MediaTek Q3 results: Affected by transition to 4G, but high level of shipments maintained in Q3 and Q4

Recently, MediaTek released its Q3 2014 financial results, and revenues for the month of October 2014 have also come in. Although MediaTek has lost some market share to due the transition to 4G, its forecast for Q4 is somewhat better than expected by financial markets and it expects to maintain a high level of smartphone SoC unit shipments.

Lateness of integrated 4G solutions impacts results, but high level of unit shipments maintained

MediaTek reported sequential revenue growth for Q3 2014 of only 6% compared to Q2 2014, a relatively low increase given normal seasonal trends. In its Q3 results conference call, MediaTek cited the transition from 3G to 4G smartphones as a reason for the relatively low growth, since MediaTek has not yet ramped production of SoCs with integrated 4G baseband and currently still relies a two-chip solution to provide 4G. Competitor Qualcomm has already been selling SoCs with integrated 4G for some time and dominates that segment, providing a threat to MediaTek's market share. I believe that a lack of wafer production capacity at TSMC was also a major contributor to MediaTek's low growth in Q3 2014, which the company has not publicly commented on.

Even though 4G growth in markets such as China has been lower than expected, the lack competitive 4G solutions means that MediaTek has lost some market share as 4G adoption grows, as was already apparent when looking new product lines from major MediaTek customers in China such as TCL (Alcatel One Touch), Coolpad, Lenovo and ZTE, whose 4G models mostly use Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs. Some loss of market share in China is corroborated by a market share report for smartphone SoCs in China in Q3 2014 from DigiTimes Research, although MediaTek still held greater than 50% of the market.

Q4 2014 forecast better than expected

Still, MediaTek maintained smartphone SoC solution unit shipments in the 90 to 100 million range in Q3 2014 and expects similar shipments in Q4 2014, somewhat better than expected by the market. The expectation that overall revenues for Q4 2014 (which also includes MediaTek's other diverse product lines) will fall in the range between a 6% decline and 2% growth from Q3 2014 is also better than expected by the market. For Q4 2014, MediaTek expects that more than 20% of its smartphone SoC shipments will be 4G (presumably mostly reflecting the start of shipment of new integrated solutions), representing about 20 million units, reaching a full year 2014 shipment target of 30 million units. MediaTek noted volatile movements in the ASP (average sellling price) of smartphone chips due to strong competition, with limited visibility for 2015.

MediaTek disclosed that for the whole year (2014), it expects to ship about 350 million smartphone SoC solutions (of which 30 million 4G), as well as 40 million tablet SoCs. For smartphone SoCs, although China is MediaTek's largest market, the export market (reflecting smartphone SoCs sold to companies in India and other countries, with a large proportion of low-end dual-core chips) is growing in importance, with its share growing from 30% of shipments in the first half of 2014 to 40% in the second half. The increased proportion of low-end dual-core smartphone chips in Q4 (although offset by the ramp of higher-end 4G solutions) is likely to contribute to MediaTek's slight revenue decline in Q4 2014 at similar level of unit shipments.

MediaTek will be more competitive in 4G performance segments, low-cost 4G solution to follow

Looking forward, MediaTek expects the ramp of its integrated 4G solutions in 2015 to result in a better product mix, which makes sense since new chips such as MT6752 and MT6795, both with octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU, make MediaTek a lot more competitive for higher-performance segments. MediaTek has also indicated that its upcoming cost-reduced MT6735 and MT6735M SoCs, which will come to market in the first part of 2015, will improve its competitiveness for the low-cost 4G market.

In the near term, MediaTek only has the MT6732 to address the lower-priced part of the integrated 4G SoC market, but this chip is relatively expensive to manufacture for a low-cost solution, being more suited for the lower part of the mid-range segment. An important reason for the relatively high cost seems to be the use of an ARM Mali-T760 MP2 GPU, which although providing good performance and power efficiency, has a relatively large die area not suited for the low-cost segment. The upcoming cost-reduced MT6735 changes the GPU to a more cost-effective Mali-T720. The manufacturing process node may also play a role. Although information is scarce, it is likely that the MT6732 is manufactured using TSMC' s more expensive 28HPM process like MediaTek's higher-end SoCs, while the MT6735 will probably be manufactured using the more cost-effective 28LP process that is more suitable for cost-sensitive applications. In its conference call, MediaTek noted that the LP process is preferable for products for the entry-level segment.

