Electronics

Today, according to Taiwan’s supply chain media Digitimes, major foundries, UMC, World Advanced, Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., SMIC, and GF will all plan to increase their foundry quotations again in order to cope with the continued tight production capacity.

According to the report, sources pointed out that the planned increase in the price of foundries in the third quarter will be higher than that in the first half of this year, including 8-inch and 12-inch wafers. In addition, TSMC has cancelled all price discounts for new orders this year and 2022 orders, which is equivalent to a price increase. With the further increase in foundry prices, the foundry is expected to release strong revenue and profits in the third quarter.

The person familiar with the matter also pointed out that customers are currently waiting in line for the production capacity of the foundry, of which the 8-inch foundry is the top priority for customers. However, although TSMC, UMC, SMIC and other manufacturers have announced plans to expand production of mature technology, the new production capacity will not be released immediately.

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Digitimes also stated that due to the extreme shortage of foundry capacity, in order to meet the huge order demand of customers, the foundry has successively expanded investment and expansion. The mature process capacity will be opened in 2022 and will reach the peak in 2023. , By then the tight capacity situation is expected to be alleviated. However, as production capacity is gradually opened up, the industry may face an oversupply situation in the future.

In the early stage, due to the gradual control of the epidemic, the rapid recovery of consumer electronics, new energy vehicles and other downstream industries, and the shortage of 8-inch wafer fabs, the supply of power semiconductors is in short supply, and manufacturers in the industry have ushered in price increases.

According to a Counterpoint research report, some products in 8-inch wafer foundries have increased in price by 30% to 40% compared to the second half of last year. The new wave of foundry price increases is expected to further push up the semiconductor industry chain. Purchase costs and product prices.

Kanishka Chauhan, chief research analyst at Gartner, said in the latest report that semiconductor supply shortages will severely disrupt the supply chain and will restrict the production of a variety of electronic equipment in 2021. Chip foundries are increasing the price of chips, and this will also be transmitted to Downstream equipment.

Gartner predicts that the global semiconductor supply shortage will continue throughout 2021 and return to normal levels in the second quarter of 2022, while the substrate capacity limit may be extended to the fourth quarter of 2022.

Although the doubts about repeated orders in the semiconductor market have never ceased, judging from the operational outlook of major upstream foundries, the trend of semiconductor supply chain performance in 2021 will increase quarter by quarter.

Under the severe shortage of global mature process capacity, in order to meet customer needs, many foundries have recently announced expansions. TSMC announced that it will expand the production of 20,000 wafers/month of 28-nanometer process wafers at the Nanjing plant. The company said that the semiconductor industry capacity shortage will continue until next year, and mature processes are more likely to be lacking until 2022, while TSMC’s mature process new capacity It will be released in 2023.

UMC adopts the "co-build" model to expand production capacity. The company announced in April that it will expand the production capacity of Nanke's 12-inch Fab 12A P6 plant through a win-win cooperation model with customers. According to the agreement, the customer will pay a deposit at the negotiated price in order to secure the long-term production capacity of UMC P6. The total investment in the capacity expansion plan is expected to be approximately NT$100 billion. UMC believes that taking into account the delivery date and geopolitical factors, and the market will not have a significant increase in production capacity in the past one or two years, it is expected that the tightness of mature process production capacity will not be alleviated until 2023.

The other two major Taiwan-based wafer foundries are among the world's advanced and Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and the world's advanced purchase of AUO's plant and facilities in Zhuke L3B factory, which can achieve an 8-inch monthly production capacity of 40,000 wafers. Mass production is expected by the end of 2022 soon. Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. built a new 12-inch wafer factory in Tongluo Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan in March this year, with a total production capacity of 100,000 wafers per month, and will start production in phases starting in 2023.

Samsung announced an increase in capital expenditures in its financial report released in May. By 2030, it will invest a total of 171 trillion won (approximately RMB 977.3 billion) to accelerate the development of advanced chip manufacturing processes and the construction of a new fab. Samsung said that the new wafer production line in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, will be completed in the second half of 2022 and will be used to produce 14nm DRAM chips and 5nm logic chips.

On May 3, Intel announced that it would invest US$3.5 billion to upgrade its production line in New Mexico, the United States. In March, it announced that it would invest US$20 billion to build two wafer fabs in Arizona. It will continue in the United States and Europe in the future. Expansion. Earlier, Intel announced that it would enter the foundry business.

Local manufacturers in mainland China are also facing a state of short supply. Among the wafer fabs in mainland China, manufacturers such as SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor are promoting 12-inch expansion. SMIC announced in March that its Shenzhen wafer fab will start production in 2022.

In terms of production capacity construction, SMIC plans to expand its mature 12-inch production line by 10,000 pieces/month this year, and its mature 8-inch production line will expand by no less than 45,000 pieces/month. In terms of subsequent new plant plans, SMIC and the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and Beijing Yizhuang International Investment Development Co., Ltd. established SMIC Capital in December last year. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2024. After completion, a monthly contract will be reached. Capacity of 100,000 12-inch wafers.