Chip manufacturers have high inventories, and Taiwan's foundry revenue may fall by 6.8% in the fourth quarter

DIGITIMES Research, a market research institution, said that the world's major chip suppliers are optimistic about the optimistic global economy in the second half of 2012, and have vigorously replenished inventories in the second quarter of 2012, which also led to the second quarter of 2012 in TaiwanThe top three foundries had combined revenue of $5.41 billion, with a quarterly growth rate of 21.1%.

 

In the third quarter of 2012, the top three wafer foundries in Taiwan from communications, computers, consumer electronics and other application departments increased their revenue from the previous quarter, but according to DIGITIMES Research statistics, the significant increase in revenue in the second quarter has made the comparison base relatively highIn terms of the European debt problem, the European debt problem is still unresolved, so that the global economic growth performance is not as expected, the total revenue reached 5.87 billion US dollars, only an increase of 8.5% from the previous quarter, and the growth force has weakened significantly.

 

In the face of the poor global economic outlook, the inventory of the world's major chip suppliers reached a record high of US$16.51 billion in the third quarter of 2012, eliminating the increasing pressure on inventory, and chip suppliers have also adopted inventory reduction strategies. However, in anticipation of weakening terminal demand, it is estimated that the action of eliminating inventory will continue into the second quarter of 2013, which will also be detrimental to the fourth-quarter revenue performance of the top three wafer foundries in Taiwan, and the pace of capacity expansion has not stopped due to the deterioration of the economy, and the total revenue of the top three wafer foundries in Taiwan in the fourth quarter is only 5.47 billion US dollars, down 6.8% from the third quarter, but the performance is still better than the second quarter of 5.41 billion US dollars and the same period of 2011 of 4.38 billion US dollars. Over the same period, its capacity utilization rate will likely fall to 85%.

 

From the analysis of revenue changes in each process, benefiting from the hot sales of smartphones and tablets, the demand for 28nm process capacity from customers including Qualcomm (Qualcomm) and NVIDIA has become increasingly strong, and it has also accelerated TSMC's expansion of 28nm process capacity, and the revenue from 28nm process increased from US$70 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 to US$620 million in the third quarter of 2012, accounting for a rapid increase in revenue from 1% to 10%.

 

DIGITIMES Research pointed out that in addition to TSMC's continuous expansion of 28nm process capacity in the fourth quarter, UMC's 28nm process will also contribute to revenue, and it is estimated that the top three wafer foundries in Taiwan will reach US$940 million in 28nm revenue, accounting for a further increase in revenue to 17%.