TrendForce: The demand for power management chips is differentiated in the second half of the year, and small and medium-sized manufacturers are under pressure.

Since the first half of this year, the semiconductor shortage has been complicated, and the demand for different application chips has diverged. The overall demand for power management chips is still relatively good, but it is also expected that the supply and demand situation will gradually diverge in the second half of the year due to its wide application. Among them, automotive switching regulators , multi-channel power management chips, etc. have the strongest demand.

TrendForce, a research institute, pointed out that in the first half of this year, the demand for linear regulators and switching regulators with relatively simple functions and structures in the panel, home appliances, consumer electronics, notebook computers and other markets decreased, and orders are expected to drop by 15-30%. Happening. The multi-channel power management chip with a slightly longer lead time is currently in the process of OEM and ODM controlling inventory for less than 2 months, and price competition pressure is also expected in the second half of the year. The industrial control and automotive markets have always been the battlegrounds of major manufacturers, and they have high requirements for voltage accuracy, temperature control, and reliability of power management chips. It is expected that prices will continue to be strong in the second half of the year. However, this field is mostly dominated by IDM manufacturers such as TI, Infineon, ADI, STMicroelectronics, ON Semiconductor, and other manufacturers account for a small market share.

In terms of delivery time, TrendForce pointed out that from the perspective of IDM manufacturers with a power management chip market share of more than 61%, due to the complete product portfolio, stable quality and not easy to be replaced, new orders still face relatively high demand under the current strong demand for production capacity. Long lead times, the average lead time for switching regulators is 36 to 46 weeks, and the lead time for multi-channel power management chips is 40 to 50 weeks. However, some orders with a delivery time of more than 52 weeks can already be shipped 4 to 16 weeks in advance. It is difficult for small and medium-sized power management chip design companies to compare with IDM manufacturers in terms of product specifications and application scope, and the delivery time usually does not exceed 28 weeks.

TrendForce emphasizes that under the trend of moderate expansion of wafer production capacity and gradual normalization of delivery time, dealers, agents, and small and medium-sized design manufacturers, etc., whose prices were originally increased by 20~40% due to tight supply and demand, have experienced rapid inventory accumulation. Faster and there is pressure to lower pricing. To this end, TrendForce expects that the preferred suppliers of the Approved Vendor List (AVL) will maintain stable supply and demand in the second half of the year, but non-preferred manufacturers with a single product type and limited application fields It may be necessary to reduce the price to ensure the quantity to sell the inventory. But overall, among all chip products, the demand for power management chips is still relatively stable in the second half of the year.