Big price increase! Foundry Q3 rose another 30%, driver IC, MCU by 10%

Core headlines

According to Taiwan media reports, the supply of mature wafer foundry processes has intensified. It is reported that the quotation in the third quarter will be increased by up to 30% , which is far higher than the market expected 15%. UMC and Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are the most sought after by customers, and the price rise is the largest. TSMC and the world will also adjust according to market conditions. As Europe and the United States gradually get out of the epidemic, demand continues to rise, coupled with higher-than-expected quotations, the traditional peak season operations of the four major foundries in the third quarter will be "booming and booming."

01 The delivery time is elongated, and the price of the foundry will increase in Q3

Supply chain analysis, home work and remote teaching driven by the epidemic have led to strong sales of laptops, tablets and other terminal devices, and demand for cars has also skyrocketed, pushing up panel driver ICs, power management ICs, microcontrollers (MCUs), and CIS The consumption of chips such as image sensors has increased significantly. These chips are mainly produced with mature processes. With the large-scale production capacity of chip factories, the mature process capacities of TSMC, UMC, World and Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. have all been wiped out by customers at the end of the year. The quotation has been pushed up all the way.

The four major foundries have never commented on prices. UMC emphasized yesterday that this year’s average selling price (ASP) will have double-digit growth ; Power Semiconductor’s chairman Huang Chongren previously stated publicly, “ Now semiconductor foundry prices are rising every quarter, and there is no sign of going down ”; The wafer fab can be said to have the upper hand, " If the IC design customer's gross profit margin exceeds mine, I will definitely increase the price! ", highlighting the confidence in the upward trend of quotations.

As the demand continues to be strong, the delivery period of the foundry has also been substantially lengthened. The supply chain revealed that, taking UMC as an example, a new product is produced with 12-inch wafers. The fastest delivery time is 17 weeks, and the slowest may be two or even three quarters. For 8-inch, the fastest is 14 weeks, and the slowest is as long as two. Compared with the past two months, which can be delivered to customers for verification, the current delivery period is one and a half months longer than previous years.

The long delivery period also allows foundries to defy the influence of the slowdown in terminal demand. Previously, the market expected that foundries will adjust their quotations again in the third quarter, with an increase of about 15%. However, recent reports have different basis For customers and different manufacturing processes, some of them saw an increase of 30%, which was much higher than the industry's expectations.

Since the beginning of this year, the tight foundry production capacity has not eased. The legal person expects that the four major foundries will have a chance to write new revenues this quarter. The traditional peak season of the third quarter is approaching. With the increase in quotations higher than expected, the operations of the four major foundries will become more prosperous.

02 Driver IC, MCU will rise another 10% next quarter

The production capacity of the mature wafer foundry process is tight, and the price increase continues. The IC design industry continues to increase the price trend in the third quarter. Among them, the driver IC and microcontroller (MCU) two types of chips took the lead in rising, including Elan, Silicon Innovations, Holtek and other companies, all have reported that prices will increase by 10% next quarter.

Regarding the rumors of product price increases, Holtek said frankly that in order to reflect the cost, it does have a price adjustment plan in the third quarter ; Elan and Silicon Innovations declined to comment. Duntai said that the company will not take the initiative to increase prices, but it must reflect the cost appropriately depending on the situation.

It is worth noting that Elan has already increased the price of microcontrollers once in January this year. However, due to strong demand, the quotation was temporarily suspended after the Lunar New Year, and the quotation was raised again in the second quarter, mainly reflecting the differences between Taiwan and South Korea. Wafer foundries have increased prices. The market has reported that the company will raise prices for the third time in the third quarter, reaching a double-digit percentage .

The quotations of Duntai's products have been adjusted successively since the second quarter of last year. There was a wave of comprehensive price adjustments in October last year and April this year. Compared with the first quarter of last year, the current price of the company's integrated touch and drive IC (IDC) chip has roughly doubled . Duntai Chairman Hu Zhengda mentioned earlier that when suppliers increase prices, the company will also reflect costs, but will not voluntarily increase prices due to shortages.

In order to reflect rising costs this year, Holtek has raised its IC product prices by 15% in the first wave in April. However, due to continued price increases in the supply chain, the company will conduct a second wave of price adjustments in August . Holtek has already taken over orders this year, and is beginning to take orders for next year, and for the latter, it also receives a 30% deposit in advance.

In addition, Silicon Innovations drive ICs focus on non-mobile applications, and product applications include mobile devices, industrial control, and automotive. It is understood that Silicon Innovations has first raised the driver IC for mobile phone applications last year, while the industrial control and automotive application products increased in the first quarter of this year. In the second quarter, the quotation of driver ICs for mobile phone applications was raised again to reflect the cost increase since the beginning of this year. , Now the market has reported its driver IC quotation, which will be raised again in the third quarter. According to the assessment of the legal person, from the beginning of the year to the third quarter of the drive IC of Silicon Innovations, the price increase may be up to 30%.

Since the beginning of this year, due to the rising demand for mobile phones, panels and other market conditions, coupled with the strong demand for various electronic terminal products, the supply of driver ICs and microcontrollers has exceeded demand. Especially under the tight wafer foundry production capacity, major chip manufacturers have seized the lead. It is still unable to meet customer demand because of the production capacity, and the price of related chips has been boosted.