Last week, a power outage took place at NEG’s (Nippon Electric Glass) glass manufacturing facility located in Takatsuki, and the company promptly issued work stoppage at the plant in response, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. TrendForce believes that, although NEG’s production capacity is expected to gradually recover, the incident will still lower the supply of large-sized glass substrates by 2.5% in 1Q21. As a result, quotes for large-sized panels, which have been in shortage for the past six months, will remain high in 1Q21 due to the power outage incident.
The dual stimuli of policies and legislative changes for new energy vehicles (NEV) have brought about a corresponding growth of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in 2020, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. Market data compiled by TrendForce indicate that combined yearly sales of BEV and PHEV in 2020 reached about 2.4 million units, a 19.8% increase YoY. Aside from the vehicles’ sales growth against industry headwinds generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a noticeable change in the market share and sales ranking of NEV manufacturers this year owing to the increased number of models released as well as the growth of markets outside of China.
The percentage distribution of 2021 NAND Flash bit demand by application currently shows that client SSD accounts for 31%, enterprise SSD 20%, eMMC/UFS 41%, and NAND wafer 8%, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. TrendForce expects NAND Flash ASP to undergo QoQ declines throughout 2021, since the number of NAND suppliers far exceeds DRAM suppliers, and the bit supply remains high. As Samsung, YMTC, SK Hynix, and Intel actively expand their NAND Flash bit output in 1Q21, the oversupply situation in the industry will become more severe, with a forecasted 6% QoQ increase in NAND Flash bit output and a 10-15% QoQ decline in NAND Flash ASP in 1Q21.
An earthquake that was 6.7 in magnitude occurred off the eastern coast of Taiwan at 9:19 p.m. on December 10. Right after the earthquake had struck, TrendForce immediately began checking the operational statuses of the semiconductor plants in Taiwan and surveying the possible damages resulting from the event. The investigation so far finds that the DRAM fabs on the island have already resumed normal operation following a brief suspension of their production lines. The DRAM fabs in Taiwan are mostly located in the northern and central parts of the island, whereas the epicenter of the earthquake was in the eastern sea of the island. After the tremor had stopped, local DRAM manufacturers temporarily suspended the operation of their production lines to inspect equipment. Currently, they have not reported any significant damages to their plant buildings and equipment. Furthermore, they have all returned to normal production. Hence, the earthquake appears to have not caused any tangible capacity losses for Taiwan’s DRAM industry. Likewise, Taiwanese foundries have not been affected by the earthquake to any meaningful degree.
As consumer market demand gradually recovers, global automobile shipment is expected to reach 83.5 million units in 2021, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. As well, component procurement activities from major automakers and tier 1 suppliers have generated an increase in automotive semiconductor demand in 4Q20. Global automotive IC revenue is expected to reach US$18.67 billion in 2020 and $21 billion in 2021, a 12.5% increase YoY.
