Equity Research

May 4, 2015

Equity Research

Chip Weekly: Wading Through A Soft Patch

? We have lowered our 2015 chip industry growth projection to 0-10% from a prior 8-12% following June quarter guidance given by many chip companies suggesting slowing year/year growth in the June quarter and data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) showing global chip shipment data rose 6% year over year in the month of March. STMicroelectronics, NXP and Intersil guided for modest sequential sales growth in the June quarter. Samsung said that it expects to drive its own growth in DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and NAND above market growth.

? STMicroelectronics reported March quarter revenue of $1.7 billion (down 6.7% sequentially and down 6.6% yr/yr). STMicrolectronics guided June quarter sales to increase by about 3.5% sequentially, plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. NXP Semiconductor reported March quarter sales of $1.46 billion (down 4.6% sequentially and up 18% yr/yr). NXP guided June quarter revenue to the $1.48-$1.53 billion range (midpoint=+3% sequentially). Intersil reported March quarter revenue of $134.2 million (up 2% sequentially and down 4% yr/yr). Intersil guided the June quarter revenue flat to up 3% sequentially.

? Worldwide semiconductor sales reported by the SIA increased 6% yr/yr in March, after increasing 3% yr/yr in February and increasing 9% yr/yr in January. The three-month rolling average of semiconductor sales was flat month over month in March. IC (integrated circuit) sales increased 5% yr/yr in March, after increasing 5% yr/yr in February and increasing 10% yr/yr in January. IC units increased 6% yr/yr in March, after decreasing 1% yr/yr in February and increasing 10% yr/yr in January. This implies blended IC average selling price (ASP) decreased 1% yr/yr in the month of March while being roughly flat year over year for the March quarter as a whole. Excluding memory, we calculate IC ASP decreased 3% yr/yr in the month of March.

? In Samsung's earnings report the company said that for the June quarter it expects its DRAM bit growth will be above the mid-single-digit percent sequential growth it expects for the market, and its NAND bit growth will be above the low teens percent bit growth for the market. Samsung said total capex in 2015 might remain in line with 2014 though it indicated there is a strong possibility that 2015 levels may increase from 2014. Inotera reported March quarter net income fell 35% year over year (a third of Inotera's net income is reported by Micron as a minority interest) and said that it expects its bit growth will be flat to slightly up in the upcoming quarter.

? Microsemi completed its tender offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of Vitesse Semiconductor for $5.28 per share in cash. Micron announced the pricing of an offering of $1.1 billion of debt. Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron announced they have agreed to terminate their business combination agreement following concerned expressed by the US Department of Justice..

? In the coming week we will be looking at Nvidia's earnings report with interest to see if Nvidia's GPU (graphics processor unit) business might have been helped by AMD's general struggles, or alternatively impacted by weakness in the desktop market. At its analysts' day in New York we think AMD will discuss its long-term strategic goals and its plan to get to profitability. Given that many broad-based chip companies that have reported earnings over the last month, we suspect that SunEdison's commentary will reflect a soft demand environment for blank wafers which we expect has resulted in continuing pricing weakness.

Please see page 14 for rating definitions, important disclosures and required analyst certifications All estimates/forecasts are as of 05/04/15 unless otherwise stated.

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of the report and investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decision.

Semiconductors

David Wong, CFA, PhD, Senior Analyst (212) 214-5007

david.m.wong@ Amit Chanda, Associate Analyst (314) 875-2045 amit.chanda@ Parker Paulin, Associate Analyst (212) 214-5066 parker.paulin@

Charles E. Long, Associate Analyst (212) 214-8017

charles.e.long@

Semiconductors

WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC EQUITY RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

Our View: We see risks for Micron in several recent reports

We remain negative on Micron (MU, $28.99) with an Underperform rating. Several recent reports by various companies and other data points fuel our concerns over the memory segment, especially DRAM:

? Rising memory capex. o Lam Research, a maker of semiconductor manufacturing (etch) equipment, reported its shipments rose 20% sequentially in dollar terms in the March quarter. The sequential growth was driven by purchases from memory chip makers, with Memory accounting for 67% of shipments (21 percentage points [pp] NAND, 45pp DRAM, 1pp other) in March compared to 53% of shipments (10pp NAND, 43pp DRAM) in the December quarter. Lam expects shipments to rise further, by 3-10% sequentially, in the June quarter. o Samsung said total capital expenditures in 2015 might remain in line with 2014 though it indicated there is a strong possibility that 2015 levels may increase from 2014. In 2014 Samsung spending was about KRW 14.3 trillion (KRW=Korean Won) on semiconductors. In the March 2015 quarter alone Samsung's semiconductor spending was KRW 4.4 trillion, almost a third of the spending for the full-year 2014. Admittedly Samsung's semiconductor spending includes spending on both memory and logic manufacturing, though Samsung's memory operations are significantly larger than its semiconductor logic operations. o Hynix said that in its March 2015 quarter capex amounted to around 2 trillion KRW ($1.85 billion) and is expected to amount to around 5 trillion KRW ($4.6 billion) for the whole year with 20% going to NAND and 80% going to DRAM. While Hynix's capex plan for 2015 appears to be comparable to its 2014 spending (about $4.7 billion) 2014 spending was up sharply from 2013 (about $3.2 billion). o Inotera expects 2015 capex will amount to around NT$50 billion (about US$1.6 billion), up from NT$22 billion in 2014. o Micron expects capex of $3.6-$4.0 billion in FY'15, up from $3.14 billion in FY14.

? Rising DRAM and NAND production o For the June quarter Samsung expects its DRAM bit growth will be above the mid-single-digit percent sequential growth it expects for the market, and its NAND bit growth will be above the low teens percent bit growth for the market. o For the June quarter Hynix expects DRAM bit shipments to increase by a mid-single-digit percent in while NAND bit shipments are expected to increase by a low-teens percent sequentially. o For its May quarter Micron expects DRAM bit production to increase by a high-single-digit percent and its Trade NAND bit production to decrease by a low-single-digit percent. For the June quarter Inotera expects it (DRAM) bit growth to be flat to slightly up sequentially. All of Inotera's production is sold to Micron as wafers for Micron to package.

? Falling DRAM prices o According to DRAMeXchange, the DRAM contract price dropped to $3.13 for a 4Gb (Gigabit) DDR3 chip in the second half of March from $3.25 in the second half of February, $3.38 in the second half of January and $3.59 in the second half of December. o DRAM spot prices continue to slide through April, from $3.20 for a 4Gb DDR3 chip in early April to $3.06 by the end of the month.

Figure A shows that although DRAM spot prices started dropping in mid-2014, it was only at the beginning of this year that contract prices broke through the bottom of the $3.50-3.80 range they were tracking in during all of 2014. The data we present in figure A is pricing for DRAM used in PCs (personal computers). Micron and other memory companies have made the case the while PC DRAM prices have weakened recently, prices for DRAM used in servers and handset (mobile) applications have remained firm. We believe that falling PC DRAM prices are likely to eventually impact pricing in the other DRAM segments as the various DRAM makers shift production from PC DRAM to server and mobile applications.

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Spot Price

Chip Weekly: Wading Through A Soft Patch

Figure A. DRAM Chip Pricing

$4.50 $4.40 $4.30 $4.20 $4.10 $4.00 $3.90 $3.80 $3.70 $3.60 $3.50 $3.40 $3.30 $3.20 $3.10 $3.00

WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC EQUITY RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

May-15 Apr-15 Mar-15 Feb-15 Jan-15 Dec-14 Nov-14 Oct-14 Sep-14 Aug-14 Jul-14 Jun-14 May-14 Apr-14 Mar-14 Feb-14 Jan-14 Dec-13 Nov-13

4Gb DDR3 contract

Source: DRAMexchange, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

4Gb DDR3 spot

I on Intel

April 30, 2015. Details on the tablet market. According to a DigiTimes report tablet shipments are expected to stay flat sequentially at 49.31 million units in the June quarter (down approximately 10% yr/yr). DigiTimes also said that Asustek's shipments are expected to decline due to reduced subsidies from Intel and possible issues with SoFIA 3G-R.

April 30, 2015. Details on possible Intel action to acquire Altera. Reuters reported that earlier this year Intel signed a standstill agreement with Altera that expires on June 1, upon which Intel would have the option of launching a hostile bid for Alter. According to the Reuters article, Intel had begun negotiations to acquire Altera in February with an initial thought of an acquisition price of $58 per share which was subsequently lowered to $54, an offer which Altera reported rejected. In our chip weekly note dated 30 March, we lay out our thoughts on the benefits Intel and Altera might realize on merging. We think that Altera's lack of growth momentum as shown in Altera's most recent earnings report might increase pressure on Altera to seriously consider any acquisition offer that included a fair premium over Altera's market stock price. Our guess is that if Intel is genuinely interested in acquiring Altera, there is probably ample ground on which an amicable deal might be arrived at.