Lack of production capacity likely to have affected MediaTek

Although not publicly discussed by Mediatek, I believe lack of wafer production capacity at TSMC (primarily earlier in the year) has significantly depressed MediaTek' s sales levels for recent quarters such as Q2 2014 and Q3 2014. In its Q3 2014 conference call, MediaTek noted that it needs to work with multiple foundry partners due to its size. Reports earlier in the year from sources such as DigiTimes provided hints that MediaTek has been facing a shortage of production capacity. It has been reported that MediaTek made a failed attempt to ramp production at GlobalFoundries in 2014, which would have affected its planned capacity. DigiTimes has also reported on planned MediaTek production ramps at UMC in the face of capacity tightness. Signs that MediaTek has not been able to satisfy demand for its chips are apparent in the tablet market, for which the company has several very competitive solutions that have not shipped in the volume (especially in China) that one would normally expect in an efficient market, opening up the opportunity to take market share for companies that do not rely on TSMC for production capacity such as Rockchip and Intel.

However, MediaTek's revenues for the month of October 2014 came in at NT$21.6 billion (US$706 million), representing an increase of 16.5% from the month of September, suggesting an improvement in its capacity situation. For November 2014, revenues dropped to NT$16.8 billion. MediaTek was already conservative about its Q4 revenues when October revenues were known, so the drop is likely to have been expected by the company. Factors involved could be seasonal declines in several product segments (including its legacy product segments), production transitions (such as from MT6592 to newly ramping mid-range SoCs with 4G), competition from Qualcomm and other players with low-end smartphone SoCs within integrated 4G (a segment for which MediaTek does not have a good solution in the near term), as well as being a reflection of the wafer shortage at TSMC that may have reached its peak a few months ago.

Sources: DigiTimes (DigiTimes Research smartphone AP shipments in China in Q3 2014), DigiTimes (MediaTek Q3 results), DigiTimes (MediaTek October 2014 revenues), MediaTek (Q3 2014 conference call)

Updated December 5, 2014.

Transition to next-generation FinFET process nodes: Samsung unlikely to be in the lead despite media reports

In the last few months, relatively vague media reports about Samsung gaining back chip orders from Apple that it has recently lost to TSMC, as well new orders for Qualcomm and other players for its next-generation 14nm FinFET technology have surfaced a few times. These media reports have frequently been widely reported in popular technology publications, often been interpreted as if TSMC would be losing market share in 2015 to the point of having significant excess capacity or as if Samsung has a considerable technology lead. However, these media reports as well sweeping conclusions about a presumed superior market competitiveness of Samsung in comparison with TSMC in 2015 are likely to be highly inaccurate.

TSMC currently dominates advanced node foundry production

TSMC currently dominates the foundry market for leading-edge nodes such as 28 and 20nm for chips such as smartphone SoCs and GPUs with a market share in excess of 80%, and faces significantly more demand than it is able to supply, despite unprecedented investment in new production capacity. Samsung's 28nm logic fabs are currently largely empty, and a similar situation is occurring at GlobalFoundries as it has been struggling to gain significant customers apart from AMD. Within this context, it is apparent that TSMC has been doing something right, while Samsung and GlobalFoundries must have had some significant set-backs, otherwise this market share distribution would not be happening. Given this track record, one can wonder how realistic it is to expect that the level of competitiveness of Samsung and GlobalFoundries would recover or even be reversed for next-generation processes as early as 2015.

Chip design companies motivated to seek additional sources of supply, but challenges apparent

Clearly, because TSMC currently has a virtual monopoly and is not able to fulfill demand there is a pressing motivation for chip companies such as Qualcomm and others to seek additional sources of supply. Therefore there is no reason to doubt that major efforts are being made in this area, especially starting from about Q2 2014 when the capacity shortage at TSMC became very evident. However, successful completion within any reasonable time-frame of such a move (especially when the effort has only recently become more intensive) involves substantial technological challenges and risks, which make it unlikely that it will actually happen in any way close to the time-frame and volume that has been suggested be some reports.

