2022-03-24
Recently, the stock prices of the few domestic driver IC manufacturers, such as Fuman Microelectronics, Mingwei Electronics, and Silan Microelectronics, have risen sharply, and some have risen as high as 9.64% (data at 7:53 on March 7). It has caused many people in the industry to speculate: Is a new round of price hikes for driver ICs about to start again? Judging from the changes in the current situation, this possibility is very high.
Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 24, global commodities have skyrocketed, ranging from energy to metals to agricultural products! Aluminium prices on the London Stock Exchange have risen 30% this year, while other metals such as zinc and nickel have also surged. Some institutions reported that on March 4, the spot copper price in the Yangtze River rose by 390 yuan/ton, while Guangdong rose by 350 yuan/ton. Car chips have been fired from 20 yuan to 2,800 yuan!
The price of silicon wafers, the raw material for driver ICs, also rebounded. Wafer prices are mainly caused by shortages. Silicon wafer manufacturing leader Sumco said the shortage of silicon wafers will continue beyond 2023 as demand climbs and layers of hoarding on the semiconductor chain continue. Recently, several major fabs have raised prices. For example, TSMC, which has a global market share of more than 50%, has raised prices for its entire line of products. Among them, the average price of 4-16nm advanced process wafers has increased by about 8-10% year-on-year. As for 28nm and above mature processes Wafer prices will increase by about 15% compared to the 2021 contract. On January 25, Wang Shi, general manager of UMC, said that the average selling price in US dollars in the first quarter of 2022 will increase by 5% quarter-on-quarter. In mid-February, Inf