Recently, the price of mobile phone screen assembly has continued to rise, and many customers have questions about this. Why does the price of mobile phone screen assembly continue to rise from September 2020, by more than 10% At present, there is still a shortage of screen assembly in the mobile phone repair market. Because the upstream raw materials of the industry chain LCD panels, wafers, TDDI chips, display driver ICs and touch ICs are in short supply, the shortage and price increase may continue until 2021.

8-inch wafers out of stock

The topic of 8-inch foundry production capacity has been hot recently. The existing 8-inch foundry capacity has continued to be fully loaded. The increase in foundry prices is inevitable. The increase in upstream costs has penetrated downstream, and chip products in many fields have increased their prices. As time goes by, the foundry quotations on the market do not seem to be slowing down. The urgent orders in the fourth quarter and 2021 quotations will rise by more than 10%.

Affected by the epidemic this year, many companies have suspended work and production for a long time. Behind the long holiday, wafer production capacity has been delayed by 2-3 months. During this period, online education and remote office drove the demand for PCs and notebooks to explode, and the demand for panel driver ICs increased greatly. In addition, Huawei placed a large number of orders for various types of chips before the 9.15 ban took effect, further exacerbating the shortage of 8-inch wafer capacity that was already in short supply.

At the manufacturer level, in addition to Taiwanese manufacturers TSMC, UMC, World Advanced and other 8-inch wafer foundry production capacity in short supply and price increases, the main mainland manufacturers are almost fully operating.

TDDI chip prices increased by 2 times

TDDI chip is one of the main raw materials of mobile phone Incell screen assembly. An industry insider said in an interview: “The recent shortage of TDDI chips is crazy, and the price has risen to twice the price.” Touch panel sensor chip TDDI (Touch with Display Driver) is an integrated chip that integrates display driver IC and touch IC, Can improve the integration of the touch display device, realize the lightness and thinness of the mobile electronic equipment, and make the display effect better.

According to industry insiders, the price increase of TDDI is due to increased demand and full capacity. At present, 8-inch wafers in the world are lacking. Because of equipment problems, everyone is not optimistic about this direction and does not open new capacity. Moreover, Novatek (UMC) It also limits the production capacity of TDDI, which used to be 50,000 pieces/month, but now only 30,000 pieces/month; on the other hand, the demand has risen, and it is out of stock during the buying process. Therefore, the shortage of TDDI is caused by the double pressure of supply and procurement.

LCD panels are in short supply and prices continue to rise

Due to the short supply of LCD panels, BOE raised its quotation by 5 to 10 US dollars in October, with a maximum increase of about 10%, which is higher than market expectations. It is expected that Innolux, AUO, and other factories will also reflect market mechanisms to increase prices. Panelists pointed out that Samsung and LGD withdrew from LCD production, and BOE became the global leader and gained the right to speak. With this wave of panel market conditions, the demand for TVs, laptops, and flat-panel homes, which have been boosted by the epidemic, has been strong, and the price increase has become more positive.

According to a survey conducted by TrendForce's Display Research Office, panel quotations in the third quarter have seen a rare increase in recent years. The price of notebook panels has increased by 5-10% throughout the quarter, and the average price of TV panels has increased by more than 30%. Large-size panels in the fourth quarter The oversupply ratio is only 0.2%, which means that the shortage of some applications will continue. It is estimated that there is still 10% room for an increase in panel prices.