The fact that TSMC's 16nm FinFET process is an evolutionary extension of its already highly successful 20nm process to incorporate FinFET technology, rather than the radical technology changes involved in Samsung's 14mn FinFET process, also make it likely that chip design companies will continue to concentrate on TSMC process technology in the near term out of necessity, with any efforts with Samsung likely to only result in significant production at a much later stage.

Optimistic projections from sources within Samsung widely reported as fact

In an article on October 1, ZDNet (based on an article from its Korean website) quotes a manager from Samsung's LSI division saying that Samsung is likely to improve profits once it achieves volume production for next-generation products for Apple. The source declined to comment about when Samsung would start mass producing such chips for clients. Combining earlier media speculation, the article goes on to state that 14nm production for clients such as Apple, Qualcomm and AMD would start as early as the end of this year. The article also quotes undisclosed sources that Samsung is producing 30% of Apple's A8 processors, with the rest being manufactured by TSMC. The article has been widely quoted in popular news media.

However, there are several reasons to believe that these reports are relatively inaccurate and misleading. First of all, unofficial remarks from sources within Samsung seem to be the only source of information for the article. As mentioned in the article, Samsung is currently incurring very significant losses from its logic (LSI) fabs because of underutilization after losing Apple SoC orders to TSMC. That sources within Samsung (including managers who in fact may hold primary responsibility within Samsung for achieving profitability of the LSI division) would be inclined to paint to an over-optimistic picture that may not accurately reflect the the current and future market status for production of advanced next-generation designs is not at all surprising.

Apple has explored multiple sources for production of Apple A9

Already in July 2013, an article published by EE Times reported that Apple signed a deal with Samsung with Apple to produce the Apple A9 in 2015.  This article also illustrates that knowledge of TSMC 20nm production for the Apple A8 in 2014 (as mentioned in the article) was already widespread at this time. However, in June 2013, it was already reported that Apple signed a three-year deal with TSMC not only involving 20nm, but also TSMC's next-generation 16nm FinFET and later 10nm FinFET technologies, with Apple A9 being mentioned. Recently, in August 2014, DigiTimes reported that TSMC had gained production of the Apple A9 using its 16nm FinFET process with significant volume as early as Q1 2015. More recent reports suggest Apple A9 will be manufactured at TSMC but using the same 20nm process as Apple A8.

Based on TSMC's track record and in particular its successful high volume ramp of the Apple A8 using its 20nm process, I believe it is very likely that Apple will focus Apple A9 production, at least for the most significant earlier part of its production cycle, at TSMC. Apple will be able to move to FinFET earlier at TSMC if it chooses too because TSMC's 16nm FinFET is to a large extent an evolutionary extension of its 20nm process incorporating FinFET technology, rather than the radical technology change involved in Samsung's 14mn FinFET process, achievement of maturity for high volume production is much less of a challenge which makes it unlikely that Samsung will be able to achieve a similar level of maturity in a time-frame that is competitive with TSMC. The fact that qualifying and bringing a similar chip to stable production at Samsung involves substantial additional investment in chip design, testing and associated risks including the timing of such production will probably even make it attractive for Apple to keep material Apple A9 production at TSMC for its entire life cycle.

Achieving significant production of Apple A8 will be very challenging for Samsung

In addition, the accuracy of the claim that 30% of the production of the Apple A8 is already manufactured by Samsung is highly questionable. Samsung's 20nm process is fundamentally different from that of TSMC in several details, and Apple would have to repeat most of the design/validation cycle that it is has already completed for the TSMC version of Apple A8 in order to be able to produce at Samsung's fabs, resulting in very high additional cost, numerous risks, and substantial delays. Moreover, it is doubtful that the production capacity of Samsung at 20nm (which it already uses for certain Exynos chips such as Exynos 5430 and 5433, and even those do not appear to have already ramped in really high volumes) is ramping fast enough to quickly gain material shipments to Apple, especially when Samsung is supposed to be rapidly transitioning to 14nm FinFET.

While it is not unlikely that Samsung has been aggressively seeking to provide capacity for the Apple A8, working with Apple, whether it would be able to achieve material amounts of production before the latter stages of the life cycle of the Apple A8 in 2015 when production levels will already have decreased is debatable. From Apple's viewpoint, it appears that its relationship with TSMC involves TSMC giving it any level of capacity it needs (to the detriment of competitors who are facing wafer shortages) which makes the apparent benefit for Apple to quickly move part of the Apple A8 production Samsung relatively limited. Samsung may offer lower prices for 20nm manufacturing capacity, but as explained earlier, the complexity, cost, time and risk involved in moving Apple A8 production to Samsung make it unlikely that Samsung will be able to gain a significant share of production within a reasonable time-frame.

