The Real Status Of The Semiconductor Market
What is the real status of the semiconductor market, and how should Chinese semiconductor companies respond?
Recently, the market's concerns about the reduction of customer orders have once again fermented in the semiconductor industry chain, and both TSMC and the A-share semiconductor sector have pulled back.
The reporter of "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" learned from a number of semiconductor design and wafer manufacturers that although the demand for consumer chip products has declined, other application fields such as industrial control are still in strong demand. The shortage of wafer production capacity has slowed down compared with last year, but wafer manufacturers are still in a state of full capacity and expansion. Affected by factors such as high inventory and market demand, some manufacturers have recently withdrawn the original repeated orders or slowed down the pace of placing orders.
The relevant person in charge of Fuman Micro said in an interview with a reporter from the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily": "The market demand is not as good as last year's peak period, and the feeling has been particularly obvious since the epidemic at the beginning of the year. When Shenzhen was closed and controlled, the company stayed at home for the whole week, and the factory was not closed. Construction started. However, although it is not as popular as last year, the current orders in hand are in line with expectations.”
"In terms of MCU, 8-bit products are greatly affected by the overall environment, while 32-bit products are relatively stable, and the production capacity of 32-bit MCUs is tighter than that of 8-bit MCUs. From the perspective of downstream applications, the large-scale consumption field has declined, but industrial, communication, and computer field is relatively stable." A person from a semiconductor design manufacturer in South China admitted frankly.
A relevant person from SMIC told the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" reporter that the demand for consumer products has been weak since the end of last year, and the proportion of the company's revenue has also declined. However, in terms of absolute amount, there is still a slight increase year-on-year.
In terms of production capacity, people from many semiconductor design companies said that the wafer production capacity has slowed down compared with last year, and the production capacity may be allocated according to market demand in the future.
A person from the Securities Department of Shengbang Co., Ltd. told the reporter of the "Science and Technology Board Daily" that the company's power management chips have been in a state of short supply, and this year's operation still depends on production capacity. "We have a wide variety of power management chip products, but we have been limited in production capacity. If TSMC's production capacity has a surplus, we will try our best to strive for it."
"The short-term market demand has not been released due to many factors, but from the perspective of industry development trends, the market demand for LED display driver chips still exists. Last year, because of its own limited production capacity, the company put its production capacity on products with higher gross profit margins. This year's production capacity is relatively high. It may take into account products with low gross profit margins." Liang Wenlong, the representative of Mingwei Electronics Co., Ltd., explained to the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" reporter.
"Although the market demand in the consumer field of the semiconductor market has declined, the industrial control category is relatively strong." The above-mentioned fab source told the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" reporter that the booming market last year led to design manufacturers stockpiling and repeating orders. more. Since the first quarter, the inventories of relevant manufacturers have not been digested in time, resulting in the cancellation of repeated orders or the slowdown of order placement, and the market behavior tends to be rational, but the company's overall production capacity is still at full capacity.
According to incomplete statistics from Star Mine, the total inventory of 55 semiconductor design companies (excluding some new shares) in 2021 will increase by 68% year on year, and the average inventory revenue will increase by 1.93 percentage points year-on-year to 25.7%. In Q1 2022, the total inventory of the above-mentioned companies was 81.84% year-on-year, and the average inventory revenue ratio increased by 38.89 percentage points year-on-year to 137.9%.
