News Briefing
The common theme for the electronics industry in the third quarter of this year is inventory adjustment. This includes PCs, graphics cards, DRAM, IC design, smartphones, and panels, as the industry is being confronted with the pressure of the downward spiraling economy. It is hoped that the expanded shipments of automotive electronics, servers, industrial computers, and other continually growing applications can help reduce the impact of inventory adjustments.
Impact Analysis
The Russian-Ukrainian war, lockdown in China, inflationary pressures, US interest rate hikes, and a series of international fluctuations in the first half of this year have severely impacted global consumption. As such, international agencies have also hurriedly revised the decreased sales forecasts for major consumer products. Based on the latest market survey report by the IDC, it is estimated that the overall global smartphone shipments will decline by 3.4% in 2022, while the sale of personal computer parts will also drop by 8.4%. Further, Gartner has also revised the decreased market performance rate of the global semiconductor market, with its growth falling from 13.6% to 7.4%.
According to Taiwan’s Manufacturing PMI survey report released by the National Development Council in July, customer inventories have reached a historical high, whereas new orders have dropped dramatically, showing that downstream customers remain pessimistic about market prospects. If consumption recovery is not achieved in the next peak season for electronic sales, the time for manufacturers to destock their inventory will be extended. The latest performance outlook from TSMC has also pointed out that current demands for consumer electronics are on the decline so customers are expected to destock, at least until, the first half of 2023. As we observe the PCB production and sales statistics of Taiwan in the second quarter of this year, the growth for mobile phones, computers, and other related application markets has, indeed, begun to slow down, but shipments with some high-end application products such as MiniLED, ADAS, satellite communications, and new products of Apple have made a significant difference and others have helped in generating an upward driving force. This shows that a high-value layout has always been the decision-making a