Electronics

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, IC Design Company stated that the strong demand for semiconductors has passed, and the upstream and downstream are rushing to reduce prices in order to quickly reduce inventory, while only TSMC remains unchanged. Recently, it has been reported that TSMC will increase its contribution to individual processes and customer orders by 3% in the second half of the year or the first half of 2024.

There are reports that although TSMC is facing a crisis of top ten customers cutting orders and exploding production capacity utilization, the OEM quotation remains firm and there is no opportunity for negotiation. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, as of the first quarter of 2023, TSMC's wafer inventory has reached a new high and capacity utilization has significantly declined. The production capacity of 7/6 nanometers has dropped by less than 50% from the same period in 2022, and the 5 nanometers production capacity that was in short supply in 2022 has also loosened. Mature 8-inch process orders have also shrunk. The popular 28 nanometers production process is estimated to have an average capacity utilization rate of about 70-75% in the first half.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, TSMC believes that after inventory adjustments, the semiconductor industry will eventually recover, and a new wave of growth is expected from the second half of 2023 to 2024. Recently, during a legal conference, TSMC executives stated that the market is "bottoming out" this quarter, and it is expected that the overall destocking will end in the second half of the year. It is expected that demand for smartphones and personal computers will remain "weak" throughout 2023. In terms of TSMC, in the second half of the year, it will drive demand to warm up with a mass production of 3 nanometers, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

For news of price hikes, TSMC stated that it will not respond to market rumors.

It is worth mentioning that according to foreign media reports, TSMC, as the world's largest wafer foundry, has a large number of highly educated and skilled employees around the world. In its latest annual report, TSMC also revealed that it has over 70000 employees worldwide.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, TSMC also revealed in its annual report that out of over 70000 employees, nearly 4% have a doctoral degree, accounting for 3.8% at the end of last year and 3.9% at the end of February this year; More than 40% of employees have a master's degree, compared to 47.2% at the end of last year and 47% at the end of February. In addition, the average working time of employees exceeds 8 years, from 8.3 years at the end of last year to 8.4 years at the end of February this year. According to the latest financial report data of TSMC, the trend of the company's employee numbers is steadily increasing, which is in line with TSMC's prediction of future market improvement and the implementation of an active talent reserve strategy.