April 28, 2015. Details on Skylake. Fudzilla reported that the Intel's Skylake enthusiast-class processor will be the Core i7 6700K, which features a base clock of 4.0GHz and Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz. The processor is expected to have 8MB cache, four cores and eight threads and support for DDR4 2133MHz or DDR3L 1600M. Intel is also expected to release the Core i5 6600K, which has a 95W TDP, 3.5GHz base clock (3.9GHz turbo), four cores and four thread support.

Data Roundup

Worldwide chip shipment data for the month of March. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) data showed global chip sales grew 6% year over year in the month of March, following 3% growth in February, 9% in the month January and 10% growth for the full-year 2014. We interpret these numbers as showing a downward trend in growth through the March quarter. As we have discussed elsewhere such as in our analysts weekly note dated April 27, June quarter guidance given by most medium and large chip companies over the last month implies poorer year-over-year growth comparisons in the June quarter than the March quarter. We think the SIA numbers could show further deterioration in growth over the next three months. Worldwide semiconductor sales reported by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) increased 6% yr/yr in March,

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WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC EQUITY RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

after increasing 3% yr/yr in February and increasing 9% yr/yr in January. The three-month rolling average of semiconductor sales was flat month over month in March. IC sales increased 5% yr/yr in March, after increasing 5% yr/yr in February and increasing 10% yr/yr in January (see figure 1). IC units increased 6% yr/yr in March, after decreasing 1% yr/yr in February and increasing 10% yr/yr in January. This implies blended IC average selling price (ASP) decreased 1% yr/yr in the month of March while being roughly flat year over year for the March quarter as a whole. Excluding memory, we calculate IC ASP decreased 3% yr/yr in the month of March. Analog sales increased 7% yr/yr in March, after increasing 4% yr/yr in February and increasing 13% yr/yr in January. Discrete sales increased 4% yr/yr in March, after decreasing 4% yr/yr in February and increasing 10% yr/yr in January. We consider the analog and discrete segments to be broad indicators of demand across most end markets. DRAM sales increased 11% yr/yr in March, after increasing 14% yr/yr in February and increasing 19% yr/yr in January. We think that the deceleration in year-over-year growth that we have seen in recent months will continue over the next several months, driven by falling DRAM prices. We are negative on Micron with an Underperform rating. NAND sales increased 12% yr/yr in March, after decreasing 2% yr/yr in February, and increasing 16% yr/yr in January. Over the last few months NAND sales growth appears to have improved after having run in the flat to negative range in late 2013 and for the most part through much of 2014. The ratio of worldwide semiconductor equipment sales to semiconductor IC sales was 13.0% in March, compared to 12.9% in February, 12.2% in January, and 12.2% in December. We consider this to be below the ratio of reinvestment of the 15-20% range we have seen in recent "normal" years; we think that in recent years the chip industry has become very focused on maximizing capital efficiency. North American semiconductor equipment data showed that the book-to-bill ratio was 1.10 in March though bookings decrease 5% m/m in March and billings fell 2% m/m in March. We think that the declining bookings and billings for semiconductor equipment are the result of caution on the part of the chip logic manufacturers and foundries. However, it would appear that the memory chip companies are continuing to invest steadily, which we think will keep pressure up on memory pricing through 2015. For more details and discuss please see our industry note dated 5/4/2015.

Figure 1: Year/Year Growth of IC Sales and Units

80%

60%

40%

20%

Yr/Yr Growth

0%

(20%)

(40%)

(60%)

Dec-84 Dec-85 Dec-86 Dec-87 Dec-88 Dec-89 Dec-90 Dec-91 Dec-92 Dec-93 Dec-94 Dec-95 Dec-96 Dec-97 Dec-98 Dec-99 Dec-00 Dec-01 Dec-02 Dec-03 Dec-04 Dec-05 Dec-06 Dec-07 Dec-08 Dec-09 Dec-10 Dec-11 Dec-12 Dec-13 Dec-14 Dec-15

Yr/Yr chg IC sales

Yr/Yr chg IC units

Our sales projections, 5% growth in 2015

Source: Semiconductor Industry Association, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC estimates

