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HOREXS will introduce more ABF materials to escort the production of IC substrate.

The "core shortage" crisis is intensifying, the downtime is full of uncertainty, and the list of global auto companies to stop work and reduce production is constantly expanding. At present, the supply of wafers in chip foundries is insufficient, and many links in the entire industry chain, such as ABF substrates for packaging chips, are also facing shortages, and the supply of high-end hardware is facing huge challenges.

1 "Lack of chip" brought about intensified shutdowns

On February 9th, Eastern Time, General Motors announced that due to the "shortage of cores", the closure of the three factories temporarily suspended will be extended to mid-March.

On the same day, Renault's two plants in France and Morocco stopped work for the same reason. And Strandis (the new group after the merger of FCA and PSA) German plant has ceased production on February 5. Prior to this, some factories of car companies such as Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, Toyota, etc., had suspended or reduced production.

According to the latest report by IHSMarkit, a world-renowned market research institution, the chip shortage crisis may continue into the third quarter and lead to a reduction of 672,000 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter.

"Lack of chip" worries are enveloping global car companies. Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said that the production loss caused by the chip shortage may lead to a reduction of US$1 billion to US$2.5 billion in profit this year (about 6.5 billion to 16.1 billion yuan).

In the face of difficulties, global auto companies are struggling to cope. Among them, Volkswagen, which was earlier affected by the "core shortage", is trying to develop new ideas, not just purchasing chips through component suppliers, but directly buying chips from chip manufacturers; while car companies such as Daimler and Porsche are considering establishing Chip inventory mechanism to prevent repeating the same mistakes.

So far, the total number of global auto companies that have stopped work and reduced production due to chip shortages has exceeded 30.

2ABF material becomes the upstream restriction point

The chip itself is also suffering from the upstream and downstream constraints of the chip industry chain. For the chip industry, the current IC chip substrates mainly include BT, ABF and other materials, of which the latter is a new material developed by Intel, usually used for high-end chips. Previously, it was almost used by Japan’s Ajinomoto (formerly a food seasoning company). ) Monopolized.

"At present, the order delivery time for ABF substrates has been extended from the original 8 weeks to more than 30 weeks." A SMIC insider revealed that the chip shortage has triggered a chain reaction in the chip industry chain, and the industry chain crisis is emerging. .

Due to the impact of the epidemic, the sudden increase in order demand and the backlog, a series of problems have been triggered in the industry chain. First, the delivery time of the automotive chip packaging factory has been extended to 8-12 weeks from the original 6-8 weeks, and the packaging The supply of equipment is becoming increasingly tight, similar to the shortage of mask machines during the expansion of domestic mask production in the first half of last year; second, the delivery time of the test link has been extended by nine months, and the delivery time of test equipment has also been extended to more than six months. It also limits the expansion of production capacity in the packaging and testing process. Third, the supply of ABF substrates is already in short supply, and even if the ABF substrate products of today's world-class ABF substrate manufacturers, the highest yield rate is only 70%. Even if the production is expanded, several leading companies can only increase by 10% at most, which is difficult to alleviate the short supply. Situation. In addition, most of the products of related companies in the chip industry chain have begun to increase prices.

Since the fall of 2020, TSMC’s ABF inventory has been insufficient. Ajinomoto's ABF supply seems to be out of order, and it is expected to be out of stock until 2022. According to industry chain sources, the delivery cycle of ABF has been as long as 30 weeks. This has led to tight supply of all high-end hardware.

3 ending

The shortage of low- and medium-end products such as BT materials for IC substrates has given Chinese companies opportunities. Wingtech, SMIC, and Hua Hong Semiconductor have also set off a wave of expansion, but they have not set foot in the high-end field. In terms of ABF materials, Ajinomoto is still the dominant company, and it has stuck the neck of the chip industry chain.