Recently, the packaging and testing capacity of the semiconductor market has been in short supply, and the industry boom is still at a high level, and industry players are expected to continue for 18 months.
At the same time, the fire at the AKM fab in Japan, the STMicroelectronics (ST) strike, and the news about the insufficient production capacity of the wafer fab and the packaging and testing plant, and the shutdown of the epidemic have followed, and the semiconductor industry has once again attracted market attention.
SK hynix to stop production
On November 29, according to CCTV news, the information released by the Chongqing High-tech Zone New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control Leading Group Office showed that a foreign employee of SK Hynix Semiconductor (Chongqing) Company in Chongqing Xiyong Microelectronics Park passed through Chengdu on November 26. After leaving the country, the nucleic acid of the new coronavirus was found to be positive outside the country, and it was preliminarily judged to be an asymptomatic infection. Affected by this, SK Hynix Semiconductor (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. temporarily suspended production, implemented fully closed management, quarantined all employees and carried out nucleic acid testing overnight.
It is reported that SK Hynix Semiconductor (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. is located in Xiyong Free Trade Zone, Chongqing. It is mainly responsible for the post-process business of SK Hynix Semiconductor, including semiconductor post-process services such as probe testing, packaging, packaging testing, module assembly and module testing of semiconductor products. , as well as the R&D and design of semiconductor products and similar products. At present, it mainly produces NandFlash, a flash memory product suitable for mobile terminals. The products are mainly used in mobile terminal equipment such as smart phones, tablet computers, and USB.
At present, the production capacity of the second phase of SK Hynix’s Chongqing plant has reached 100%. New product varieties have been added, and product specifications have been expanded from only packaging flash memory to co-packaging of memory and flash memory. The product process and technology have been optimized and improved. an increase of more than 30%.
It is a pity that SK Hynix, which has sufficient production capacity, should have made a big splash in the semiconductor market, but it was blocked by the epidemic and had to pause its pace.
SK hynix stumped by carbonic acid
It is worth mentioning that the comprehensive annual output of the two-phase project of Chongqing SK hynix will account for more than 40% of the entire SK hynix flash memory products, making it the largest overseas packaging and testing base in the world. This also means that the temporary shutdown of SK hynix’s Chongqing plant will directly affect 40% of SK hynix’s flash memory packaging and testing capacity. Trigger memory price fluctuations. But if you think that this is the only difficulty for Hynix, it is a big mistake.
According to reports in the Chinese flash memory market, SK hynix is increasingly concerned about possible production setbacks due to a shortage of raw material carbonic acid supply, despite increasingly sufficient production capacity.
It is understood that due to strong demand, the price of carbonic acid has soared by 20%-30% during the second half of this year, and may even rise by 50% next year. However, industry insiders said that even if the payment was made on time, the full order volume could not be obtained.
Carbonic acid is produced by collecting and purifying by-products produced when petrochemical companies produce plastics or oil refineries refine crude oil. It is one of the important materials in the semiconductor manufacturing process. It is mainly used to remove residual substances in semiconductor wafer circuits, and to improve Photolithography process resolution.
However, under the influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year, the operating rate of petrochemical plants has declined. In addition, Lotte Chemical’s Seosan plant in South Korea suddenly exploded and stopped operation at the beginning of the year. Some equipment is still under maintenance recently, which has caused a sharp drop in the supply of carbonic acid.
Insufficient supply of carbonic acid may hinder the expansion of production capacity of Samsung and SK Hynix, which is also a common concern of the industry at present. Samsung Electronics said it could not confirm any details about the status of raw material supplies, with many predicting the uncertainty will continue into next year.
Packaging and testing capacity worsens
On the one hand, there is a passive shutdown, and the semiconductor is seriously out of stock. On the other hand, the production capacity is full and the supply is in short supply. As early as before the temporary shutdown of SK Hynix’s Chongqing plant, there was a serious shortage of packaging and testing capacity in the latter stage. According to market news, the production capacity of many packaging and testing companies is currently at full production, and some companies are stepping up the construction of packaging and testing. Production lines, and even individual chip design companies are increasing their own packaging and testing capacity.
As the world’s second largest memory manufacturer, SK Hynix has dropped 40% of its production capacity, which is undoubtedly aggravating the already tight packaging and testing capacity of memory Chips. If the production shutdown is prolonged, it will affect the global flash memory shipments.
According to industry insiders, the packaging and testing market has entered a traditional off-season after mid-to-late November in previous years, but this year’s situation is abnormal, mainly because the wafer inventory originally accumulated in IC design factories or IDM factories began to be released to packaging and testing factories in large quantities. Packaging process production; automotive electronics market conditions rebounded significantly in the fourth quarter, but chip inventory has long since bottomed out, and automotive chips have been released urgently; 5G smartphone chip content has increased by nearly 50% compared with 4G mobile phones, requiring more packaging capacity Support, the prosperity of the packaging and testing industry is currently at a high level and will last for 18 months.
