Chip Market Could Rebound In 2020: Nintendo And Apple Chip Maker

Taiwan-based memory chip maker Macronix International Co., Ltd. is bullish on the memory chip market in 2020, according to Nikkei Asian Review.  

What Happened

After a rough 2019, the memory chip market could see a steady recovery in demand and a rebound in memory chip prices in 2020, said Macronix International to the publication.

Macronix is a major chip supplier to some of the world’s top electronics companies, including Sony Corp SNEJF, Apple Inc. AAPL, Huawei and Nintendo Co., Ltd NTDOY.

“We see 2020 as being a relatively robust year, and we see room for memory prices to rebound given the supply-demand situation,” said chairman and CEO of Macronix, Miin Wu, in an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review.

“As a leading indicator, the chip industry is like ducks in a river who know spring is coming ahead of other people,” added Wu. 

Why It Matters

Wu's comments come as China continues to pump money into its fledgling semiconductor industry.

The world’s second-largest economy wants to strengthen its home-grown semiconductor sector to reduce dependence on foreign chips amid a tech war with the U.S.  

The Chinese government invested its second round of $29 billion (204 billion yuan) “Big Fund” last year to develop high-end chips in China.

Earlier in 2014, the country invested its first seed fund of 138.7 billion yuan for the home-grown chip industry.

Wu, however, said China needs at least two decades to master the industry despite its funding drive.

"From the semiconductor industry's point of view, it will still take China some 20 years to train a pool of qualified engineering talent and to build up its own technologies," said Wu.