and Non-net reported on March 5 that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has affected all walks of life, and the semiconductor industry has also been hit accordingly. It is reported that silicon wafers, MOSFETs and resistors will all increase their prices.
silicon wafer
silicon wafer manufacturer Global Crystal said that although the demand for 6-inch has not changed significantly, the production capacity of Chinese manufacturers has been affected by the epidemic, resulting in a tight supply in the 6-inch market. Currently, its three wafer factories below 6-inch are almost full, "there are as much goods as they have", and the prices have also increased. We are optimistic that even if the epidemic slows down and supply stabilizes in the future, the 6-inch market will not be too bad.
Hejing recently revealed that due to the large number of wafer factories below 6 inches in China, due to the impact of the epidemic, wafer factories are worried that they cannot get enough silicon wafers. In order to diversify risks, after the Lunar New Year, Taiwanese factories clearly felt that the strong turnover of small and medium-sized silicon wafers was boosted by the full capacity of Yangmei Factory and Longtan Factory, and the orders were overwhelmed. The first quarter also raised the price below 6 inches, an increase of about 5%.
Global Crystal also said that although the demand for 6-inch has not changed significantly, due to the impact of the supply of Chinese manufacturers, the supply and demand balance has been broken. After the outbreak of the epidemic, the 6-inch production capacity has indeed become very popular and the supply is tight. At present, Global Crystal has 3 wafer factories below 6-inch. In addition to the Kunshan plant's production rate has not yet fully recovered, the Taiwan and Malaysian plants are almost fully loaded, and the Kunshan plant's current production capacity is also nearly full, and it is in a state of "delivery as much as you have".
Global Crystal believes that even if the epidemic gradually eases in the future, the supply of China's below 6-inch wafer fabs will return to normal, but the demand for 8-inch and 12-inches has continued to be hot recently, which is expected to simultaneously drive the demand for 6-inches to heat up. It is optimistic that even if the supply stabilizes in the future, the 6-inch market will not be too bad under the push of demand for automotive and other demand.
Although the epidemic has continued to prolong recently, Global Crystal said that since the beginning of this year, the demand for 12-inch, including memory processes and logic processes, has continued to be strong, and the customer's ordering efforts have become more and more stable, and the contract period is getting longer and longer. 8-inch has also followed the 12-inch and 8-inch start to recover. It is optimistic that the 12-inch and 8-inch prosperity have bottomed in the fourth quarter of last year.
Global Crystal production bases are diverse and scattered, with production capacity in Japan, South Korea, Italy and other places. Global Crystal said that overseas factory operations, as well as customers and suppliers, have not been affected by the epidemic; and China Kunshan factory resumed work on the first batch of work on February 10, and the personnel are now re-working one after another, and the resumption rate is gradually rising. The insufficient production capacity has also been allocated to support two other wafer factories below 6 inches.
MOSFET has strong demand
US Super Micro uses TSMC 7 nanometer process to mass produce Zen 2 architecture central processor (CPU) and RDNA architecture drawing processor (GPU), which simultaneously supports the new generation of PCIe Gen 4 transmission agreement. As the market share of ultramicro continues to rise, Intel , which has a obviously conservative attitude towards adopting the new transmission agreement, it is also rumored that it will launch personal computer and server processors that support PCIe Gen 4 this year. The legal person is optimistic that the alternation of PCIe Gen 4 generations will drive strong demand for gold-oxygen half-field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).
Although the epidemic has disrupted the production rhythm of the personal computer and server supply chain, as the resumption rate of the ODM/OEM factory in mainland China recovers, it is expected that normal production will be resumed at the end of March or early April. As demand for chip inventory replenishment continues to strengthen, MOSFET operators have entered the peak season for orders. As the MOSFET production capacity of major international IDM manufacturers has shifted to markets such as 5G infrastructure and automotive, Taiwanese operators have received urgent orders for computer and server MOSFETs, and have increased the investment volume in wafer foundries to meet the strong demand of ODM/OEM factories.