Mobile Chips - Notes from earnings reports. In our Mobile Chips note we review some of the latest tablet processor and smartphone processor news that has come out over the last few weeks from March quarter earnings reports and other events. It strikes us that Intel is making steady progress with its SoFIA product, which we see to be key to eliminating subsidies in tablets and expanding Intel's addressed market in smartphones. Qualcomm's chip issues resulted in Qualcomm reducing its FY15 (September FY) by $1+ billion and saying that it expects its chip division revenue will be down 6% year over year in FY15. MediaTek appears to be steadily building out its 4G product offerings and growing shipments. Intel shipped 7 million tablet processors in the March quarter. Although this represents a big, 45% year-over-year jump in shipments, it is a large drop from the 16 million tablet processors Intel shipped in the December 2014 quarter. We calculate that revenue recognized for tablet and smartphone chip sales in the March 2015 quarter was essentially zero or

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WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC EQUITY RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

even negative. On its earnings call in mid-April Intel said that Atom x3 (SoFIA 3G) is now shipping in the market. In mid-April. With Qualcomm's March 2015 report, and June 2015 and updated FY15 guidance, the quantitative impact of Qualcomm's chip issues has become apparent. Qualcomm expects to ship 210-230 million Mobile Station Modem (MSM) shipments in the next quarter (down 2.2% year over year at the midpoint and compared to 230 million units shipped in the March quarter, see figure 2) and expects implied revenue per MSM to be down 8%-9% sequentially due to unfavorable mix in the premium tier and price competition in the mid-tier. Qualcomm reduced its FY15 (September fiscal year) guidance to revenues of $25.0-$27.0 billion (down 1.8% at the midpoint) compared to previous guidance for revenues of$26.3-$28.0 billion. MediaTek said that 4G accounted for 30% of shipments in the March quarter and is expected to accounted for 30%-35% of shipments in the June quarter. MediaTek reiterated its goal to ship 150 million units of LTE chip products, 450 million units of chip smartphone products, and 50 million units of tablet processors in 2015. Apple shipped 12.6 million iPads in the March quarter, down 41% sequentially and down 23% year over year. Samsung shipped roughly 9 million tablets in the March quarter, down 18% sequentially and down from 13 million shipped in the March 2014 quarter. Microsoft Surface sales increased 43% yr/yr to $713 million (down 35% sequentially), driven by Surface 3 Pro sales. For additional details please see our May 1 note.

Figure 2. Qualcomm MSM Shipments

300

100%

240

75%

MSM Unit Shipments(millions)

180

50%

Yr/ Yr %

120

25%

60

0%

0

-25%

FQ1 02 FQ3 02 FQ1 03 FQ3 03 FQ1 04 FQ3 04 FQ1 05 FQ3 05 FQ1 06 FQ3 06 FQ1 07 FQ3 07 FQ1 08 FQ3 08 FQ1 09 FQ3 09 FQ1 10 FQ3 10 FQ1 11 FQ3 11 FQ1 12 FQ3 12 FQ1 13 FQ3 13 FQ1 14 FQ3 14 FQ1 15

MSM Chipset Units(MM) Source: Qualcomm, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Yr/ Yr %

Memory Pricing

Spot Market Last week DRAM spot prices declined while NAND spot prices increased according to DRAMeXchange (see figure 3). The spot price for a 4Gb DDR3 chip was $3.05, versus $3.06 at the end of the prior week, while the 64GB NAND spot price was $2.60 compared to $2.53 at the end of the prior week.

? DRAM spot prices have declined substantially over the last 9 months, from above $4.40 for a 4Gb chip in July 2014 to below $3.10 today.

Contract Market According to DRAMeXchange, the DRAM contract price dropped to $3.13 for a 4Gb DDR3 chip in the second half of March from $3.25 in the second half of February, $3.38 in the second half of January and $3.59 in the second half of December. The contract price for a 64Gb NAND chip dropped to $2.61 in the second half of March from $2.62 in the first half of March.

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WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC EQUITY RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

Data on Bloomberg (quoting Inspectrum) suggests that the DRAM contract price for a 4Gb DDR3 chip amounted to $3.00 in April (versus $3.30 in March, and $3.45 in February) while the contract price for a 64Gb MLC NAND chip amounted to $2.80 in April (versus $2.86 in March and $2.08 in February).

