Electronics

Recently, the American Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released the "2021 National Semiconductor Industry Report" (referred to as the "Report"). The "Report" believes that the shortage of chips caused by the new crown epidemic has spread all over the world, and it has had a great impact on the terminal market, including the automotive industry. In response to the core shortage crisis, in addition to increasing the utilization rate of the fab, increasing capital expenditure is the long-term response. The capital expenditure of the global semiconductor industry has reached a record high in the past two years. The industry capital expenditure in 2021 is expected to reach nearly 150 billion U.S. dollars, and it will exceed 150 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Before 2021, the industry’s annual capital expenditure will increase from Not more than 115 billion U.S. dollars.

The "Report" pointed out that in 2019, global semiconductor sales were US$412.3 billion, an increase of 6.8% in 2020 to US$440.4 billion, and this was mainly due to the impact of the new crown epidemic. The "World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) Semiconductor Market Forecast" released in June 2021 predicts that the global semiconductor industry sales will increase significantly to 527 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, and global sales will increase to 573 billion U.S. dollars by 2022.

2021 global semiconductor terminal product applications

In the next decade, the innovation of semiconductor technology will lead to a series of technological changes, including 5G, artificial intelligence, self-driving electric vehicles and the Internet of Things (IoT). There is a symbiotic relationship between semiconductor technology and the end market it serves. The innovation of semiconductor technology can strongly stimulate new market demand. For example, the advancement of semiconductor technology has promoted the development of cellular technology, and finally gave birth to 5G technology.

The "Report" pointed out that the shortage of chips caused by the new crown epidemic has spread all over the world, which has had a great impact on the terminal market, including the automotive industry. Therefore, different measures have been taken around the world to deal with the crisis of core shortage.

One is to expand the utilization rate of the fab and increase production capacity. During this chip production shortage period, the utilization rate of wafer fabs in almost every quarter is much higher than the normal utilization rate of 80%, and the capacity utilization rate of some single fabs is as high as 90% to 100%. It is expected that in 2021, the utilization rate of the fab will be further improved to meet the growing market demand.

2019-2021 fab quarter utilization rate

Second, the long-term chip demand cannot be met by increasing the utilization rate alone, so capital expenditures need to be expanded. The capital expenditure of the global semiconductor industry has hit a record high in the past two years in order to meet this expected market demand in the next few years. The industry's capital expenditure in 2021 is expected to reach nearly 150 billion U.S. dollars, and it will exceed 150 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Before 2021, the industry's annual capital expenditure has never exceeded 115 billion U.S. dollars.

Today, the supply shortage in the semiconductor industry is also a reminder that semiconductors play a vital role in many important fields. At the same time, this trend will intensify as the demand for electronic products grows, and the global demand for chips will continue to rise.