investment to USD 250bn, Accelerating Domestic DRAM Capacity Expansion

On July 10, Micron Technology announced that it will increase planned spending for new U.S. manufacturing facilities to USD 250bn (approximately RMB 1.7tn), up USD 50bn from its previously announced USD 200bn investment plan. The additional investment will be used to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity, covering projects in New York, Idaho, and Virginia, with spending expected to continue through 2035. In a separate statement, Micron added that it will invest USD 3bn to strengthen the domestic semiconductor supply chain. This includes USD 500mn in strategic financing for Taiwanese silicon wafer supplier GlobalWafers. The two companies have reached a 10-year agreement to ensure Micron secures “substantial silicon wafer capacity.” Micron said the increased investment will help achieve its long-term goal of producing 40% of its DRAM chips in the United States. On the same day, Micron’s factory in Clay, New York, completed its first concrete pour, more than one quarter ahead of the original schedule. Micron’s shares rose 6.5% in pre-market trading following the announcement.

Commentary: Micron’s decision to raise its medium- and long-term U.S. investment scale to USD 250bn marks a landmark move as the global memory industry responds to the explosive growth in AI compute demand and enters a new cycle of long-term capacity expansion. Currently, global demand for HBM and high-end mainstream DRAM continues to rise. Major memory manufacturers are all planning large-scale capital expenditures to expand capacity. By increasing investment in its domestic manufacturing footprint, Micron aims to achieve 40% of its DRAM production capacity in the United States. This strategy not only aligns with the direction of local semiconductor industry support policies, but also helps optimize Micron’s global multi-site capacity deployment and balance supply and demand across different regional markets. Notably, Micron is also investing USD 3bn to strengthen upstream supply chain support. Through a 10-year long-term agreement, the company is securing stable supply from silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers. This reflects a new industry trend: amid the global multi-region deployment of semiconductor supply chains, manufacturers are no longer focusing solely on wafer fabrication capacity expansion. Instead, they are incorporating key raw materials and supporting supply chains into long-term strategic planning through localized arrangements, comprehensively enhancing supply stability. From an industry development perspective, leading global memory companies are entering a synchronized capacity expansion cycle, which will continue to expand overall market supply. At the same time, the industry’s product mix is expected to shift toward higher-value segments such as HBM and AI-specific memory solutions. China’s domestic memory industry can leverage its large domestic market demand for AI computing and servers to continue strengthening its DRAM and HBM product capabilities, focus on differentiated application segments, steadily improve product penetration, and establish a complementary development model with memory industries around the world.

04

Company Trend(July.10)

Intel Reveals XBM Memory Architecture, Challenging HBM Dominance with a New Transistor Layout Approach

Recently, Intel unveiled a patented memory architecture called XBM (Extended Bandwidth Memory), targeting the AI computing market beyond 2030 and seeking to challenge the dominance of HBM. In traditional HBM, DRAM memory cells (1T1C) must be fabricated in the front-end-of-line (FEOL) silicon layer at the bottom of the chip. In contrast, XBM innovatively moves transistors and capacitors to the back-end-of-line (BEOL) metal interconnect layer, using thin-film transistor technology to build memory cells. This “front-end-to-back-end shift” approach significantly improves area utilization, allowing more through-silicon via (TSV) channels to be placed within the same area. As a result, XBM can achieve target bandwidth levels comparable to HBM4 at lower operating frequencies. In terms of interface design, XBM abandons HBM’s reliance on ultra-wide parallel interfaces and costly silicon interposers, instead adopting serial UCIe links for chip-to-chip interconnection. This simplifies the packaging process and is expected to significantly reduce manufacturing costs. Each XBM chip is expected to offer capacities ranging from 0.5GB to 5GB, support eight-layer or sixteen-layer stacking, and is projected to enter commercialization around 2030.

Commentary: The disruptive potential of Intel’s XBM lies in the fact that it is not merely an improvement on HBM, but rather a fundamentally different approach that starts from the “foundation” of transistor layout.

Although HBM is currently experiencing strong demand and supply constraints, as the number of stacked layers advances toward sixteen layers, challenges such as placement precision, chip warpage, heat dissipation, and power consumption are becoming increasingly prominent. At the same time, process maturity for technologies such as hybrid bonding remains insufficient, resulting in high manufacturing costs and limited capacity expansion due to constraints in advanced packaging. These bottlenecks create an entry opportunity for emerging technologies such as XBM.

By moving memory cells from the “front end” to the “back-end” metal interconnect layer and rebuilding the memory architecture through thin-film transistor technology, XBM essentially uses “manufacturing process innovation” to overcome the “limits of physical scaling.” If successfully commercialized, XBM could achieve bandwidth comparable to HBM at lower costs and with simpler packaging, potentially disrupting the current HBM supply chain that relies heavily on CoWoS advanced packaging and silicon interposers. However, the technology remains at the patent and validation stage, and its actual performance and yield still require further observation. For China’s domestic memory industry, the emergence of XBM highlights a differentiated competitive path: rather than simply following leading companies along the established HBM roadmap, companies should proactively invest in next-generation memory architectures and seek opportunities to leapfrog competitors during periods of technology transition.