Current quarter bit growth expectations for various memory companies: ? For the June quarter Samsung expects its DRAM bit growth will be above the mid-single-digit percent sequential growth it expects for the market, and its NAND bit growth will be above the low teens percent bit growth for the market. ? For the June quarter Hynix expects DRAM bit shipments to increase by a mid-single-digit percent in while NAND bit shipments are expected to increase by a low-teens percent sequentially. ? For its May quarter Micron expects DRAM bit production to increase by a high-single-digit percent and its Trade NAND bit production to decrease by a low-single-digit percent. o For the June quarter Inotera expects it (DRAM) bit growth to be flat to slightly up sequentially. All of Inotera's production is sold to Micron as wafers for Micron to package.

Figure 3: Memory Chip Prices

4Gb DDR3

64Gb NAND MLC

Date

Spot Contract Spot Contract

05/01/2015 $3.05

$2.60

04/24/2015 $3.06

$2.53

04/17/2015 $3.14

$2.44

04/10/2015 $3.17

$2.40

04/03/2015 $3.20

$2.40

03/27/2015 $3.22 $3.13

$2.41 $2.61

03/20/2015 $3.26

$2.42

03/13/2015 $3.30

$2.43 $2.62

03/06/2015 $3.36

$2.45

02/27/2015 $3.38 $3.25

$2.54 $2.65

02/20/2015 $3.39

$2.55

02/13/2015 $3.39

$2.55 $2.66

02/06/2015 $3.51

$2.50

01/30/2015 $3.52 $3.38

$2.44 $2.74

01/23/2015 $3.57

$2.45

01/16/2015 $3.60

$2.44 $2.75

01/09/2015 $3.62

$2.43

12/31/2015 $3.68 $3.59

$2.42 $2.76

12/26/2014 $3.68

$2.43

12/19/2014 $3.69

$2.47

12/12/2014 $3.70 $3.59

$2.54 $2.80

12/05/2014 $3.74

$2.58

Source: DRAMeXchange, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Reports from memory and memory-related companies in the last week.

April 28, 2015. Inotera reports quarterly earnings. In F1Q'15 Inotera reported sales of NT$18,454 million (NT=New Taiwanese dollars) (-11% q/q, -9% yr/yr), an operating margin of 47%, net margin of 39% and net profit down 35% year over year in NT dollars. A third of Inotera's net income is reported by Micron as a minority interest. Inotera said bit growth decreased 6.5% q/q and is expected to be flat to slightly up in the upcoming quarter. Inotera expects 30nm DDR4 mix to increase to 40% by F3Q'15 and said overall non-PC mix is around 65%. Inotera `s 20nm pilot and ramp plans are on track and the company has initiated qualification of 8Gb LPDDR4, 8Gb GDDR5, and 4Gb DDR3 products. Inotera continues to expect 2015 capex to amount to around NT$50 billion (about US$1.6 billion), up from NT$22 billion in 2014.

April 28, 2015. Samsung reports quarterly earnings. Samsung expects to drive its DRAM and NAND bit growth above market bit growth. Specifically for the June quarter Samsung expects its DRAM bit growth will be above the mid-single digit percent sequential growth it expects for the market, and its NAND bit growth will be above the low teens percent bit growth for the market. Samsung's DRAM bit growth in the March quarter was a low-single-digit increase and Samsung's DRAM ASPs (Average Selling Prices) declined mid-single digit in the quarter. Samsung's NAND flash bit shipment growth during the March quarter was

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about 10% accompanied with about a mid-single-digit decline in ASP. Samsung said total capital expenditures in 2015 might remain in line with 2014 though it indicated there is a strong possibility that 2015 levels may increase from 2014. In 2014 Samsung spending was about KRW 14.3 trillion (KRW=Korean Won) on semiconductors. In the March 2015 quarter alone Samsung's semiconductor spending was KRW 4.4 trillion, almost a third of the spending for the full-year 2014. However, the company said that it could adjust its capex budget depending on macroeconomic conditions and business market conditions. Samsung shipped 99 million handsets in the March 2015 quarter, compared to 113 million in the March 2014 quarter. Tablet shipments were 9 million in the quarter, down from 13 million in the year-ago March quarter. Samsung said it remains on track to target 30% of its 12-inch capacity towards 14nm (nanometer) FinFET by the end of 2015. Samsung expects its newest flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone to outperform Galaxy S5 in sales. For more details please see our note dated April 29.

