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Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: robert b furman who wrote (11157)	4/12/2021 2:49:44 PM
From: Kirk ©	Respond to of 26686

Interesting that they say subsidies rather than low taxes. White House Chip Summit Builds Momentum for Federal Investments in U.S. Chip Manufacturing and Research Monday, Apr 12, 2021, 2:30pmby Semiconductor Industry Association WASHINGTON—April 12, 2021—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today released the following statement from President and CEO John Neuffer regarding today’s meeting at the White House between Biden Administration officials and leaders from the semiconductor industry and other sectors to discuss the global chip shortage, President Biden’s infrastructure plan, and other issues related to the semiconductor supply chain. Meeting participants included SIA board members Tom Caulfield, CEO of GlobalFoundries, Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, and Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology, along with senior executives from SIA member companies NXP, Samsung, and TSMC. “We appreciate the White House meeting with industry leaders about the importance of ensuring a strong and resilient semiconductor supply chain, and we commend President Biden’s support for $50 billion in semiconductor manufacturing and research investments to achieve this goal. Semiconductors are at the heart of America’s job creation, pandemic response, national security, education system, and growth and innovation across a range of sectors, including aerospace, automotive, cloud computing, medical devices, telecommunications, and many others. Funding the chip manufacturing incentives and research investments called for in the CHIPS for America Act, as President Biden’s infrastructure plan would do, will strengthen U.S. semiconductor production and innovation across the board so all sectors of our economy have the chips they need. Today’s meeting marks the continuation of a strong partnership between the Biden Administration and industry to strengthen America’s semiconductor supply chain by enacting federal investments in domestic chip manufacturing and research.” The share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the U.S. has decreased from 37% in 1990 to 12% today. This decline is largely due to substantial subsidies offered by the governments of our global competitors, placing the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage in attracting new construction of semiconductor manufacturing facilities, or “fabs.” Additionally, federal investment in semiconductor research has been flat as a share of GDP, while other governments have invested substantially in research initiatives to strengthen their own semiconductor capabilities. Recognizing the critical role semiconductors play in America’s future, Congress in January enacted the CHIPS for America Act as part of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The new law calls for incentives for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and investments in chip research, but funding must be provided to make these provisions a reality. President Biden’s infrastructure plan calls for $50 billion to fund the semiconductor manufacturing and research provisions in the CHIPS for America Act. In February, the SIA board of directors – and later a broad coalition of business leaders led by SIA – called on President Biden to work with Congress to fund the semiconductor manufacturing incentives and research initiatives as part of his infrastructure plan. # # # semiconductors.org

To: robert b furman who wrote (11157)	4/14/2021 4:08:19 PM
From: Kirk ©	Respond to of 26686

Nice article in Barron's this weekend about one of my top holdings, II-VI. ...For now, though, investors don't know how to account for it all. Industry leader II-VI recently earned the winning bid for optical component maker Coherent (COHR). Rival offers from competitors Lumentum (LITE) and MKS Instruments (MKSI) forced II-VI to raise its offer several times and ultimately pay about $7 billion in cash and stock. II-VI's stock dropped from a high of nearly $100 to the mid-$60s when the bidding war came to a close. That was an overreaction, and II-VI stock has rebounded to about $76 in recent days. But there's even more compelling value in the combination of II-VI and Coherent than the market is crediting. The stock should regain the $100 level and continue moving higher from there.

To: robert b furman who wrote (11157)	4/15/2021 11:57:00 AM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 26686

II-VI Incorporated Expands Silicon Carbide Manufacturing Footprint for Power Electronics in Electric Vehicles and Clean Energy Applications Apr 15, 2021 II-VI Incorporated (Nasdaq: IIVI), a leader in wide-bandgap compound semiconductors, today announced that it has expanded its silicon carbide (SiC) wafer finishing manufacturing footprint in China to serve the largest worldwide market for electric vehicles (EVs) and for clean energy applications. Spurred by increasing regulatory requirements for lower emissions of greenhouse gases and the decreasing cost of lithium-ion batteries, the market for EVs is growing rapidly and driving the demand for power electronics that are based on silicon carbide, a wide-bandgap material that increases the driving range of EVs by about 10% on a single charge, compared with power electronics based on silicon. To meet the market demand in Asia, II-VI has established a backend processing line for conductive SiC substrates, in over 50,000 sq. ft. of new cleanroom space, at II-VI’s Asia Regional Headquarters in Fuzhou, China. “According to recent industry reports, China is expected to continue to be the world’s largest electric car market at over 40% of global sales,” said Sohail Khan, Executive Vice President, New Ventures & Wide-Bandgap Electronics Technologies Business Unit. “We are planning to substantially increase our global production capacity for SiC boules and substrates in the U.S. over the next 5 to 10 years to address the accelerating power electronics market, including for electric vehicles and clean energy applications. These investments will be supported by our global sales force and a SiC platform built by our innovations of the last 20 years, including the world’s first 200 mm conductive substrates in 2015. We are excited about our prospects to lead in one of the most promising markets of our generation.” In addition to EVs, power electronics based on SiC enable high efficiency in inverters for solar and wind energy generation, as well as in smart-grid power switching, due to reduced switching losses, high power density, better heat dissipation, and increased bandwidth capability, compared with existing devices based on silicon. The backend SiC wafer processing performed at II-VI’s new SiC facility in Fuzhou includes edge grinding, chemical-mechanical polishing, cleaning, and inspection, all performed in Class 100 and 1000 cleanrooms. The facility is part of II-VI’s already announced plan to ramp its SiC substrate manufacturing capacity by five to ten times over five years, including with 200 mm diameter substrates. II-VI maintains a large manufacturing operations and product development presence in China in the cities of Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou, and Wuxi. https://ii-vi.com/news/ii-vi-incorporated-expands-silicon-carbide-manufacturing-footprint-for-power-electronics-in-electric-vehicles-and-clean-energy-applications/

To: robert b furman who wrote (11157)	4/19/2021 10:11:02 AM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 26686

Thanks for the kind words. I hope these were not friends of yours... 2 Killed in Driverless Tesla Car Crash, Officials Say “No one was driving the vehicle” when the car crashed and burst into flames, killing two men, a constable said. By Bryan Pietsch April 18, 2021 Two men were killed in Texas after a Tesla they were in crashed on Saturday and caught fire with neither of the men behind the wheel, the authorities said. Mark Herman, the Harris County Precinct 4 constable, said that physical evidence from the scene and interviews with witnesses led officials “to believe no one was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.” The vehicle, a 2019 Model S, was going at a “high rate of speed” around a curve at 11:25 p.m. local time when it went off the road about 100 feet and hit a tree, Constable Herman said. The crash occurred in a residential area in the Woodlands, an area about 30 miles north of Houston. The men were 59 and 69 years old. One was in the front passenger seat and one in the rear seat, Constable Herman said. He said that minutes before the crash, the men’s wives watched them leave in the Tesla after they said they wanted to go for a drive and were talking about the vehicle’s Autopilot feature. ... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last month that it was investigating nearly two dozen crashes involving Teslas that either were using Autopilot or might have been using it. The causes of death were unclear on Sunday. Positive identification had not yet been made because of the duration of the fire, Constable Herman said. “It took four hours to put out a fire that normally would have taken a matter of minutes,” Constable Herman said, adding that it took more than 30,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire. More nytimes.com