The global semiconductor industry is to experience a second straight year of contraction in production value this year as the COVID-19 pandemic dampens demand for chips used in mobile phones and automotive devices, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.
Demand from remote working and online learning, which boosted PC and server sales in the first half of the year, is also likely to ebb in the second half, leading to an opaque outlook for business prospects, the Taipei-based research house said in a report.
Inventory issues might also return in the third quarter, while seasonal demand in the fourth quarter is uncertain, as it largely depends on whether commercial activities will return to normal soon, the report said.
Overall, increases in supply chain inventory might lead to milder revenue growth for the semiconductor industry in the second half, compared with the first half, it said.
This year as a whole, the global semiconductor industry is expected to see its production value fall 1.3 percent annually to US$301.9 billion, excluding the memory chip segment, TrendForce said.
That was a downward revision from its pre-pandemic forecast in December last year of a 3.8 percent annual expansion to US$317.5 billion.
“Due to the impact of the pandemic, consumer electronics, [and] automotive and communications segments are at a higher likelihood of reporting contraction, while computing [and] industrial devices are to have better growth opportunities,” TrendForce said.
Specifically, demand for chips used in servers, commercial notebook computers and Chromebooks are on the rise, but demand for chips for smartphones, consumer electronics and automotive components are slumping, it said.
As smartphone chips and chips used in automotive electronics account for more than 50 percent of the semiconductor industry’s overall production value, their decline drags down the overall chip industry, it said.
TrendForce said it is conservative about the market outlook for the second half of the year.
Integrated device manufacturers (IDM) suffered a drastic decline in production and shipments in the first two quarters due to pandemic-induced factory shutdowns and logistics disruptions, the researcher said.
Poor demand for vehicles added to the slump, it said.
TrendForce said it has a more upbeat outlook about fabless companies and foundries, which are to outperform IDMs, because production at foundries has been spared by the pandemic, as their factories are in places that have been less affected by the virus, the researcher said.
Fabless companies have greater flexibility in adjusting chip specifications to cope with changes in consumer demand, which helps them better weather the crisis, it said.
Fabless companies and IDMs are major clients of foundries.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS