GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, on Monday said that it is to raise its prices next year as 5G-related applications and the stay-at-home economy have boosted semiconductor demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to supply constraints.
With limited new supply worldwide, demand is expected to rise to the peak hit in 2018, the Hsinchu-based company said.
GlobalWafers expects to produce an additional 170,000 wafers a month next year as its new 12-inch fab in South Korea is increasing production.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
“We expect the new South Korea fab to reach full capacity next year. We fear we will not be able to supply as many [wafers] as customers have requested,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told reporters at a media gathering in Taipei.
All of the company’s production lines are approaching full capacity and will remain so in the first half of next year, she said.
GlobalWafers is to raise the prices of all its wafers, with 12-inch wafers seeing the highest increases, she added.
The price increases would help hold the average selling price steady next year as some long-term contracts expire, Hsu said, adding that the multi-year contracts usually carry a higher average selling price.
The company is also increasing prices to help absorb volatility on the foreign exchange market, she said, as a strong New Taiwan dollar has eroded profits so far this year.
GlobalWafers expects strong demand to bring its annual revenue next year close to 2018’s record high of NT$59.06 billion (US$2.07 billion).
That forecast does not factor in the acquisition of Siltronic AG. The deal is expected to add NT$45 billion per year to revenue upon completion of the transaction in the second half of next year at the earliest.
“This year is quite a good year for us. As we estimated earlier this year, [revenue] has grown each quarter on a quarterly basis,” Hsu said. “Next year will be better than this year.”
Revenue growth should be expected in each quarter next year, she said.
The pandemic has increased demand for networking equipment, remote education, videoconferencing and online gaming, as well as 5G-enabled smartphones, Hsu said, adding that a global move online has accelerated because of the pandemic.
Accelerating uptake of 5G technology for autonomous vehicles and other devices would make “2022 an even better year,” Hsu said.
From India to China to the US, automakers cannot make vehicles — not that no one wants any, but because a more than US$450 billion industry for semiconductors got blindsided. How did both sides end up here? Over the past two weeks, automakers across the world have bemoaned the shortage of chips. Germany’s Audi, owned by Volkswagen AG, would delay making some of its high-end vehicles because of what chief executive officer Markus Duesmann called a “massive” shortfall in an interview with the Financial Times. The firm has furloughed more than 10,000 workers and reined in production. That is a further blow
MOBILE SMART: The Dimensity 1200 is 22 percent better in terms of performance than its predecessor, and 25 percent more power-efficient, the handset chip designer said MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled its premium 5G processors — the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 — as it vies for a larger slice of the world’s rapidly growing 5G smartphone market. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 6-nanometer process technology, the Dimensity 1200 processor performs 22 percent better than the previous generation Dimensity 1000+ processor, and is 25 percent more power-efficient, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Realme Mobile Telecommunications (Shenzhen) Co (銳爾覓移動通信) are to be the first adopters of the latest Dimensity chips, the companies said during a virtual media briefing. Xiaomi plans to equip its first
Answering to a reported request by Germany to help address a chip shortage in its auto industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said that it was in talks with domestic chip suppliers. Foreign media over the weekend reported that German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier had sent a request to Taipei to ask Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to cooperate more closely with German automakers to provide microchips and sensors, to bridge a shortage that has emerged over the past few months. The MOEA said that it had not yet received the request and could therefore not elaborate
FOCUS ON FOUNDRIES: An analyst said that some investors would be disappointed because they were expecting a larger announcement of a partnership with TSMC Intel Corp’s incoming chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger on Thursday pledged to regain the company’s lead in chip manufacturing, countering growing calls from some investors to shed that part of its business. “I am confident that the majority of our 2023 products will be manufactured internally,” Gelsinger said. “At the same time, given the breadth of our portfolio, it’s likely that we will expand our use of external foundries for certain technologies and products.” He plans to provide more details after officially taking over the CEO role on Feb. 15, but Gelsinger was clear that Intel is sticking with its once mighty
RSS