Korean media: South Korea's domestic 2022 8-inch foundry capacity sold out Price increases are inevitable

Image source: ETNews

Jiwei network news, South Korea's domestic 8-inch semiconductor foundry capacity booking has actually ended, it is expected that this year's semiconductor supply will also be due to the lack of foundry capacity, facing a similar dilemma as last year.

According to ETNews, Key Foundry's production capacity this year has been booked, and DB HiTek, which accepts bookings every six months, will also close the order channel in the second quarter. Judging from the order situation in the third quarter, the demand for foundries has not decreased, and it is expected that the foundry capacity in the third and fourth quarters will also be sold out immediately after companies begin to accept reservations. The situation is similar between Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix system ICs.

The report pointed out that on the basis of last year's excess orders, new orders have been added this year, making the bottleneck of foundry capacity more serious. Key Foundry and DB HiTek are ensuring additional production capacity by introducing new equipment, increasing line efficiency and improving manpower management, but can only produce up to 5,000-10,000 additional chips per month, so they cannot meet the demand. Expanding the new production line is an alternative, but it requires a massive investment of trillions of won, making it difficult to make a decision.

In addition, foundries have other factors to consider when allocating capacity, such as prioritizing the supply of capacity to existing customers, so it may be difficult for new customers to obtain capacity. Against this backdrop, local design factories in South Korea are risking overpaying costs to ensure foundry capacity. It is estimated that the 8-inch FOUND price increased by 20-40% last year. With the influx of orders, the 8-inch FOUNDC price increase is expected to continue. (Proofreading/Jenny)