Under the influence of multiple factors such as sluggish demand and restricted exports, global semiconductor manufacturers are experiencing an industry downturn. The stock prices of major chip manufacturers and equipment suppliers have collectively halved since the beginning of this year.
Since this year, the stock prices of chip companies in the world's top ten revenue have fallen by nearly or more than one-third. According to the top ten global semiconductor companies in 2021 released by research institution Gartner, the top ten semiconductor companies in the world in 2021 are Samsung , Intel , Hexel, Micron , Qualcomm , Broadcom , MediaTek , Texas Instruments , Nvidia and AMD . Gartner did not include , a semiconductor foundry company, and upstream semiconductor equipment suppliers, such as TSMC.
First Financial reporter found that so far this year, the stock prices of Samsung and Hirsli have fallen by more than 30%, Nvidia and AMD have fallen by nearly 60%, Intel's stock prices have fallen by nearly 50%, and Micron Technology , Infineon , Qualcomm and NXP have fallen by about 40%.
In addition, TSMC's stock price has fallen by more than 47% so far this year, while the stock prices of semiconductor equipment companies such as ASML, Panlin Group (Lam Research), and Applied Materials have also fallen by about 50%.
Due to the decline in demand for terminal products, several semiconductor manufacturers have recently released preliminary performance estimates, which has disappointed the market, resulting in further decline in the stock prices of related companies. Last week, AMD said that due to decline in demand for PCs and overall supply chain issues, it initially expected revenue to be $5.6 billion in the third quarter, which was down nearly $1 billion from previous expectations, and AMD's stock price fell nearly 14% that day.
According to data from research institution IDC, global personal computer shipments in the third quarter fell by 15% year-on-year, while Lenovo , HP and Dell shipments decreased by 16%, 28% and 21% year-on-year, respectively. Apple is the only manufacturer that PC shipments in the third quarter grew against the trend, and PC shipments increased by 40%.
Later this month, Microsoft and Intel will release their third-quarter financial reports, and will also disclose more information about terminal device needs at that time.
Market participants are worried that the weak and sluggish consumer demand in the global economy of will increase the inventory of chip manufacturers. Last month, memory chip giant Micron warned that consumer demand and inventory-related "headwinds" were affecting memory manufacturers, and Micron also plans to cut capital expenditures and reduce inventory. The decrease in investment in
chip manufacturers has also affected equipment suppliers. On October 13, the share price of ASML, the largest semiconductor equipment supplier in Europe, plummeted by more than 9%, and TSMC announced that it would reduce its capital expenditure this year by 10%. TSMC said half of the cost reduction is due to medium-term planning and the other half is due to challenges in equipment delivery.
ASML's largest customers include chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and Nvidia. ASML said in its second-quarter financial report this year that although the company's reservations hit a record number, it is facing "increasing supply chain restrictions." ASML predicts sales of 5.1 billion to 5.4 billion euros in the third quarter.
On October 12, chip manufacturing technology supplier applied materials company also lowered its sales expectations in the third quarter. The company said that sales in the third quarter will lose an additional $250 million to $550 million, and this impact is expected to continue in the next three quarters.
According to the analysis data of investment bank Evercore ISI, sales of chip equipment manufacturers including KLA and Panlin are expected to decline by 5% to 10%.
Gartner analyst Sheng Linghai told the First Financial reporter that the impact of the chip industry will be relatively long-term, but despite the overall challenges in the industry, some mature process products such as analog chips used for terminal equipment such as automobiles and discrete semiconductors still have a market, but the profit may not be as good as high-end chips.
According to data from the American Semiconductor Industry Association, global analog chip sales rose by more than one-third last year to $74 billion, surpassing the growth of logic chips and memory chips, and demand from China remains strong.