It is reported that after November, the ball-mounting packaging capacity is full, and the price of IC substrates has increased due to shortages. The price of new orders has increased by about 20%, and the price of urgent orders has increased by 20% to 30%. In addition, ASE, the world’s largest packaging and testing company, announced that it will increase the average packaging and testing order price in the first quarter of 2021 by 5% to 10% to cope with rising costs such as IC substrate prices.
Giants wrestle, chip packaging may become a new outlet
In fact, in addition to the international semiconductor giants, the production capacity of several domestic head packaging and testing plants is basically at full capacity.
As far as the three links of chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing are concerned, packaging and testing is the only industry in my country that can fully compete with international companies. According to the latest data from TrendForce, among the top 10 packaging and testing companies in the world, mainland China is There are 3 manufacturers, these three are Jiangsu Changdian, Tongfu Microelectronics and Tianshui Huatian, with a combined market share of 25.1% in the world.
Data source: TrendForce (Graphics: Core Three Board)
As far as the current state of semiconductor development is concerned, the process technology in the front-end of the chip has developed very rapidly, while the packaging and testing technology in the latter stage has not achieved the same level of development. Because the capital investment of the packaging process is not proportional to the return, the advanced packaging technology still does not meet expectations. . This also leads to the fact that currently only some large manufacturers have the strength to do advanced packaging technology.
A few days ago, TSMC revealed that the company is using a 3D stacking technology called SoIC to package chips vertically and horizontally. With this technology, multiple different types of chips can be stacked and connected into the same package, making the entire chipset smaller, more powerful, and using less power. In addition, TSMC’s earnings report last month showed that the company expects revenue from back-end services, including advanced packaging and testing, to grow at a slightly higher rate than the company’s average over the next few years.
TSMC’s entry into packaging has undoubtedly intensified the competition in the packaging industry. Many industry insiders lamented that TSMC does not talk about martial arts. Once the chips produced by TSMC are packaged and tested by themselves, it will be a big time for the entire chip packaging and testing industry. Reshuffle, the three major domestic chip packaging and testing companies have naturally ushered in a big challenge. Obviously, chip packaging has become the next arena for semiconductor development.
Recently, the packaging and testing capacity of the semiconductor market has been in short supply, and the industry boom is still at a high level, and industry players are expected to continue for 18 months.
At the same time, the fire at the AKM fab in Japan, the STMicroelectronics (ST) strike, and the news about the insufficient production capacity of the wafer fab and the packaging and testing plant, and the shutdown of the epidemic have followed, and the semiconductor industry has once again attracted market attention.
SK hynix to stop production
On November 29, according to CCTV news, the information released by the Chongqing High-tech Zone New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control Leading Group Office showed that a foreign employee of SK Hynix Semiconductor (Chongqing) Company in Chongqing Xiyong Microelectronics Park passed through Chengdu on November 26. After leaving the country, the nucleic acid of the new coronavirus was found to be positive outside the country, and it was preliminarily judged to be an asymptomatic infection. Affected by this, SK Hynix Semiconductor (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. temporarily suspended production, implemented fully closed management, quarantined all employees and carried out nucleic acid testing overnight.
It is reported that SK Hynix Semiconductor (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. is located in Xiyong Free Trade Zone, Chongqing. It is mainly responsible for the post-process business of SK Hynix Semiconductor, including semiconductor post-process services such as probe testing, packaging, packaging testing, module assembly and module testing of semiconductor products. , as well as the R&D and design of semiconductor products and similar products. At present, it mainly produces NandFlash, a flash memory product suitable for mobile terminals. The products are mainly used in mobile terminal equipment such as smart phones, tablet computers, and USB.
At present, the production capacity of the second phase of SK Hynix’s Chongqing plant has reached 100%. New product varieties have been added, and product specifications have been expanded from only packaging flash memory to co-packaging of memory and flash memory. The product process and technology have been optimized and improved. an increase of more than 30%.
It is a pity that SK Hynix, which has sufficient production capacity, should have made a big splash in the semiconductor market, but it was blocked by the epidemic and had to pause its pace.
SK hynix stumped by carbonic acid
It is worth mentioning that the comprehensive annual output of the two-phase project of Chongqing SK hynix will account for more than 40% of the entire SK hynix flash memory products, making it the largest overseas packaging and testing base in the world. This also means that the temporary shutdown of SK hynix’s Chongqing plant will directly affect 40% of SK hynix’s flash memory packaging and testing capacity. Trigger memory price fluctuations. But if you think that this is the only difficulty for Hynix, it is a big mistake.
