"Science and Innovation Board Daily" (Shanghai, researcher He Luheng) reported that According to Taiwan media reports, after the 8-inch wafer , TSMC's 12-inch wafer will also rise in April, with wafers rising about US$400 per chip, and will adopt the first quarterly adjustment method, that is, by the end of this year, there will be three price increases, with a total increase of US$1,200.
TSMC stated that the company is committed to providing customer value and does not comment on price issues.
It is understood that TSMC, which has never easily raised prices, has been rumored to start price increases since the second quarter of this year. The main reason is that compared with second-tier factories such as , UMC and , the price has increased by two waves since last year, and TSMC's price has become the cheapest. For 12-inches, UMC has announced a price increase at the beginning of this year, with an increase ranging from 3% to 10%.
Industry insiders pointed out that TSMC has previously adjusted the price of 8-inch wafers, and there will be no more changes in 8-inch wafers. Even though the price has been adjusted for three consecutive quarters, its price increase is actually relatively small compared to the monthly increase of second-tier factories.
IC Insights recently reported that due to the leading advanced manufacturing process, TSMC's average sales price per wafer rose to US$1,634 last year, a record high, with an annual increase of more than 6%. UMC was also one of the manufacturers that saw the average chip price increase last year, with an annual increase of about 8.87%. If the report is true, TSMC's monolithic wafer quotation will hit another record high.
However, industry insiders also pointed out that second-tier wafer foundry factories are rising sharply, and some wafer factories tend to adopt the floating system for future contract prices. Although TSMC has released the price adjustments in three quarters, it may not be adjusted every quarter.
It is worth mentioning that just before the TSMC's 12-inch price increase was disclosed, US chip stocks rebounded collectively last Friday (26th), with the semiconductor sector ETF rising by more than 4%, Hynix semiconductor rising by 27%, TSMC and Texas Instruments rising by more than 5%, and semiconductor equipment leaders ASMA and Applied Materials both rose by more than 7%, setting a new high.
12-inch production capacity expansion is underway. Mainland China has become a "hot cake" for investment
It is understood that 12-inch wafers have a larger crystal square usable area, which can achieve efficiency optimization. Compared with 8-inch wafers, the usable area of 12-inch is more than twice, which is better cost-effective.
From 2008 to 2016, a total of 15 wafer factories around the world transformed from 8-inch to 12-inch. Compared with 8-inch wafers, 12-inch has shown obvious advantages. Overall, 12-inch wafers are the main wafer sizes used now, both in terms of overall surface area and actual wafer shipment.
According to a report released by SEMI in November last year, at least 38 new 12-inch Fab plants will be added from 2020 to 2024, which is a conservative prediction, without considering low probability or rumored fab projects. By then, the monthly production capacity of the Fab factory will increase by about 1.8 million wafers, reaching more than 7 million.
points, Taiwan will continue to be the world's largest wafer foundry capacity contribution, followed by South Korea. Mainland China has risen sharply in the next few years, with this proportion growing from 8% in 2015 to 20% in 2024, with a production capacity of 1.5 million pieces/wpm.
Meanwhile, SEMI pointed out that although non-Chinese companies will account for a large part of this growth, China is accelerating its capacity investment. "By 2020, these companies will account for about 43% of China's Fab factory production capacity, and are expected to reach 5% by 2022 and 60% by 2024."
involves specific chip products, and the maximum capital expenditure of the 12-inch wafer fab will still be used for memory chips (DRAM and 3D NAND). It is expected that the actual and predicted investment amount from 2020 to 2023 will grow steadily in high single-digits every year, and the range is expected to further expand to 10% in 2024.
In addition, investments for logic chips/MPUs and MCUs will also increase steadily from 2021 to 2023. It is particularly worth paying attention to power devices. Investment growth in this type of products is expected to exceed 200% in 2021, and will also maintain double-digit growth rates in 2022 and 2023.
