Due to chip suppliers cutting production, iSuppli predicted in March 2008 that the global surplus semiconductor inventory in the first quarter would drop to $2.9 billion, a decrease of 14.6% from $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In May, iSuppli noted the weak performance of the consumer electronics market, particularly the digital TV, MP3 player, and digital camera markets, in the first quarter. In addition, the slowdown in shipments of PC and mobile phone products has affected the digestion of excess inventory by chip suppliers. ISuppli raised its global semiconductor inventory for the first quarter to $3.6 billion, while lowering its global semiconductor inventory for the fourth quarter of 2007 to $2.3 billion. Although chip suppliers have reduced production, the insufficient demand for downstream electronic products has led to delayed orders from customers, further exacerbating the excess inventory in the electronic supply chain. At present, market visibility is not high, and iSuppli expects global semiconductor inventories to remain at a high level in the second quarter.
TSMC, Intel, and Samsung will collaborate to develop 18 inch wafer wafers. The three major semiconductor companies in the world, TSMC, Intel, and Samsung Electronics, have announced that they will jointly develop 18 inch large-size wafers in the future to overcome the current problem of increasing chip manufacturing and application costs, improve overall production efficiency, and promote the sustained growth of the semiconductor industry.
The cycle of wafer generation replacement in the semiconductor industry is approximately 10 years. The 200mm (8-inch) wafer fab was put into operation in 1991, and the 300mm (12 inch) wafer was put into operation in 2001. With the increase of wafer size, the number of integrated grains on a single wafer doubles, which helps to reduce the manufacturing cost of ICs.
TSMC, Intel, and Samsung believe that 2012 will be the time for the semiconductor industry to officially enter 450mm (18 inch) wafer manufacturing. The number of grains produced from each 450mm wafer will be more than twice that of 300mm. In addition to reducing production costs, the use of energy, wafers, and other resources in the production process will also be reduced, which will help improve air pollution, global greenhouse gas emissions, and water resource consumption.
It is expected that a 450mm wafer fab will cost $10 billion, equivalent to three times the funding scale of a 300mm fab. The three companies are currently collaborating with other semiconductor manufacturers to ensure that the components, infrastructure, and technical capabilities required for importing 450mm wafers in the future are ready, tested, and standardized processes are established. The shipment area of silicon wafers remained stable in the first quarter, and the shipment volume of 300mm wafers continued to grow
The quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry released by Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) shows that the global silicon wafer shipment area in the first quarter of 2008 was 2.163 billion square inches, a year-on-year increase of 3%, and the growth rate remained stable. Affected by the seasonal off-season and the conservative trend of the industry, the shipment area of silicon wafers in the first quarter decreased by 1% month on month. Among them, the shipment volume of 300mm wafers continues to grow.
In the first quarter of 2008, global mobile phone shipments increased by 17% year-on-year. According to iSuppli data, global mobile phone shipments in the first quarter of 2008 were 296 million units, an increase of 17% from 253 million units in the first quarter of 2007. However, due to seasonal factors, global mobile phone shipments in the first quarter of 2008 decreased by 12.4% compared to 338 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Although the top five manufacturers are still Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Sony Ericsson, their rankings have changed compared to the previous season. Nokia continued to maintain its top position in the global mobile phone market in the first quarter, with a shipment volume of 115.5 million units, an increase of 26.8% compared to the same period in 2007, a decrease of 13.5% month on month, and a market share of 39%, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points. The shipment volume of mobile phones in the Chinese market was 21 million units, an increase of 4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. The proportion of mobile phone shipments in the Chinese market to Nokia's global mobile phone shipments has increased from 14.5% in the first quarter of 2007 to 18.2%.
Samsung Electronics ranked second, with its market share increasing from 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 15.6% in the first quarter. Motorola ranked third, with its market share dropping from 12.1% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 9.3%. LG Electronics ranked fourth, with its market share increasing from 7.0% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 8.2%. Sony Ericsson ranked fifth, with its market share dropping from 9.1% in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 7.5%.
In terms of the domestic market, CCID's data shows that the sales volume and revenue of mobile phones in the first quarter of 2008 were not greatly affected by seasonal factors, and both achieved stable growth, with sales reaching 43.05 million units and 49 billion yuan, up 4.02% and 7.22% respectively from the fourth quarter of 2007. The top five market brands are Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Tianyu, and Sony Ericsson, with market shares of 37.4%, 14.1%, 8.5%, 5.0%, and 3.0%, respectively.
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