Research tune: 8- and 12-inch foundry capacity is getting full, panel driver IC supply may be tight
According to the latest survey by research institute Jibang Technology Optoelectronics Research (WitsView), driven by 5G, terminal manufacturers have begun to lay out product demand in 2020, which will increase the capacity utilization rate of wafer foundries. In the fourth quarter, production capacity is almost at the high-end level, so large-size panel driver IC (DDI) and small-size panel driver integrated touch single chip (TDDI) supply will be squeezed out.
Fan Boyu, a research associate at Jibon Research, pointed out that after 2-3 years of convergence, large-scale DDI is currently concentrated in the production of 0.1x micron nodes in 8-inch wafer fabs. However, recent demands such as fingerprint identification, power management ICs, and low-end CMOS sensors have emerged. Under the condition of better profits, wafer foundries mainly give priority to meeting new demand, so they have begun to squeeze out the original DDI supply.
He further explained that although the current large-size panel market is experiencing serious supply oversupply problems, and the overall demand has weakened due to the off-season, it will come to an end with the adjustment of panel factory capacity, and the price of TV panels will gradually bottom. The increase in temperature does not rule out that large-scale DDI in the first half of 2020 may reproduce the tight supply.
As for TDDI for mobile phones, there was a short supply in the first half of 2018. In order to diversify risks, IC factories began to spread TDDI production from 80 nanometers to 55 nanometer nodes in different fabs. However, in 2019, the main specifications of HD Dual Gate and FHD MUX6 TDDI, which were transferred to 55 nanometers, were due to product verification and actual product efficiency issues, resulting in low customer willingness to adopt. Most products still use existing 80 nanometer TDDI.
On the other hand, after large-scale mass production by land-based panel factories, the demand for OLED DDI has rapidly increased. It is estimated that 2020 will focus on 40 and 28 nanometer production. With the expansion of the two, some wafer fabs are based on several major Under the limitation of sharing node production equipment, the 80-nm production capacity may become more tight, which will affect TDDI output. However, Fan Boyu added that this will also enable IC factories to accelerate the transfer of TDDI to 55nm production.
In addition, high-transmission 5G services are starting to operate in different regions, and coupled with the continued enthusiasm of the e-sports market, mobile phone brand customers have regarded high refresh rate (above 90Hz) panels as the focus of differentiation of mobile phone specifications next year. The IC factory is also rebuilding the TDDI for 90 and 120Hz in the 55-nanometer process, and is pushing hard for new demands on TFT-LCD models. In addition to TFT-LCD models, AMOLED models targeting the flagship market are also actively emphasizing 90Hz specifications on new product layouts. DRAMeXchange expects that, on the whole, the high-refresh rate mobile phone penetration rate is expected to exceed 10% in 2020, and will even become the standard specification for the high-end flagship mobile phone market in the next few years. When the market accelerates to 55nm, it will also help IC manufacturers Disperse the risks of TDDI supply that may be encountered next year.
Fan Boyu, a research associate at Jibon Research, pointed out that after 2-3 years of convergence, large-scale DDI is currently concentrated in the production of 0.1x micron nodes in 8-inch wafer fabs. However, recent demands such as fingerprint identification, power management ICs, and low-end CMOS sensors have emerged. Under the condition of better profits, wafer foundries mainly give priority to meeting new demand, so they have begun to squeeze out the original DDI supply.
He further explained that although the current large-size panel market is experiencing serious supply oversupply problems, and the overall demand has weakened due to the off-season, it will come to an end with the adjustment of panel factory capacity, and the price of TV panels will gradually bottom. The increase in temperature does not rule out that large-scale DDI in the first half of 2020 may reproduce the tight supply.
As for TDDI for mobile phones, there was a short supply in the first half of 2018. In order to diversify risks, IC factories began to spread TDDI production from 80 nanometers to 55 nanometer nodes in different fabs. However, in 2019, the main specifications of HD Dual Gate and FHD MUX6 TDDI, which were transferred to 55 nanometers, were due to product verification and actual product efficiency issues, resulting in low customer willingness to adopt. Most products still use existing 80 nanometer TDDI.
On the other hand, after large-scale mass production by land-based panel factories, the demand for OLED DDI has rapidly increased. It is estimated that 2020 will focus on 40 and 28 nanometer production. With the expansion of the two, some wafer fabs are based on several major Under the limitation of sharing node production equipment, the 80-nm production capacity may become more tight, which will affect TDDI output. However, Fan Boyu added that this will also enable IC factories to accelerate the transfer of TDDI to 55nm production.
In addition, high-transmission 5G services are starting to operate in different regions, and coupled with the continued enthusiasm of the e-sports market, mobile phone brand customers have regarded high refresh rate (above 90Hz) panels as the focus of differentiation of mobile phone specifications next year. The IC factory is also rebuilding the TDDI for 90 and 120Hz in the 55-nanometer process, and is pushing hard for new demands on TFT-LCD models. In addition to TFT-LCD models, AMOLED models targeting the flagship market are also actively emphasizing 90Hz specifications on new product layouts. DRAMeXchange expects that, on the whole, the high-refresh rate mobile phone penetration rate is expected to exceed 10% in 2020, and will even become the standard specification for the high-end flagship mobile phone market in the next few years. When the market accelerates to 55nm, it will also help IC manufacturers Disperse the risks of TDDI supply that may be encountered next year.