According to TrendForce, market conditions in 1H22 were chaotic and there was disparate demand for chips of varying functionality. Given the global development of electronic devices and power systems, overall demand for power management ICs (PMIC) is still relatively good. PMICs are used in consumer electronics, communications, computing, industrial control, automotive and other fields. In 2H22, supply and demand gradually diverged and demand for automotive Switching Regulators, Multi Channel PMICs was strongest.
TrendForce is hosting the online seminar “Compuforum 2022: Diverse Market Opportunities Generated by Applications of Cyber-Physical Systems” on the 15th this month, where analysts of the market intelligence firm are invited to delve into industrial tendencies pertaining to memory, server, and data center.
With the course of the COVID-19 pandemic constantly changing, China is sticking with its “Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy” and has been slow to lift the lockdown on its cities that have been recently affected by the outbreaks of the disease. Hence, the manufacturing industries of the major Chinese cities are facing delays in the resumption of normal operation, and a production gap has emerged in 2Q22. For the electronics ODMs, this production gap will be difficult to bridge in 2H22. Additionally, the ongoing global inflation is keeping prices of goods at a very high level, and this trend will dampen the peak-season demand surge during the second half of the year. The effect of the inflationary pressure has been especially noticeable in the demand for consumer electronics such as smartphones, notebook computers, and tablet computers. This, in turn, is also impacting the MLCC market in terms of demand and inventory. Currently, the general inventory level has risen above 90 days for MLCCs of all sizes. Therefore, TrendForce forecasts that prices of consumer-spec MLCCs will fall further by 3-6% on average in 2H22.
According to the latest TrendForce statistics, the top ten IC designers worldwide posted a combined revenue of US$39.43 billion in 1Q22, or 44% growth YoY. Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Broadcom ranked in the top three. After the acquisition of Xilinx, AMD surpassed MediaTek in the fourth position. In addition, according to TrendForce tracking of IC design industry trends, revenue generated by Will Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic was enough to be included in the top ten for the first time.
According to TrendForce research, North American data centers saw an improvement in components supply after February, driving a recovery in purchase order volume. As Server brands returned to normal in-office work following the pandemic, the increase in capital expenditures on related information equipment has also boosted order growth. The addition of Kioxia’s raw material contamination incident led to an increase in the pricing of certain rush orders, pushing up overall Enterprise SSD revenue in 1Q22 to US$5.58 billion, or 14.1% growth QoQ.