Packaging and testing factories are optimistic about the process of semiconductor destocking and smartphone shipments will pick up

Recently, semiconductor packaging and testing factories predict that the semiconductor industry's inventory adjustment will end in the first half of 2024 and gradually return to healthy levels. ASE expects that inventory adjustments will end in the first half of the year, and demand for advanced packaging and testing will drive revenue recovery. Amkor estimates that the seasonal off-season performance of communication products will be more obvious in the first quarter, and inventory adjustments for automotive and industrial control products will continue. Chaofeng, a company affiliated with Licheng, pointed out that semiconductor inventories have returned to healthy levels.

Japanese investment institutions said that most of the supply chains of packaging and testing plants will exhaust their inventory as soon as the third quarter. Analysts from Taiwanese investment institutions say that the recovery progress in various areas of the semiconductor industry is inconsistent. For example, semiconductor vertically integrated manufacturing plants (IDMs), which account for a large proportion of automotive and industrial control revenue, are still continuing to correct inventories, and the destocking time may last 3 to 3 days. 6 months.

In addition, packaging and testing factories in Taiwan are facing fierce competition from their counterparts in mainland China, so the degree of recovery of mid-to-low-end packaging solutions remains to be seen.

Investment institutions are optimistic about the recovery of the smartphone field in 2024. As inflation slows down, inventory levels decrease, and consumers demand regular replacements, global smartphone shipments are expected to return to the growth track this year, driving demand for mobile phone SoC chip testing. It has gradually recovered since the first quarter.

U.S. investment institutions said that testing demand for automotive chips and FPGA chips is still relatively weak because some end products still experienced inventory adjustments in the first quarter.