Smartphone makers in China, the largest market for semiconductor chip usage, are plagued by chip supply shortages.
"Qualcomm's main chips and parts are out of stock, including power class and RF class devices," Yicai.com said citing a source from OPPO's brand Realme.
The delivery time of Qualcomm's full range of material is extended to more than 30 weeks, and the delivery cycle of the CSR Bluetooth audio chip has reached more than 33 weeks.
In addition, Chinese cell phone manufacturers including Huawei, OPPO and Vivo, and OnePlus, are increasing the number of cell phone products in stock, increasing the imbalance between the supply and demand of chips, according to cell phone supply chain-related sources.
The chip shortage is mainly because the global chip industry chain is being rebuilt as well as the demand squeeze for chips from the peripheral and automotive industries, and the trend of shortages affected by the COVID-19 pandemic will continue for 1 to 3 years (and will become normality). For terminals, 4G bears the brunt of the shortage, followed by high-end 5nm products, according to Li Rui, CEO of Knorvay Consulting.
According to the latest data from Sigmaintell forecast, at the end of the first quarter of this year (March), the price of 2M camera module is expected to rise about 6.5%, and the supply of 5M/8M camera sensor remains tight, with the prediction that the second quarter is likely to witness price increase again.
In terms of cell phone memory, because the increased demand from end brands makes the supply and demand tension, in the second quarter embedded storage will also increase prices in advance.
According to the report released by Sigmaintell, the average price of MCP in the second quarter is expected to rise by about 5~10%, and the average price of LPDDR (memory) is expected to rise by about 7~12%.
In addition, Samsung's Austin factory in the US suffered a power outage due to heavy snowfall resulting in a reduction in Controller supply, and in the second quarter, UFS (flash memory) will also face the risk of price increases.
The overall production capacity of cell phones will be adjusted downward. But the launch of the new product will not be delayed, only the market supply will be reduced, and the transaction price will follow the market law, Li said, adding that, but the next two years the total global cell phone shipments will certainly experience a downward adjustment due to the chip shortage problem.