05

Market Trend(July.7)

China’s Memory Chip Market Expected to Reach USD 449.6bn in 2026, Surging 262.9% YoY

On July 7, market research firm Omdia released a forecast report significantly raising its full-year industry growth expectations. The report projects that China’s overall semiconductor market will reach USD 812.08bn in 2026, with YoY growth revised upward to 92.9%. Compared with the forecast released in the fourth quarter of last year, the projected market size has been increased by USD 265.6bn, representing an upward revision of nearly 50%. Memory chips are expected to become the strongest growth driver for China’s semiconductor market this year. China’s memory chip market is projected to reach USD 449.6bn in 2026, surging 262.9% YoY. Its share of China’s overall semiconductor market is expected to jump from 29.4% last year to 55.4%. The report shows that China’s computing and memory chip segments are expected to grow at a rate of 126%, accounting for 62.9% of the overall semiconductor application market. Globally, the semiconductor market is projected to exceed USD 1.6tn in total size in 2026, with computing and memory products also accounting for more than 60% of the market. The growth drivers of domestic and global semiconductor industries are highly aligned, indicating that the industry has officially entered an AI-driven growth cycle. By contrast, the wireless communications segment, led by smartphones, is expected to grow by 68.8%. However, rising memory prices have pushed up device costs, while shipment volumes continue to decline. The segment’s market share is expected to fall from 30.43% in 2025 to 26.63%. The research firm noted that China, as one of the countries playing a leading role in AI development, will launch large-scale AI infrastructure construction in 2026. AI-driven infrastructure demand is expected to significantly increase the utilization rate of domestic chips, while gradually released upstream supply chain capacity will further drive order growth and improve capacity utilization rates.

06

Company Trend(July.9)

CXMT Sets STAR Market IPO Subscription Date for July 16, Marking a Major Capital Market Milestone for China’s Leading Domestic DRAM Manufacturer

On July 9, CXMT Technology (commonly known in the market as ChangXin Memory Technologies, CXMT) disclosed its complete IPO schedule on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, officially setting the timeline for its STAR Market listing. The IPO will become the second-largest listing in the history of the STAR Market and the largest technology company IPO in China’s A-share market in 2026. According to the schedule, institutional preliminary inquiries will take place on July 13, the official issuance announcement will be published on July 15, and online and offline subscription will begin simultaneously on July 16. The company’s stock code is 688825, while the online subscription code is 787825. CXMT is currently the only company in China capable of achieving fully self-developed and mass-produced DRAM across the entire process chain. It ranks fourth globally in DRAM market share and first domestically. Driven by the supercycle in memory demand fueled by the rapid growth of AI servers, the company’s financial performance has undergone a significant turnaround. Net profit for the first half of 2026 is expected to reach RMB 50bn–57bn, representing a YoY increase of up to 2,544%, with average daily profits approaching RMB 300mn. DDR5 and LPDDR5X products have already entered mass adoption in smartphones and domestic AI servers, while the company is simultaneously advancing HBM memory development. The IPO proceeds will accelerate the construction of high-end memory production lines. Combined with the low-cost HBM standards recently released by JEDEC, the progress of domestic control over AI computing memory supply chains is expected to accelerate significantly.

07

Company Trend(July.10)

Hangzhou Yuzhiquan and Zhejiang University Launch “10,000-Channel 3D Nano Laser Direct-Write Lithography System,” Marking Major Breakthrough in Domestic Micro-Nano Fabrication Equipment

Recently, Hangzhou Yuzhiquan Precision Instrument Co., Ltd., in collaboration with the State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation Technology at Zhejiang University, officially launched the “10,000-Channel 3D Nano Laser Direct-Writing Lithography System.” Founded in December 2022, Yuzhiquan is a high-end optical precision instrument developer focused on addressing China’s critical bottlenecks in lithography technologies. To overcome the low efficiency of the “single-beam scanning” approach used in two-photon laser direct writing technology, the R&D team developed an innovative “10,000-channel rapid independent control scheme.” The technology can instantly generate more than 10,000 independently controllable parallel laser focal points. Combined with intelligent global optimization algorithms, it improves light intensity uniformity to above 95%. The equipment delivers outstanding performance, with an ultra-high printing speed exceeding 200 million voxels per second. Its minimum feature size can reach sub-50nm levels, while its 2D area scanning speed reaches 40 square millimeters per minute, dozens of times faster than traditional technologies. The maximum processing area can fully cover 12-inch wafers. The system supports a wide range of applications, including high-end mask manufacturing for photonic masks and MEMS masks, as well as photonic chips, advanced packaging, MEMS sensors, and precision optical components. In particular, the equipment provides critical manufacturing support for the mass production of metasurfaces, a key component for future AR/VR devices, LiDAR systems, and 6G communications. It can reduce traditional processing cycles from several weeks to just a few hours.