Entering 2021, the global chip shortage phenomenon not only has not been alleviated, but has instead shown an increasingly intense trend. On August 25, Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's largest wafer foundry, announced that it will increase foundry prices starting from the first quarter of next year, with prices for mature process chips at 16 nanometers and above increased by 10% to 20%, and prices for 7-nanometer and more advanced process chips increased by 10%.
Taiwan Semiconductor had previously stated that the chip shortage situation is expected to continue into next year. The digital industry is undoubtedly one of the industries most severely impacted by this.
Apple previously stated that sales in the third quarter of this year may be affected by the chip shortage. However, according to foreign sources, Apple is able to secure chip supplies in advance, while other manufacturers do not have this capability. Therefore, the chip shortage issue actually affects "all phone manufacturers other than Apple".
In the automotive semiconductor sector, Taiwan Semiconductor has indicated that the supply situation will improve starting this quarter. However, for major car manufacturers, it is still far from being able to make overly optimistic predictions.
Malaysia is a major hub for automotive semiconductor packaging and testing, where international semiconductor giants such as Intel, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, NXP Semiconductors, Texas Instruments, and ON Semiconductor have factories. The local packaging and testing capacity accounts for about 13% of the global capacity. However, recently, the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia has worsened, causing the local chip companies to be in a paralyzed state. This has led to Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors, and other major automakers announcing production cuts recently. It is reported that in China...