Increased inventory fluctuations in the semiconductor industry

Semiconductor company's revenue and profit in the third quarter maintained a relatively high level: the world’s major semiconductor companies saw significant growth in revenue in the third quarter, and gross margins were basically at a relatively high level in the historically normal range. The gross profit margins of IC design companies and foundry companies have been Close to the highest level of history.

Inventory risk is small, but the possibility of stock fluctuations increases: Semiconductor company's inventory revenue ratio in the third quarter is within the historical normal range, and the lower third quarter PC industry inventory revenue ratio is lower than the lower limit of the normal range, mobile phone manufacturer's inventory camp The revenue ratio is within the historically normal range, and semiconductor channel company’s inventory revenue ratio is at historically normal levels. From the perspective of the cycle of “de-stocking to make-up inventory”, the inventory coverage in the third quarter basically ended, and the industry inventory risk was not large, but the possibility of inventory fluctuations increased.

The industry's capacity utilization rate is high, and equipment BB value falls: In the third quarter, the global semiconductor industry's capacity utilization rate was 95.0%, which was slightly lower than that in the second quarter. Judging from the absolute data of production capacity, the global semiconductor production capacity in the third quarter was equivalent to 88.5% of the total capacity of the industry before the recession, a growth rate of only 0.99%. In November 2010, the North American semiconductor device order shipment ratio (BB value) was 0.96. Both shipment volume and order amount showed a month-on-month decline. Both the factors of the weaker quarterly sentiment and the current confidence in the industry fell back. The PC market is not busy during the peak season, and the popularity of smart phones continues unabated: In the third quarter, global PC shipments reached 89.7 million units, an increase of 14.9% year-on-year and an increase of 10.1% from the previous quarter; mobile phone shipments reached 330 million units, a year-on-year increase of 18.5%, and an increase of 6.9% from the previous quarter. . The PC market is not booming because the slow economic recovery of advanced economies has made global companies cautious about IT spending. In the 2nd and 3rd quarters, the mobile phone market entered the peak season, and smart phone performance was eye-catching. We are still optimistic about the growth of the global mobile phone market in 2011. The popularity of smart phones will help maintain the popularity of the overall mobile phone market.