South Korea’s semiconductor industry has been dealing with excess stocks for the past six months. As demand contracted, inventories rose sharply, causing annual production to drop for the first time in four years. The global economic recession and especially the collapsed electronic goods market is the cause of the chip crisis.
Economic contraction affects chip sales
Bloomberg South Korea’s semiconductor industry suffered its first annual decline since January 2018, down -1.7% year-on-year in August, according to the latest information reported by This decreased by -20.4 as inventories reached 67.3% and factory shipments decreased.
This is not the first sign of the industry under pressure. Micron, the largest memory chip maker in the US, estimates its quarterly sales forecasts announced yesterday to be under $2 billion. Japanese NAND giant Kioxia said it has reduced production and will cut production by 30% in the coming months. (Unless there is a crisis)
Samsung He also warned the market that the second half of 2022 would be difficult. According to IC Insights, the DRAM market had shrunk in half between May and July.
TrendForce’s recent reportforecasts NAND flash prices to fall by 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter of the year. 3D NAND fell 30-35% in Q3, and analysts are predicting a further 20-25% drop in Q4. But for consumers who want to buy products that will experience further price drops, such as solid state drives, this is certainly good news.
While the current global economic situation is a big part of the problem, much of the contraction we’re seeing right now is post-quarantine effects. The onset and rise of the pandemic, the fact that employees work from home and the increase in gaming has caused the demand for electronic products to rise rapidly.
Companies couldn’t keep up with consumers, availability plummeted, causing products to go up. However, the end of the quarantine and falling demand has resulted in excess inventory at many chip companies. To all these negativities gaming monitor shipments first time fall and the production of the Apple iPhone 14 We can also add a reduction.
What do you think about the economic contraction?