Although the new crown pneumonia outbreak first occurred in China, the number of confirmed infections around the world continues to rise. Among them, the spread of the epidemic situation in Japan and South Korea is even increasing. Even though both countries have already drawn a line of defense against the pneumonia epidemic, it must be acknowledged that the spread of the local epidemic has not been effectively controlled.

According to a report on the 27th from the South Korean Central Epidemic Prevention Policy Headquarters, from 6:00 on the 26th to 9:00 on the 27th local time, South Korea added 334 new cases of newly diagnosed coronary pneumonia, with a cumulative total of 1,595. In Japan, as of 8 am local time on the 27th, there were 894 confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in Japan, including 175 confirmed cases in Japan and 705 cruise passengers and flight attendants of the "Diamond Princess" cruise ship.

Under the influence of the increasingly severe epidemic situation, many industries in Japan and South Korea will be unavoidably impacted. It also includes the CIS chip industry, which was very popular last year.

Out of stock due to affected production capacity?

As we all know, Japan and South Korea have important positions in the global semiconductor industry. For the CIS chip segment, it is the main force in the supply of high-end CIS chips worldwide.

In particular, Japanese manufacturer Sony can be said to have occupied the leading position of CIS chips for a long time. For a long time, it has almost received orders for CIS chips used by domestic and foreign first-tier brand flagship models. The Korean Samsung has also experienced rapid growth in market demand for CIS chips in recent years, and its market share in this field is second only to Sony.

According to the IHS Markit report, Sony tops the list with a 49.2% market share, with Samsung and Howe having a market share of 19.8% and 11.2%, respectively. This also means that the blocked development of the two industry giants, Sony and Samsung, will cause a certain degree of chain reaction in all relevant industrial chains.

From the supply side, first of all, the resumption of work caused by the epidemic has affected the production of the factory. Sony has previously expressed concerns about the continued expansion of new coronary pneumonia and the impact of resumption of work, which may cause the company's previous performance increase to be offset. Perhaps such worries have deepened as the impact of their own epidemic has grown. Samsung Electronics, which also has a large amount of CIS chip production capacity in South Korea, may also face the same problems as Sony.

Due to the problem of resumption of work, the output of the factory was insufficient, and the delivery of existing orders could not be completed within the expected time, indicating that these orders may not be included in this stage of revenue according to previous expectations.

In addition to the impact at this stage, Jiwei.com also learned from the clients of these CIS manufacturers: "The epidemic situation in Japan and South Korea is now spreading rapidly. Such a situation will affect many local industries. Sony and Samsung's domestic CIS production capacity will also be implicated. However, the high-end CIS factory operations do not require much manpower, and the main reason for the impact on the two companies is not due to shortage of manpower. "

As the pneumonia epidemic is spreading to many countries outside Asia, these countries may not be the gathering place of the supply chain, but it is true that many end-brand consumer markets, the most direct impact of the epidemic on it is the decrease in demand.

Out of stock or out of order?

As we know, since 2019, with the increase in the use of new products such as multi-cameras and ultra-high-pixel cameras on smartphones, the demand for CIS chips has also increased significantly. Therefore, many CIS manufacturers represented by Sony and Samsung have given plans to expand production last year.

For the time being, most of these new production capacity have not yet been put into use, but the sudden epidemic situation may change the situation of positive market demand growth.

An industry insider said to the author: "Compared to the impact of the return rate of personnel, we believe that if the spread of the global epidemic cannot be effectively controlled in the short term, there will be a vicious circle in the supply and demand of the entire mobile phone industry chain. Insufficient capacity is more likely to lead to insufficient orders. "

Just as the outbreak in China in January this year, end customers at home and abroad associated with China's mobile phone industry chain have basically delayed product release and order delivery. Some brands even revised down their sales expectations for the first half of this year, canceling some of the suppliers' orders that have not yet been produced.

Although China is still the world's largest consumer market for smartphones, due to the high market saturation, terminal brands have also begun to expand sales in overseas markets. Several first-line terminal brands have continued to increase their sales in overseas markets in recent years .

It is worth noting that, in this context, except for countries with severe epidemic problems such as China, Japan, and South Korea, this emergency has not attracted the attention of the people in many countries, and has not established due protection. awareness. As a result, the difficulty of epidemic prevention and control worldwide has been further strengthened.

Therefore, although the situation in China has improved, if the global epidemic is not controlled, the impact on the industrial chain will still exist, and it is likely that the demand for the global smartphone market will decline again. In the case of shortage of orders, there may be a situation of bargaining for orders.

Some people in the industry believe that: "Even with the phenomenon of low-price rush orders, some of the most severely affected are small and medium-sized manufacturers. Relatively speaking, the head camp formed by Sony, Samsung and Howe will only have three small-scale companies. Fighting for orders. Among them, Sony's obvious technological advantage is bound to give it the strongest voice. On the other hand, the competition between Samsung and Howe may be further intensified. "