Introduction
The semiconductor chips supply chain has an exceptional level of precision at every step along the way and the companies that have mastered these processes have vast market opportunities and there are 5 types of companies, namely:.
- electronic design automation (EDA) companies with sophisticated software that assist engineers in the custom design and development of complex chips;
- equipment and material suppliers that provide essential equipment for manufacturing chips such as lithography machines, etching, test and packaging equipment, automation and inspection systems and production materials such as chemicals, gases, wafers and packaging;
- factories (called foundries in semiconductor jargon) that concentrates all their efforts in the manufacturing of chips based on the designs provided by other semiconductor companies;
- companies that outsource the fabrication (or fab) of chips to specialized foundries while designing and selling the chips;
- companies that assemble chips into finished semiconductor components, tests for defects and do the very specialized packaging of the chips for shipping assembly.
In addition, to the 5 stages above there are another 2 categories to highlight, namely:
- Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs) that do all of the above elements themselves to control the entire production process and
- Pure-Play Quantum Computing R&D companies are involved exclusively in the research and development of quantum computer technology.
- Their performances are covered at the end of the article.
The MunAiMarkets Pure-play Semiconductor Computer Chip Value Chain Portfolio
The performances of the 5 types of companies are presented in hypothetical portfolios below for the w/e November 15th, in descending order, highlighting those constituents in each portfolio that had stock prices that were up >20%; >10%; +/-5%; <5%; and <10%; and pertinent news, analyses and commentary.
- EDA Software Chip Design Stocks Portfolio: DOWN 6.1% w/e November 15th
- Focus: electronic design automation (EDA) companies use sophisticated software to assist engineers in the custom design and development of complex chips.
- There are only 2 constituents in the portfolio and their performances w/e November 15th were as follows:
- Pure-Play Semiconductor Foundries Portfolio: DOWN 6.6% w/e November 15th
- Focus: factories (called foundries in semiconductor jargon) that concentrate all their efforts in the manufacturing of chips based on the designs provided by other semiconductor companies.
- There are only 4 constituents in the portfolio and their performances w/e November 15th were as follows:
- Pure-Play Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test Stocks Portfolio: DOWN 6.7% w/e November 15th
- Focus: assemble chips into finished semiconductor components, tests for defects and do the very specialized packaging of the chips for shipping assembly.
- There are only 2 constituents in the portfolio and their performances w/e November 15th were as follows:
- Pure-Play Semiconductor Supplier Stocks Portfolio: DOWN 7.1% w/e November 15th
- Focus: equipment and material suppliers provide essential equipment for manufacturing chips such as lithography machines, etching, test and packaging equipment, automation and inspection systems and production materials such as chemicals, gases, wafers and packaging.
- There are only 5 constituents in the portfolio and their performances w/e November 15th were as follows:
- Pure-Play Fabless Semiconductor Stocks Portfolio: DOWN 16.1% w/e November 15th
- Focus: outsource the fabrication (or fab) of chips to specialized foundries while designing and selling the chips.
- There are only 6 constituents in the portfolio and their performances w/e November 15th were as follows:
On average, the above 5 Portfolios of 19 stocks are DOWN 9.9% w/e November 15th
The other 2 semiconductor sectors are:
- Pure-Play Quantum Computing Stocks Portfolio: DOWN UP 20.3% w/e November 15th
- Focus: involved exclusively in the research and development of quantum computers
- There are only 4 constituents in the portfolio and their performances w/e November 15th were as follows:
- Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM) Portfolio: DOWN 8.8% w/e November 15th
- Focus: do everything themselves to control the entire production process
- There are 8 constituents in the portfolio and their performances w/e November 15th were as follows:
