Chips News Summary
Chip lead times hit record 18 weeks! Over 30 chip companies around the world issued price adjustment letter
- Global chip shortage
Electronic Component Categories with Extended Lead Time
The lead time of power management chips in this week has reached 25.6 weeks, which has been nearly extended for another two weeks than that in April. In addition, the lead time in other fields has also been extended as chip shortage deepens, such as discrete components, analog components, and passive components.
Market Review: TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, has been frequently adjusting its chip prices. At the beginning, the price of 12-inch wafers has been increased by 25%, followed by the announcement to raise price for its wafer foundry starting from April, 2021. Recently, It has been reported that the price will be continuously raised by 30% in the third quarter.
Global Shortage of Automotive Chips
The price of automotive chips has been increased by more than 20 times, and the lead time has been extended from 12 weeks to 52 weeks, especially for MCU.
- Market Demand
The MCU chip is an essential component of the electronic control unit (ECU). On average, every automobile is equipped with 50 micro-controllers , which are widely applied in braking, air conditioning, instrument, security, door locks and other systems
- Chip Panics
Demand for chips is continuing to outstrip supply, and car makers are no longer the only companies feeling the pinch. The chip shortage has quickly swept the entire manufacturing industry. Around 169 industries around the world are suffering from chip shortages, including consumer electronics, steel and air-conditioning manufacturing industries.
Market Review: The price increase is only a short-term measure to deal with the situation of chip shortage. In the long run, with the development of 5G communication and smart automotive, the demand for chips will keep increasing substantially. According to the forecast from SEMI (International Semiconductor Industry Association) , the semiconductor industry will achieve three consecutive years of growth till 2022.
2. Overseas MCU prices soared 13 times!
Since 2021, semiconductor chips have experienced varying degrees of price increases and shortages. The chip market has always been affected by supply and demand, and under severe supply and demand imbalances, MCU chips have ushered in a surge.
Market Review: Due to the continued imbalance between supply and demand, some MCU products are still in tense in the second quarter of 2021. According to data from Future Electronics, in Q2 of 2021, the lead time of most MCUs still has the trend of lead time extension in the second quarter, 2021. Especially in the first quarter of 2021, ST MCU chips were out of stock.
3. Power Management IC Chips
The 8-inch wafer production capacity continues to be tight, and the demand for consumer electronics and other terminal products seem not reduced. It is reported that the price for power management IC will increased about 10% to 15% again in July, of which the low-margin products will be increased greatly.
Market Review: Due to the insufficient wafer production capacity, many companies have been looking for alternative China-made replacements. Because the continuous development and investment on new power related chips takes up much production capacity, the wafer foundries in mainland China is also in a tight situation. It is expected that the production capacity won’t increase greatly in the next two years.
