Chip giants such as TSMC, Samsung and Intel are mulling chip price increases, which may be transmitted to downstream electronic products for further price increases. A report on the US CNBC website on the 24th quoted Bain Semiconductor analyst Peter Hanbury as saying that in the past year, global chip prices have increased by 10% to 20%, and chip prices may continue to increase this year, or 5% to 5%. between 7%.
CNBC reported that part of the reason chip foundries are raising prices is because the current chip market is in a "seller's market" and manufacturers have a strong say in prices. At the same time, production costs are becoming more and more expensive. "The cost of chemicals used in chip manufacturing is up 10 to 20 percent," Hanbury said. "Similarly, there is a shortage of labor needed to build new semiconductor facilities, and employee wages are rising."
The Nikkei Asian Review recently reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that TSMC told customers for the second time in less than a year that it planned to raise prices. The company cited concerns about inflation, rising costs and its own expansion plans as the main reasons for the price increase. TSMC's price hike comes as the chip-making equipment industry grapples with a severe shortage of parts and materials, the report said. This will extend the delivery time to 18 months. According to Bloomberg, it is reported that Samsung plans to increase the price of chips by 20%.
Japanese silicon wafer factory Shenggao said that in the second quarter of 2022, the supply of 12-inch silicon wafers for logic chips will become tighter, and the shortage of 12-inch silicon wafers for memory will increase, so it cannot be supplied to non-long-term customers. The following silicon wafers will also continue to be in short supply. According to previous analysis, the imbalance between supply and demand of photoresist is becoming a new problem restricting semiconductor production capacity. According to Korean media, the supply of photoresist for semiconductors in South Korea has entered a state of emergency, and some fabs have only two months left in stock.
CNBC quoted Forrester analyst Antonell as saying that in the current economic environment, chip prices may rise roughly in line with inflation. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated a global chip shortage over the past two years. "Chip manufacturers are facing a growing supply problem, which has been exacerbated by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The market demand is still large, but the supply is constrained." Antonell believes that chip manufacturing consumes a lot of electricity, and global energy prices is rising.
The Nikkei Asian Review said that Europe's largest chip equipment maker ASML told investors that its gross profit margin may fall by 1 percentage point as the company faces challenges from rising inflation, labor, material and energy costs.
Products using more advanced chips such as GPUs (graphics processing units) and high-end CPUs (central processing units) are likely to increase in price, said Aram, Accenture's global head of semiconductors. According to the report, rising chip prices will increase price pressure on downstream customers, affecting multiple industrial chains such as personal computers, automobiles, toys, consumer electronics and household appliances, and many products will become more expensive. "Margins on these types of products are already low, so they have no choice but to raise prices," Antonell said.
Since May, NIO, Lynk & Co, SAIC Roewe, Extreme Krypton, Feifan, Lantu and other new energy vehicle brands have announced price increases. According to data released by market analysis agency Canalys, in the first quarter of 2022, global computer shipments fell by 3% to 80.06 million units. Yet market revenue rose more than 15 percent to $70 billion. Based on this estimate, the average price of personal computers has risen by more than 18% to about $874 per unit.
