Since the start of 2023, the US has continued to crack down on China's semiconductor development. However, Chinese semiconductor companies are still going through pre-listing tutoring, driven by national policy support and the localization wave. These companies cover sectors like chip equipment, components, materials, automotive electronics, and more. Among them, chip equipment makers are the highest in number.
Worldwide semiconductor sales totaled US$573.5 billion in 2022, the highest-ever annual total and an increase of 3.2% compared to the 2021 total of US$555.9 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Sales slowed during the second half of the year, however.
The analog IC industry is more resilient than other semiconductor sub-sectors, with better value output not only during the two economic downturns in the past 10 years, but also inventory adjustment in Q3 2022, according to DIGITIMES Research analyst David Ma.
Taiwanese startups can no longer involve in "me-too" or "me-better" businesses, but must plan ahead and develop "me-only" technologies. The reasons are because the scales of Taiwanese venture capital (VC) and local market are limited, and does not have an advantage in demographic dividend. Mr. Michael Kao, President of Taiwan ITRI New Venture Association (TINVA) said that environmental, social, and governance (ESG), pharmaceuticals, smart manufacturing, and the semiconductor industries are some of the cutting-edge technologies that Taiwan should plan ahead and invest in. Given Taiwan's complete information and communications technology (ICT) industry chain, there is a good chance that Taiwan can gear to become a key hub for innovations and startups for the Asia Pacific region.
Excess 4G handset chip inventories, including application processors and power amplifiers (PA), are dragging down fab utilization rates at related foundries, according to industry sources.
Semiconductor and PCB equipment maker Csun Manufacturing expects demand for IC substrate-producing equipment to remain promising in 2023, with delivery lead times for related equipment already extending to four to six months.
Among the growing ambiguity in the global environment, a number of well-developed semiconductor equipment manufacturers based in China have emerged, with some already capable of producing sub-28nm fab tools, according to industry sources.
As the semiconductor sector gains increasing national security implications worldwide, the US defense industry has in particular woken up to the crucial role of semiconductor supply resilience, as recent global chip shortages impeded leading US defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to boost arms production in support of Ukraine.
Taiwan's IC test interface specialists in the supply chain of MediaTek are experiencing a slightly weaker than the past traditional off-season in the first quarter of 2023, as the mobile SoC vendor continues to adjust its inventory in line with similar corrections at downstream system makers, according to industry sources.
Silicon carbide (SiC) substrate prices in China reportedly have stopped sliding as a result in rebounding demand, according to sources from third-generation semiconductor suppliers.
Taiwan-based semiconductor firms had a total revenue of US$175 billion in 2022. With the semiconductor industry accounting for 65% of the added value compared to the total GDP, the contribution of the semiconductor industry to Taiwan's overall GDP is 13%.
The IC packaging materials sector will definitely hit rock bottom in the first quarter of 2023, but will then recover steadily in the rest of year, according to Chang Wah Electromaterials (CWE) chairman Canon Huang.
China-based Geely Technology, an affiliate of Geely Automobile, has recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement with domestic power chips foundry GTA Semiconductor to carry out comprehensive collaboration in the areas of auto-grade chips R&D, manufacturing, market applications and talent training, according to industry sources.
IC design service company Global Unichip expects to post a double-digit revenue surge in 2023, thanks to a ramp-up in orders for non-recurring engineering (NRE) designs and turnkey solutions.
Mr. Wufu Chen, Chairman of Acorn Campus Taiwan pointed out that, facing a new wave of lifestyle paradigm shift, he and his company will assist Taiwan in forming an international team with globalized visions and help Taiwanese startups connect with international talents, markets, and capital. On top of technological skills, members of the international team should also possess international vision and perspective. They must be able to define their market and customers, and engage in dialogs with the international market, thereby establishing a footing for the new economy and industry developments in Taiwan.
At its latest conference call on Feb 2, Infineon said its Aurix MCU family is "on full ramp mode," adding that having gotten more wafers, it expects availability of automotive MCUs to improve in the second half of 2023. The comment echoes what TSMC has previously stated.
TSMC announced the launch of its "TSMC University FinFET Program", aimed at developing future IC design talent for the industry and empowering academic innovation around the world.
MediaTek expects to post a further revenue decrease of 6-14% in the first quarter of 2023 after experiencing a nearly 24% sequential revenue decline in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Foxconn and Vedanta, an applicant for India's nearly US$10-billion semiconductor and display fab incentive scheme, are reportedly introducing STMicroelectronics to join them as their semiconductor technology partner, and Foxconn, instead of Vedanta, may become the primary operator of the proposed wafer fab.
All firms with considerable business scales in Taiwan's electronics industry are publicly traded. When they release their tentative annual financial indicators, we can already grasp the growth momentum of the industry, as well as the interactions between different industry sectors and the medium- and long-term outlook. DIGITIMES has again collected data on the ICT product manufacturing, semiconductors, optoelectronics, IC distribution and components sectors, providing readers with a comprehensive picture of the electronics industry and an outlook of the industry trends in 2023.
Germany-based semiconductor IDM Infineon reported a sequential decline in revenue for the first quarter of FY2023 (quarter ended on Dec 30, 2022). The company cited weakening demand in consumer applications due to macroeconomic uncertainties, but said its capacities in the automotive division "are completely booked out for fiscal 2023."
With US officials acknowledging that Washington has indeed been in talks with the Japanese and Dutch governments regarding new restrictions on semiconductor equipment exports to China, many have speculated how such a deal would impact chip equipment makers in Japan. As of now, equipment makers have either refrained from direct comments, or have expressed cautious optimism about how this deal would impact them.