1. The inventory of mobile phone related components is relatively high, and there is pressure to reduce prices
According to Taiwan’s Electronic Times quoted by the Science and Technology Board, the market’s view on the growth of global mobile phone shipments in 2023 is conservative. In addition to the severe operational challenges faced by brand owners, upstream component and terminal channel sellers are also difficult to stay out of the matter.
On the supply side, the supply of a small number of mobile phone semiconductor components is tight, and the inventory level of components in the overall mobile phone channel is still high. Although the global mobile phone demand is expected to rise quarter by quarter in 2023, it is expected that the related industry will still be under pressure to reduce component prices. Among them, the mechanical components, assembly and other industries will face more severe challenges.
2. The demand for consumer electronics has declined, and Korean storage plants are still facing losses
According to TechWeb citing foreign media reports, the decline in demand for consumer electronics has affected Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix’s two major Korean storage plants. Under the background that the global demand for memory chips is still declining and has not yet picked up, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix Lux, the two major memory chip manufacturers, is still facing considerable performance pressure.
If there is an operating loss in the first quarter of this year, SK Hynix will have an operating loss for two consecutive quarters. In the third quarter of last year, the company’s operating profit was as high as 1.66 trillion won, but in the fourth quarter it appeared nearly 19,000 won. operating loss of 100 million won. The revenue of Samsung Electronics’ storage business in the third and fourth quarters of last year also declined year-on-year.
3. Universal Crystal: There is indeed a delay in the purchase of goods, and it is expected to resume in the second half of the year
According to Taiwan Economic Daily quoted by IT Home, Hsu Xiu-lan, chairman of Universal Crystal, the third largest silicon wafer factory, said at a legal conference a few days ago that there are indeed customers who have postponed long-term contract purchases for about one or two months. The new U.S. plant will be completed in July 2024 and is expected to be put into operation in the first quarter of 2025, with no change in the planning time.
Xu Xiulan said frankly that due to the impact of inventory adjustments, some customers did postpone the long-term contract delivery schedule for about one to two months. At this stage, only the 8-inch and 12-inch production capacity utilization rates of Universal Crystal are still at full capacity, and the production of products required by customers has been adjusted. , looking forward to annual revenue better than last year. At present, the advance payment received by the company has increased from 1.2 billion US dollars at the end of the third quarter of last year to 1.29 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest in history.
In terms of semiconductor inventory, Global Crystal said that the demand related to the epidemic seems to have disappeared, and the problem of supply chain disruption is expected to improve significantly this year. Due to the slowdown in demand for consumer electronics, there is a structural oversupply, while analog components and MCUs used in the automotive industry and industrial electronics continue to be out of stock.
4. TSMC may raise prices again in the second half of the year, the reason is different from the past
According to TechWeb citing foreign media reports, sources from conductor equipment manufacturers revealed that wafer foundry TSMC may raise prices again in the second half of the year to cope with increasing costs.
Unlike the multiple price increases that began at the end of 2020, the current overall global chip supply is not tight, and the production capacity of wafer foundries is not as tight as it was in the previous two years. In the several price increases starting at the end of 2020, TSMC’s price increase process is selective, and each time it raises the price of some processes.
5. Bureau of Statistics: The output of integrated circuits from January to February was 44.3 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 17%
According to the IT House report, the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to February 2023, the added value of industries above designated size actually increased by 2.4% year-on-year, and from the month-on-month perspective, it increased by 0.12% from the previous month. Among them, the output of integrated circuits from January to February was 44.3 billion pieces, a year-on-year decrease of 17.0%.
The output of microcomputer equipment in the first two months of the year was 46.04 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 21.9%. The output of mobile communication handsets was 203.71 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%, of which 134.47 million were smartphones, a year-on-year decrease of 14.1%. From January to February, there were 3.653 million vehicles, a decrease of 14.0%, of which 970,000 were new energy vehicles, an increase of 16.3%; power generation was 1,349.7 billion kwh, an increase of 0.7%; crude oil processing volume was 116.07 million tons, an increase of 3.3%.
6. Chip exports fell for 6 months in a row, and South Korea still invested 300 trillion won
According to Fast Technology, South Korea’s chip exports have been declining in the past six months. The profits of giants such as Samsung and SK Hynix have plummeted or even lost money. The Ministry of Finance announced the largest semiconductor investment plan in history.
South Korea will invest 300 trillion won (about 1.6 trillion yuan) to build the world’s largest semiconductor cluster in Gyeonggi-do. It is estimated that by 2042, Gyeonggi-do will have 5 advanced chip manufacturing plants and more than 150 materials, parts and components. Fabless companies.
Chips are only part of this round of large-scale investment plans in South Korea. In addition to semiconductor technology, South Korea’s goals include industries such as display panels, secondary batteries, biotechnology, automobiles and robots. 550 trillion won, of which the chip industry is the most important.
7. Samsung plans to build a large-scale semiconductor cluster, investing 300 trillion won
According to TechWeb, Samsung Electronics announced on Wednesday its plan to build a semiconductor cluster in Namsa, Yongin City, which will become the world’s largest semiconductor industry cluster. The scale of the cluster industrial park will reach 7.1 million square meters, which is larger than the total scale of Samsung’s three parks in Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek and Yongin.
Experts predict that the investment in Yongin Namsa Semiconductor Cluster will reach 300 trillion won, or about 228 billion U.S. dollars, and the direct and indirect output will reach 700 trillion won, creating about 1.6 million high-quality jobs. Samsung Electronics stated that it plans to build five cutting-edge system semiconductor production lines in the park by 2042, which will attract 150 domestic and foreign materials, components, equipment and fabless manufacturers.