June 18, how serious is the chip shortage this year? Even lawbreakers have begun to obtain chips through illegal channels, and chips have been stolen and robbed in Shenzhen and Hong Kong one after another.
According to media reports, a logistics company was robbed of high-priced chips worth about 5 million Hong Kong dollars in a robbery in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong on June 16.
In the cable comment area of the Financial Associated Press, the discussion among investors was also hot, with some netizens saying that the chip had become a hard currency, while others said that the reason for the sharp rise in chip stocks had been found.
Just a few days ago, the amount of money that a lawbreaker stole the chip in Shenzhen was as high as 10 million yuan. Recently, 10 boxes containing 210000 chips in an electronics factory in Shenzhen were stolen, along with the computer mainframe, which is understood to be worth 10 million yuan, according to the Shenzhen Metropolis Channel.
However, after receiving the report, Huangtian Police Station of Baoan Branch of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau successfully arrested three suspects of theft and one suspect of concealing the proceeds of crime in only 13 hours, and recovered all the stolen chips.
Affected by the epidemic in 2020, the closure of some factories led to delays in the supply of the semiconductor industry chain, resulting in a global chip shortage. So far, the problem of chip shortage has not been significantly alleviated, but intensified, resulting in a shortage of supply to some downstream manufacturers.
According to the latest Goldman Sachs research report, as many as 169 industries around the world have been hit by chip shortages to some extent, including steel products, concrete production, air conditioning manufacturing, beer brewing, soap production and many other industries.
And the global "lack of core" intensified, so that price increases are imperative. "can not buy" and "can not afford" has become a common dilemma faced by many downstream enterprises.
Affected by the short-term chip, the impact on the automotive industry is more obvious. In April, several mainframe factories, including Mitsubishi, Ford, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and Audi, announced their latest plans to cut production. Automakers will lose $110 billion in revenue and reduce production by 3.9 million vehicles in 2021 due to lack of cores, according to AlixPartners.
Under the high prosperity of the industry, manufacturers have a strong desire to expand production. TSMC announced at its earnings meeting in the first quarter of this year that it would increase capital expenditure this year to $30 billion, and plans to invest $100 billion in global plants over the next three years have been fully launched. Recently, Samsung Electronics announced that its investment in semiconductors had increased to $151 billion by May 2021, an increase of 29% from its previous commitment. SMIC expects capital expenditure to remain high at $4.3 billion in early 2021.
Debang Securities Research News pointed out that with the announcement of production expansion by TSMC, Samsung, SMIC and other manufacturers, the situation of lack of cores in cars is expected to improve in the future, but as it still takes time to expand production capacity and superimpose factors such as complex chip manufacturing processes, short-term disturbances will continue, and with the subsequent adjustment and release of production capacity of chip manufacturers, the lack of cores in cars may be gradually alleviated.