Comparison of FinFET technologies at Intel, TSMC and Samsung

Recently, ZDNet also published a much more technical and reliable article discussing the status of FinFET technologies of the major fab players, including Intel, TSMC, Samsung and GlobalFoundries.

Intel started production of processors using FinFET technology at 22nm as early as 2011 and has already shipped 500 million such chips, mostly targeted at PCs but also gaining shipments for tablet applications this year. It also offers the technology to other customers as a foundry. Intel has started volume production of its next-generation 14nm FinFET process, which is a "true shrink" with significantly increased transistor density and delivers a combined 1.6x improvement in performance/Watt across applications ranging from smartphones to servers, and will continue to ramp production into 2015.

TSMC's 16nm FinFET development is at an advanced stage

TSMC's first generation 16nm FinFET process, 16FF, was qualified in November 2013 and already saw product tape-outs as early as April 2014. This suggests TSMC's 16nm FinFET process is already close to high volume production. TSMC's 16FF process will be followed up by its 16FF+ process with tape-outs expected in early 2015. While the performance benefits of 16FF are limited due its similarities (the same back-end metal layers) with TSMC's 20nm process, the 16FF+ process involves a reduction in feature size that makes it competitive with the theoretical performance of 14nm FinFET processes from competitors. TSMC is already in a stage called "risk production" for 15 16nm FinFET products this year and another 45 products next year for a variety of applications. Yields are reported have already reached levels comparable to TSMC's 20nm process. This is not surprising, as TSMC has reported that 95% of the tools used for 20nm can be reused for 16FF, which also brings massive advantages in the required level of investment to ramp capacity and greatly facilitates time-to-market.

TSMC quotes its 16FF+ process as having 15% greater performance when compared to 16FF (40% compared to 20nm) and 30% less power consumption when compared to 16FF. TSMC is already working on 10nm FinFET process technology which involves a more substantial 2.2x increase in transistor density.

SoCs using Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 CPU cores already implement TSMC's 16nm FinFET processes

Although 16FF is seen as a stepping stone to FinFET technology, it does provide performance benefits over planar 20nm. TSMC and ARM have announced that a 16nm test chip using Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 cores in a big.LITTLE configuration achieved a sustained 2.3GHz clock rate for the Cortex-A57 core with minimal power consumption of 75 milliwatts achieved for the Cortex-A53 core for common workloads. This demonstration involving a currently relevant SoC design illustrates the relative maturity of TSMC's 16nm technology.

For Cortex-A57, 16FF+ is expected to result in a 11% performance improvement relative to 16FF at the same level of power, while power consumption of the Cortex-A53 for low-intensity applications is reduced by 35%. ARM POP IP core hardening (tweaking cores for either performance or low power consumption) is utilized for early 16FF+ SoC designs. Although TSMC does not specifically address the use of Cortex-A53 at higher clock rates for high performance applications instead of Cortex-A57, the quoted numbers are consistent with the better scaling of Cortex-A53 on new processes when compared to performance-oriented "big-core" Cortex-A57 and cores with a similar architecture.

For example, one can speculate that the significant power reduction for the Cortex-A53 will further significantly increase the maximum clock rate and performance of Cortex-A53 CPU cores, more than the 11% quoted for Cortex-A57, making Cortex-A53-only designs more attractive for high-end applications. Already, early reports about MediaTek's MT6795 octa-core SoC running at about 2.2GHz, the first Cortex-A53-based SoC targeting high performance applications, suggest that it will provide premium-level performance at half the price of current premium-performance SoCs. The chip achieves this despite still using 28nm technology, indicating that Cortex-A53-based high-performance designs using more advanced nodes such as 20nm and 16nm FinFET will be even more revolutionary in terms of performance efficiency.

