Epidemic stumbling block, Korean semiconductor manufacturing growth momentum will shrink

Yonhap News Agency said that since the fourth quarter of last year, the semiconductor manufacturing industry as the economic center of Chungbuk has gradually emerged from the recession, but according to the latest forecast, this improvement trend will shrink under the new crown virus epidemic.

According to the “Regional Economic Report” released by the Bank of Korea ’s Chungcheongbuk-do headquarters on the 30th, last year ’s semiconductor production in the Chungbuk area declined due to oversupply of NAND flash memory, which caused the price to decline in the first half of the year. %).

Semiconductor exports also suffered negative growth throughout the year due to falling unit prices. Compared with the same period last year, the decline in the fourth quarter fell to 23.1%. Among them, the decline was significantly reduced in December (-10.2%), and then turned to 2.2% growth from January to February this year, showing signs of improvement.

However, Bank of Korea analysis said that if the recent global economic deterioration due to the spread of the new crown virus and the slowdown of the global real economy such as China will shrink the demand for NAND flash memory, the progress of Chungbuk semiconductor manufacturing industry may be limited.

Observers said that due to concerns that the spread of the new crown virus worldwide could cause instability in semiconductor supplies, downstream industries have increased demand to ensure inventory, and demand for server SSDs has also increased. Based on this, the situation of sharply shrinking demand is unlikely to occur.

"If the epidemic is stabilized to eliminate the negative effects, the semiconductor production in the Chungbuk region will continue to maintain the current growth trend," said Kim Kwang-min, president of the Bank of Korea ’s Chungbuk headquarters. He also added: "With the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and other new technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the demand for storage semiconductors is likely to expand at the same time. This increase in demand will lead to the As average selling prices rise, semiconductor exports may also show strong growth. "