On August 15, DIGITIMES reported that industry sources revealed that despite a rapid slowdown in mass-market chip demand, automotive chip demand remains strong and suppliers are seeking to secure more available fab capacity in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The sources said suppliers engaged in the automotive industry supply chain are actively negotiating with foundries for available fab capacity in the fourth quarter and seeking additional capacity support in that quarter.
On the other hand, the sources pointed out that the slowdown in demand for personal computers and other consumer electronics applications has dragged down the foundry’s capacity utilization. Nonetheless, automotive chip orders can only make up a small part of the capacity gap in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, foundries that do not have the ability to fill their fab capacity with more automotive chip orders, especially second-tier foundries, will still see a significant decline in their fab capacity utilization, the sources said.
Sources said that for the first-tier foundries, only 5-10% of fab capacity in the fourth quarter will be affected by weak orders for mass-market products.
Currently, the supply of seriously tight automotive chips including MCU and IGBT. sources pointed out that the supply of industrial-grade MCU and other ICs also remains relatively tight, which also prompted relevant chip suppliers to compete for more available capacity in the fourth quarter.
However, as industrial ICs than automotive chip validation time is shorter, industrial chip orders may be more quickly fill the foundry in PC and other consumer electronics chip customers left capacity gaps.