According to reports in the Chinese flash memory market, SK hynix is increasingly concerned about possible production setbacks due to a shortage of raw material carbonic acid supply, despite increasingly sufficient production capacity.
It is understood that due to strong demand, the price of carbonic acid has soared by 20%-30% during the second half of this year, and may even rise by 50% next year. However, industry insiders said that even if the payment was made on time, the full order volume could not be obtained.
Carbonic acid is produced by collecting and purifying by-products produced when petrochemical companies produce plastics or oil refineries refine crude oil. It is one of the important materials in the semiconductor manufacturing process. It is mainly used to remove residual substances in semiconductor wafer circuits, and to improve Photolithography process resolution.
However, under the influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year, the operating rate of petrochemical plants has declined. In addition, Lotte Chemical’s Seosan plant in South Korea suddenly exploded and stopped operation at the beginning of the year. Some equipment is still under maintenance recently, which has caused a sharp drop in the supply of carbonic acid.
Insufficient supply of carbonic acid may hinder the expansion of production capacity of Samsung and SK Hynix, which is also a common concern of the industry at present. Samsung Electronics said it could not confirm any details about the status of raw material supplies, with many predicting the uncertainty will continue into next year.
Packaging and testing capacity worsens
On the one hand, there is a passive shutdown, and the semiconductor is seriously out of stock. On the other hand, the production capacity is full and the supply is in short supply. As early as before the temporary shutdown of SK Hynix’s Chongqing plant, there was a serious shortage of packaging and testing capacity in the latter stage. According to market news, the production capacity of many packaging and testing companies is currently at full production, and some companies are stepping up the construction of packaging and testing. Production lines, and even individual chip design companies are increasing their own packaging and testing capacity.
As the world’s second largest memory manufacturer, SK Hynix has dropped 40% of its production capacity, which is undoubtedly aggravating the already tight packaging and testing capacity of memory chips. If the production shutdown is prolonged, it will affect the global flash memory shipments.
According to industry insiders, the packaging and testing market has entered a traditional off-season after mid-to-late November in previous years, but this year’s situation is abnormal, mainly because the wafer inventory originally accumulated in IC design factories or IDM factories began to be released to packaging and testing factories in large quantities. Packaging process production; automotive electronics market conditions rebounded significantly in the fourth quarter, but chip inventory has long since bottomed out, and automotive chips have been released urgently; 5G smartphone chip content has increased by nearly 50% compared with 4G mobile phones, requiring more packaging capacity Support, the prosperity of the packaging and testing industry is currently at a high level and will last for 18 months.
It is reported that after November, the ball-mounting packaging capacity is full, and the price of IC substrates has increased due to shortages. The price of new orders has increased by about 20%, and the price of urgent orders has increased by 20% to 30%. In addition, ASE, the world’s largest packaging and testing company, announced that it will increase the average packaging and testing order price in the first quarter of 2021 by 5% to 10% to cope with rising costs such as IC substrate prices.
Giants wrestle, chip packaging may become a new outlet
In fact, in addition to the international semiconductor giants, the production capacity of several domestic head packaging and testing plants is basically at full capacity.
As far as the three links of chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing are concerned, packaging and testing is the only industry in my country that can fully compete with international companies. According to the latest data from TrendForce, among the top 10 packaging and testing companies in the world, mainland China is There are 3 manufacturers, these three are Jiangsu Changdian, Tongfu Microelectronics and Tianshui Huatian, with a combined market share of 25.1% in the world.
Data source: TrendForce (Graphics: Core Three Board)
As far as the current state of semiconductor development is concerned, the process technology in the front-end of the chip has developed very rapidly, while the packaging and testing technology in the latter stage has not achieved the same level of development. Because the capital investment of the packaging process is not proportional to the return, the advanced packaging technology still does not meet expectations. . This also leads to the fact that currently only some large manufacturers have the strength to do advanced packaging technology.
A few days ago, TSMC revealed that the company is using a 3D stacking technology called SoIC to package chips vertically and horizontally. With this technology, multiple different types of chips can be stacked and connected into the same package, making the entire chipset smaller, more powerful, and using less power. In addition, TSMC’s earnings report last month showed that the company expects revenue from back-end services, including advanced packaging and testing, to grow at a slightly higher rate than the company’s average over the next few years.
TSMC’s entry into packaging has undoubtedly intensified the competition in the packaging industry. Many industry insiders lamented that TSMC does not talk about martial arts. Once the chips produced by TSMC are packaged and tested by themselves, it will be a big time for the entire chip packaging and testing industry. Reshuffle, the three major domestic chip packaging and testing companies have naturally ushered in a big challenge. Obviously, chip packaging has become the next arena for semiconductor development.
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