As smart phones, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), Internet of Things and other markets maintain high-end demand for NOR Flash, international giant Cypress Semiconductor (acquired SPASION) has been severely in short supply due to swift orders and capacity shortages. It is reported that Cypress Semiconductor has raised the price of NOR Flash in the second quarter and does not rule out price increases again in the second half of the year. The legal person pointed out that the first-tier manufacturers are taking the lead in price increases. MXIC and Winbond are expected to follow up the prices and the operation will be good until the second half of the year. In terms of the global NOR flash market in recent years, the first major plant is Micron (market share of about 30%), followed by Spansion (market share of 25-30%), and the third is MXIC (market share of about 15- 20%), Winbond is next to.
Because NOR flash is required for smart phones to carry OLED panels to store program codes, the NOR Flash market was in short supply last year and prices have risen. In the first quarter of this year, due to the smart phone production chain entering the inventory adjustment stage, the NOR Flash market balances supply and demand. No longer rising, but there is no pressure to see downward pressure. Only some of the low-capacity NOR Flash market has seen price cuts due to local production capacity.
Since the second quarter, the NOR Flash market has seen gradual improvement. First, Android camp smart phones have begun to enter the spare parts season. As OLED panel market penetration increases, NOR Flash demand has seen a rebound. The second is that Intel has increased the NOR Flash capacity for storing BIOS from 64Mb/128Mb to 256Mb in the eighth generation Core processor platform. Therefore, the supply of medium- and high-capacity NOR Flash is tight.
In addition, the demand for NOR Flash from automotive electronics and Internet of things is also clearly improving. Since the new models introduced by various depots this year are equipped with ADADA systems including LiDAR, AEB, TPMS, and road offset warning, the demand for NOR Flash is rapidly increasing. Warming. In addition, Internet of things terminal devices, including smart water meters or meters, industrial 4.0 automation equipment, etc., still use NOR Flash to store program code, and also make NOR Flash work in short supply.
In the NOR Flash market, the top four plants, including Cypress, Micron, MXIC, and Winbond, have no large-scale expansion of production capacity since last year. With the market demand entering the peak season from the off-season, the shortage of stocks has been renewed. Float on the countertop. Take the example of the first-line maker Cypress. In the second quarter, the NOR Flash was almost completely ordered by customers. The production capacity was severely in short supply, and the price had increased compared with the previous quarter. The industry believes that the delivery period of MXIC and Winbond NOR Flash has been significantly extended and is expected to follow up the price increase.
MXIC‘s first quarter net profit of 1.06 yuan per share was better than market expectations, and its operating performance improved significantly. In the second quarter, due to the impact of the off-season,revenue in April rose by 41.7% year-on-year to 2.902 billion yuan. Due to the bullish tone of NOR Flash, quarterly operating performance is not negative, and the traditional peak season performance in the second half will be significantly better than the same period of last year.
Winbond’s net profit of 0.40 yuan per share in the first quarter was better than market expectations. As DRAM and NOR Flash prices both rose, Winbond’s consolidated revenue in April was 4.489 billion yuan, an increase of 23.4% over the previous year, and a record high for the single-month revenue in 18 years. The legal person also likes the second quarter operating performance. It will be better than the first quarter and the second half will be significantly better than the first half.