Liandian: Lewang Semiconductor‘s Long Term Demand

Source: Mantianxin

    According to Taiwan Media Economic Daily, Liandian Chairman Hong Jiacong pointed out in a report to shareholders that this year, Liandian is facing the challenge of adjusting to ups and downs. Through innovative and differentiated special process technology, excellent wafer manufacturing, and diversified regional production capacity configuration, Liandian will continue to achieve a close strategic partnership with customers. In the context of major trends such as 5G, AIoT, and electric vehicles, Liandian is optimistic about the long-term growth of semiconductor demand.

    In terms of long-term goals, Hong Jiacong stated that process research and development and stable profitability have always been the focus of Liandian‘s operations. He will focus on special processes with technological differentiation and leadership, including low-power logic, bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductors, dual diffusion metal oxide semiconductors, embedded high-voltage, embedded nonvolatile memory, RF insulated semiconductors, etc.

    In terms of 14nm process technology, the yield of products designed by customers on the 14FFC platform has exceeded 90%, which better meets customer needs. They have also successfully imported applications such as 5G and Netcom, and have successfully entered mass production.

    The 22nm process part has the same number of mask layers and compatible design criteria as the 28nm Efficient and Reduced Process Technology Platform (28HPC), but the 22nm process technology improves efficiency by 10%, reduces power consumption by 20%, and reduces grain size by 10%. Therefore, the cost competitiveness of the 22nm process technology has greatly increased, providing customers with more choices.

    In addition to Liandian‘s optimistic outlook on long-term demand growth for semiconductors, TSMC internally believes that semiconductors will eventually recover after inventory adjustments. Recently, there has also been news that TSMC will raise prices again.

    According to a report from Taiwan Media Electronic Times, it has recently been reported that TSMC will increase its contribution to individual manufacturing processes and customer orders in the second half of the year or the first half of 2024, with a range of 3%.

    According to the report, although TSMC is facing the impact of cutting orders from its top ten customers and declining capacity utilization, the OEM quotation remains firm and there is no opportunity for negotiation. By the first quarter of 2023, TSMC‘s wafer inventory had reached a new high and capacity utilization had significantly declined. The production capacity of 7/6 nanometers had dropped by less than 50% compared to the same period in 2022. The 5 nanometers production capacity that was in short supply in 2022 had also loosened, and mature 8-inch factory orders had also shrunk. The popular 28 nanometers production process is estimated to have an average capacity utilization rate of about 70-75% in the first half.

    TSMC believes that after inventory adjustments, the semiconductor industry will eventually recover, and a new wave of growth is expected from the second half of 2023 to 2024. Recently, during a legal conference, TSMC executives stated that the market is "bottoming out" this quarter, and it is expected that the overall destocking will end in the second half of the year. It is expected that demand for smartphones and personal computers will remain "weak" throughout 2023. In terms of TSMC, in the second half of the year, it will boost demand by producing 3 nanometers in bulk.

    For news of price hikes, TSMC stated that it will not respond to market rumors.