Semiconductor packaging and testing giants shut down "core shortage" problem worsened
At present, the "lack of core" problem is spreading from the automotive field to the consumer electronics field
Guangzhou Daily (all-media reporter Xu Xiaofang) Recently, KYEC, a major semiconductor packaging and testing company, has attracted much attention due to a cluster infection at its Zhunan factory in Taiwan.
On the 5th of this month, a spokesperson for Jingyuan Electronics said that short-term labor shortages have resulted in slow delivery of some parts.
In the context of the spread of the "core shortage tide", the shutdown of electronics factories has made people worry that the semiconductor "core shortage" problem will be even worse.
According to data, in the global semiconductor industry chain, KYEC is mainly engaged in the packaging and testing business of semiconductor products, accounting for about 3.7% of the global packaging and testing market.
From the perspective of the capital market, KYEC's stock price has risen by nearly 20% this year, and the increase has exceeded 30% within a year.
KYEC’s latest financial report shows that its revenue in 2020 will increase by more than 13% year-on-year, and its net profit attributable to its parent will increase by nearly 20% year-on-year.
According to industry insiders, KYEC’s main customers include Intel, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Huida.
Major electronics factories near KYEC's production base also include Innolux, United Renewable Energy, and Zhibang.
Regarding this incident, MediaTek, one of KYEC’s major customers, was the first to say that the shutdown will have a short-term impact on revenue this month, but it will continue to cooperate with KYEC.
The Guangzhou Daily reporter also asked Qualcomm about this issue. As of press time, Qualcomm has not responded.
It is worth noting that the packaging and testing orders for the 5G mobile phone chip Snapdragon 870 released by Qualcomm this year were won by ASE Investment and KYEC.
According to reports, the production capacity of ASE Investment Control and KYEC’s packaging and testing orders have been fully loaded before.
And many mobile phone models such as Xiaomi 10S, OnePlus 9R, OPPO Find X3 and OPPO Reno6 Pro+ released this year have all introduced the mobile phone chip.
Regarding whether the suspension of KYEC's labor union will affect the production and supply of the above-mentioned mobile phone models, the reporter asked Xiaomi and OPPO about the situation. As of press time, there was no reply.
Liu Sheng, an industry insider in the semiconductor industry, told reporters that KYEC has a lot of tests in the consumer electronics field, many of which involve mobile phone CPUs and flash memory chips.
"If the scope of influence is further expanded, it will not only be a matter of price increase, it is estimated that mobile phone chips will be out of stock." He said.
It is worth noting that the semiconductor packaging and testing in Malaysia, another important place for global semiconductor packaging and testing, has also been severely challenged.
It is understood that Malaysia is known as the "important town of semiconductor packaging and testing" and is one of the main centers of semiconductor packaging and testing in the world.
Since 2015, Malaysia’s semiconductor packaging and testing revenue has shown sustained and rapid growth.
Currently, there are more than 50 large semiconductor companies in Malaysia, most of which are packaging and testing or component manufacturing plants of multinational companies, including AMD, NXP, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Intel, etc.
Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Malaysia has announced on the 1st of this month that it will suspend economic and social activities nationwide and only open essential economic and service sectors.
Industry insiders believe that the most influential sub-fields are semiconductor packaging and testing production capacity and automotive MLCC, chip resistors, solid capacitors, aluminum capacitors and other components.
At present, the “lack of core” problem is more serious in the automotive industry.
On the 2nd of this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly stated that the biggest challenge at present is the supply chain, especially the supply of chips.
Fearing that chips are in short supply, every company is overbooking.
It is understood that on a global scale, Ford, GM, Honda and other companies have had to close some of their factories in a short period of time due to chip supply.
Relevant agencies predict that this year's global production reduction due to chip shortages will increase to millions of vehicles.
The reporter learned that the current "core shortage" problem is spreading from the automotive field to the consumer electronics field.
Liu Sheng introduced to reporters that the price of sensor chips that are currently in high demand in the home appliance industry has recently increased in price.
Huaan Securities Research Report believes that the increase in semiconductor demand and the shortage of overseas manufacturers, the production capacity continues to be tight.
From the perspective of downstream demand, the rapid development of consumer electronics such as mobile phone fast charging, Type-C interface, two-wheeled electric vehicles, shared motorcycles, new energy vehicles PHEV/EV, photovoltaic wind power, industrial control replacement and other fields has promoted the continued prosperity of semiconductors.
This year's new crown pneumonia epidemic has brought many challenges to the production capacity and logistics of manufacturers. The competitive landscape on the supply side has been optimized, and the process of domestic substitution has accelerated.