The imbalance between supply and demand in the global MCU market has become more and more serious recently. Following the announcement of price increases by chip manufacturers such as Renesas and NXP, STMicroelectronics also issued a price increase letter recently. When the supply of major international manufacturers is not enough and there is a gap in the global market, domestic MCU manufacturers have also ushered in a good opportunity to seize the market to some extent. How can domestic MCU manufacturers resolve this crisis and take this opportunity to gain a foothold in the market?
MCU delivery time extended to more than 40 weeks
It is understood that the normal delivery period of MCU products is about 8 weeks, and the current international manufacturers, including Infineon, NXP, ST, Renesas, etc., are experiencing severely extended delivery periods. Among them, the delivery period of STMicroelectronics MCU has been extended to 30-40 weeks, and the delivery period of some MCU products has even been extended to more than 40 weeks. According to industry insiders, the major international MCU products have basically been postponed across the board, and there are basically no new orders available. In the MCU spot market, the phenomenon of roasting by distributors is also very serious, which makes the price of MCU basically doubled.
There are many reasons for this MCU product shortage crisis. Due to the fact that workers in the factory of Renesas Electronics Malaysia were infected with the new crown virus not long ago, Renesas Electronics chose to suspend work in response to the virus crisis, and this also caused the production capacity of this internationally leading MCU manufacturer to decline. In addition, due to various factors, the international MCU manufacturer STMicroelectronics also has a strike event. In addition, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., UMC, World Advanced Corporation and other Taiwanese foundries, as well as SMIC, Huahong Hongli and other mainland Chinese foundries With full capacity successively, almost all MCU manufacturers have experienced capacity constraints. With the arrival of the traditional MCU production peak season, in order to meet the demand on the supply chain, various terminal manufacturers, including Apple, have begun to plan to increase production. Affected by various internal and external factors, the imbalance between supply and demand in the MCU global market has become more and more serious.
The global MCU market shortage crisis is also reminiscent of a similar situation that occurred in early 2020. Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic in early 2020, major MCU manufacturers were forced to suspend work and production, making MCU products usher in the first large-scale shortage crisis in 2020. However, the crisis facing the global MCU market is very different from the situation at the beginning of 2020. The shortage of MCU products in the first half of 2020 was mainly caused by the shutdown caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic. However, the MCU market crisis this time was mainly due to the market rebound, which shows that the global demand for MCUs has increased. While the demand for MCUs was increasing, the production capacity of MCUs failed to meet the requirements due to various reasons, which eventually triggered a shortage of MCU market.