The shortage of power management ICs (PMICs) is unlikely to ease completely in 2022, but their quotes will see little chance for further rises due to a slowdown in demand for consumer applications, according to supply chain sources.
Amid high uncertainty about terminal consumer spending power in 2022, brand vendors of consumer devices can hardly raise their sales prices in the year and will be forced to slow down pulling in shipments of PMICs and other components, the sources said. This will deter price hikes for consumer PMICs if not driving down their quotes, the source added.
Clients associated with B2B or automotive applications will sustain robust demand for PMICs, but may turn reluctant to accept further quote rises for such chips as supply capacity at chipmakers is getting less tight, the sources continued.
Foundry houses continue to raise their quotes in the first quarter of 2022, but at a relatively slower pace than 2021. This, coupled with unclear terminal market prospects, has made it a top goal for IC designers to prevent prices for their chip offerings, including even PMICs in severe shortage, from falling in 2022, not to mention price hikes, the sources stressed.
In pursuing further revenue and profit gains in the next 2-3 years, suppliers of PMICs will have to secure more capacity support from manufacturing partners, develop more applications and diversify their customer bases, the sources said. They will not have a better chance to gain more foundry support until 2023 when more new fab capacities come online, the sources noted.
PMIC vendors including Silergy, Global Mixed-mode Technology (GMT), Anpec Electronics and Leadtrend Technology are all set to release new products in 2022 for non-consumer applications such as 5G infrastructure, servers, automotive electronics and industrial control systems. Among them, Silergy and Anpec are confident that their server-use PMICs with high unit prices and gross margins will drive up their profit performance for the year, and the only challenge is to secure more foundry capacity support.
Article translated by Willis Ke