Samsung development of 14nm FinFET well underway, but maturity for high volume production unclear

Production of the first test chip (using a Cortex-A7 CPU core) on Samsung's first generation 14nm FinFET process, 14FPE, already occurred in December 2013. According to the marketing manager for Samsung’s foundry business, the foundry has completed tape-outs of multiple products and has already started early commercial production for some customers. The 14FPE process is claimed to provide either a 20% boost in performance or a 35% reduction in power consumption when compared to be a planar 20nm process. The process is said to result in 15% smaller chips when compared to a 20nm planar process.

Considering the considerable technological changes in Samsung' FinFET process (especially when compared to TSMC's more evolutionary first-generation 16FF process, which is closely aligned with the already almost mature 20nm), the claimed performance and density gains are relatively minor in the context of the high costs and learning curve involved in bringing chips to mature volume production. High theoretical performance of a new process has little value when it involves very high investment in chip design, relatively high manufacturing cost, and when mature volume production is not achieved in a timely manner. A higher performance version of Samsung's 14nm FinFET process, 14LPP, is expected to be qualified in a couple of months time.

Meanwhile, GlobalFoundries has given up on its own 14XM FinFET process and has aligned with Samsung's 14LPE and 14LPP processes. This decision probably means that it will take considerable time before GlobalFoundries will be competitive for volume production using FinFET, providing evidence that its market position will continue to be precarious for some time.

Conclusion

In summary, indications are that TSMC, helped by its more evolutionary transition to FinFET and dominant position in current leading-edge processes, is much closer to stable high volume production of next-generation FinFET processes than Samsung, and that it will continue to dominate leading-edge foundry production in the near term even as chip designers seek additional sources of supply given the very tight capacity environment at TSMC.

While Intel is also well advanced in its FinFET process development and uses it on a large scale for PC processors, it has not yet seen widespread success either as a foundry partner for third parties or as a provider of large numbers of low-power SoC for applications such as smartphones, also illustrated by the fact that early Intel mobile SoCs such as SoFIA that integrate cellular baseband and other components will in fact first be produced at TSMC and not in Intel's own fabs.

Source: ZDNet (Technical article of FinFET technology development), ZDNet (Samsung LSI article), EE Times

Updated October 5, 2014 (Spelling, grammar) .
Updated October 30, 2014 (Grammar, small corrections).
Updated December 26, 2014 (Minor grammatical corrections).

Potential signs of loosening of tight wafer supply?

Loosening of supply for non-leading-edge wafers?

Recently, DigiTimes, which often provides reasonably accurate information from sources close to the supply chain, but also sometimes publishes inaccurate infomation from vague sources, has published two partly contradictory articles reflecting potential loosening of the wafer supply situation at foundry houses in Taiwan.

On 28 August, it posted an article titled "Production schedules at 12-inch fabs begin to loosen", saying that "while most 8-inch fabs of major foundries are expected to run at full capacity until the end of 2014, production schedules at 12-inch fabs, particularly those of second-tier foundry houses, are said to have begun to loosen as some IC players have been reducing their wafer start orders, according to industry sources". However, it also added that TSCM's 12-inch fabs continue to run at full capacity due to production of Apple's A8 processor.

The fact that TSMC continues to run at full capacity in its 12 inch fabs puts any loosening of supply into perpective. As it happens, all major smartphone SoC vendors (Qualcomm, MediaTek and Apple) are currently single-sourcing the overwhelming majority of their smartphone chips from precisely TSMC's 28/20nm 12-inch fabs. So there a few signs yet that the tight capacity for smartphone SoCs, and other chips depending on advanced processes at TSMC such as NVIDIA's GPUs, will be resolved in the near future.

UMC likely seeing reduced demand for 40nm and above

UMC, the other, smaller foundry in Taiwan, until recently (Q2 2014) had a 28nm wafer capacity proportion in the low single digits, meaning that its production capacity for 28nm was until recently roughly on the order of 30 to 50 times lower than TSMC, a negligable amount, although it is currently attempting to increase that capacity. The DigiTimes article may refer to reduction in demand for non-leading-edge process nodes produced at UMC's 12-inch fabs, such as 40nm and 55nm.

