Asia and Global Semiconductor and Tech Research

Andrew Lu

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Like other automotive/industrial semi vendors, Diodes guides 4Q23 sales of 20% q/q and 35% y/y decline (miss by 21%) and weaker gross margin/operating margin of 35%/7% (miss by 5ppts).</li>
<li>The company sees 4Q23 sales decline of 20% mainly from 19% of automotive and 26% of industrial customers due to customer inventory cut coupled with year-end distributor inventory management. </li>
<li>We expect this adjustment for automotive/industrial IDMs to last for at least 6 months and suggest our clients to avoid these names unless valuation becoming attractive.  </li>
</ul>


Like other automotive/industrial semi vendors, Diodes guides 4Q23 sales of 20% q/q and 35% y/y decline (miss by 21%) and weaker gross margin/operating margin of 35%/7% (miss by 5ppts).
The company sees 4Q23 sales decline of 20% mainly from 19% of automotive and 26% of industrial customers due to customer inventory cut coupled with year-end distributor inventory management. 
We expect this adjustment for automotive/industrial IDMs to last for at least 6 months and suggest our clients to avoid these names unless valuation becoming attractive.  


With No Surprise, Diodes Guides Automotive/Industrial Semi Demand to Fall over 20% Q/Q

<ul>
<li>During MOI correction period, global semi equipment and manufacturing vendors might under-perform semi product companies on sales/earnings and share price performance in next 6 months given utilization remains below 80%.</li>
<li>A healthy MOI correction in PC/smartphone semi might result in global logic MOI to fall to 3.7-3.8 months in 3Q23, down 15% q/q and 8% y/y, heading to historical low. </li>
<li>China fabless reduced MOI to 6.4 months in 3Q23, down 16% q/q and 26% y/y. Although 2x over 3.5 months low, we expect 4-5 months in future due to restrictions.</li>
</ul>


During MOI correction period, global semi equipment and manufacturing vendors might under-perform semi product companies on sales/earnings and share price performance in next 6 months given utilization remains below 80%.
A healthy MOI correction in PC/smartphone semi might result in global logic MOI to fall to 3.7-3.8 months in 3Q23, down 15% q/q and 8% y/y, heading to historical low. 
China fabless reduced MOI to 6.4 months in 3Q23, down 16% q/q and 26% y/y. Although 2x over 3.5 months low, we expect 4-5 months in future due to restrictions.


More Signs of Fab Utilization Recovery Starting Mid-2024 Post Current MOI Correction

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>We see early signs of recovery in PC and smartphone markets, stable server market (strengths in AI server, stable in non-AI server market), but weaknesses in automotive and industrial.</li>
<li>We expect the PC semi market recovery of more than 10% y/y in 2024/2025, driven by inventory rebuild and silicon contents increase by adding AI into PC.</li>
<li>We expect the smartphone semi market recovery of 7-8% y/y in 2024/2025, driven by inventory rebuild and adopting 3nE foundry node. But, Huawei/HiSilicon will take some of the growth.</li>
</ul>


We see early signs of recovery in PC and smartphone markets, stable server market (strengths in AI server, stable in non-AI server market), but weaknesses in automotive and industrial.
We expect the PC semi market recovery of more than 10% y/y in 2024/2025, driven by inventory rebuild and silicon contents increase by adding AI into PC.
We expect the smartphone semi market recovery of 7-8% y/y in 2024/2025, driven by inventory rebuild and adopting 3nE foundry node. But, Huawei/HiSilicon will take some of the growth.


First Run of Global Semis' Guidances to Tell Early Signs of Recovery

Taiwan Tech Focused Senior Analyst

Patrick Liao

<ul>
<li>Silergy foresees the demand will be larger than capacity in 2022. Silergy expects Auto, Sever Mother-board, SSD and others should be showing a strong demand in 2022.</li>
<li>The shipment lead-time is controlled around 5~6 months, which indicated that the demand is strong for 2022~23.</li>
<li>The generation 3rd will be optimized until 2026. Silergy will need some new suppliers for generation 4th in 2023. In 2026, generation 3rd &amp; 4th will dominate Silergy’s revenue. </li>
</ul>


Silergy foresees the demand will be larger than capacity in 2022. Silergy expects Auto, Sever Mother-board, SSD and others should be showing a strong demand in 2022.
The shipment lead-time is controlled around 5~6 months, which indicated that the demand is strong for 2022~23.
The generation 3rd will be optimized until 2026. Silergy will need some new suppliers for generation 4th in 2023. In 2026, generation 3rd &amp; 4th will dominate Silergy’s revenue. 


Silergy (6415.TT): Earnings Conference for 4Q21- The Demand Is Strong for 2022~23.

United Microelectron Sp Adr / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>It is continuing to raise wafer price, and revenue/GM to reach ~NT$58billion/~39% and NT$60billion/~41.5% in 4Q21/1Q22 respectively. </li>
<li>It will plan to add 5-8k 28nm production capacity in 12A Tainan during 2H22, and we consider it is to secure customers’ demands.</li>
<li>We do not see any sign to deteriorate for the 2nd half at this moment. </li>
</ul>


It is continuing to raise wafer price, and revenue/GM to reach ~NT$58billion/~39% and NT$60billion/~41.5% in 4Q21/1Q22 respectively. 
It will plan to add 5-8k 28nm production capacity in 12A Tainan during 2H22, and we consider it is to secure customers’ demands.
We do not see any sign to deteriorate for the 2nd half at this moment. 


UMC (UMC.US, 2303.TT): 1Q22 Earnings Preview- Continuous Growth

Taiwan

United Microelectronics Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets integrated circuits (ICs) and related electronic products.  The Company's main products are consumer electronic ICs, memory ICs, personal computer peripheral ICs, and communication ICs.

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United Microelectron Sp Adr (UMC US)

With No Surprise, Diodes Guides Automotive/Industrial Semi Demand to Fall over 20% Q/Q

With No Surprise, Diodes Guides Automotive/Industrial Semi Demand to Fall over 20% Q/Q, margin contraction, and rising months of inventory. We see...

Andrew Lu

More Signs of Fab Utilization Recovery Starting Mid-2024 Post Current MOI Correction

More Signs of Fab Utilization Recovery Starting Mid-2024 Post Current MOI Correction. During the period, global semi equipment and manufacturing...

Andrew Lu

First Run of Global Semis' Guidances to Tell Early Signs of Recovery

After the first Run of global semis' guidance, it tells early signs of recovery in PC and smartphone but weaknesses in automotive and industrial,...

Andrew Lu

Silergy (6415.TT): Earnings Conference for 4Q21- The Demand Is Strong for 2022~23.

Silergy expects Auto, Sever Mother-board, SSD should be showing a strong demand in 2022. The shipment lead-time is controlled at around 5~6 months,...

Patrick Liao

UMC (UMC.US, 2303.TT): 1Q22 Earnings Preview- Continuous Growth

UMC’s sales/GM would reach to ~NT$58billion/~39% and NT$60billion/~41.5% in 4Q21/1Q22 respectively, a bit higher than Bloomberg consensus of...

Patrick Liao

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