Recently, affected by global inflation, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and other factors, resulting in drive IC, CMOS image sensor (CIS), niche DRAM and other electronic product applications such as inventory adjustment pressure, some drive IC factories even pay a default to adjust inventory, it is estimated that the second half of the capacity utilization rate will be reduced by 5%-10%.
According to the report, the force of the accumulation of electricity has become the first in recent years to admit that due to the correction of the economy, the capacity utilization rate fell below 100% of the foundry.
Xie Zaiju said that this quarter to reduce capacity utilization, the average unit price (ASP) also fell slightly, hoping that inventory adjustment in the fourth quarter at the earliest end. The company will deploy industrial standard, power management, automotive and other related needs to fill capacity.
It is reported that, at present, about 70% of the customers and product lines signed a long-term contract protection, the overall operation is not expected to have a significant change, but the remaining about 25 ~ 28% of production capacity can be adjusted. Among them, the driver IC customer inventory pressure is high, some customers have chosen to default on the way to adjust inventory. For this part of the vacant production capacity, the force of the accumulation of electricity said that the 2nd quarter will be part of the production capacity moved to PMIC, RF IC and other products.
Another foundry, TSMC, said that capacity continues to exceed demand, TSMC is rumored to continue to increase prices next year. However, some related agencies predict that TSMC's capacity utilization will decline next year. In addition, for the current weak consumer electronics market, TSMC also stressed that consumer end products are expected to adjust in the first half of next year.
According to relevant agency research, since this year, the terminal demand is weak, resulting in inventory pressure continues to rise, in order to effectively control inventory, the pulling power of the IC also tends to be conservative, especially in 2021 shortage of peripheral IC such as driver IC, Tcon, panel with PMIC, etc., demand quickly reversed downward, thus making the panel factory in the third quarter of the panel driver IC prices required greater reduction. In the imbalance between supply and demand, the situation of high inventory, is expected to drive the IC price drop in the third quarter will expand to 8 ~ 10% ranging, and does not exclude will fall all the way to the end of the year.
Agencies believe that, for the fab, compared to other applications, panel driver IC profits are poor, but is one of the most efficient products for the fab to fill capacity. In the third quarter, the driver IC will face a significant drop in price and reduce the investment plan, the follow-up will be particularly observed whether the foundry price will be flat with the second quarter, or will maintain a high crop rate and moderate price cuts.
Powerchip currently has two 8-inch and three 12-inch fabs, mainly for advanced storage, custom logic IC circuits and discrete components of the three major foundry services.
Regarding the progress of the new 12-inch fab in the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP) Tongluo Park, LSC disclosed that the plant construction schedule was delayed by four to five months in the past year due to labor shortages and serious delays in equipment delivery, and the plan to move in equipment in the fourth quarter was confirmed to be delayed.
At present, LMC expects the plant to be completed on schedule in the fourth quarter of this year, and to complete the construction of a monthly capacity of 8,500 wafers in the second half of next year, and to reach a monthly capacity of 19,000 wafers in the second half of 2024. The production base includes two wafer fabs.