Other News Items:

April 30, 2015. OmniVision agreed to be acquired Chinese group. OmniVision Technologies announced it entered into an agreement to be acquired by a group composed of Hua Capital Management, CITIC Capital Holdings Limited and GoldStone Investment. OmniVision agreed to receive $29.75 per share in cash, for a total of approximately $1.9 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the third or fourth fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2016.

April 30, 2015. Knowles agreed to acquire Audience. Knowles Corporation announced it will acquire Audience for roughly $5.00 per share in cash (comprised of $2.50 in cash and $2.50 in Knowles common stock). The stock portion will be subject to a collar. The transaction values Audience at an enterprise value of roughly $85 million.

April 30, 2015. STMicroelectronics reports March quarter results. STMicroelectronics reported March quarter revenue of $1.7 billion (down 6.7% sequentially and down 6.6% yr/yr). Analog and MEMS revenue declined 4% sequentially, automotive revenue was flat sequentially, industrial and power discrete revenue declined 7% sequentially, the digital product group revenue declined 20% sequentially and microcontroller, memory and secure revenue declined 3.6% sequentially. Inventory was $1.19 billion in the March quarter (down 6% sequentially). Inventory during the quarter was at 3.8 turns or 95 days. STMicrolectronics guided June quarter sales to increase by about 3.5% sequentially, plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

April 30, 2015. NXP Semiconductor reports March quarter results. NXP Semiconductor reported March quarter sales of $1.46 billion (down 4.6% sequentially and up 18% yr/yr). Automotive sales grew 3% sequentially, secure identification solutions sales was flat sequentially, secure connected devices declined 17% sequentially on seasonality for smartphones/tablet and wearables, security interfaces and power declined 5% sequentially, standard products declined 2% sequentially and high performance mixed signal sales declined 6% sequentially. Inventory grew 2% sequentially to $772 million in the quarter, or 92 days. The Freescale Semiconductor acquisition is expected to close during the second half of 2015. NXP guided June quarter revenue to the $1.48-$1.53 billion range (midpoint=+3% sequentially). Total revenue for 2015 is expected to fall in the $6.2-6.3 billion range and the September and December quarters are expected to show 5-7% sequential growth.

April 30, 2015. Cypress Semiconductor reports March quarter results. Cypress Semiconductor announced March quarter sales of $209.1 million (up 13.5% sequentially and +23% yr/yr). The Spansion acquisition closed on March 12th and contributed $35.2 million in sales to the quarter. Legacy book to bill for Cypress was 1.03 during the quarter. The programmable systems division reported a 19% sequential decline in sales, a 3% sequential revenue improvement in memory, a 4.8% sequential increase in the data communications division and a 1% sequential decline in the emerging technologies division. Inventory grew 340% sequentially to $389 million driven by the Spansion acquisition. Inventory in the channel was 8 weeks for legacy Cypress Semiconductor. Cypress (includes Spansion acquisition) guided June quarter revenue to the $475-$500 million range (midpoint=up 133% sequentially).

April 30, 2015. Details on AMD's 2016 roadmap. Fudzilla reported that in 2016 (possibly Q3'16) AMD is expected to release the following new desktops:

? 14nm Summit Ridge desktop CPUs (with up to 8 Zen CPU cores & FM3 sockets), ? 14nm SoC Bristol Ridge APUs (with up to 4 Zen CPU cores, AMD True Audio, & FM3 sockets), and ? 14nm SoC Basilisk APUs (with up to 2 Zen CPU cores, AMD True Audio, & FT4 BGA sockets). The new desktop processors are expected to respectively replace 2015 2nd Generation FX CPUs, Godaveri APUs, and Beema APUs. Separately, Fudzilla reported that on the mobility front in 2016 AMD may release:

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WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC EQUITY RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

? 14nm SoC Bristol Ridge APUs (with up to 4 Zen CPU cores, AMD True Audio, 15W-35W (TDP/SDP?), & FP4 BGA sockets),

? 14nm SoC Basilisk APUs (with up to 2 Zen CPU cores, AMD True Audio, 5W-15W (TDP/SDP?), & FT4 BGA sockets), and

? 14nm SoC Styx APUs (with up to 2 K12 CPU cores, ~2W SDPs, and FT4 BGA sockets). The new mobility chips are expected to respectively replace 2015 Carrizo APUs, Carrizo-L APUs, and Amur APUs (with up to 4 ARM Cortex A57 CPU cores, 2W SDPs, and FT4 BGA sockets, possibly expected in Q3'15). Each of the desktop and notebook versions of the Bristol Ridge, Basilisk, and Styx APUs are expected to feature next generation GCN Graphics Compute Units, full HSA 1.0 support, and AMD Secure Processor technology.