This year, the biggest technological change in the personal computer and server market is that PCIe Gen 4 is about to enter the explosive growth stage.
Last year, Super Micro launched Zen 2 architecture CPU and RDNA architecture GPU that supports PCIe Gen 4. With the significant increase in market share and the rapid development of the supply chain ecosystem, products including solid-state hard disk (SSD), artificial intelligence acceleration cards and drawing cards have emerged in large quantities. Super Micro has expanded its cooperation with TSMC this year and will launch Zen 3 architecture CPU and RDNA 2 architecture GPU that supports extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) 7+ nanometers in the second half of the year, expanding its market influence in PCIe Gen 4.
Intel reported that it had originally intended to cross PCIe Gen 4 and attack PCIe Gen 5 directly. The upcoming 14-nanometer Comet Lake desktop CPU still only supports PCIe Gen 3.
But as Supermicro expands its CPU market share by supporting PCIe Gen 4 applications, plus drawing chip manufacturer NVIDIA will add PCIe Gen 4 to the new 7nm Ampere drawing chip, the industry pointed out that Intel will launch a processor that supports PCIe Gen 4 in the second half of this year.
OEM factory revealed that Intel will launch an Ice Lake server processor and a new generation of Whitley platform that supports PCIe Gen 4 this year. The new generation of desktop or laptop processors such as 10nm Tiger Lake and Rocket Lake will also begin to support PCIe Gen 4. As for the first-time product line that supports PCIe Gen 5, it is expected to be the Eagle Stream server platform, which will be launched after 2021.
Since the PCIe Gen 4 transmission rate doubles compared with the previous generation, the CPU or GPU compute speed is faster, and power is effectively saved with increased power consumption. The power management architecture needs to be increased by at least 20 to 30% MOSFET usage. The legal person is optimistic that the alternation of PCIe Gen 4 generations will drive more MOSFET demand.
thick acoustic resistor price has increased by 40%
As the resumption rate of electronic factories rises, the demand for feeding materials has increased significantly. The world's second largest resistor factory, Thick Sound, also adjusted the price increase for channel merchants, with an amplitude of 40%. The new price has taken effect on March 1, and the resistance price increase lineup has expanded to the top three companies in the world.
Housheng is an unlisted Taiwanese-funded enterprise and ranks the second largest chip resistor manufacturer in the world. According to statistics from the municipal regulatory agency, Housheng's equipment production capacity is about 60 billion per month, half of the leading factory's domestic giant. Overseas production capacity is located in Thailand, about 15 billion per month. Agents reported that Housheng has adjusted the resistance price to channel merchants, with an amplitude adjustment of 40%. Although it is not as high as that of Guoju and Wangquan, it is also the largest amplitude adjustment in history.
supplier said that it was not until last week that Housheng and Lizhi truly entered the stage of resumption of work. During the Chinese New Year, there were not many people left behind, so the production capacity was suppressed. Last week, the market originally reported that the increase in the increase of about 30%. However, after the price adjustment of Guoju and Wangquan reached more than 60%, it seemed that the price comparison effect was generated. In the end, the increase reported by the agent reached 40%.
As the resumption rate of electronic manufacturers rose, mainland channel merchants started working one after another this week. The spot market of passive components awakened. Shenzhen traders speculated about the spot price of passive components, resistor capacitors, memory and forehead thermometer sensors, and were listed as the three hot spot prices of traders. Since the inventory was already very low before the Lunar New Year, traders did not have much supply, and the goods were temporarily rare is expensive. The supply chain believes that the spot price of passive components in mainland China is still expected to be high.
The world's top three chip resistor factories are Guoju, Housheng and Wangquan, with equipment production capacity of about 120 billion, 60 billion, and 40 billion. These three companies alone have already accounted for 53% of the world's market share. The main manufacturing bases of these three major manufacturers are in the mainland, and the resistance supply chain is mainly composed of Taiwanese businessmen, and Japan and South Korea have almost no emergency production capacity.
