1/ Micron, Western Digital believe memory chip prices have bottomed out

"Chinastarmarket.cn" reported on July 15, according to Taiwan's Economic Daily and Science and Technology News, citing the latest report released by a US market research agency, that memory chip suppliers such as Micron and Western Digital believe that product prices have fallen to the bottom, and have begun to cancel the model of batch transactions in advance at discounted prices, and even began to raise prices.

The research agency predicts that from Q3 onwards, the decline in memory chip prices will narrow, and some product contract prices are likely to rise from Q4 onwards. The situation of different product lines is different, and a full recovery is expected next year.

2/  The destocking time of MLCC is prolonged, and the recovery of the terminal market is limited

According to Taiwan media Economic Daily News, American financial institutions and investors have made an assessment of the MLCC capacitor industry. According to the agency, the destocking time of MLCC may be prolonged. Except for the new products of Apple’s iPhone 15 series, the order recovery of most passive component terminal markets is limited, and major customers have a conservative attitude towards stocking in the second half of the year.

3/ Semiconductor equipment makers' orders fall as market slows

According to Digitimes, sources said that as TSMC lowered its full-year revenue forecast in April, and other major chip manufacturers adjusted the pace of production expansion and capital expenditure, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and material suppliers began to be affected by the slowdown in the market.

"Wafer foundry is generally considered to be the ultimate indicator of improvement in the semiconductor industry. Foundry inventory is expected to be exhausted in the second quarter and fully recovered in the third quarter. But despite this, TSMC's growth in the second half of the year does not seem to be as expected, and semiconductor equipment and materials have begun to reflect the downturn in the market." The source said.

4/  Consumer electronics will continue to slump in the second half of 2023

According to Digitimes, although 2023 is entering the traditional peak season in the second half of the year, the outlook for consumer electronics still looks relatively bleak. Preliminary observations show that the demand for automobiles and industrial control is expected to maintain a relatively stable performance in the second half of the year.

In terms of major consumer applications, shipments of mobile phones are expected to be further reduced, shipments of PCs and notebooks are also expected to remain moderate, and other consumer products have not shown significant improvement.