April 29, 2015. UMC reports March quarter results. UMC had March quarter sales of NT$37.65 billion for the quarter (up 1% sequentially, up 19% yr/yr). For the June quarter UMC said that it expects wafer shipments to remain flat, ASP (in US$ terms) to remain flat, and capacity utilization to be approximately 90%. UMC's guidance implies to us that UMC's June quarter sales could be flat sequentially. Total capacity in the March quarter was 1,583,000 wafers with 1,481,000 wafers shipped (up 3% seq.). Blended ASP decreased 1% sequentially.

April 29, 2015. Intersil reports March quarter results. Intersil reported March quarter revenue of $134.2 million (up 2% sequentially and down 4% yr/yr) driven by new consumer product rollouts and strong industrial and infrastructure demand. Industrial and infrastructure revenue grew 6.7% sequentially (stronger auto and aerospace trends) and consumer and computing revenue fell 5.5% sequentially driven by weaker PC demand. Inventory grew 5% sequentially to $77.8 million, or 132 days. Inventory is expected to decline in the June quarter and days of inventory should improve to less than 100 days by the end of the year. Intersil guided the June quarter revenue flat to up 3% sequentially.

April 28, 2015. Cirrus Logic reports March quarter results. Cirrus Logic reports March quarter sales of $255.1 million (down 14% sequentially and down 16.8% yr/yr) driven by strong demand for portable audio products. Wolfson Electronics acquisition contributed $54.5 million worth of sales for the quarter. Inventory grew 14% sequentially to $84.2 million in the March quarter. Cirrus guided June quarter sales to the $260-280 million range (midpoint=+28% sequentially).

April 28, 2015. Microsemi successfully completes Vitesse tender offer. Microsemi completed its tender offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of Vitesse Semiconductor for $5.28 per share in cash.

April 27-29, 2015. Details on AMD's Godaveri. DigiTimes reported that AMD may release its Godaveri APUs at the end of May. Separately, CPU World reported that AMD may eventually release the following Godaveri APUs:

? A6-8550 - 2 cores, 3.7 GHz, 4MB cache, 65W TDP ? A8-7500 - 4 cores, 3 GHz, 4MB cache, 65W TDP (possibly Kaveri) ? A8-7670K - 4 cores, 3.6 GHz, 4MB cache, 95W TDP ? A8-8650 - 4 cores, 3.2 GHz, 4MB cache, 65W TDP ? A10-7870K - 4 cores, 3.9 GHz, 4MB cache, 95W TDP ? A10-8750 - 4 cores, 3.6 GHz, 4MB cache, 65W TDP

April 27, 2015. Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron agree to terminate business combination agreement. Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron announced they have agreed to terminate their business combination agreement. Apparently the U.S. Department of Justice believes the coordinated remedy proposal submitted to all regulators would not be sufficient to replace the competition lost from the merger.

April 27, 2015. Applied Materials announces $3 billion share repurchase authorization. Applied Materials announced its Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program authorizing up to $3 billion in repurchases over the next three years starting in the third quarter of fiscal 2015.

April 27, 2015. Micron announces and prices senior notes. Micron announced the pricing of an offering of $550 million aggregate principal amount of 5.250% senior notes due 2024 and $450 million aggregate principal amount of 5.625% senior notes due 2026. The sale of the Notes is expected to close on April 30, 2015. Interest on the 2024 Notes will accrue at a rate of 5.250% per year and interest on the 2026 Notes will accrue at a rate of 5.625% per year. Interest on the Notes will be payable in cash semi-annually in arrears, beginning on July 15, 2015. The 2024 Notes will mature on January 15, 2024 and the 2026 Notes will mature on January 15, 2026, unless earlier repurchased or redeemed. Holders may require Micron to repurchase their Notes upon the occurrence of certain change of control events at a repurchase price equal to 101% of the principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest. Prior to May 1, 2018, in the case of the 2024 Notes, and prior to May 1, 2020, in the case of the 2026 Notes, Micron may redeem the Notes, in whole

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