This reduction could be stemming from so-called "second-tier" design houses in China and Taiwan targeting consumer electronics, such as low-end chips from Chinese chip designers targeting tablets and other devices, and Taiwanese companies like Sunplus and Realtek. On example of a product segment for which there is likely to be decreasing demand is stand-alone WiFi chips used in tablets and smartphones. As SoCs integrating much of the required WiFi functionality (such as the digital processing part) from vendors such as MediaTek become dominant, stand-alone WiFi chips for applications such as tablets are seeing much lower demand. Reduction in demand for older or mature product lines from MediaTek (involving segments such as DVD players, optical storage and feature phones) and Qualcomm still produced at UMC could also be involved. TSMC's 40nm and above 12-inch capacity could also be seeing lower demand, but is continuing to be converted to 28nm.

The article specifically notes that trailing-edge 8-inch fab capacity, where products such as LCD driver ICs and power ICs are produced, remains tight across the board.

ASPs said to be trending down due to increased competition

In another article on 29 August, DigiTimes reported that average selling prices of 3G/4G smartphone SoCs, touch controller and LCD driver ICs are trending down in 3Q14, due to increased competition. The article also mentions that abundant supply of wafers from foundry houses contributes to price reductions. This statement seems to partly contradict other recent articles by DigiTimes, such as one referenced above that notes continuing tightness of 8-inch fab production (used for many LCD driver ICs), as well as 12-inch production at TSMC that continues to be fully utilized, and an earlier article saying that TSMC's production capacity was already fully booked for the year (also see my earlier blog post about this). However, more available capacity at UMC's 12-inch fabs (involving nodes such as 40nm) could be a reason for the some the noted trends.

The article also notes a slow-down in domestic demand for handsets in China in Q3, that has led Qualcomm, MediaTek, Marvell and Intel to reduce pricing. It also notes that new low-cost 3G smartphone SoCs from Spreadtrum that are rolling out are potentially contributing to competitive pressures, especially for MediaTek which dominates the segment.

Potential reduction of leading edge wafer requirements at TSMC from more economical chip designs

Even for TSMC's leading-edge (28/20nm) capacity, for which there is likely to still be a significant shortage, there are developments that could reduce capacity requirements and thus eventually largely resolve the shortage of capacity, and it is possible that the DigiTimes articles are hinting at this development.

One factor is that Apple's A8 SoC chip production volume likely to have a peak around now, in order to build inventory in time for the expected September launch of the iPhone 6 and the end-of-the-year peak selling season, and may be somewhat reduced (but still significant) going towards the end of 2014. That in itself can reduce capacity tightness as the year progresses.

Qualcomm transitioning away from uneconomical Snapdragon 800/801 platform

At the same time, Qualcomm appears to be aggressively transitioning a large part of its higher-end production from the high volume Snapdragon 800/801 platform using Krait-400 CPUs to more economical platforms such as the Snapdragon 610 and 615, which use ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores, and later the high-end Cortex A57 + A53 based Snapdragon 808/810. Snapdragon 800/801 series SoCs have a notably large die size (118 square mm for MSM8974, even at 28nm HPM) mainly due to the large size of the Krait-400 cores, as well as other design features such as the GPU and other factors. Because Qualcomm has had a virtual monopoly in the high-end smartphone SoC segment, the high manufacturing cost of Snapdragon 800/801 SoCs has not been a major issue for Qualcomm because of the ability to sell it at a very high ASP.

Cortex-A53 CPU cores, even in an octa-core configuration, have a die size that is significantly smaller than that of a quad-core Krait-400. With likely additionally reduced size of other components such the GPU, Snapdragon 610/615 SoCs are likely to be significantly smaller than Snapdragon 800/801, as small as half the size or smaller. In this way the transition away from high volume, wafer-consuming Snapdragon 800/801 SoCs can immediately reduce Qualcomm's wafer requirements significantly, assuming a similar level of unit shipments, effectively reducing the severity of the shortage of capacity at TSMC.

Some time ago, Qualcomm already executed a similar transition by successfully transitioning its mid-range Snapdragon 400 platform from dual-core Krait-300 to quad-core Cortex-A7 CPUs, likely significantly reducing cost while improving performance. Qualcomm is currently further transitioning its mid-range platform to a quad-core Cortex-A53 configuration with the production ramp of the Snapdragon 410.

Market share gains by MediaTek for mid-range and high-end segments could also effectively reduce overall wafer capacity requirements for smartphone SoCs, because of the tendency of MediaTek SoCs to have a significantly smaller die size and cost compared to competing solutions.

Sources: DigiTimes, MEPTEC