Crazy! Increase the price twice for the same batch of wafers? Is it not enough to compete for production capacity?

At the beginning of February this year, due to the shortage of foundry capacity, the situation was upgraded again, and the bidding was implemented to grab the capacity. The higher price was awarded. After one month, the same batch of wafers was exposed, and the price was increased twice? Super crazy,mmm....

According to Taiwan media reports, some old brand wafers company in Taiwan will raise their quotations for new orders by 15% from May, and the new quotations will also be adopted for the wafers produced in May.

However, it is worth noting that the wafers produced in May of last year were already put into production in January and February this year. At that time, the price of the wafers had been increased by about 10%. Now the IC design factory has to increase the price by 15% when picking up the goods. It is equivalent to the same batch of goods "being increased in price twice", and it will directly start at 25%...
Since the foundry production process averages about 3-4 months from wafer launch to official output, according to past industry practices, if the foundry wants to increase prices, it will set aside a buffer time, inform customers in advance, and make new decisions. The price is officially used. It is rare to suddenly "start the price on the spot" like this, and it also reflects the extreme shortage of wafer production capacity!
Industry insiders bluntly said that in the past, foundries used to negotiate a price during the production process, and wait for the three to four months of the production cycle to end. Even if the foundry raises prices at that time, the price will be adjusted for new orders. Will increase the price of the wafers that have been cast and officially produced. This retrospective price increase method highlights the hot wafer foundry market, and the so-called "shop bullying" is nothing more than this.

What should IC design manufacturers do?
Faced with the constant increase in foundry prices, this time the same batch of wafers was "price increased" twice. Upon inquiry, the majority of IC design companies have said had to accept, there is no way, can only be "broken teeth pharynx to the stomach" .
IC design manufacturers said frankly: “It’s like a cow being stripped of two layers of skin”. Although maintaining an average annual gross profit margin is an important indicator of operations, under the current situation that foundry is in the seller’s market, production capacity is rare materials and wafers. If the foundry wants to increase the price, the IC design house has almost no bargaining power and can only accept it with a touch of his nose.
Another IC design manufacturer said that since the beginning of this year, the price of foundry has been rising. The price increase since January, including the increase in the quotations of microcontrollers (MCU) and driver IC related chip manufacturers, has an average increase of about 10%. , With the largest gains in 8-inch wafers. Recently, an old Taiwanese listed wafer foundry has raised its new order quotation again since May, an increase of about 15%, which means that the cumulative average of this wave of price increases has reached more than 25%. However, there is no time to reflect this part, which means that the cost has increased again. If the IC design manufacturer gives up the goods, not only will it not be able to deal with the customer, but the customer may even turn to the opponent to place an order.
The future trend of wafer prices
The future forecast of wafers, lack and rise!
Some semiconductor industry analysts said that the first half of this year is still in a relatively tense state, and it may not have reached the most tense time. "Currently, mobile phone processors, PMIC power management chips, and MCU microprocessor chips are all out of stock." From the overall out-of-stock situation in the market, it must be out of stock at least until the end of this year. "
Last year, the "spectacle" of out of stock, out of stock, and all price increase letters is expected to be staged again this year. Wait for the "announcement", friends~

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